Pashinyan again blamed for 2020 war defeat on its fifth anniversary

Opposition politician Eduard Sharmazanov, a senior member of the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), again held Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan responsible for Armenia’s defeat in the 2020 Artsakh war on its fifth anniversary marked on September 27.

“The capitulation of the 44-day war has a clear name – Nikol Pashinyan,” Sharmazanov wrote on Facebook, adding that efforts to equate current and former leaders were “misguided and dangerous”.

Sharmazanov argued that holding past Armenian leaders, particularly the RPA, equally responsible alongside the current government reflected either “ignorance or political irresponsibility”. He drew historical analogies, contrasting former heroic commanders and leaders with figures he called traitors.

“The past was marked by victories, while the present is disaster,” he said.

According to Sharmazanov, the former governments represented “Free Artsakh” and “Independent Armenia,” while the current authorities embody “occupation”, “Azerbaijani subjugation” and “the specter of capitulation.”

He called the Republican Party “a symbol of Independent Armenia”, branding “Nikolism” as "a path to Azerbaijani domination".