With talks about considering the start of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) movement a “fatal mistake,” Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan wants to please Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev. The second president of Armenia, candidate for prime minister Robert Kocharyan stated this during a meeting of representatives of the “Armenia” bloc with the residents of Vardenis, town.

Looking at the road leading to Sotk and then to Karvachar, Robert Kocharyan noticed that before, there were many people traveling on this road, but now... “The consequences of the 2020 war were felt most of all on you and Syunik [Province], but there is an opportunity to somehow change the situation through the [parliamentary] elections [on June 7], Kocharyan added.

“There is a lot of talk about the risk of war. It is the [incumbent Armenian] authorities who are the first to spread this risk. We are all for peace, but those who talk about war are trying to instill fear, to convince us that we are victims of war. The leader’s duty is to do everything to bring the people out of the depression that arose after the war. But the opposite is happening. They are trying to convince us that there would a war without them. That the Artsakh movement was a ‘fatal mistake.’

I was born and raised in Karabakh. When a people lives in a place, that people leaves a mark on the place where they live. The mark is the [Armenian] historical and cultural heritage, it is the churches. And I can say for sure that in Karabakh, apart from the mosque in Shushi, Azerbaijan did not have any other cultural heritage, historical heritage. When the leader of Armenia says such things, it means that he wants to please someone else, he serves not the Armenian interests, but serves the interests of Azerbaijan,” Kocharyan added.

According to him, the choice is this: will we choose Armenia or “Western Azerbaijan.”

"They [i.e. Azerbaijanis] have their eyes on these [Armenian] lands, they have their eyes on everything, and they call [Armenia’s Lake] Sevan ‘Goycha.’ Is this what we want? I don't think we are in favor of this. Therefore, we must make the right choice. Therefore, we must realize that with your right choice, you will not only ensure the security of your homes, your homeland, but also provide an opportunity for economic development. This is fully reflected in our election platform, and we also talk about it during meetings," the politician added.