Armenian premier calls loss of control over city of Shusha 'turning point' in war with Azerbaijan

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Tuesday called the loss of control over the city of Shusha a "turning point" in the 44-day war with Azerbaijan.

Answering questions from a parliamentary commission, established to investigate his actions during the war, Pashinyan said that after "difficult and lengthy discussions," he signed with Azerbaijan and Russia a trilateral statement that ended the war.

He said he had phone talk 60 times with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who served as a mediator, adding that 20 of those calls were held on Nov. 8 and even Nov. 9 2020, when the agreement was sealed.

The head of the Armenian government called Azerbaijan's triumph in Shusha a "turning point" in the conflict, after which, he said Yerevan had no choice but to sign the trilateral statement on Nov. 9, 2020.

"After the loss of Shusha, Stepanakert (Armenian name for the city of Hankendi) was under attack, pressure on Martuni inevitably increased, and most importantly, 25,000 of our soldiers were under threat of encirclement," he said.

Relations between the two former Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

Azerbaijan liberated several cities, villages and settlements from Armenian occupation in the fall of 2020 during 44 days of fighting.

A Russian-brokered peace agreement is celebrated as a triumph in Azerbaijan.