Karabakh ex-Presidents reveal details from efforts to end war

PanARMENIAN.Net - The second and third presidents of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), Arkadi Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan, have weighed in on their efforts to stop the war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Karabakh.

According to them, on October 19 Karabakh President Arayik Harutyunyan was going to send letters to the Presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairing countries and the Prime Minister of Armenia on the cessation of the war, the resumption of the negotiation process within the OSCE Minsk Group. Ghukasyan and Sahakyan maintain, however, that Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan said back then that "the letters are no longer relevant."

In the course of hostilities, the former Presidents said, they had numerous meetings, consultations with military figures, commanders and fighters involved in the war and came to the conclusion that it is necessary to take measures to stop the war immediately, urging Harutyunyan to appeal to the Armenian PM and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Russian and Azerbaijani Presidents Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev on November 9 signed a statement to end the war in Karabakh after almost 45 days. Under the deal, the Armenian side is returning all the seven regions surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, having lost a part of Karabakh itself in hostilities.