‘You’re Just Amazed by What the Soldiers Say’: Tigran Arzakantsyan

Businessman and member of the ‘Alliance’ party, Tigran Arzakantsyan writes: ‘I frequently visit our borders and talk to soldiers. You’re just amazed when they tell how Azerbaijanis can freely enter our territories, attempt to seize them, and even audaciously take our soldiers captive. These issues require immediate solutions. We must, first and foremost, restore the security of our borders, which requires significant investments. For investments to occur, our economy needs to develop and strengthen. This is a very important issue; no state can survive without ensuring border security.’

‘Today, Armenia must recognize the independence of the Republic of Artsakh and engage in diplomatic efforts on all international platforms for the recognition of Artsakh by friendly states. We need to re-establish cooperation with the Minsk Group's co-chairmanship to reach a new level of conflict resolution. The 44-day war violated all norms of international law, and what happened yesterday occurred in the presence of peacekeepers. All this once again proves that we must act on all international platforms towards the de-occupation of Artsakh territories and the recognition of Azerbaijan as an international criminal.’

‘We find it unacceptable to address the issue of unblocking borders while neighboring states, Azerbaijan and Turkey, have hostile relations with us. How can we unblock routes and establish friendly relations with a country that has invaded our sovereign territory, seizing it, and refuses to leave? Only when they respect our state and our authority will we engage in unblocking. And we must achieve all this as quickly as possible.’