VIDEO. We Say Sanasar, Negotiate Around Baghdasar: That’s Our Problem - Pashinyan

What is our fundamental problem? That we say 'Sanasar' from this podium, for example, yet during negotiations, we negotiate around 'Baghdasar.' That is the problem. Our issue is that we have created a vocabulary that only makes sense to us, as Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated while responding to a question from opposition MP Anna Grigoryan regarding the situation around the sections of the Syunik road, Kovsakan, and Sanasar, referencing the negotiation process conducted by previous administrations.

"You say we have created a vocabulary acceptable to us. But we wouldn’t be saying 'Eyvazli'," responded the MP to Pashinyan's speech, asking him another question about the oral agreements reached concerning the Goris-Kapan interstate road with Azerbaijan.

"You have not presented any written document until today. You say control over these roads has been verbally handed over to Azerbaijan. Thus, there has been a verbal understanding. We have a physical security issue for the residents in those areas and for the people crossing that road," Grigoryan noted.

Pashinyan insisted that he has said nothing about a verbal agreement, and that the villages in Syunik are not blocked. "Our villages have not been and will not be under blockade. Are there risks? Yes, there are risks, and the government of Armenia is taking all necessary measures to manage those risks," stated the head of the Armenian government.

Reiterating the issue of place names, Pashinyan emphasized a previously expressed thought: "The fact that the government of Armenia comes to you saying 'Sanasar,' yet when going to negotiate in Vienna, says 'Baghdasar,' that is the problem."