Serzh Sargsyan explains why former Armenian leaders avoided recognizing Artsakh's independence

Former Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said on Saturday that his government deliberately avoided recognizing Artsakh's (Nagorno-Karabakh) independence to prevent Armenia’s isolation and the outbreak of a full-scale war.

Speaking at a congress of his Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) on Saturday, Sargsyan recalled the April 2016 war between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces, saying the Armenian army and diplomacy had jointly defended national interests.

“The enemy’s goals failed. They could not break our defensive line, nor our unity, faith and dignity,” he said.

Sargsyan explained that Armenia had informed the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs it would only recognize Karabakh’s independence under two conditions: if a prolonged, large-scale war erupted, or if mediators failed to restrain Azerbaijan from shifting the issue to other platforms, including the United Nations General Assembly.

“Recognition outside of these circumstances would have led to Armenia’s isolation from the international community and triggered a wide-scale war,” he said. “No large-scale war broke out under former governments thanks to our capable army and effective diplomacy, so the negotiation process was not jeopardized.”

He contrasted that with the large-scale and disastrous war in 2020, stressing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, whom he called "a coward populist", failed to stop it as he "did not want to be called a traitor.”