«An Armenian citizen can be kidnapped, and Nikol will say they are a captive»: Anna Mkrtchyan

Nikol Pashinyan's statements made in parliament yesterday lack any political, legal, or diplomatic basis, said Anna Mkrtchyan, a member of the ‘I Have Honor’ faction during a conversation with reporters in parliament.

“He himself said that there are verbal agreements in place, claiming that it’s a success because Armenia has always maintained communication with the Azerbaijani side through the co-chairs of the Minsk Group, and that he has operational contact with them afterward, noting in his notepad from his conversation with Aliyev. Yet yesterday, he refuted all of that in every possible way,” Mkrtchyan remarked.

Commenting on the upcoming preliminary meeting within the framework of the “3+3” format, Mkrtchyan asserted that under the current government, Armenia’s interests will never be protected in the negotiation process. “In any format, be it 3+3 or even the Minsk Group, Armenia does not have a representative in these negotiations. I believe there are friends and allies of Armenia from outside, and there are enemies of Armenia. It is impossible to consider that Armenia’s interests can be resolved through negotiations or by strengthening the army under Nikol Pashinyan; I rule that out,” she stated.

According to the parliamentarian, during previous meetings, the authorities did not discuss the sovereignty of Artsakh or the rights of life for the people of Artsakh. “This means that they have closed the page on Artsakh; Nikol now has another task—to convince the Armenian public that Armenia does not necessarily need a security system, that it is normal for an Armenian citizen to be kidnapped, and Nikol will say they are a captive, and then with his small group, he will start to persuade the public that we are not going after captives,” she noted.

She emphasized that the government is creating a fictitious reality by blaming the opposition for the country's security responsibility. “This fictitious reality is aimed at placing the state’s security responsibility on the opposition. No matter what issue they talk about—security, the kidnapping and torturing of our citizens—they ask, ‘What is the opposition doing?’ You won’t find a single country in the world with security issues that sees the solutions to those issues within the opposition or extra-parliamentary forces,” she added.