Month: April 2026

A protest action is underway in front of the EU office in Yerevan. The 6 opposition parties demand that the EU structures do not turn a blind eye to the illegal actions of the RA government and speak out about the pressure applied to the opposition forces, non-government media and activists.

Let’s remind that yesterday 6 political forces of Armenia addressed a letter to the heads of states participating in the European Political Community Summit to be held in Yerevan and to the EU leadership, presenting the situation in the country and noting that the holding of the European Political Community Summit in Yerevan is fraught with a dangerous political message, that is, the democratic retreat can be ignored when it is politically convenient.

The opposition forces handed over the letter to the EU ambassador in RA today.

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On April 28, a meeting of the Armenia-Turkey joint working group for the restoration and operation of the Gyumri-Kars railway took place in Kars. In the context of the expansion of transport communications in the region, the parties emphasized the importance of the early launch of the Gyumri-Kars railway. The RA Foreign Ministry issued an official message about this.

At this moment, how realistic is the resumption of the Gyumri-Kars railway, what does Armenia gain from the resumption of the railway?

Ara Marjanyan, UN national expert on energy issues speaking about these issues, he said that the most positive aspect of the resumption of the Kars-Gyumri railway will be that a real perspective will open to connect Kars with Nakhijevan through the territory of Armenia, instead of Kars-Igdir-Sadarak-Nakhijevan.

“This is extremely important, because I have mentioned many times that with the construction of the Kars-Igdir railway, Armenia will be under complete blockade. If the Kars-Gyumri railway is reopened, then it will be possible to carry out rail cargo transportation from Gyumri-Yerevan and Nakhijevan through the territory of the Republic of Armenia. With this step, steps to completely block Armenia will be prevented.” 168.amAra Marjanyan said in a conversation with

According to our interlocutor, after the reopening of the Gyumri-Kars railway, Armenia will have great transit opportunities to carry out cargo transportation through the territory of Armenia itself.

“Besides this, Armenia’s economy will have the opportunity to gain access to both Black Sea and Mediterranean sea ports,” A. added. Marjanyan.

The expert also emphasized that, unfortunately, there is currently no actual data on Turkey regarding the advancement of this process, but the meeting of the Armenian and Turkish delegates in Kars itself proves that some processes are underway in Turkey.

“As for Armenia’s position, the relaunch of the Gyumri-Kars railway fits into the ideology of the “Crossroads of Peace” project, it is an integral part of that project. I think this will ultimately be beneficial for Armenia and the entire region.

In my opinion, in order to implement this program, Armenia will need several tens of millions of dollars, which is not very expensive.

I would like to say one more important thing: it would be very good if the re-launching of the Gyumri-Kars high-voltage overhead line would go on in parallel, which would open up great prospects, this time from the point of view of the organization of regional electric power transmission lines,” stressed Ara Marjanyan.

Let’s remind that after the meeting of the Armenian-Turkish delegation in Kars, the US Embassy in RA became official statement spread, calling the meeting a historical progress.

Let’s remind that the Gyumri-Kars railway was closed in 1993, when the Armenian side was achieving success in the first Artsakh war by liberating the Armenian territories. Turkey stopped railway works in solidarity with Azerbaijan.

Years later, in 2005, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia signed an agreement on the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway bypassing Armenia. On October 30, 2017, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway with a total length of 826 km was inaugurated.

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This morning it became known that the delegation of Azerbaijan headed by Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev arrived in Armenia. The information had confirmed RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, did not provide other details.

According to various reports, the Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan had a meeting with RA Deputy Prime Ministers Tigran Khachatryan and Mher Grigoryan in Aghveran.

Referring to its own source, SHAMSHYAN.com wrote that the head of the Azerbaijani delegation that arrived in Armenia, the Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan, Shahin Mustafayev, expressed his desire to definitely visit the Jujevan settlement of the Noyemberyan region of the Tavush region, where he was born on June 13, 1965.

168.am Administrative head of Jujevan from Hambardzum Petrosyan asked if he has any information, will the Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan go to Jujevan, are the residents ready to receive him?

The administrative head briefly answered our questions.

“It’s not all the population that should organize, I can’t say anything about the disposition of the people, but if the Government has decided that it should be like that, then it should be like that, what can I say?”

I don’t have any information, I got the news from the media.”

Hambardzum Petrosyan answered the question: if Mustafaev goes to the village, will he, as the administrative head, show him the area where he lived during the Soviet Union?

“Let me not answer that question.”

It should be noted that Shahin Musafaev is the chairman of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border demarcation commission created in 2022 by Azerbaijan, while Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan holds that position on the side of Armenia.

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On April 27, the Anti-Corruption Court detained Kandaz, head of the security team of the “Strong Armenia” party, detective Artur Avanesyan, for 2 months.

Today it became known that the detective started a hunger strike in the prison, protesting against the injustices. This information was reported by Arega Hovsepyan, a member of the “Strong Armenia” party.

of 168.am Arega Hovsepyan said that Artur Avanesyan is being subjected to obvious political persecution.

“All this is political repression, he is a classic political prisoner today, because even the recordings that have been published clearly show that there is no mention of election bribery. Two friends are talking about their vision of the future Armenia, and Mr. Avanesyan presents that they will have land, that is, peace, territorial integrity, housing, which is part of our plan, we are talking about it.

Mr. Avanesyan also talks about salary, jobs, we are talking about 300,000 jobs. He presents our program in a much simpler, accessible and human language. He talks about all this in the Artsakh dialect, maybe our law enforcement officers have a problem with understanding that dialect, I can translate for them into literary Armenian for free, so that they understand the reality,” said Arega Hovsepyan.

According to him, what is happening today with Artur Avanesyan is unreasonable, outside the law, so he is fighting against the happening injustice by resorting to an extreme step, declaring a hunger strike.

“This is the stigma of our nation, the man served his motherland for 30 years, was the fear and terror of the enemy, today he is subjected to repressions in Armenia, this is nothing but Aliyev’s wish and to fulfill his dream, which could become a reality through Nikol Pashinyan.

Today we saw that a high-ranking Azerbaijani official arrived in Armenia, this is the embodiment of our alarms when they say that they are discussing the transfer of 300,000 Azerbaijanis to Armenia. Step by step people are being prepared for this program,” added Arega Hovsepyan.

Our interlocutor also conveyed that at the moment only his defenders can see Artur Avanesyan, they will dispute the decision of the Anti-Corruption Court on the 2-month detention.

“During the petition for detention, the defenders proposed all other possible means of restraint: bail, house arrest, administrative control, all of them were rejected. Artur Avanesyan was arrested because he is Arthur Avanesyan, a legendary detective,” stressed A. Hovsepyan.

He also said that he talked to Artur Avanesyan many times about this possible repression by the authorities, he was more than ready for all this.

“A person has dedicated his whole life to the defense of the motherland and is being imprisoned by the government of the motherland – it is sad. Today I drew a parallel between the hunger strike carried out by Ruben Vardanyan in Baku prison. This is a question of dignity, how do we, Armenians, feel in this reality, I don’t think we feel good, only Azerbaijanis feel good, maybe there were fireworks in Baku on the day of Mr. Avanesyan’s arrest,” emphasized Arega Hovsepyan.

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Nikol Pashinyan, who conducts his propaganda and working visits in a two-in-one format, on the occasion of “Citizen’s Day” made another similar visit to the city of Maralik, Shirak Marz.

The government, which also covers two in one format, informed: Pashinyan gave a speech entitled “Ideology of Real Armenia” in Maralik.

168.amIt became known that many of the citizens present at the said speech did not know where they were actually going.

In particular, a group of Artik State College students were told that the best students of the college were being taken to Maralik for a debate.

“A 17-year-old minor is told to take part in a debate, and that’s how they take 40 people from the college.

On April 25, Saturday morning, they took Maraliki to the Ani Culture House, checked with devices, and let them inside. The children are interested in what will be the topic of the discussion and debate, so that we can prepare, it turns out that the pedagogues who went with them are not aware either. They are waiting and what, Nikol Pashinyan stands on the stage and starts his sermons,” our source mentioned.

The citizen who contacted us was especially upset that minor children were lied to. expressed doubts that it was organized by the administration and the municipality.

“Perhaps the reason is that if they said that Nikol is coming, many of the parents might not allow it,” added the citizen.

By the way, among the representatives of the government who told myths about the apolitical educational environment, on that day, Minister of Education and Culture Zhanna Andreasyan was also

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On April 29, Prosecutor General Anna Vardapetyan presented to the NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs the 2025 plan of the Prosecutor General’s Office of RA. about the activity the program.

In this context, he also referred to the cases recorded in the power structures.

“2025 It was recorded in the military units of the RA Armed Forces and other troops 2248 cases. Of the recorded cases 1027or 45 percent They are accidents, in other words, not crimes 1221or 54.3 percentcrimes, including: 687or 56,3 տոկոսը՝ military, 534or 43,7 percent: other crimes. Compared to 2024, accidents have increased with 265 or 34 percent, crimes are down 110with or 8,3 in percent. At the same time, general crimes have decreased with 82 or 13 percent, and the cases of military crimes with 28 or 3,9 percent,” Anna Vardapetyan elaborated, stressing that, in particular, no murder case was recorded in the RA Armed Forces in 2025.

Then Vardapetyan decided to present separately the 2025 Service-related deaths recorded in the RA Armed Forces, but intentionally or accidentally, among them, he also mentioned the cases registered in the Border Guard troops, although the Border Guard troops are under the National Security Service, and the Security Service is directly subordinated to Nikol Pashinyan.

“2025 The following cases of service-related deaths of servicemen in the RA Armed Forces were recorded: 6 conscripts, 2 conscripts of the border guard troops and 1 militia, i.e. total service-related deaths 9 cases: 2024 compared to 27 cases.

The service-related deaths are as follows: 4 cases of negligent suicide, 1 case of military official negligence, 1 case of causing death due to failure or improper performance of professional duty by a medical worker, 1 case of lightning strike, 2 cases of illness. 2025 during the service-related deaths of servicemen decreased by 18 or 66 percent.” Anna Vardapetyan listed.

In other words, the General Prosecutor presents the cases of death of conscripts in the border guard troops of the National Security Service among the cases registered in the RA Armed Forces, while in this case, the responsible is the director of the Security Service of the National Security Service and Nikol Pashinyan, to whom Andranik Simonyan is directly subordinate.

168.amin 2025 on July 26 «Another case of suicide of a conscript soldier was registered again in the military unit of the structure directly subordinate to Pashinyan. who is to blame with the text in the article referred to 2025 on April 25, one of the divisions of the border guard troops of the RA NSS of Syunik marz death of a conscript soldier in case the second case was recorded in July of the same year. Both cases were suicides.

As for the army, RA Defense Minister Suren Papikyan in 2026. in January had announced that in 2025 had a service-related death 6 cases, of which 1 of lightning, 1 for electrocution, 2-ը՝ suicide All 2due to health problems.

“In the period from January 1 to December 31, 2025, 30 servicemen died, but this does not mean that all 30 deaths are victims. It is also about biological deaths. And 24 are the cases of death in circumstances unrelated to the service, including from diseases, various accidents, at home, due to conditions of traffic violations, due to accidents. I call on my fellow MPs and politicians not to become a vehicle for death and mourning, that is not a good thing,” Papikyan elaborated.

Let’s return to Anna Vardapetyan and remind that in the army in 2023 he too in connection with the related cases errors allowed, this time a number different from the official number of the Ministry of Defense was given. And this was personally acknowledged by the Prosecutor’s Office 54instead of was noted 22: And right here, let’s go back to what the Attorney General mentioned 27 to the number

2025 In April, Anna Vardapetyan, referring to the events in the army, had noted.

“2024 During this period, 27 cases of death of servicemen were recorded in the RA Armed Forces due to circumstances related to servicemen’s service. Let me remind you that the number in 2023 was double: 54 cases.

By the way, 2023 of the RA government program (2021-2026) about the execution process and results in the report is noted. “During 2023, 19 people died in the armed forces of the Republic of Armenia in combat conditions, and in non-combat conditions: 64 soldier”.

