They Are Already Shouting: Bagrat for Prime Minister. He Will Be Deceived and Fooled. Gagik Melkonyan

If Bagrat is the bishop of the Tavush region, why is he coming to Yerevan? Is he coming to take Yerevan? Gagik Melkonyan, a member of the National Assembly from the Civil Contract faction, stated this in an interview with NEWS.am.

“There are authorities there that have explained to him that demarcation needs to take place and we should have a state border. However, the assertion that ‘our border is where our soldier’s foot is’ is a very dangerous thesis. Because there are Azerbaijani soldiers positioned in 200 square kilometers of our territory, according to his reasoning, that means we should withdraw from that 200 square kilometers. We have agreed with Azerbaijan that we will carry out the demarcation in accordance with the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration. We are the owners of those borders that are our territories,” he said.

When asked which maps are being used for the demarcation, he replied, “We are using the maps from 1991, based on the 1976 maps. Azerbaijan has agreed that we will proceed with demarcation based on the maps specified by the Alma-Ata Declaration,” he added in the interview.

He further noted that the risk of state collapse has somewhat weakened, as they have already left Tavush and are coming to Yerevan for protests. “If a war were to break out, we would be the ones suffering. Russian border guards would come there again, and we would become part of a Russian guberniya; Armenia would lose its independence alongside that. Now Bagrat is coming to Yerevan, which means that no one gathered around him in Tavush, the people did not rise up, and no war occurred. Now he is coming to Yerevan, who is welcoming and greeting him? Vahagnq Vardanyan, Arshak Karapetyan, all the refugees in Russia are welcoming him. He is standing next to the ‘Armenia’ faction. That is, he is welcomed and accompanied by those under the leadership of Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan. The same people have been on the streets for so many years, coming indoors during winter and going out to the streets in summer. If these people cannot gather the public to the streets, who is Bagrat? Is he Vardan Mamikonyan, who is he that can unite the people? He had a wonderful reputation in Tavush; the people accepted him and loved him as the bishop of Tavush. But now, after those incidents, listen to what people are saying. They are already shouting: ‘Bagrat for Prime Minister!’ Now that he has already heard he could become prime minister, he will be deceived and fooled. Those who told him to rise up and called him to acknowledge that the church is one of the vital links in our lives, he must also intervene,” Melkonyan stated in the interview.