“President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan has announced that he intends to disperse the army. I asked him, ‘Who gave you such a right?’ He answered, ‘The Azerbaijanis demand it,’” said Ashot Harutyunyan, a member of the board of the “Armenian Population forcibly displaced from Shushi” NGO, during a discussion on the socio-economic and educational issues of citizens living in Artsakh, deported from Artsakh, and living in Armenia.
The discussion was organized by the NA Standing Committee on Human Rights Protection and Public Affairs. “Azerbaijanis want a lot. And so what? You have to maintain our army. And, yes, our representatives demand immediate recognition of the interim status of Artsakh. Yes, many consider it premature, even my friends from Europe call me and ask me not to raise this issue. However, I always say that this issue is very important to us,” Ashot Harutyunyan said, adding that if the Armenian authorities had recognized Artsakh’s independence in time, it would have been possible to avoid a war with Azerbaijan.
Read also
According to Karine Movsisyan, a representative of the Return to Kashatagh non-governmental organization, the citizens forcibly displaced from Artsakh should receive a certain status, not of refugees, but of internally displaced persons. The speaker does not consider the implemented social programs sufficient, to put it mildly. “This is a disgrace. There have been cases of providing social benefits to people who have not lived in Kashatagh for years. People who stay there until the end still can not use this or that program. Many of their appeals and complaints have gone unanswered, and no one can understand why people have never been provided with the legal means.” Karine Movsisyan concludes that the rights of IDPs have been massively violated.
Mariam Avagyan, coordinator of the Assembly of Refugees from the Azerbaijani SSR, is indignant that the authorities have tangled up the idea of unification of the two Armenian states. They turned the sovereignty of Armenia into a tool aimed against Armenians, and they did not use sovereignty. Instead, they turned it into a bayonet to kill off Armenians, which continues today. “Don’t pretend that Ilham is doing that on your behalf.” She also touched upon the issue of refugees and internally displaced persons.
“Why do we deal with the problems of migrant Indians and Iranians, but not with the people of Syunik or the Kirovabad and Baku refugees hiding in Vardenis? It is a global problem, why don’t we deal with it? Now the next camel has kneeled, and now it’s the people of Hadrut, Kashatagh, Shushi, Karvachar, those who have fled from Akna… There is nothing, a year has passed, and they are criticizing each other.” According to Mariam Avagyan, refugees and internally displaced persons have not been given status so far because it is not favorable. She also asked mockingly, “What country is the displaced person from Artsakh a citizen of?”
It should be noted that Lusine Avanesyan, the spokesperson for the President of the Artsakh, stated that Ashot Harutyunyan’s statement about how the President of Artsakh intends to disperse the Defense Army at the request of the Azerbaijani side did not correspond to reality. In response to the clarifying question of the “Artsakhpress” correspondent, Lusine Avanesyan noted, “The Artsakh Defense Army has been and remains one of the main guarantors of the security of the Artsakh Republic. Right now, our soldiers are in their positions facing the enemy. The issue of disbanding the Defense Army is not on the agenda of the Artsakh government. All discussions related to the Defense Army are related to reorganization, rearmament, modernization, and other issues. We have a lot to do to build our future, and the army has a key place in that.”
Nelly Grigoryan
