President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Arayik Harutyunyan declared that he intends to disband the army, and when I asked him who gave him the right to do that, he said it’s the Azerbaijanis’ demand. This is what board member of the Armenian Population Forcefully Displaced from Shushi NGO Ashot Harutyunyan said during today’s discussion on the main issues of compulsorily resettled Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh that was hosted by the Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs of the National Assembly of Armenia.
Ashot Harutyunyan added that he was outraged by the President’s statement.
“The Azerbaijanis can say they want a lot of things, but the army needs to be maintained. Yes, the representatives of our organization demand immediate recognition of the interim status of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Yes, there are many Armenians who say this is premature. Even my friends from Europe call me on the phone and ask me not to raise this issue. Nevertheless, I always say that this issue is a very important issue for us,” the member of the NGO said, adding that it would be possible to avoid a war with Azerbaijan, if the authorities of Armenia had recognized Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence.