YEREVAN. – Armenia does not care that much that Azerbaijan is already negotiating with UNESCO with the agenda it wants; that is, Azerbaijan is going to take UNESCO to the places Baku wants to. Armen Ashotyan—vice-chairman of the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia and a member of the opposition "I Have Honor" bloc which won several parliamentary seats as a result of the snap elections on June 20—stated this during a press conference Saturday.
"That is, Armenia is not so influential that it can work with even a humanitarian, apolitical structure—UNESCO—such intensity that, let’s say, ‘Guys, when you are going to go Fizuli [region of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)], enter Shushi [city], too, enter Dadivank [Monastery], enter the forests which are built entirely of medieval [Armenian] chapels, and [Azerbaijani president] Aliyev says, this should be annihilated because the Armenians added their writing [there] later.’ There is no solution even in this issue," Ashotyan added.
In his opinion, the issue of Armenian prisoners of war in Azerbaijan is a forgotten issue for the incumbent Armenian authorities. "It is also a matter of impertinence when Aliyev favors a few people, the scum [i.e., Armenian acting PM Nikol Pashinyan] says, 'It is a very constructive step.' What constructive step? The issue of prisoners of war should not have been after November 9 at all; it was one of the points [on the trilateral statement on that day]. Yesterday our boys were being tried in Azerbaijan. What are the [Armenian] authorities doing? Did they make a noise? They are trying to reconcile us with this situation," Armen Ashotyan said.