“It Is No Longer Safe for Us”: Alen Simonyan Holds Meeting with German Officials

During a working visit to the Federal Republic of Germany, the delegation led by the President of the Armenian National Assembly, Alen Simonyan, held a meeting-discussion with the leadership of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and invited parliamentarians, political, and public figures.

The meeting commenced with a greeting from René Klaf, head of the foundation's international division, who emphasized the importance of the foundation's work with Armenia, mentioning the satisfactory results achieved in the direction of democracy.

The subsequent address by the President of the National Assembly focused on the preservation of democratic values and the necessary steps to be taken in the field of human rights and freedoms. Addressing the attendees, Alen Simonyan stated that Armenia, being a bearer of democratic values, believes that freedom and responsibility are prerequisites for an open and democratic society.

“We are also a part of the democratic society – we, the parliamentarians, who carry freedom of speech. In the modern world, parliamentary diplomacy is an integral part of foreign policy. Its role in the development of interstate relations is also significant,” he noted, adding that our country supports the values adopted by the foundation: personal, choice, economic freedom, and the rule of law.

Speaking about the mission undertaken by Armenia after the velvet revolution of 2018, the National Assembly President indicated that the Armenian authorities want to change the quality of relations in a region, an environment where it is no longer safe for us.

Alen Simonyan specified several critical moments related to the 44-day war and the events that followed, highlighting the presence of catastrophic developments surrounding Armenia and the Artsakh Armenians.

The President of the National Assembly recalled that the right of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh to live in accordance with their own identity has been constantly violated by both Soviet and independent Azerbaijan and continues to be contemptuously breached to this day.

“Since December 12, 2022, Azerbaijan has closed the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia and the outside world – the Lachin corridor, resulting in 120,000 residents being effectively under siege. Azerbaijan's actions constitute a gross violation of the obligations undertaken in the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, which is part of Azerbaijan's large-scale and systematic policy aimed at the ethnic cleansing of the Nagorno-Karabakh people,” Alen Simonyan stated, emphasizing that Azerbaijan does not even comply with the legally binding decision of the International Court of Justice. On March 5, three civilians were killed by an Azerbaijani sabotage group in Nagorno-Karabakh. He noted that just hours before the Naumann Foundation's discussion, Azerbaijanis opened fire on Armenians engaged in agricultural work.

The parliamentary leader expressed gratitude to the German government for supporting the decision to deploy a long-term EU monitoring mission in Armenia. Concluding his speech, he assured that Armenia stands for an agenda to open a peaceful era in the region.

Following the address of the President of the National Assembly, participants posed questions mainly related to the security and stability of the region, the targeted assessments and support given by the international community to Armenia and the Artsakh Armenians, the Armenia-Diaspora connections, and the public's interest in authority-opposition relations and local self-government elections.

The German colleagues were particularly interested in the progress of reforms in Armenia and the public sentiments regarding their tangibility. At the end of the meeting, the leadership of the foundation reaffirmed its readiness to support young, yet stable democracies such as Armenia.