Khachatur Sukiasian, a wealthy businessman and parliamentarian, accused the Karabakh Armenians of not fighting against Azerbaijani troops when he commented on Thursday on their recent protests against the Armenian government’s decision to largely end housing allowances paid to many Karabakh refugees.
“That’s what should happen,” he told 24news.am, referring to the socioeconomic plight of the more than 100,000 refugees.
When told about the fact that at least 223 residents of Karabakh were killed during the 24-hour hostilities in September 2023, Sukiasian alleged, “You’re lying. They didn’t suffer casualties in Karabakh in 2023. Only ten people [died.]”
The tycoon representing Pashinian’s Civil Contract party admitted grossly understating the death toll and apologized for that in a short statement released later in the day. But he raged at journalists when they pressed him on the subject on Friday.
“Listen, I’ve apologized,” Sukiasian yelled in a parliament lobby. “Get out of here.”
Azerbaijan launched the offensive in Karabakh on September 19, 2023 nearly three years after a ceasefire deal brokered by Russia halted a six-week Armenian-Azerbaijani war. Its troops greatly outnumbered and outgunned Karabakh’s small army that received no military support from Armenia. Also, Russian peacekeepers deployed in Karabakh did not try to prevent or stop the offensive.
Karabakh’s leaders agreed to disband the Defense Army in return for Baku stopping the assault and allowing the region’s more than 100,000 remaining residents to flee to Armenia. They maintain that this was the only way of guaranteeing the physical safety of the Karabakh Armenians.
According to Armenia’s Investigative Committee, 198 Karabakh soldiers and 25 civilians were killed in the brief but fierce fighting. Karabakh’s exiled leadership reported higher numbers -- 265 soldiers and 21 civilians -- in a statement that strongly condemned Sukiasian. The statement released by its Information Center in Yerevan accused him of subjecting the victims and their families to “psychological terror.”
Sukiasian echoed claims made by Armenian parliament speaker Alen Simonian in February. He also alleged on Friday that most Karabakh men “didn’t fight” in the 2020 war either.
At least 3,800 Armenian soldiers were killed during the six-week war. Karabakh Armenians account for a large part of that number.
“One gets the impression that [Sukiasian thinks] all 150,000 Karabakh residents, including women children and the elderly, should have fought,” Hranush Kharatian, a prominent Armenian sociologist, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. She said such statements made by Pashinian allies are aimed at absolving the premier and his political team of blame for the fall of Karabakh.
Sukiasian already raised eyebrows last May when he said that opposition figures and other individuals trying to topple Pashinian risk losing their freedom, assets and even lives. Pashinian’s party disavowed the threat.
Sukiasian, 63, has held parliament seats under Armenia’s current and former governments. Since Pashinian came to power in 2018, the tycoon and his extended family have significantly expanded their business interests not least because of lucrative government contracts controversially won by their firms.
