Koryun Simonyan
Public TV commentator Petros Ghazaryan, during an interview with Artsvik Minasyan on H1, referring to the topic of banning Russian State Duma deputy Konstantin Zatulin from entering Armenia, said:
“Zatulin announces that we signed a corridor in the statement of November 9, and he says: go ask the signatory why he signed, this is Aliyev’s narrative. When Zatulin repeats Aliyev’s idea, he is lying, and it is directed against our security, none of you say, Dear Zatulin, maybe that is why your entry was banned? We contacted Konstantin Zatulin and asked if he said what Petros Ghazaryan attributes to him, and if so, on what basis did he say it?
“No, I did not announce such a thing. One of the Armenian media asked me why Russia demands Armenia to open a corridor. I told you to clarify everything regarding the issue of the corridor with Nikol Pashinyan, because he takes on himself or does not take some obligations, including those related to the corridor. That’s all I said about it, I didn’t refer to any agreement. Later they started to write that Zatulin attributes an agreement on the corridor to Armenia, while there is no such agreement in the tripartite statement. I didn’t refer to the tripartite statement at all, that’s how the Armenian mass media, which have an interest in justifying the government’s line, interpreted it that way, but I want to draw your attention to the fact that if everything written in the so-called In the “Washington Declaration”, the word “corridor” is not used there, but there is a clause about a land route that can be called a corridor or not. Even when a corridor is provided, one should be very careful about who exercises the jurisdiction, how the inspection is carried out, in whose hands are the customs posts, are there customs posts or not? If there is this point in the “Washington Declaration”, it means that Armenia is conducting discussions on this issue, and Azerbaijan, as you know, uses the phrase “Zangezur Corridor” everywhere, moreover, during the tripartite meeting in Sochi, Mr. Aliyev spoke of the 5 conditions which they put forward as basic preconditions for relations with Armenia, one of them is the “Zangezur Corridor”. There are beautiful words of peace, about this and that, but then there is also a word about “Zangezur Corridor”. That’s what Aliyev says, but he said it during a meeting with the participation of the President of Russia and the Prime Minister of Armenia. As for the motives of Mr. Ghazaryan’s statement, why he thinks that I should have appeared on that list, then it is the conscience of the current government of Armenia. Until now, we have not received any official response from the official structures of Armenia. You probably know that on the day when it became known that my visit to Armenia was undesirable, the Russian Foreign Ministry sent a note of protest to the Russian Embassy in Armenia, which forwarded the note to the Armenian Foreign Ministry regarding me and Margarita Simonyan, and not There is no official response to those notes. And what Mr. Ghazaryan says, the reasons, the explanations he gives… let’s think together. or could those reasons become an occasion to recognize an undesirable person? If the Armenian authorities are acting like that, then the entire government, both now and during the opposition, should not be allowed to visit Russia for the statements they made about Russia, if we proceed from such approaches about what is possible and what is not possible. In other words, if the current government of Armenia thinks that if you approach them critically, evaluate in a way that they don’t like, and that is a reason to ban entry, then Armenia is a monarchy, and any criticism of the Armenian government is considered an attack on the monarchy. on. In that case, of course, it turns out that I am guilty, because I have dishonored “his majesty” by calling a spade a spade, and no passage has anything to do with it, but the treacherous line that has to do with it.
Yesterday, NA Speaker Alen Simonyan received in our parliament the delegation led by Kazbek Taisaev, the first deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots. Zatulin is the chairman of this committee, we asked him, isn’t it strange that when his entry is banned, his deputy comes to Armenia and meets the head of the parliament that banned his entry.
“Discussions are going on between the professional committees of the parliaments of the two countries these days. That meeting was agreed back in September, that is, before all these events. The visit of my colleague was postponed, and the chairman of the committee did not visit, because, as we know, the chairman of that committee of the Armenian National Assembly was from the opposition faction, but he was not allowed to work, as far as I remember, it was Mr. Armen Gevorgyan, and the actual duties of the chairman of the committee are carried out by the representative of the government. . In this situation, we made a decision that, of course, what is happening in Armenian-Russian relations needs to be discussed, because these relations have not become hostile, there is a demand for the parties to clarify their positions, ask questions and get answers. including regarding banning the visit of State Duma deputies to Armenia. We have not banned the entry of any of the deputies of the National Assembly of Armenia into the Russian Federation, regardless of what opinions they express. This is also one of Mr. Taisaev’s problems, which I hope he will fulfill during his visit to Armenia. And, of course, I would never make my personal question a condition that if I am not allowed to come to Armenia, then the Armenian-Russian relations should be broken at the parliamentary level. I treat Armenia with respect, I consider it important to maintain Armenian-Russian relations, their development, and I speak from that point of view. Of course, they will try to use the arrival of our delegation in such a way as to present the desired instead of the real, to show that, look, we have banned the entry of Zatulin. but the other deputies are coming. But those deputies came to Armenia because they had a mandate, within the framework of which they will also meet with the representatives of the opposition. Today, the entire delegation will meet with Robert Kocharian, and they are not going to present the ban of their colleague, that is, my entry to Armenia, as something acceptable in our relations. I hope that Mr. Simonyan was told about this during the meeting. If the Armenian authorities want to show that there is no problem, that if they ban this or that, it will be tolerated… we are just big people and show patience, but it is not infinite. If this continues, we will demand that on the same basis, the entry of the honorable deputies of Armenia to the Russian Federation is prohibited. which shamelessly accuses Russia of all sins. We will also adopt a similar way of working, but we are still waiting,” replied Zatulin.