Robert Kocharyan: There Should Have Been an Opportunity to Deploy Troops on the Syunik Border with Appropriate Density

The second President of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, met with representatives from the healthcare sector.

On May 18, Robert Kocharyan had a meeting with healthcare representatives as part of discussions with sector specialists. During the meeting, some questions related to the border situation in the Syunik and Gegharkunik regions and Armenia's appeal to the CSTO for assistance were addressed. This was stated in an announcement on the second president's Facebook page.

“You have moved your position back, Azerbaijan has advanced, and you are shouting around the world for Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to push back Azerbaijan. Where are you? How has it come to be that within CSTO, everyone has better relations with Azerbaijan, which is not a member of the CSTO, than with Armenia? Shouldn't an answer be given to this simple question? Why should Belarus, Kazakhstan, and other countries have better relations with Azerbaijan? Now you are turning to them; why should they protect you? You are not standing at your borders, you are not defending your borders, and you appeal to the CSTO and present this to the people as a heroism, saying ‘I appealed to the CSTO.’ Then what? It simply turns into a farce of one of the state’s primary functions—ensuring security,” stated the second president.

Speaking about the border crisis and possible developments in Syunik, the second president said: “Nothing is being done to strengthen the country’s borders. If you have a border, you must defend it with your own armed forces. Therefore, it is necessary to understand where your positions are. During this time, our armed forces should have been given the opportunity to deploy troops on that border with appropriate density. I believe that we will first of all be demanded to demarcate the borders and be forced to recognize those borders. They will continuously press to sign something. These are submissive people, and I am sure that there will be no resistance. Our most serious problem at this moment is the complete absence of new resources for resistance.”