Directly State: Is What Happened a Positive Development for Armenia or Not? Tunyan to Opposition Colleagues

Babken Tunyan, a member of the National Assembly from the ruling My Step Alliance and deputy chair of the permanent commission on economic issues, directed a question at opposition colleagues from the podium of the National Assembly. He recalled that it was confirmed yesterday that for the first time in the last 30 years, Kazakh wheat is set to be imported into Armenia via Azerbaijani territory.

The member of parliament expressed surprise at the reactions he has been reading since yesterday, noting that it seems like something bad has happened. He stated, "I want to ask, since there are people in your faction who have held government positions, including in the fields of economics and international relations—Mr. Minasyan, Mr. Khachatryan, Mr. Avetisyan, Mr. Rustamyan, and Mr. Gevorgyan—please stand up and state directly, without maneuvering, whether this development is a positive one for Armenia or not."

Deputy Speaker Ruben Rubinyan joined in, saying from his seat, "I agree with the question raised." He then took the opportunity to speak as the presiding officer. "Mr. Tunyan inspired me, because I think his question should be developed further. I would like to take it a step further. If I correctly recall, the August 8 declaration from Washington was described by the opposition as a unilateral concession, claiming that Azerbaijan would be allowed to carry out transit through Armenian territory, while Armenia would gain nothing," Rubinyan highlighted. He referred to Robert Kocharian's interview, in which he questioned the logic behind such developments if Armenia cannot establish a connection to Iran and Russia.

According to Rubinyan, now the unilateral concession begs the question, how is it possible if we are able to import wheat from Kazakhstan? "Is that a unilateral concession on our part? The question is that finally, we have diversification of sources, and I believe what was announced yesterday and what is about to happen is indeed revolutionary," he posed.