Harutyunyan: ‘I wanted to send a letter to Azerbaijani President, but Pashinyan didn't allow’

“I wanted to address a letter to Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev during the war, but Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan didn't allow it,” Araik Harutyunyan, said during the trial of ethnic Armenians accused of committing war crimes, Report informs.

He mentioned that he had his last meeting with Bako Sahakyan and Arkadi Ghukasyan on the evening of October 18, 2020:

"I called Nikol Pashinyan and said that I was ready to write a letter to the President of Azerbaijan about stopping the war, and Bako and Arkadi would join if needed. The essence of the letter was simply to stop the war. The content of the letter we wrote to Pashinyan was that the war should be stopped in any way and indicate that this was the desire of Armenian residents. There wasn't a unified opinion in Armenia. Therefore, I said that we need to stop the war by referring to us. We were even ready to be the so-called culprits later, but human lives needed to be protected. Pashinyan held several meetings, met with the opposition, practically met with everyone. At the end of October 19, he called me back and said that the war continues. I don't want to go into details. The worst part was that the war was continuing."