"Problems Are Deliberately Created to Eventually Bring Humanitarian Aid from Aknai" Says Artsakh MP

Currently, the most acute issue in Artsakh is the lack of bread, with queues forming as not all bakeries are operational and stores are empty. This was reported by David Galstyan, a member of the Artsakh "Justice" faction, in an interview with NEWS.am.

“Everyone has what they have in their personal cellars, only bread queues exist, and there is nothing else. Occasionally, cigarettes are brought to stores to sell, causing queues to form at that time too. There are no other goods available that would create queues. We see that pregnant women are facing issues and children are lacking vitamins. There is a problem with baby food, and very little medication is available,” he remarked.

Referring to the information that a meeting between Baku and Stepanakert was scheduled for August 1 in Bratislava, but Azerbaijan refused and suggested meeting in Yevlakh, Galstyan stated that they have no such information: “Considering the behavior of this government, it can be assumed that this is being done intentionally; these problems are created deliberately so they can eventually negotiate with Azerbaijan or open the road from Aknai (Aghdam) to try bringing humanitarian aid, justifying that it was the people's demand and not the government's decision. They hope that this will mitigate their future responsibilities, but I can assure you that this will not happen.”

“Both for the created situation and for the situations that will arise later, this government is responsible. When freight transport was regularly conducted, this government decided to import beer, ketchup, and mayonnaise, misjudged the situation and exhibited their approach through business plans, resulting in our current predicament. I declare with full responsibility that Araik Harutyunyan cannot display the behavior of a state manager and is acting upon implementing a business plan,” said the opposition MP.

In response to the question of whether it is possible that the Aghdam-Stepanakert route might actually operate at some point, he replied: “When you have defeated authorities, Azerbaijan understands this and is convinced that these defeated authorities are gradually making concessions to accomplish their will. Until we rid ourselves of these defeated authorities, such steps are inevitable. A change in leadership could introduce a breakthrough. Although Araik Harutyunyan never actually became a leader, as the authority representing Artsakh, he cannot take the right steps to exit this situation. Today, a breakthrough could occur if the Artsakh authorities resign. In all other scenarios, they are gradually leading us to accept the created situation and accept the next demands from Azerbaijan.”