Pashinyan said he personally made the “very difficult” decision, as a result of the current military situation, believing it to be the best under the circumstances.

“I kneel before all our victims, I bow to all our soldiers, fighters, generals and volunteers, who have protected their homeland with their lives. They have saved Artsakh,” Pashinyan wrote in a Facebook post, using the Armenian term for Nagorno-Karabakh.

We fought till the end. And we will win. Artsakh stands.

While this is not a victory, the PM said, it will need to signal a rebirth of Armenian national unity. Pashinyan called for Armenians to “re-examine our years of independence so we can plan our future and not repeat the mistakes of the past.”

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