The Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, has explained her wife Anna Hakobyan’s statement, “casualties for nothing,” which she had made in an interview with the Voice of America Armenian Service.

Pashinyan explained what Hakobyan meant when she said, “during these years of the history of the [Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh)] conflict, we have had numerous casualties from both sides, but we have sacrificed their lives for nothing.”

“Speaking about the ‘Women for Peace’ initiative, she said (I quote): ‘(…). We appeal not to Azerbaijani women, but we actually appeal to all the countries—parties—involved in the Karabakh conflict, and to the countries conducting mediation. The call to them is but one: so that the ceasefire regime will be maintained irrevocably,’” Pashinyan wrote, in particular, on Facebook, quoting his wife. “‘That is, the only meaning of this initiative is to protect the soldiers’ lives, and just not to sacrifice them for nothing. (…) because (…) those casualties did not bring us closer to the settlement of the conflict.’

“Now some are attempting to insist that Anna said that our soldiers had fallen for nothing. This is a simple manipulation because the meaning of the statement is exactly the opposite. (…). That is, the essence of what was said is as follows that the Azerbaijani soldiers, who are attacking NK [Nagorno-Karabakh] borders by the order of their authorities (…) are falling for nothing because those attacks of theirs do not change anything in the situation of the Karabakh conflict.

“The meaning of the unifying initiative is that it perceives all parties as one whole.

“According to our information, the number of Azerbaijani casualties in the April [2016] war has passed one thousand.

“And, ultimately, the defending party cannot be fallen for nothing because it falls for the security of the homeland, the defense of the homeland.”