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The Council of the opposition Homeland Salvation Movement on Saturday issued the following statement amid Azerbaijan’s incursion into Armenian territory:

“For several days, the Azerbaijani military has been occupying areas of strategic importance in Syunik and Gegharkunik Provinces.

The Armenian authorities are not only unable to prevent the occupation of our territories by the enemy, but have still not managed to remove the Azerbaijani troops from these territories.

All this is a continuation of the capitulation on November 10, 2020. After the signing of the surrender document and immediately after its entry into force, the Armenian authorities, violating even this document unacceptable for us, continued to cede new territories.

Later it turned out that secret documents were signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan, one of which was accidentally exposed in December 2020. Now, according to reliable information, there are also other documents signed on January 11, 2021.

On May 12, without facing the resistance of the Armenian side and breaching even the borders illegally drawn using GPS, the Azeri forces invaded and seized new territories of the Republic of Armenia which are of strategic importance. And there is no proportionate response from the Armenian authorities.

Nikol Pashinyan's motives to proceed with the criminal capitulation have no logical explanation, and the behavior of the Armenian president, who, by virtue of his position, is the head of state, protector and guarantor of the interests of our country, is also inexplicable.

The refusal of the authorities to give a commensurate response to the enemy who has invaded Armenian territory is explained by the fact that it could trigger a new large-scale war. However, the Armenian army is obliged to fulfill its direct duty to protect the territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia.

International experience shows that a policy of concessions to avoid minor clashes is the shortest path to a full-scale war (recall the 1938 Munich Agreement).

The army has responsibilities to obey the orders of the authorities and to defend the country. However, in the event of a contradiction between these two responsibilities, the army is obliged to choose the defense of the homeland, otherwise those responsible will be held accountable sooner or later.

If the army does not assume the responsibility for protecting the territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia from the encroachments of the enemy, we must initiate a process of recruiting militias so that the people can take on the task of defending the country."