By Taguhi Melkonyan

We continue our support to Artsakh and the Armenian people, and we will spare no effort to prevent a repeat of 1915 in Artsakh with the same signature. Mayor Nicolas Daragon of Valence, France said this in an exclusive interview to Armenian News-NEWS.am. He has always expressed his support for the Armenian people, and in 2018 he visited Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) in order to deepen friendly ties between Artsakh capital Stepanakert and Valence. The latter and Stepanakert were once declared sister cities, to which Azerbaijan has always expressed its opposition. The text of this interview is presented below.

Mr. Daragon, as the mayor of a city with friendly ties with Stepanakert, are you interested in the developments unrolling around Artsakh? According to you, is the current attitude of the international community reasonable in the conditions of the complete blockade of Artsakh and the policy of ethnic [Armenian] cleansing [in Artsakh] being carried out by Azerbaijan?

Of course, we follow the situation with sadness and alarm. Despite the inaction of international structures, some organizations and individual figures show initiative, such as [French] President Emmanuel Macron, in October of last year, when he organized a meeting between the parties. But this is not enough.

Azerbaijan continues to disdain the international structures, ignoring as well the resolution of the French Senate and the calls aimed at restoring the free movement of people and the supply of goods along the Lachin corridor. Isn't it time for tougher steps?

In April, we visited the Lachin corridor with the president of the Regional Council of the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region [of France], Laurent Wauquiez, to carry out monitoring, but the Russian side took that situation very poorly. They are focused on the Ukrainian war, that's why we can no longer have a dialogue with them. Actually, today they do not take upon themselves to ensure the safety of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. I am personally very worried about the current situation. I think that Azerbaijan is trying to take the Lachin corridor under the threat of not attacking Syunik [Province of Armenia]. Obviously, we continue our support to Artsakh and the Armenian people, and we will spare no effort to prevent a repeat of 1915 in Artsakh with the same signature.