And now, how the Prosecutor’s Office perceives Anna Vardapetyan’s mistakes, confusing wording, or whether or not they will admit that it can lead to manipulation, is their problem. We only present the facts, only the facts.

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Development of mining and metallurgy. This is confirmed by the publications that appeared in the Azerbaijani press in recent weeks. Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on a number of measures to ensure the development of the mining and metallurgical industry in Azerbaijan during 2027-2030. Moreover, a part of all this is in the territory of Artsakh, in Kashatagh, Shahumyan.

Aliyev has given strategic importance to the development of this sector, which will contribute to the diversification of the economy and the deepening of industrialization. Baku considers the mining industry as a component of the country’s security. They recognize that without a strong industrial base, sovereignty is declarative in nature.

For many years, there were two sides opposing the use of mines in Artsakh: the government of Azerbaijan and Armenian environmentalists (mainly book-eaters). And today, when Artsakh is already under the control of Baku, that same environmentalists are silent, and Azerbaijan at the state level announces the exploitation of prospective mines in those areas, the expansion of the metallurgical industry, and new opportunities for export.

In fact, it turns out that we left strategic metals in the ground to preserve nature or pass it on to the next generation, and Ilham Aliyev will reap the benefit of the natural resource.

What do they do in Armenia when they want to open a new mine? a public hearing is invited, in which residents, who objectively do not know the details of the sector, participate, not narrow specialists; mining is a complex scientific field that requires years of study, skill and experience to get right.

Well, of course, we should not forget that for years the residents have been scared and misinformed that mining is a disaster, it poisons everything and everyone. After that, residents are unlikely to speak in favor at any public hearing.

By the way, the air in Yerevan is more polluted and harmful than in the regions where mining is carried out.

Have you ever heard that a public hearing was called for the exploitation of a new oil field in Azerbaijan, and because of the residents’ opposition, the extraction will not be carried out? there is no such publication in the Azerbaijani press. And almost all public hearings for the operation of a new mine or the expansion of an existing mine in Armenia are accompanied by fights, curses and are mostly defeated. publications are numerous.

And when the state is silent in such situations or stands aside as an “observer”, it actually tells the investor and the citizen to decide for themselves, and this is a direct retreat of the state. If the state considers that mining is necessary for the country’s economy, it must also ensure its safe operation and protect the investor. The third option, to leave the decision in the emotional field, leads to economic suicide. And the “eco-activists” who take grants serving the interests of other countries either emigrate and live happily in some western country, or remain silent, or continue to make noise with grants on other topics… It has something to do with what new order comes down from the grant givers.

The story of Amulsar is one of the biggest economic failures in recent history. Investments of billions of dollars hanging in the air for years, thousands of uncreated jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars not included in the state budget. This is the price we pay for the lack of state will.

Why does the state make the decision to exploit oil or metal mines in Azerbaijan, while in our country the decision is left to the residents? Is it possible to think that the state avoids responsibility by placing it on its citizen? Moreover, when the issue concerns the construction of roads, residential buildings or any other object, the decision is made by the state, ignoring the opinions, worries and complaints of the residents, and when it comes to the use of the soil, the decision is made by the farmer of the adjacent village. And if, for example, the farmer will make the right decision, will that decision not be negatively affected? on the economy, will the country not lose the role of an important player in the market, will the sector not be excluded from global competition?

While we have been holding hearings and speaking out against the mines for months, Baku will soon strengthen its position in the markets for gold, copper and other important metals. And it is noteworthy that after the discovery of oil and gas reserves, Baku has now emphasized the discovery or development-expansion of metal mines. It is no coincidence that Aliyev, realizing the strategic importance of the sector, literally stated that copper is the oil of the new century.

A few days ago, another publication appeared in the Azerbaijani press: the British mining company Anglo Asian Mining (AAM) continues to work on technical and economic studies of two new mines and plans to engage consultants in the coming weeks.

AAM plans to make copper its main product by 2030 and reach an annual production volume of 50,000-55,000 tons. In 2027-2030, three new mines will be commissioned by this company. From 2025, the same company is already extracting from Artsakh mines.

