Suren Petrosyan, the chairman of the Democratic Unification party, told Aravot.am that the opposition MPs who visited Aghavno urged him to leave immediately. “I say with full responsibility that Artsakh is being surrendered in a coordinated way by the joint efforts of the government and the opposition.”
In response, Aspram Krpeyan, deputy of the Armenia faction, told Aravot, “Let him give names and you will be able to make clarifications according to the addressees… Let him open up and name the people who said anything to him.” And MP Kristine Vardanyan noted, “I will refrain from addressing any manipulative and slanderous accusations.” Suren Petrosyan, who was hosted on Aravot’s “Areresum (Confrontation)” program, reacted like this in response to our proposal to open up.
“I’m not going to give names, because it’s out of the scope of kindness. I’m sure we’ll be heard or seen and the recipients can actually identify themselves.” He noted that the deputies of the Armenia faction could contact them and find out who is the addressee of the claims. “And it was not only about the RA opposition, but also about the opposition of the Republic of Artsakh, whose first word or goal, as a matter of fact (at least it seemed so at first glance), was to justify this process and show that there is simply no other way out.”
The other guest of the program, the director of documentary films Hovhannes Ishkhanyan, who also recently lived in Aghavno, also criticized the opposition on his Facebook page, stating that “36 deputies can come to Berdzor, go from house to house for 1-2 days, and check the residents’ moods, psychological state, wishes. Then, based on this, they hold a meeting, try to find opportunities not to hand over the territory, and not to exile them, to change their psychological state.”
Read also
Hovhannes Ishkhanyan disagreed with the observation that they say that the handover of these territories was already predetermined by the announcement of November 9, 2020. “The announcement of November 9 did not predetermine that there should be ethnic cleansing, that Armenians should be removed from their homes. In addition, only the demands of the Azerbaijani side are met.” He raised a question. “How did it happen that this village, which they had selflessly defended for 2 years, suddenly decided that it should surrender… And Andranik Chavoushian, the head of Aghavno who heroically defended the village, suddenly became disappointed and decided that he should leave. Being present in the village, it was possible to find answers to these questions.
First, Hayk Khanumyan from Artsakh came to announce the news. During that meeting, when it was said that you will be paid for your houses, whatever certificates you will receive, there were those who agreed.” However, based on contacts with many people, he added, “When we talked to the villagers individually, almost all of them complained that people agreed to go out for money. Only one of my interviewees was very excited about the certificate.”
Hovhannes Ishkhanyan, having this image in front of his eyes, is sure that it was possible to carry out actions, but at once they were disheartened that nothing could be done. “They had already decided in Yerevan that it was over, it was surrendered.”
Seyran Ohanyan, head of the Armenia faction, specifically said regarding these reprimands. “I want intelligent people to understand that today’s authorities are at the helm of the state. They make decisions and implement their decisions to the end. The Armenia alliance and individual MPs who were there went to support the head of Aghavno, to study the situation on the spot, to give an appropriate assessment, but these actions are carried out by today’s authorities.”
The chairman of the Democratic Unification party considered all these to be excuses. “We understand, everyone says that the government is guilty and responsible. I was one of the first to always say that this government is the one and the main threat to state and national security today. This is clear, and they do not hide their aspirations regarding Artsakh and Armenia. You (opposition) speak 180 degrees differently, but there is no business behind your speech…
When we talk about the state, homeland, and land, we are no longer ready to make sacrifices for them. For example, it has always been a question for me: the people who liberated Shushi (we are talking about generals, not ordinary soldiers) how did it happen that one of those glorious people did not stay until the end and even if they did not fall in Shushi, they were not ready to sacrifice, but everyone retreated first… This is actually an important indicator.” In response to the observation that people’s right to life and safety could not be ensured if they stayed and lived there, Hovhannes Ishkhanyan said that they threatened that if the residents did not leave, the “Turkish Special Forces” would enter and massacre everyone.
“In other words, the right to life of civilians was directly threatened. Now, if such a threat was made to the Armenian civilian population, in this case, did not the Armenian lawyers, deputies, and other relevant people have anything to do when they were there? First of all, they would increase the security guarantee by being there, secondly, the issue that we will come to eliminate the civilian population will become a problem to be discussed in international courts in the future.”
He summarized: “At that moment in Aghavno, when people of your identity and kind are being exiled from their homes and you are not by their side, even if it is just to show your presence, it shows that when they say homeland, they don’t really imagine the people in that homeland, but only the area.”
Anna ISRAELYAN
