Artsakh President Samvel Shahramanyan gave an interview to the French Le Figaro, where he says that on September 19, “a document was received from Azerbaijan, by which the National Assembly should announce that the people of Artsakh renounce their rights, sovereignty and symbols.” He details that this document should have been voted on in the National Assembly, he made a counter-proposal and took responsibility for the dissolution of Artsakh. “It was a relatively safe evacuation guarantee. I knew very well that that document was illegal and unconstitutional, because it had to be ratified by the legal structures of the Republic of Artsakh, but it was the only way that could save my compatriots,” said Samvel Shahramanyan.
If we look back at the situation, the “evacuation” from Artsakh began in 2023. On September 24, Samvel Shahramanyan signed the decree “on dissolution” of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, according to the official report, on September 28. The question arises: if his decree was “the only way to save his compatriots” – as he claims, then how was the “evacuation” of the population organized for four days? The Azerbaijani side was sure that Samvel Shahramanyan will sign the decree on the dissolution of the NKR, or was it signed on September 20 together with the statement of the trilateral command of the Azerbaijan-Russian military contingent, Samvel Shahramanyan, to stop hostilities? concurrently?
Why is Samvel Shahramanyan talking about the “paper received” from Baku, which should have been discussed in the National Assembly, six months after the Armenian liberation of Artsakh? The general definition that it “demanded the relinquishment of the rights, sovereignty and symbols of Artsakh” still says little about its content. Renunciation of sovereignty and state independence does not formally mean renunciation of national, administrative-territorial and political subjectivity. As long as the “paper received” from Baku is not published, one fundamental question remains. Has Azerbaijan submitted a written demand for the “evacuation” of the Armenian population? If he did not present it, then what guarantees did he or did not offer for his living and free living in his homeland?
Samvel Shahramanyan was elected president by the votes of twenty-two deputies of the National Assembly, he was not the leader of the state with a primary mandate, so he had to discuss any step in the parliament or at least with the political forces that nominated him as a presidential candidate and endowed him with the powers of the head of state. From what Shahramanyan said, it is understood that he was afraid that the National Assembly would not vote on the “paper sent from Baku” to “renounce rights, sovereignty and symbols”, so he took sole responsibility.
When, through whom and in whose name was the Baku “paper” received? Did Samvel Shahramanyan present the “Hazkertian script” to the National Assembly, did he discuss it with the political forces, did they oppose it? These are questions that might not have been significant in the current situation, if the President of Artsakh had not told the prestigious French periodical that after the cessation of hostilities, the people of Artsakh “asked to organize the evacuation to Armenia”. France is perhaps the only country that publicly disputes Azerbaijan’s official narrative that “the Armenians of Karabakh left voluntarily.” Samvel Shahramanian says that the people of Artsakh submitted a “request to evacuate”, being wary of mass killings by the enemy.
In a crisis situation, of course, no one could guarantee that this would not happen. It is very likely that Baku presented an alternative to deportation and mass murders, but why is Samvel Shahramanyan showing extreme caution? He was also asked about the former presidents of Artsakh and other officials who are being forcibly detained in Baku. Shahramanyan demands immediate release of them and seven other captured persons. Has Baku violated any point of the agreements, is it still violating? What will Samvel Shahramanyan say in the next interview?
#Samvel #Shahramanian #reveal
