Goris Deputy Mayor on the Border Situation in Syunik

There seems to be an issue at our borders almost every day, big or small, about which we often do not speak out, as we are generally able to find quick solutions with our Russian partners. This was stated by Goris Deputy Mayor Menua Hovsepyan in an interview with Tert.am while discussing the border situation in Syunik.

Menua Hovsepyan also addressed the incident that occurred in the Tegh community on June 12, when locals became disoriented while performing agricultural work and ended up in an area controlled by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces in their tractors and three Niva brand vehicles. Residents of the village also gathered, creating a tense situation.

“We informed the Russian side, and they responded quickly. The Russians arrived at the scene and returned the vehicles to the Armenian side within a few hours. Do you remember that on July 8, an Armenian serviceman, Arthur Kartanyan from the village of Akner, also got disoriented due to fog and ended up in an area controlled by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, from where he was captured and arrested? We contacted them, and with the assistance of Rustam Muradov, the issue was resolved in just a few hours,” he said.

When asked if there are any preconditions set by the Azerbaijani side for resolving such incidents, the deputy mayor stated that there has been no such case where issues were resolved as a result of setting preconditions.

“This is the most important thing: no preconditions are set forth; our Russian partners are able to address the issues without any preconditions. It was the same when ten pieces of enemy equipment along with their drivers had surrounded our state border in the lower part of Korrnidzor, trying to take hostages. However, again with the intervention of the Russians, we were able to return our citizens to their families. I can confidently state that today, the Russians are exclusively engaged in issues of security in Syunik, but it creates a false impression that the Russians are doing nothing. Hence, the question arises: if the Russians are not resolving our daily issues, who is? Is it the government that is criminally negligent, having no control over the situation or interest in it, and how are all these problems being resolved? It is a fact that the role of the Russians in solving the daily problems in Syunik is very significant, and we are grateful to Rustam Muradov and Colonel Gorin, the representative of the peacekeeping troops stationed in Goris, who, through cooperation, are finding solutions favorable to us. Finally, the Russians are simply fulfilling their peacekeeping mission well without particularly advertising the results,” he concluded.