Four years ago on this day, Azerbaijan, with the support of Turkey, Israel and some other countries, launched a large-scale attack on Artsakh—why not, on Armenia as well. Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) President Samvel Shahramanyan stated this in an interview with reporters at Yerablur Military Pantheon of Yerevan Friday.

Shahramanyan emphasized that the Armenian armed forces accepted the strike and retaliated, and today they are at Yerablur to pay respect to the martyrs.

"Thanks to them, it was possible to prevent the most disastrous consequences of the war. I consider that with the results of the 44-day war, the beginning of predetermining the fate of Artsakh has been set. I consider what happened in 2023 to be a consequence of that," Shahramanyan said.

As for the question about the culprits of the defeat in the war, the Artsakh president said: "Many criminal cases have been initiated in Armenia, a relevant committee has been operating in the National Assembly, which will probably publicize the conclusions in the near future, and we will draw appropriate conclusions. And the conclusion of the committee will be a basis for us. And not only that, we have our views, but they can be talked about after learning about the results of relevant criminal cases."

The Artsakh president added, however, that he cannot comment on criminal cases.

And to the remark that Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan turns the blame for defeat on Samvel Shahramanyan’s side, noting that Shahramanyan was brought to power by the previous authorities, the Artsakh president responded: "A lot of things are being said, all that remains is to justify what is said."