When asked about the conclusions the government had made a year after the 44-day war, Gagik Melkonyan, a member of the Civil Contract faction of the National Assembly and former Deputy Minister of Defense, told reporters on Monday during a visit to the Yerablur Pantheon, “We understood that we must be united and strengthen our army so that such things do not happen again.” According to him, one should not talk openly about what needs to be done in the army as it is private. The pro-government MP also expressed that what we lost in the last Artsakh war should be brought back, as Azerbaijan did when it lost. “I think we should bring back what we lost. We should not shout about bringing it back, but do it quietly. As they lost in 1994, 25 years passed and they took it back. Of course, we have lost our territories, we must bring them back, and for that we need patience and unification.”
When asked why Nikol Pashinyan did not say from the UN tribune that at least Hadrut and Shushi were occupied by Azerbaijan, Gagik Melkonyan said, “You mean, you think he should have said that? You should not say all that, you should do your job in silence.” When asked about if we are discussing regional peace, how should we liberate Shushi, Melkonyan answered, “We are talking about what we will do in years to come. We did not go today to capture Shushi. The time must come. We must be able to arm ourselves and create a professional army. Then it is a question of what we can do in the future.”
Lusine Budaghyan
