I was not a member of any party, my mission is the protection of the motherland, I am the man that my child died on the battlefield, I did not come to the funeral. Melikset Poghosyan, former governor of Armenia’s Syunik Province, told this to reporters at Yerablur Military Pantheon in Yerevan Monday.

Asked what business he has standing with the incumbent Armenian authorities, he answered: "I stand with my state, my people, my border. Why are you dividing the people? I'm not on anyone's side. (…). Three hundred kilometers from Narnadzor to Khoznavar [villages], a new border, new engineering work was done by me. The Lake Sev is the task of the [Armenian] army, I was resolving the issue of the southern part."

To the remark that the Azerbaijanis advanced in the area of Tegh village and when asked how many meters they went back in that area, Poghosyan responded: "They came, drove into the 5km section. Where the Russian peacekeeping troops were stationed, they came out, they [i.e., the Azerbaijanis] drove into that section. There are [military] outposts there that they went 5 meters forward or back."

He emphasized that the Armenian border guard troops should have guarded that area, but there are clashes in that area every day.

"Our side and their side are not able to carry out engineering work, there are shots," said the former governor of Syunik.

As for the Armenian militia, he noted: "The militia maintains 26 combat positions from Tegh to Khoznavar [villages]. We have intensified the defense of the armed forces so that the armed forces can fulfill their tasks as of today. The [Armenian] nation must become an army. Our numbers are few, theirs—many. It happened in the 1990s as well, but we managed to solve our problems together. A pillow isn't about sleeping alone, it's about thinking."