YEREVAN. – The Turks [in this case, the Azerbaijanis] were always asking us, and they were under us. This was stated by CSTO former Secretary General, Colonel General Yuri Khachaturov, speaking at Armenia’s opposition rally in the capital Yerevan on Thursday.

"They say that in 2016 we [Armenia] asked [the Azerbaijanis] for peace. I swear on my father's grave: I never asked the Turks [in this case, the Azerbaijanis] for anything. They kept asking us, they were under us, and were watching what we would say," Khachaturov stressed, adding that the Azerbaijani representative looked bad at the meeting after the four-day war in 2016. "Sadigov [the head of the General Staff of the Azerbaijani army] felt very bad, he was a loser, whereas we—the winner," Khachaturov added.

According to him, the last war, however, could have been prevented, what happened happened, and now it will be very difficult to rebuild the Armenian army. "I believe [ex-PM] Vazgen Manukyan [the PM candidate of the opposition Homeland Salvation Movement which demands the resignation of Armenia’s incumbent PM Nikol Pashinyan] will be able to [succeed if he comes to power]. I was his deputy for a whole year. He is a brave, smart, and extremely noble person," Yuri Khachaturov concluded.