Former Karabakh Minister of Defense Samvel Babayan says he will join forces with Armenia’s Azatakan (Liberal) Party and run for office in the June snap parliamentary election.

In a statement released today by his office, Babayan, one of the founders and main commanders of the Artsakh Defense Army during the 1990s Karabakh War, says that Armenia is “in danger of losing its statehood” due to the ineptitude and ignorance of the political-military leadership in Armenia and Artsakh for the past twenty years.

Claiming that his proposals to bolster Artsakh’s defense during last year’s war were ignored out of jealousy, Babayan, a controversial figure in his own right, says he can no longer remain indifferent to the plight of post-war Armenia.

“I realize that I have no right to betray the memory of our sons who won the first war in Artsakh and died for the cause of their fathers in the second war. I cannot watch indifferently how they make my invincible nation a broken and despairing population, dividing it into political strife. I do not want our army to be broken and our soldier defenseless. I cannot tolerate the enemy taking over my land, violating the rights of my people,” Babayan’s statement reads.

Babayan writes that he is reentering politics to “rebuild our united homeland vis joint efforts”, adding that Armenians did it once before under worse conditions than today.

Babayan, who emerged as one of the most powerful figures to emerge in Karabakh after the 1990s war, entered Armenia politics on various occasions.

He funded the Law and Unity bloc in the 1999 parliamentary election in Armenia.

After being forced out as Artsakh Defense Army Commander in 1999, he was charged with plotting to assassinate then Artsakh President Arkdy Ghukasyan.

Babayan, in 2001, was sentenced to fourteen years and later released from a Shushi maximum security prison for health reasons.

Placed on probation, Babayan left for Moscow and didn’t return to Armenia until 2016, after clashes broke out on the Karabakh_Azerbaijan border. At the time, he said he returned “out of concern for his people and country”.

Babayan supported the candidacy of ex-Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan in the lead-up to the 2017 parliamentary election in Armenia.

In Marc 2017, Armenia’s National Security Service arrested Babayan on charges of smuggling surface-to-air missiles and counterfeit Euros into the country. He was found guilty and sentenced to six years. Following the 2018 “Velvet Revolution” in Armenia, he was released.

Babayan announced that he would run in the March 2020 general election in Artsakh but was disqualified on residency issues.

He was appointed Secretary of the Security Council of Artsakh in May 2020, and resigned from the post on November 10 that year, accusing leaders of Armenia and Artsakh of treason and criminality.