During a conference of parliaments of CSTO member states in Saint-Petersburg, Armen Khachatryan, MP from the “Civil Contract” faction, stated: “The Azerbaijani armed forces have occupied about 127 square kilometers of Armenian territory over the past year”.
On October 25th, the journalists reminded Gagik Melkonyan, MP from the “Civil Contract” faction, the Prime Minister mentioned 10 km. Before that, he talked about 40 km. How they managed to occupy 127 km2?
“The Prime Minister said 40 km. Another 60 km has been added. After the Jermuk events on September 13th, the number increased. They occupied our territory, we had an alarming number of casualties and loss of positions, and the front line changed. I was there seven days ago,” Gagik Melkonyan said.
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Seyran Ohanyan, the head of the “Armenia” faction and former Defense Minister, had announced in Tavush that Azerbaijan occupied 50 positions, which Melkonyan refuted.
“Does this mean they have taken the Eastern area?” he asked. Melkonyan stated that Azerbaijan is firming its bases as they plan to stay in those territories but when the international observers arrive, they will sign a peace treaty.
Answering the question of what expectations he has from the upcoming Putin-Pashinyan-Aliyev meeting, Melkonyan responded: “I do not have any positive expectations. The meeting might not even occur. Who said it will? You were told that from the Kremlin, but we were not told anything. The meeting had to take place in Astana. Why didn’t it happen? They did not want it to happen. If the Russian king wanted a meeting, he would organize it, but he did not want to. When he officially invites us, we will see. I do not have any positive expectations. Have you heard Aliyev’s last speech? He said that if we do not grant the corridor, he will take it differently: as soon as Aliyev sets foot in Russia, he feels good, but when he visits Brussels, his manner of speaking changes, and he approaches the subject differently. He is different in Russia as if he is in his homeland: he feels quite at home.
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
