Should We Give the Zangezur Corridor Now or Tell Ruben to Go Back Where He Came From? Says Ruling Party MP

Until the 23rd, Ruben Vardanyan must resign. This announcement was made by Gagik Melkonyan, a member of the ruling ''Civil Contract'' faction and former deputy defense minister, without specifying how he came by the information that the Armenian minister of state for Artsakh will resign in the coming days and how this decision was made. This was reported by Radio Azatutyun.

“I just said I have information; I’m not going to explain where I got it, how it was obtained,” Melkonyan stated. However, the ruling MP does not hide that he believes it is right for Vardanyan to leave, even if that means meeting Aliyev's demands.

Last week, during Prime Minister Pashinyan's presence in Munich, Aliyev set a precondition, stating that he is willing to talk with the Armenians of Artsakh, but on the condition that Ruben Vardanyan steps down.

“Now let’s say Aliyev is demanding, ‘Give me the Zangezur corridor, then I will open up,’ should we create the ‘Zangezur corridor’ and give it to them, or should we tell Ruben Vardanyan, ‘Ruben, go back where you came from’? Of course, if the whole issue is connected to Ruben not being there, the authorities in Artsakh should tell Ruben to step down from this position,” the MP said.

Gagik Melkonyan believes that Vardanyan’s removal would not only assist in the opening of the Lachin corridor but also resolve the issue of fractured authority in Artsakh. “It was Ruben Vardanyan’s presence that caused discord and complications among the authorities. Ask him who sent him, and why he came to Artsakh, and why he introduced division among the Artsakh authorities; of course, it was the Russians who sent him, who sent him?”

The ruling MP is confident that Ruben Vardanyan was doing what the Russians were instructing, and he believes that this was also the reason for the recent tensions between the authorities of Armenia and Artsakh, suggesting that Vardanyan’s departure would remove the wedge stuck between Artsakh and Armenia.

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