We Should Have Democratic Armenia to Respond to Azerbaijani Oil Blackmail: Levon Zurabyan

Levon Zurabyan’s speech on the June 7 release of Parliamentary Hour show on Public TV:

Dear compatriots,

Armenia stands in front of serious external challenges and domestic political turbulence. On these days on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and on NKR-Azerbaijan front tragic events have occurred due to the military machine of Azerbaijan, in the aftermath of which our brave soldiers were killed, the life of civilians living in borderline communities were under threat. On behalf of the Armenian National Congress I express my condolences to the families of our valiant soldiers.

It is evident that through these diversions Azerbaijan is delivering a unique political message to Armenia and the international community by demonstrating its commitment to resolve the conflict through military means.

The audacity of the Azerbaijani machine is not only driven by oil revenues or purchase of munitions. It is first of all connected with the current situation of Armenia. The constantly falsified elections, criminal state apparatus, corrupt state, enormous rates of migration, high rates of poverty drastically increases the confidence of the adversary.

We can only equivalently respond to the oil wealth of Azerbaijan by having a democratic Armenia, where everybody will be equal to law, where the government will be elected by the actual will of its citizens, where the economy would function in conditions of free competition and where the authorities would be accountable to the nation. The Armenian National Congress has been fighting for this kind of Armenia for over five years now. Our movement is undefeatable. We, the seven ANC MPs, are the delegates of the Liberty Square in the parliament. The Liberty Square will continue hosting rallies. This being said, on June 26, at 7 p.m. we invite all our compatriots to join us in a rally.