Civilnet
By Mark Dovich
In his first public remarks since the fall of the region last month, Nagorno-Karabakh President Samvel Shahramanyan defended his decision to disband the local army and dissolve his government.
“If we knew we could have won those military operations, we would have gone all the way,” Shahramanyan told people forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh Friday after a small group of them broke through police lines during a protest in front of his Yerevan officе.
“We have saved our men and the lives of the civilian population. If the war had stopped even an hour later, they would have entered Stepanakert and massacred the children,” he added.
Continuing, Shahramanyan claimed “no document can dissolve a republic created by the people,” despite signing a decree last month that ordered all government agencies in Nagorno-Karabakh to be disbanded by the end of the year.
“The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (Artsakh Republic) ceases to exist,” the decree read in part.
Shahramanyan directly contradicted that point Friday, saying: “The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic has not been dissolved…There are many issues related to that document that I cannot talk about here.”
He did not immediately provide any clarification, only saying he would address the matter in an interview with Armenian public television “in the near future.”
Who is Shahramanyan?
Shahramanyan has served as Nagorno-Karabakh’s leader since last month, when he was selected by the region’s parliament to replace former President Arayik Harutyunyan, who had resigned the month prior amid mounting pressure.
Unlike Harutyunyan and seven other high-ranking former Nagorno-Karabakh officials, Azerbaijani security sources did not detain Shahramanyan following the region’s fall last month.
What is the context?
After keeping Nagorno-Karabakh under near-total blockade for more than nine months, Azerbaijan launched a lightning offensive against the region last month that left hundreds dead on both sides, including civilians.
After fewer than 24 hours, Shahramanyan agreed in a Russia-brokered ceasefire deal to disband the local army and dissolve his government, sparking a mass exodus of more than 100,000 Armenians from the region.
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