“It is necessary to provide complete information on what is happening, why it is happening, on what to expect and what not to expect. We all should be able to clearly assess the realities, be able to distinguish between false information and true information,” Pashinian said.
The Armenian premier called for “harmonious work of all central and local government bodies on many internal and external issues.”
“Because it is about the protection of state and national interests,” Pashinian explained.
Pashinian, whose Civil Contract party lost in several key communities of Syunik during recent local elections, also stressed the importance of “citizens being sure that their vote counts.”
During the meeting attended by the mayors of Kapan, Meghri, Tegh, Tatev, Gorayk, Kajaran, Sisian as well as by the deputy mayor of Goris, Pashinian also addressed issues connected with expected economic and transport unblocking in the region and delimitation and demarcation of the border with Azerbaijan, the prime minister’s press office said.
The meeting with Syunik’s local leaders comes one day after Pashinian vehemently rejected what he described as Azerbaijan’s demand for an extraterritorial corridor to its western Nakhichevan exclave via Syunik (called Zangezur in Azerbaijan).
Pashinian implied that the deadly clashes along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in Syunik on November 16 were the result of Baku’s response to Yerevan’s rejection of ‘corridor logic.’
At the same time, the Armenian leader again spoke in favor of general regional unblocking in which all countries will maintain sovereignty over transit roads passing through their territories.
Restoration of economic and transport links in the region is one of the terms of the Russia-brokered ceasefire agreement that stopped a 44-day Armenian-Azerbaijani war in Nagorno-Karabakh in November 2020.
The recent border clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan also renewed international calls for the delimitation and demarcation of the Soviet-era border between the two South Caucasus countries.
The leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are expected to meet in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi on November 26.
According to the Kremlin, during the Sochi talks “it is planned to discuss the implementation of the agreements reached on November 9 [2020] and January 11 [2021] as well as to outline further steps to strengthen stability and establish a peaceful life in the region.”