News - Armenia legislature deputy chair: Closing off interstate road is no way to resolve the problem

When the car rams into a crowd of people, it can be seen in the footage, there is no need to come, describe apocalyptic things here. Hakob Arshakyan, deputy speaker of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia, stated this at the NA session Friday, within the scope of the report on the activities of the Human Rights Defender in 2023, referring to the incident in Tavush Province. "It is clearly seen that some youth got excited and are breaking the windows of that car. There have been precedents for this, too. People's cars were attacked and windshields were broken in the center of [capital] Yerevan. My dears, it seems as if you have declared a war on windshields; there is no need to break people’s cars. Then you accuse the state that they opened a [criminal] case against those people who attacked the car, and the judge made a decision to arrest them. I understand the emotions of the people of Kirants [village], [other] border settlements. And I will ask to have a little trust and patience, and we will go this way together. The question is not that, the question is, can you and some politicians tell so many lies, every day they say, ‘villages were given from Armenia, the Turks came, occupied our heights.’ You influence people's emotions so much that they do such unacceptable things," said Arshakyan. Referring to the role of the Armenian state, he said: "What happened? A cross-section of people blocked the road. I do not welcome at all. Closing off the interstate road is not a way to resolve the problem and such a thing cannot be done. And the other cross-section wanted to cross that road by car. That is, his right is to cross the road with that car, and the other one is carrying out his protest action. The people who blocked the road attacked the car, broke [it]. Now, what is the role of the state when you come, accuse that they are breaking the car, the law enforcement officers take steps? So what should they do? Should they let the two persons take revenge on each other? They must stop everything in accordance with the law, as they did wonderfully, and they also did last year in the center of Yerevan, and they did it right. It is not allowed, it is impermissible, for citizens to start breaking each other's cars while exercising their rights. I find any speech justifying such behavior unacceptable. You can't break cars, intimidate people, justify extremeness by telling lies." Also, Arshakyan also expressed the view that every word spoken from the NA rostrum should not be a guide so that there are more extremeness, but a balancing one so that they do not happen anymore. In addition, he urged not to influence the emotions of the people of Kirants by spreading fake news. "We have to go through this difficult path together. Once again, I want to appeal to our compatriots in the border villages and ask them that we cross this path together with mutual trust. We won't, we don't do anything behind your back. Not a single meter, millimeter, or centimeter will be conceded from Armenia's sovereign territory; that is not even possible under our legislation, and we must go this path," said Hakob Arshakyan. As reported earlier, on April 19, the Armenian and Azerbaijani border delimitation commissions agreed to start border delimitation from Tavush Province of Armenia. The description of the given sections of the border line will be drawn up taking into account the clarification of the coordinates made as a result of geodetic measurements on the site, and this will be worded in a corresponding protocol-description, which must be agreed upon and signed by the two parties before May 15. The office of the Prime Minister of Armenia had announced that as a result of all this, Azerbaijan will receive 2.5 villages, and Armenia will get a reduction of security risks related to border delimitation. A few hundred meters of the motorway will be changed in the Kirants village section, whereas Voskepar village will not have a motorway problem. After the border delimitation, the armed forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan will withdraw in the area of the four villages, and they will be replaced by the border guards of the two countries. Residents of Tavush’s border villages have been protesting on the Armenia-Georgia interstate motorway since April 19. They are against the aforesaid version of border delimitation agreed between Armenia and Azerbaijan.