19:49,

YEREVAN, 27 OCTOBER, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan says that the command of withdrawal of troops in Syunik was given by him in order to avoid military actions, with the intention of not losing the strategic road at least for some time, ARMENPRESS reports Pashinyan said during the parliament-Cabinet Q&A session referring to the question of MP from ''Armenia'' faction Anna Grigoryan.

Grigoryan mentioned that Azerbaijani border guards appeared in Syunik, because on Dectember 18 there was a command of withdrawal of troops, which was not envisaged by the November 9 declaration. ‘'Was the command of withdrawal of troops oral or written? What is the first and last name of the person who made such command, was a Security Council meeting held before making such decision?'' asked the member of parliament.

“With regards to Syunik, have I ever refused that I am the responsible person for that decision? Wheather the command was oral or written, they are made according to procedures. Was there a discussion? Yes, there was, session of the Security Council was not held, but all members of the Security Council, Governor of Syunik participated. The Minister of Foreign Affairs said they were not aware, but the Deputy Minister also participated in the discussion, the discussion took place at the Government. And the decision was made in order to avoid war'', Pashinyan said.

According to him “If the decision was not made, military operations would start there. And in Syunik we would really have problems. We were standing dozens of kilometers ahead, unfortunately we reached here'', the Prime Minister said.

He mentioned that the decision was made with the logic that during the negotiations there was a perception that 7 regions are to be handed over. ''Those territories were handed over because of being part of the 7 regions. Why are they part of the 7 regions? Even if you don’t like it, it is registered by the Law on Administrative Territorial Division, it is not something new”, Pashinyan said and assured they have no secrets.

According to the Prime Minister, the decision was made with the intention of not losing the strategic road at least for some time. He said that the command of withdrawal of troops was given by him, implemented by former minister of defense Vagharshak Harutyunyan.

According to Pashinyan, he is the sole resonsible for Syunik. But there were discussions before making that decision, with members of the Security Council, thought a formal session of the Security Council was not held but a consultation was held. Discussions were held 5-6 times, there were negotiations, visits, written agreement was reached.

He noted that the opposition carried out a political fight for 8 months and never said that they will remove Armenia's signature from the November 9 declaration. He called on the opposition to state that they, in case of coming to power, will remove Armenia's signature from November 9 declaration.