The war in Artsakh has come to an end, and that end was bitter.
In fact, the end was far more bitter then what anyone had expected as Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan described exactly how the situation was before Armenia accepted an agreement with Russia and Azerbaijan to abandoned most of the areas they control to Azerbaijani authorities and joint Russian peacekeepers.
In a live speech made earlier today, Harutyunyan said that the city of Shushi was lost on November 7.
"I do not know how history will evaluate the decision we made yesterday, but we were obliged to," he said. "Had the hostilities continued at the same pace, we would have lost the whole of Artsakh in a matter of days."
"We had great human losses yesterday in the Martuni region, during the last hours. The army was exhausted with COVID-19," the president explained.
"We did not want to believe that it was impossible to fight with the potential of the human and military equipment that existed," he continued.
He then emphasized that the bitter decision to sign the agreement and relinquish much of the areas they controlled "so that there would be no more losses, adding that "We fought against the forces of eight countries."
"I spoke with representatives of the elite, among them Bako Sahakyan, Arkady Ghukasyan, Vitaly Balasanyan and others, and they are all ready to cooperate and work with us. We are holding consultations with them," the Artsakh president said.
He then emphasized again just how bitter the situation was as Armenian forces would have lost all of Artsakh in a matter of days as "there were no resources to continue the fight."
"It seems that we managed to defend ourselves from drones for several days, but already in the last two days the enemy, I do not know how, through new technologies or new drones, had the opportunity to inflict great damage on our troops again," he revealed.
In fact, the situation was so bitter that according to the Artsakh President, the troops had extremely low morale.
"The morale of the troops was not very good, in some places it can be said that it was extremely bad. Exhausted by hemorrhoids, dysentery, and COVID-19. The army was on the front line for 43 days, and we did not have the opportunity to change, rest or heal," he said.
Along with the low morale and widespread sickness among the troops, Harutyunyan highlighted that Armenian forces were not only fighting against Azerbaijan but also a multinational force.
"Certainly we did not fight against Azerbaijan, and definitely not only the Turkish officer or military equipment was on the battlefield during the hostilities. There was participation of Turkish soldiers, terrorists, mercenaries from different countries were too," he continued.
"I bow first to our soldiers, the most heroic guys in the world were our conscripts. I bow to the families and relatives of all the victims. We had to save the lives of those same conscripts," the Artsakh president said.
Tourkika Nea came to their own conclusions:
- Armenia was not militarily ready to face Azerbaijan.
- The threat of war has been around for years, but obviously there has not been the necessary military preparation.
- They may have taken Russia's aid for granted, which Russia did not exactly respond to.
- Obviously Turkish drones played an important role. Something that the Greek military must also take seriously.
None-the-less, it has come to a bitter tragic end as many Armenians have become refugees.
With redrawn borders, indigenous Armenians are now once again in exile from their homelands on the back of a Turkish-sponsored invasion.
This is the bitter truth.
