Author: Alex Jidarian

Weren't the Madrid Principles better than the package version and than what we have today? Wasn't the Kazan document better than the phased version in 1997 and than what we have today? I think the answer is obvious. The second president of Armenia, leader of the opposition "Armenia" Bloc Robert Kocharyan stated this during his year-end press conference Monday—and referring to the question of how it turned out that the positions and opportunities of the Armenian side did not increase as a result of prolonging the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict, and whether the package version was not better than what we have now.

Referring to the accusation that during his tenure Karabakh was left out of the peace negotiations as a full-fledged party, Kocharyan said as follows, in particular: "The last substantive discussion within the framework of the [OSCE] Minsk Group took place in October 1996, [when] I was the President of Karabakh. After that, there was one meeting that did not reach the content part. And that meeting took place on April 1, 1997, when I was the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia appointed 10 days ago.

In January 1997, the Co-Chairs changed, and the troika—Russia, the US, and France—was formed. Before that there was Russia, and the other countries were changing—Finland, Sweden. And the main discussions were within the framework of the Minsk Group. Ambassadors from nine countries were gathering, there was a discussion. They were more mental exercises. Turkey was there too.

The Co-Chairs decided in January 1997 to hold another meeting in the format of the Minsk Group—but the troika was already chairing that meeting. And on the last day of that meeting they announced that they were moving to shuttle diplomacy. They saw that the issue did not move forward in the format of the Minsk Group, and [therefore] changed the format of participation. The co-chairs have not assembled a Minsk Group since then. If the Armenian authorities do not know about it, it is the peak of cosmic ignorance. If they know, they do not say, they deceive, it is a knavery. I do not know which version it is.

They have not gathered the Minsk Group anymore. I had the next meeting with the president of Azerbaijan on April 1, 1999, in Russia, through the mediation of [then Russian President] Yeltsin. After that, a meeting took place during the NATO summit in late April.

(…) it was the decision of the troika not to assemble the Minsk Group anymore, they announced that they were pursuing shuttle diplomacy, and Karabakh has always been an active participant in it. During my 10 years [of tenure], there has not been a case when they [i.e., the mediators] came to Armenia and did not go to Karabakh," Kocharyan stated.

"Yes, Karabakh participated, but then that format disappeared altogether. The Minsk Group remained, but the discussions began to take a different format. If the co-chairs had gathered the same format, Karabakh would have been sitting at that table in the same way. They considered it ineffective and, to be honest, they considered it right," the second president of Armenia stated.

I won’t repeat the mistake that I made in the past. I refuse to discuss any issue related to the armed forces publicly. This is what Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said during his online press conference today, touching upon the question about the arms and military equipment that Armenia has procured.

Asked if the radical reforms in the self-defense system are being considered, the Prime Minister said the following: “Again, I won’t discuss the subtleties and specific issues related to the army, and I advise everyone to not discuss such issues publicly. However, I will say that all of our thoughts about the army are expressed in the government’s action plan.”

As for the reason why the defeated high-ranking officers haven’t been relieved of their posts and why the ones who acted in the best way during the war aren’t appointed to positions, Pashinyan said the following: “As far as the officers are concerned, this is a very important issue. However, we need to be very careful to not mix things up. During the war, I was told that a certain commander had left a military post and escaped, and then, after a long investigation, it turned out that it was totally the opposite. There was also the opposite case when a certain commander was glorified, but the investigation showed that he shouldn’t have been glorified. Those who gave wrong reports have been punished, are being punished and will be punished. This is a major issue on the agenda, but I wouldn’t like to go into detail.”

Former Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia, Colonel General Yuri Khachaturov and former Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia, Lieutenant General Norat Ter-Grigoryants have submitted a recommendation letter to release legendary commander of the Sisakan military detachment Ashot Minasyan from custody.

“Yesterday we learned from the presses that people with high reputation are willing to give recommendation letters for the release of Ashot Minasyan from custody. We, the undersigned army generals, personally know Ashot Minasyan, are well aware of his heroic past and assure that he has never committed and will not commit illegal acts. We certainly guarantee that Ashot Minasyan won’t hide, won’t obstruct the investigation and won’t commit any act prohibited by law,” the recommendation letter reads.

Right after the trilateral statement on the end of the 44-day war was signed on November 9, 2020, law-enforcement officers immediately began to detain several members of the opposition.

During those days, the National Security Service released a voice recording in which former director of the National Security Service and current head of the opposition ‘With Honor’ faction of the National Assembly Artur Vanetsyan, member of the Republican Party of Armenia Vahram Baghdasaryan, member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun political party Ashot Avagyan and commander of Sisian military detachment Ashot Minasyan are preparing to assassinate Nikol Pashinyan and are usurping power. Minasyan was also charged with acquiring and keeping illegal arms, ammunition and explosive substances to kill Pashinyan.

The Prosecutor General’s Office used all the tribunals to arrest Minasyan, and only at the end did Judge Tigran Simonyan decide to arrest Ashot Minasyan.