I give my consent to be nominated and to run in the 2020 presidential elections in Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh]. Hero of Artsakh, General Vitali Balasanyan, stated this at today's special congress of the Justice Party.

"I am entering this political battle for the sake of the solidarity and unity of our people, for the sake of the dignity of the people of Artsakh," Balasanyan stressed. "We attach greater importance to how adequately Armenia, as a guarantor of the physical security of Artsakh and its population, assesses and responds to the new challenges facing the two Armenian states.

As a result of the change of power in Armenia in 2018, a new situation has arisen in the settlement of the Artsakh problem, due to the new approaches, principles, tactics, and strategy adopted by the RA authorities."

He emphasized that the Azerbaijani authorities responded quickly to these new realities in Armenia. "Their strategy remained the same: to eliminate the subjectivity of Artsakh, to annex the territory, and to predict the fate of the Armenians of Baku, Sumgait, Gandzak and other Armenian settlements for the local population. And there have been changes in tactics which, first and foremost, have begun to manifest themselves with a pledge to a posture of resolving the Artsakh issue by the right of force, with a readiness to repeat the April 2016 military aggression."

Vitali Balasanyan noted that Artsakh is already an established state with its institutions. "Yes, there is still an unsolved Artsakh problem that needs to be resolved," he said. "Our position on this issue has not changed: the mutual recognition of Artsakh and Azerbaijan and the refusal to resolve the conflict by force should become a starting point, not a deadline for negotiations between them. We have already made quite a few concessions to Azerbaijan. We have conceded when we signed the ceasefire agreement in 1994, we conceded when we ceased to be a negotiating party; we conceded when we agreed in April 2016 to stop the successful counter-offensive against the Azerbaijani armed forces.

Inadequate assessment of the geopolitical situation is a great luxury and a prerequisite for defeat for the warring country. To increase the security of our country, it is a necessary imperative to restore the crumbling solidarity of the people, eliminate poverty, the deficit of social justice, make the management of the economy more effective in the shortest possible time.

The Artsakh people shall live a dignified life, the youngster shall receive Armenian upbringing and education."