We did not give away the sovereign territory of Armenia in Kiran: This is a success story - Pashinyan

The Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, has made a post on his Telegram channel regarding questions raised by Facebook users. Below is the full post:

“Dear citizens, apparently there are some technical issues on Facebook. I had promised to respond to a user's query, but that comment no longer appears on my page. Therefore, I am posting the commentary here as a separate entry.

First, let me address the observation that my current activity is related to the upcoming elections. I am confident that no leader of Armenia has visited as many communities officially and unofficially as I have, practically every year. Let’s go back and see what comments accompanied those visits. Many linked them to the possibility of early elections. There is nothing new in this regard. Nevertheless, my visits and interactions are indeed related to the elections. I would feel terrible if people said I go to villages or regions from one election to the next. My activity on social networks has never decreased. Last year I spent several hours in a live broadcast answering citizens' questions, I have published hundreds of posts and videos. I hold a press conference approximately once every two months and give public speeches. Why? Because talking to people is my duty; they are my employers, and I must share with them and respond to their pressing questions. This is the essence of democracy.

As for why I have decided to respond to certain social media users now, I will be honest: because I see that many things are being written about me, my family, and our political conduct on social networks, but no one has addressed me to clarify those writings. And it turns out that I leave those things uncommented, as if I have nothing to say, as if those writings are true. Although I have now realized that there are things I am unaware of even. Just like the story about the 8,000 drams in Arpi. Who would have thought what people could think under that closed line?

Next, there are discussions about the unacceptability of maps of a non-existent country, the USSR. I want to say directly that this approach is very dangerous for Armenia because refusing to recognize the maps from the Soviet era could mean rejecting statehood and independence, as we gained independence through the territory of Soviet Armenia, and the international community recognizes us that way. Adhering to our internationally recognized territory is a significant buffer for our security. I have stated multiple times in public speeches that if we do not accurately recognize our internationally recognized territory, we give the opportunity for others not to recognize it as well, citing us. By not accurately recognizing our internationally recognized territory, we open our gates to others.

We did not give away the sovereign territory of Armenia in Kiran; we have fixed our gate, our state border, our state threshold, and I regard this as a success story, a turning point of success. Go to Kiran and see that success with your own eyes.

As for the several problematic cadastral certificates in Kiran, we have long been studying their de jure foundations, and nothing has been found that would give us grounds to assume that they were issued illegally. Unfortunately, such practices are not rare in Armenia. Currently, law enforcement is dealing with the problematic cadastral certificates from Kiran, so I will not provide further comment.

Do not forget one more aspect: at that time, all these territories, both Kiran and Kheyrim, were part of the same state, the residents of both villages had the same passport, and so on. By the way, in Kiran, no one has intimidated anyone. We had a direct, honest conversation with the people, without cunning or makeup. Part of it even took place live,” he wrote.