“Samvel Shahramanian, whom you and the opposition camp love very much, is now negotiating, calling Baku every day,” Samvel Babayan, who had led Karabakh’s army in the 1990s, told reporters.
Babayan declined to elaborate on his claims, saying only that they are based on what he has heard from Karabakh lawmakers also based in Armenia. He did not name any of them.
Shahramanian did not react to the claims in the following hours. He could not be reached for comment throughout the day.
Shahramanian said in late October that Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian population, which fled to Armenia following the September 19-20 offensive, could and should be able to return to its homeland. He claimed that both Russia and the West are “interested” in that.
“I think that Azerbaijan is also interested in that because they are accused by the international community of forcibly deporting the population. And I think that negotiations should start on that issue,” he told Karabakh television.
The Karabakh leader has made no further public statements since then. He avoided any contact with the press after testifying last week before an Armenian parliamentary commission tasked with investigating the 2020 war with Azerbaijan.
Babayan also answered questions from pro-government members of the commission boycotted by the Armenian opposition. The controversial general, who has been accused by his detractors of collaborating with Armenia’s leadership, spoke to reporters right after his testimony.
Shahramanian was elected president by Karabakh lawmakers just ten days before the Azerbaijani offensive. Babayan’s party was the only local political group that opposed his election.
The Azerbaijani government says that the Karabakh Armenians are free to return to their homes if they agree to live under Azerbaijani rule. Only a few dozen of them are thought to have stayed in the depopulated region.