Category: 2020

The weak Armenian authorities that have suffered a failure and a defeat must step down immediately, political scientist Suren Sargsyan said in a Facebook post on Saturday.

“We are still facing serious challenges:

1. The Turkish army is still in Igdir, having its eye on Syunik Province.

2. Azerbaijanis enter the regions of Armenia, Stepanakert, without any obstacles.

3. The state system is paralyzed.

4. The foreign policy and diplomacy have totally failed.

5. The army must recover from the physical, moral and psychological blow it suffered.

6. There is an economic crash.

7. Coronavirus has more power in Armenia than those in power.

8. There is no public administration.

9. Public depression is observed with an unprecedented prospect of emigration.

There is total anarchy in the country. The incapacitated, weak, failed and defeated authorities must leave immediately,” he wrote. 

The head of archaeological expedition in Tigranakert, professor Hamlet Petrosyan insists Azerbaijan is carrying out cultural genocide in Armenian heritage sites of Artsakh. He has raised the issue of Dadivank monastery.

“Dadivank has not a single component which is non-Armenian, be that Albanian or Udi. It refers to both the architectural solutions of the complex and the sculptures, cross-stones as well as the frescoes,”  Petrosyan wrote on Facebook, adding: “Apart from 200 Armenian inscriptions of the 12th-17th centuries, there are no foreign letters. Azerbaijani actions, regarding Dadivank as an Albanian or Udi site, bringing Udi pilgrims there, are nothing but an explicit cultural genocide, an act of forcibly taking the religious and cultural heritage from their creators.”  

To note,  Dadivank is one of the iconic landmarks  of Artsakh. It was built in the 9th-13th centuries. The church is located on the slopes of Dadivank Mountain near the village of Dadivank in Nagorno-Karabakh. The monastery complex was subject to handover to Azerbaijan as part of the trilateral statement putting end on military hostilities in Artsakh. Director of Information Services of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin Fr. Vahram Melikyan later informed that the monastery remained under the protection of Russian peacekeepers and is out of danger.

‘It is noteworthy that we have gathered in the same square, where in 1988 our people came together in unity, inspiration and belief to build a free, independent and fair state,” Vazgen Manukyan, the opposition’s candidate for the PM stated on Saturday at Liberty Square in Yerevan. Manukyan addressed the rally organised by the Salvation Front for the Motherland, calling for Pashinyan’s resignation and the formation of an interim government.

Manukyan reminded that in those days the Armenian people promised to extend a hand to their sisters and brothers in Artsakh, promised to ensure their security and Artsakh’s reunification with Armenia.

“Most of those promises were fulfilled. We created an independent state. Despite all challenges, we built that state. We won the war. The Artsakh and Armenian armies were considered the strongest in the region. In cooperation with Diaspora, we were increasing our influence on the international arena,” Manukyan said, adding, 30 years later, the Armenian people has again gathered in the square with hurt dignity and significant human and territorial losses.

“What we have done for Artsakh is almost lost. Armenia itself is under threat. The existence of Armenia is endangered today as Azerbaijanis are determining our borders without any resistance from state bodies. This is the real situation. Should we accept this reality? The challenges we faced in 1988 are brought to us again. And we must solve them,” Manukyan said.

“If we had remove Nikol Pashinyan from office six months ago, there wouldn’t be a war. If we had removed Pashinyan in the first days of the war, victory would be the outcome of the war,” Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Supreme Body representative Ishkhan Saghatelyan stated at Liberty Square during the rally organised by the Salvation Front for Motherland.

In Saghatelyan’s words, Armenia would be in more advantageous position if Pashinyan had been removed even on the day of signing the humiliating document. “Every day of Pashinyan’s rule is a disaster for our people and country,” said the ARFD representative.

Saghatelyan went on stating that with Nikol Pashinyan’s removal, stability and solidarity will be established in the country, the the state interests and the people will be defended, the humanitarian crisis as well as social and economic collapse will be prevented, providing an opportunity to hold free and fair elections.

“A leader kneeled in front of Turks, a failed leader, surrendered to Turks,  can not defend the interests of our people,” Saghatelyan stressed, adding Pashinyan may seek a way out of the ongoing crisis through organizing snap elections, while  clinged on power, he will falsify the results.

“Let us state that no option is acceptable for us. There is one way out and that is for Nikol to go,” said Saghatelyan.

Speaking of Vazgen Manukyan, the united opposition’s candidate for the post of the prime minister, Saghatelyan pointed to the latter’s experience and capability to bring solidarity and peace.

“Over the past 30 years, two cases of consolidation of opposition forces took place in Armenia. The first was in 1996 and the second is now. In both episodes, the consolidation took place around Vazgen Manukyan. We are not electing a leader, a king or a savior for us, but an adequate person, an interim government responsible for crisis prevention and capable to overcome the challenges our country faces,” said the ARFD member.