Armenia is in a difficult neighborhood; there are challenges in every direction. US Senator Roger Wicker stated this at the joint press conference after the meeting of his bipartisan delegation and Armenian colleagues in the National Assembly of Armenia Friday.
Russia is very engaged in this region, Iran is in the immediate vicinity. Perhaps they would not want to see freedoms, democracy, progress in the direction which Armenia had, Wicker said, in particular.
Also, the senator congratulated on the occasion of the Constitution Day of Armenia.
He quoted American Founding Father Thomas Paine’s words that democracy is hard to win, and tyranny is not easy to defeat.
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There are forces in the world and in this region that are trying to destroy democracy and freedoms. And Armenia is showing great determination and perseverance to prevent this from happening, Wicker said.
And now, more than ever, it is clear that the government and people of Armenia want to see a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, they want it to be completed and signed, border delimitation and demarcation to be completed, and prisoners of war from the last war to be released, the US senator added.
Also, the US delegation was conveyed the wish of the Armenian leadership to reopen the borders so that there would be free movement of people from neighboring Turkey, as well as to stimulate the economy in Armenia. The senator assured that they stand with Armenia in this matter.
Furthermore, the US senator addressed a word to their Azerbaijani partners and other OSCE members. He told them to beware of what the unification with President Vladimir Putin’s Russia can lead to. He advised Azerbaijan to try to understand the price of freedom, the value of freedom.