12:20, 15 January 2024

YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. Armenia has been doing everything in order to have open borders and maintain its sovereignty, a lawmaker has said.

“The Republic of Armenia cannot in any case give up its sovereignty,” Member of Parliament Vagharshak Harutyunyan from the Civil Contract Party said when asked to comment on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s latest statements demanding an extraterritorial corridor through Armenia to Nakhijevan. “Armenia has been doing everything in order to have open borders, and maintain its sovereignty. We are going in that direction, this is a priority for us,” the MP said.

He added that the Armenian government must continue to advance the peace agenda. “We could face multiple difficulties on this path, they will try to provoke us, they will try to hinder the peace process, but politically this is a priority,” the lawmaker said.

Harutyunyan added that the Armenian government will do everything to make the peace agenda become reality.

He said that Armenia will not deviate from the peace agenda, but implementing it alone would be impossible.

“But we must prioritize Armenia’s national interests above everything else. And I personally believe that our state interests require us to advance the peace agenda despite all difficulties and the surprising statements,” he added.

“Our desire is to make the 29 thousand 800 square kilometers area of Armenia safe. This path could be difficult and perhaps even painful. But we must take these steps reasonably to its destination, because only in that destination can Armenia have the future we dream about,” Hakobyan concluded.