News - Ruling force MP: Our wish is to make 29,800-square-kilometer territory of Armenia safe

The prime minister's statements are public, and these statements are aimed at the conclusion of the peace agenda that we have declared and to move the issue forward, and I believe that we should make concrete situational assessments here for comments. Vagharshak Hakobyan, an MP of the ruling majority Civil Contract Faction in the National Assembly NA) of Armenia, told this to reporters in the NA Monday—and referring to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statement that he considered the statements being made by Azerbaijan in recent days as a major blow to the peace process. "Yes, we regularly have discussions about both the peace agenda and the course of striving for the peace agenda, and everything happens publicly, the prime minister and many of our [political] teammates also inform the public," said Hakobyan. To the remark that Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev stated that Jermuk and Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan are Azerbaijani cities, the Armenian ruling force lawmaker said: "I recall for years, we all witnessed that rhetoric. I believe the peace agenda, which has been announced by the political authorities, should move forward steadily and with logical steps. We may have many difficulties along that road. They will try to provoke us, hold back from the peace agenda. But politically it is a priority, and we will do everything to make the peace agenda become a reality." "It’s another thing is that it is certainly impossible to do this unilaterally. I want to assure once again that Armenia has no desire to deviate from the peace agenda. However, we are obligated to put the state interest of Armenia above everything else. And I myself believe that our state interest requires that we follow the peace agenda, taking into account all the difficulties, surprising and also unexpected announcements for us, but we must move towards this with an agenda," Hakobyan added. Regarding whether a peace treaty can be signed in the conditions when the Azerbaijani troops are still in the territory of Armenia, Vagharshak Hakobyan said: "The peace agenda is the agenda that the national interest of Armenia requires, and we will not take any steps other than those aimed at the national interest. Our wish is to make the territory of 29,800 square kilometers of Armenia safe. And this path is quite difficult, it is furrowy, and maybe it can also be painful. But we must logically take these steps to their destination because only at this destination can Armenia have the future we dream  of and envision." As for the Azerbaijani president objective of having a road without monitoring through the territory of Armenia, Vagharshak Hakobyan said. "Let me tell our objective. Armenia cannot give up its sovereignty under any circumstances. Armenia has done and is doing everything to maintain [its] sovereignty, have open borders. We are going in this direction, and this is the overarching task for us."