16:30,

YEREVAN, JUNE 27, ARMENPRESS. If Armenia had recognized the independence of Nagorno Karabakh amidst the 2020 war it would have been impossible to stop the fighting, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on June 27.

Pashinyan was asked to respond to Republican Party (HHK) Vice President Armen Ashotyan, who had said that Armenia should have recognized Nagorno Karabakh during the war, arguing that the move would have been a diplomatic blow to Azerbaijan.

“And why didn’t they recognize the independence during the 4-day war of 2016?” Pashinyan said at the parliament select committee on the 2020 war.

The Armenian PM said they didn’t recognize the independence of Nagorno Karabakh because by doing so it would have been impossible to stop the war, even on 9 November.

“[We didn’t recognize] for a very simple reason, because it would have been impossible to stop the war even on 9 November,” he said.