YEREVAN. – The issue of Artsakh is a priority problem and we have a situation when our 150,000 compatriots in fact are the guards of our collective protection, our collective identity, Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said during an event organized on Citizen’s Day.

“The security of those 150,000 people is a vital issue for all of us, whether we are in Yerevan, Moscow or Los Angeles. Wherever we are, for every Armenian this is the matter of collective national conscious, protection of identity,” he said.

He emphasized that if the danger grows, the consequences will be as grave as they were in 90s.

“Armenia has been and remains Artsakh's guarantor, there is no other format to ensure security of our compatriots. We are peaceful people, we want peace, but we do not lose our self-confidence and consciousness in the fact that our power to defend ourselves is very strong,” he added.

Mnatsakanyan gave positive assessment of the debates in the society, in particular on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

“Democratic societies are much more patriotic, they are much stronger in the sense that they are open to discussions and try to reach a national consensus through a debate,” he said.