Armenian MP urges to return what belongs to Azerbaijan

A member of the ruling majority Civil Contract Faction and a member of the Standing Committee on Defence and Security of the National Assembly of Armenia Gagik Melkonyan has urged to return what belongs to Azerbaijan.

"You know, you say, we are surrendering four villages of Tavush (Tovuzgala - ed.). We are not giving up four villages of Tavush. If anyone in this country cedes even one meter of the 29.8 thousand square kilometers of Armenia, he is a traitor to the nation. If he surrenders or cedes one meter of land from Armenia's territory without war. Whoever he is," Melkonyan said in an interview with Armenian media, Caliber.Az reports.

"We are talking about the neighboring villages of the Tavush region that came under our control in the 1990s. That is, we deployed our first line, our security zone, as much as we could ensure at those heights, and it remains so to this day. Now they (Azerbaijan - ed.) demand to return their villages, which will start demarcation, and we will have a state border, not a line of contact. We want to have an internationally recognized state border. What is ours stays with us, what belongs to them stays with them. We have to give them what is theirs. There is no understanding that we are giving away the villages of Tavush, as the media say. If it is under our control, does that mean they belong to us? If there is demarcation, it means that the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan is drawn.

In Tavush, these people lived next to Azerbaijanis, they know their borders very well. Look, you say he (Pashinyan - ed.) terrorized the people during the meeting. What terror? If truth be told, is it terrorism?

What if Azerbaijan now tells the world that Armenians took away our lands and are not giving them back? And now I can attack and take back my lands. They don't say they are attacking Armenia. They don't need that. They will say that I will forcefully take my lands that belong to me. Is it terrorism If you tell this truth?” Melkonyan added.