We need to understand that mining is not just extracting minerals from the ground. It is high technologies, it is metallurgy, it is a powerful industrial chain that feeds the army, science, education.

If we continue to leave the burden of strategic decisions on the citizen, we will soon find ourselves in a situation where our economy will be “environmentally clean”, but empty and unprotected in a region where the neighbors have long ago turned their soil into a weapon and a political factor.

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Nikol Pashinyan’s message on the occasion of the 111th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide was the weakest April 24th message among the world leaders, which can only be compared with Erdogan’s message. About this 168TVof Revue he said on the air of the program Gevorg Ghukasyan, candidate of political sciences, responsible for the programs of the Central Office of the ARF Armenian Datspeaking about the statements made on April 24, both by the head of the Armenian government and by world leaders.

The person in charge of the Office of the Armenian Dat refers to Pashinyan in particular in the text to the controversial claim that according to the volume of Armenian history published by the NAS History Institute, “The Great Genocide is a consequence of the practice of involving the Armenian people in international intrigues”, and to the question of whether Nikol Pashinyan is actually trying to free Turkey from the responsibility of the Armenian Genocide with similar views.

The political scientist emphasizes that Nikol Pashinyan’s political intentions are so clear and obvious that there is no need to search in the footnotes for a long time. According to Gevorg Ghukasyan, only the Armenian authorities could think of reducing Turkish guilt in the Armenian Genocide.

“Well, even if the fact of the Armenian Genocide had an international, I wouldn’t say predisposition, but a favorable situation from the point of view of international relations: it was a war, it was a mess, in popular terms, a dog did not know its master, and the Turkish state committed genocide, how much does this reduce the share of Turkish guilt?

Now, probably Pashinyan wanted to say that some international actors directed this crime, which is absurd, but I am of the opinion that, yes, the created situation of international relations was somewhat favorable for Turkey to commit war crimes, but the degree of Turkey’s responsibility does not decrease from this, on the contrary, it increases, because even in the order established by the international law of that time, back in 1949. The Geneva Conventions did not exist, but even with the existing legal regulations, the Turkish side had an obligation to protect the civilian population.

The Turkish side not only failed in this, but also systematically organized and carried out the genocide of the entire people in the territory of its state, in the Armenian people’s own homeland. Reducing the Turkish guilt here could only occur in the minds of the Armenian authorities,” commented the representative of Hay Dat.

He recommends that before expressing such controversial thoughts about the Genocide, one should get acquainted with the documentary materials related to the great crime against the Armenians – American, German, Russian, Turkish, Armenian and other countries’ archives, testimonies, and ultimately with the “Black Book” or “Black Notebook” of one of the main organizers of the Armenian Genocide, Talaat, which is one of the most valuable evidences and testimonies of the genocide.

“Taleat’s book is finally there. Taleat’s book, the so-called “Black Book”, which was published – his diaries – is a terrible book, where you read how it is that in this month, for example, so many Armenians live in Trabzon, this month so many live, from which so many were evacuated, so many were killed, so many are children, etc. It is about all of Western Armenia. To stand up on this documentary material and make such statements? I say again

The issue of recognizing the Armenian Genocide has never been an end in itself and should not be. It is not about punishing Turkey, it is not about hurting Turkey, it is not about devaluing Turkey in international relations. It is about the security of RA and the Armenian people. It is even, if you want to go further, about real Armenian-Turkish reconciliation.” says the interlocutor.

Gevorg Ghukasyan emphasizes that the recognition of the Armenian Genocide was never an end in itself and should not be, and it primarily has a security significance for the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian people, which was founded in a small part of the Armenian homeland after the Great Genocide. He also adds that the issue of recognizing the Armenian Genocide is not about punishing Turkey. Moreover, if we try to look further, it is about real Armenian-Turkish reconciliation, but first Turkey must stop the policy of denial, otherwise Turkey’s failure to give up denial means maintaining genocidal intent։

Ghukasyan claims: the Turkish genocidal threat to Armenians has not decreased։

“The international recognition of the genocide, retribution, demand in general – this struggle was never an end in itself and had different manifestations and goals. The most important of the goals is, perhaps, not to allow a new genocide, because if the genocidal party does not recognize its own guilt, then the probability of repeating the genocide is very high (this is a genocide-scientific approach), and not giving up denial on the part of Turkey means maintaining the genocidal intention, and the struggle for the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide should ultimately lead to the recognition of the genocide by Turkey, which in itself will have a security significance for the Republic of Armenia.

