We Are Facing a Grave Dilemma: Vigen Khachatryan

“We are facing a grave dilemma; I believe we should welcome the Prime Minister's sincere reflections with the people,” stated Vigen Khachatryan, a member of the Civil Contract faction, during a session of the National Assembly.

“Essentially, the idea was raised that Nagorno-Karabakh has no future as part of Azerbaijan, years have passed, and today it can be said that this is also not correct, in my opinion. At that time, we knew that during the Soviet era the issue was raised to transfer Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia; that was a different problem, and we did not even draw conclusions from the events in Sumgait, we did not delve into the incidents in Baku, Kirovabad, and later we did not analyze how it happened that 24 villages were depopulated. We did not sit down and think about where this is leading us. Each of us should be sincere: what should we do to continue earning the trust of the people and to implement our program? This is a serious issue; in 1997, the ruling majority lost that trust and failed to implement the program of its leader. Not voicing this would be a mistake; each of us needs to account for whether our behavior, our actions, and our work convince people that we live for their interests, or if power has become a kind of comfort. We need to hold a separate internal discussion on what we should do to ensure the implementation of the peace treaty; we must be more dedicated to the ideas for which the people took to the streets and made the revolution.

We must explain to people that we are not abandoning Nagorno-Karabakh; we want to ensure the exclusion of its depopulation,” he emphasized.