Armenian MP under fire after claiming only 10 Armenians died in 2023 war

A prominent MP from the ruling Civil Contract party has insisted that the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians did not resist Azerbaijan during its final assault on the region in September 2023, claiming that only 10 soldiers had been killed. He later apologised for mentioning the incorrect figures of the casualties, claiming that he had no ulterior motives behind his statement.

Khachatur Sukiasyan’s statement on Thursday came during an interview with 24News.

When asked about the statements from Parliamentary Speaker Alen Simonyan in February 2025, who blamed Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians for not fighting back in September 2023, Sukiasyan said the assessment was ‘politically correct’.

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The last president of Nagorno-Karabakh demanded that Simonyan publicly apologise.

OC MediaArshaluys Barseghyan

After the journalist asserted that a large number of casualties had been sustained, Sukiasyan accused the 24News journalist of ‘lying’ three times in a row.

‘They did not have casualties in [Nagorno-Karabakh] in [20]23. There were 10 people [who died]’, Sukiasyan said, claiming that the rest of the casualties were the result of a deadly fuel depot explosion in the aftermath of the attack, which killed over 200 people and injured almost 300 more.

At least 200 soldiers were reportedly killed and more than 400 were wounded during fighting with Azerbaijani forces.

Following outrage over the comments, later on Thursday, Sukiasyan’s press secretary issued an apology on his behalf, saying he had ‘mistakenly mentioned 10 casualties instead of 210’.

‘I apologise for stating the wrong number and note that there was no [ulterior motive]. I bow in respect before the memory of all the martyrs’, the statement read.

On Friday, the Nagorno-Karabakh InfoCentre, an information platform created by the former authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh, published an open letter from relatives of soldiers who died in 2023, addressed to the former commander of the Nagorno-Karabakh Army, Kamo Vardanyan.

They urged Vardanyan to make a clear statement to ‘silence that divisive and manipulative narrative with facts’.

‘We will consider not responding to the open letter as a highly condemnable complicity in that divisive phenomenon, and as disrespect toward the fallen soldiers of the army [Vardanyan] led and their relatives’, the letter read.

The same day, Sukiasyan yelled at journalist Narek Kirakosyan at parliament who asked him to comment on his Thursday statement. Sukiasyan also insulted Kirakosyan, calling him ‘a very bad person’, urging him to ‘keep silent’.

Sukiasyan then refused to respond to Kirakosyan’s question in the press briefing, saying that he ‘need[s] a scandal in order to make a profit [via YouTube]’.

Responding to other journalists, Sukiasyan insisted that he had made an honest mistake with the figures, and after he realised the mistake, had immediately asked his team to issue a correction.

However, during the same briefing, he offered new accusations, saying that during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War ‘most [Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians] did not fight — some, out of spite, [committed] sabotage, and some, out of spite, provided information [to Azerbaijan]’.

Sukiasyan’s statement marked yet another instance of the increasing hostility by the government and its supporters towards Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh. A new wave of such comments followed a major rally on 29 March by refugees and the subsequent series of protests against cuts in social support provided to them.

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The protests are against the government’s decision to cut state support covering rental costs.

OC MediaArshaluys Barseghyan