As a result of the events of recent years, we see that the Turkish genocidal threat to Armenians has not decreased, and we saw its implementation in Artsakh. “Erdogan has publicly accepted and admitted several times that the Turkish army was involved in military operations in Artsakh,” the interlocutor notes.

As for what happened in Artsakh in 2023, the representative of Hay Dat’s office gives an unequivocal assessment: it was, in fact, genocide, according to the UN Convention of 1948. of the provisions set forth in Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

“The UN Convention presents 5 possible situations when the crime can be qualified as genocide. We see three out of five regarding Artsakh directly, we see one partially, and this set of actions is a crime on the part of Azerbaijan. It is a fact that what happened is genocide. Genocide is not only mass slaughter of people. “Genocide is displacement, making living conditions difficult for any group of people, subjecting them to psychological and physical torture, inhibiting childbirth or separating already born children from their families,” the political scientist explains.

Gevorg Ghukasyan draws a very clear conclusion from the above: all this indicates that the genocidal threat to Armenians remains, and from this point of view, the process of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, as the head of the programs of the Central Office of Armenian Dat adds, also had a security significance.

“Let me repeat: the cessation of denial can be considered a renunciation of genocidal intentions, that is, if Turkey stops denying the Armenian Genocide, we can accept it as a cessation of genocidal intent.” As long as this is not the case, the genocidal intention as such hangs over the heads of our people like a sword of Damocles,” added Gevorg Ghukasyan.

Referring to the fact that Pashinyan condemned the burning of the Turkish flag by young people in Yerevan on the day of the torchlight procession, April 23, but did not say any condemning words about the destruction of Armenian churches in Artsakh, Gevorg Ghukasyan said:

«By his political behavior, Nikol Pashinyan has long ago deprived himself of even the theoretical possibility of protecting Armenian interests. That person, even if he wants to, can no longer protect Armenian interests, and this statement should also be viewed in this light, that it is essentially a shame when Armenian cultural heritage disappears in Artsakh, the world’s leading news media, various international organizations speak about it, but RA is silent»։

In this context, Gevorg Ghukasyan refers to the assertion of the Armenian authorities that peace has been established between Armenia and Azerbaijan, or when Nikol Pashinyan says in the same message that we have not only a state, but also peace. Gevorg Ghukasyan, as a specialist, does not see the legal act that this peace was established.

“I, as a specialist, do not see the legal act that this peace was established. Now, maybe our opponents will say, the August 8 agreement, but the August 8 agreement is only initialized, and if we look, for example, at the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Force of International Treaties. convention, then we see that the initialization there does not mean the full implementation of the contract or agreement and its mandatory legally enforceable nature.

In other words, we do not have a peace treaty in this case from a legal point of view. Moreover, not only do we not have the so-called peace treaty, but we also have the Azerbaijani demand that “if you do not change your Constitution, that treaty will not be signed.” And in addition, more than 250 square kilometers of RA is occupied by the Azerbaijani armed forces,” commented the political scientist.

Ghukasyan emphasizes: we have a village in Syunik, Nerkin Hand, whose life is directly paralyzed due to the Azerbaijani occupation, we have prisoners in Baku, Armenian cultural heritage is being destroyed in Artsakh, the top leadership of Azerbaijan continues the same militant rhetoric, full state support is provided in Baku to the so-called “Western Azerbaijan” political concept, and under these conditions, talking about peace, blunting the self-defense instincts of the Armenian society and the state it is difficult to characterize the current policy of misdirection without emotionalism.

“For the sake of internal political calculations, the state and the resistance of the state cannot be weakened so much. The peace agenda is entirely an internal political calculation. There is no peace in the classical understanding of the word,” the interlocutor adds.

Full interview in the video.

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