RPA candidate David Shahnazaryan presented the facts showing how Sasun Mikayelyan’s controversial statement was not a coincidence.
He said that it is not at all beneficial for Azerbaijan to keep the peace, and to keep tensions low. If an enemy state presents something beneficial to you during diplomatic discussions, it’s a big trap and you must be careful. “On November 6th, Minister of Defense Davit Tonoyan said Azerbaijan has become constructive after establishing an operative connection with Armenia. The President of Azerbaijan made his usual unacceptable statements on the same day, saying that both Artsakh and Armenia are part of Azerbaijan. How is that being constructive? But it became clear that Tonoyan was right but in a different way. Ever since May, Azerbaijan brought its positions along the Nakhichevan border forward. In September, Azerbaijan increased the size of its territories in Nakhichevan, which were larger than the 800 hectares widely spoken about after the 2016 April War. Roads were built along these positions that were brought forward. Why were the so-called agreements made in Dushanbe necessary? They already built roads and brought it new technology. It’s unnecessary for me to mention how they already fired at the villages near Zangakatun and Areni. These sorts of things never happened before.”
According to Shahnazaryan, this has been written in the media, but it hasn’t been discussed. Such discussions would be taboo for the government. David Shahnazaryan does not think that Davit Tonoyan’s use of the word “constructive” was wrong, but it should have been used in the literal sense, considering that Aliyev is building structures along the border.
Hripsime Jebejyan
