Seyran Ohanyan: Current Armenian authorities are constantly under pressure and cannot ensure further development
After the end of the 44-day war in Artsakh in 2020, the Armenian authorities, having all the possibilities and tools, failed to carry out strategic reviews, former Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan, the head of the opposition Armenia alliance’s parliamentary faction, said at the discussion "The need for a commission of inquiry on war: post-war recovery."
According to him, authorities had to review their strategies over the past year, assess the security environment, internal and external threats, and take measures in all directions based on that.
Seyran Ohanyan noted that expert groups, NGOs and the public had to take on that responsibility as a result of the inaction of the state.
"Though it should have been the other way around. The government with all its structures – the Ministry of Defense, the apparatus of the Security Council, the National Security Service, as well as the parliament – should have dealt with it. Now we are doing it from below. Unfortunately, the Armenian authorities are not trying to participate in all that," Ohanyan said.
At the same time, the lawmaker stated that a rather complicated geopolitical situation has been created, adding some actors have emerged in Armenia, Artsakh and the South Caucasus in general.
"I mean the Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem, which puts pressure not only on Artsakh, but also on Armenia. They talk about unblocking transport communications, but I would like to reiterate that without a real, legal basis for peace, the so-called unblocking of routes will actually lead to a deeper blockade of Armenia and Artsakh," Ohanyan said.
"Under the incumbent authorities, that have led the country to a defeat, the series of defeats continues on the borders. Now some documents are said to be signed between the two countries on November 9. There are talks about signing new documents in 2021, in today's reality, which will finally fix the capitulation of Armenia and Artsakh," Seyran Ohanyan said.
He noted that in this regard, the Armenia bloc and its parliamentary faction, besides the ideological struggle, are also taking practical steps to increase the level of national resistance under the slogan "No to the turkification of Armenia, no to the exodus of Armenians from Artsakh!".
"The current authorities must leave; the authorities, that led the Armenian people to a defeat and capitulation, are constantly under pressure and cannot ensure further development," Ohanyan noted.