The Mayor of Meghri 'Saved' an MP from 'My Step'

Currently, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is in the Syunik province. A little while ago, he was in the city of Agarak, part of the consolidated community of Meghri, where the residents took to the streets chanting 'Nikol is a traitor', 'Nikol go away', and other similar slogans.

In a conversation with ArmDaily.am, Meghri Mayor Mkhitar Zakaryan stated that he was not informed about Pashinyan's visit or its purposes. He said that the Prime Minister visited the military unit in Agarak, and the news quickly spread that the Prime Minister was there.

“He came and entered the military unit; the military unit is in Agarak, not Meghri. After he left, he was supposed to go to Agarak Square from there and then to the cemetery of the fallen soldiers. However, people gathered and blocked his way. I was told that citizens had questions for Pashinyan regarding Aliyev's announcement about occupying Zangezur yesterday; I wasn’t there at that time, so perhaps he didn’t respond well, and the people became agitated. Frankly, after Aliyev's statement yesterday, there is anxiety among the population in the community; it is actually a tense situation,” said the Mayor of Meghri.

He noted that residents expected a substantial explanation from the Prime Minister regarding Aliyev's statement; however, instead of answers, they heard expressions like, 'You are the capitulators' and other similar statements.

When asked by ArmDaily.am whether there were supporters of the Prime Minister present, the Mayor mentioned that there might have been, but there were more protesters: “You know, the prospect of becoming a refugee is always in front of me as a Meghri resident. I sincerely wish to be wrong; I wish it turns out that our anxiety was excessive, but our ancestors kept this land for a thousand years under worse conditions. Now we seem to be the generation that 'will give away' the land, because that corridor that the 'cultured' colleague wants in that format is the end of our independence. If they can come through our territory and enter without following our state regulations, it means the end of our sovereignty. Someone there says that I organized the protest; in other words, if I weren’t there, do they think our people would adapt to this idea?”

The Mayor of Meghri also informed that there is a café on the interstate highway M2 that connects Iran and Armenia, where Pashinyan entered to have lunch for an hour and a half, during which time they kept the interstate road closed. Trucks and military vehicles coming from Iran were forced to stop on the road.

Zakaryan also denied the rumors that he organized the protest action. He refuted information that the participants of the demonstration were supporters of the Republican Party or Robert Kocharyan.

“These people have nothing to do with Kocharyan. If you come here and walk around, you will understand that atmosphere; they can write whatever they want, claiming that it is the former ones, the thieves; our people aren’t interested in that right now; we want assurance that we won’t become refugees. They are writing about me being a deserter; the protest was spontaneous. I received the news that he had gone to the Agarak military unit, then came out, and chaos broke out. I haven’t seen such a security detail in 12 years of being a community leader; I have never witnessed anything like it. I mean the quantity, with the deputy and those brought with masks, including special forces. It would be nice if our borders were defended with such zeal,” said the recently injured Mayor of Meghri during the last Artsakh war.

He noted that many of the residents participating in the protest were those who had fought in the last war in Artsakh. Zakaryan mentioned that residents did not allow Pashinyan to approach even the cemetery. Pashinyan wanted to enter the cemetery and visit the graves of the fallen soldiers.

“I was there at that time, trying to calm down. We had a former 'Prosperous Armenia' governor from Sisian who is now an MP from 'My Step', he tried to shout, and I barely managed to free him; I took the blow instead because it could have had bad consequences for him—I wouldn’t want that. Besides, he had said that the people of Syunik have no problem; they can live with Turks, and he began shouting, saying he didn't say such things, and people thought he was cursing; there was a small brawl,” reported Zakaryan.