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An Armenian politician stresses the need for Armenian authorities to tackle the issue of Nakhichevan, claiming it poses a serious threat to the country’s security.

“The circle around Armenia is constantly tightening, but we must hope the country will become more powerful due to the velvet revolution,” Levon Shirinyan told a news conference on Thursday.

He pointed to the deployment of a separate army in Nakhichevan, which, according to the analyst, can strike any part of the country given Armenia’s small size. “The Armenian side must eventually deal with the Nakhichevan issue with its big brother [referring to Russia]. This is a territory alienated from Armenia and handed over to Azerbaijan amid the silence of the Armenian Bolsheviks,” he said.

Shirinyan sees two options for settling the issue.

“Firstly, Armenia must be ready for a war, abandoning a defense strategy. Armenia’s war can only be preventive, since we have no backing, our troops cannot retreat,” he said.

As the second solution, he stressed the need to clarify the legal and political framework of Nakhichevan to submit it to international structures, up to the Hague court.

“But first of all we need to work with Russia. It was Moscow that violated the 1920 Yerevan Agreement to give away Armenia’s internationally recognized territory to Azerbaijan,” he reminded.