I Don't Even See That the Current Authorities of Armenia Are the Guarantors of the Country's Security, Let Alone Artsakh: Vahram Balayan

An attempt was made to form a consensus between political forces and the president through negotiations regarding the governance of the country, but later these agreements were not realized, and therefore no agreement was signed. This was stated by Vahram Balayan, a member of the ARF parliamentary faction of the Republic of Artsakh, in an interview with Tert.am, commenting on the question of why there was still no consolidation among political forces in Artsakh, as mentioned by President Arayik Harutyunyan.

He noted that it was planned to sign a memorandum and move forward, which was supposed to address the new structure of the government, personnel appointments, and tasks. However, no agreement was reached as the president ultimately withdrew from all of this.

When asked whether the Armenian authorities are possibly the reason that the memorandum was not signed, Balayan responded, "It is possible, we can assume that the Armenian authorities also had some influence not to cooperate with these forces; that is one of the most likely options."

Regarding the current situation, when asked what guarantees there are for the security of Artsakh, he indicated that it has turned out that currently the main guarantor of Artsakh's security is Russia. "We just hope that Russia will really fulfill this mission. My hope is that, ultimately, the Republic of Artsakh and Russia do not establish new relations; they have a history of 350 years. It would be beneficial to develop the allied relations between both sides; neither side would lose anything, they would only gain. It remains to develop this, establish it on a new basis, and try to preserve the identity of Armenians in this region," he said.

When asked if there are any expectations from the Armenian authorities in this regard, he replied: "With great sorrow, I say, looking from Stepanakert today, I don't even see that these authorities guarantee the security of Armenia. Are they capable of ensuring the security of Armenia? Let alone talk about Artsakh, because for us, the Armenian population living in Artsakh, it is immensely important to maintain the sovereignty of Armenia. The last island of hope for all Armenians is Armenia. This country must be preserved at all costs; Armenia is the cradle of our people, and this cradle must be protected."

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