Political scientist: Transferring Tigranashen to Azerbaijan to lead  to loss of Syunik

ArmInfo.  Transferring the village of Tigranashen to Azerbaijan will lead to the loss of Syunik. This opinion was expressed by Stanford University political scientist and doctor of political science Artur Khachikyan, reacting to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statement during the election  campaign ahead of the June parliamentary elections in Armenia  regarding further plans to cede territories.

Specifically, when asked by a citizen to clarify what territories Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan was referring to when he stated that "Armenia has enclaves that should be transferred to Azerbaijan," the Armenian Prime Minister responded that "he is not talking about Armenia's  sovereign territories, but about Azerbaijani territories," which  should be returned as part of the border delimitation and demarcation  in exchange for Artsvashen.

Khachikyan is convinced that the current Armenian authorities have  simply found a new way to lie. "It's telling a lie slowly. This  situation is similar to the 'frog in boiling water syndrome,' where  the animal doesn't sense the heat of the water and doesn't jump out  when the temperature gradually increases.  Essentially, our entire  nation has been boiled since 2018 (since Nikol Pashinyan came to  power - ed.), and they're doing it just as slowly. That is, they're  not telling the whole truth at once," the political scientist  believes. In this regard, he recalled how the current Armenian  authorities began talking about the need to lower the negotiating bar  for Artsakh. "After that, Pashinyan went to Prague and, with the help  of French President Emmanuel Macron, surrendered Artsakh. But when  asked whether they hadn't surrendered this territory, they reply that  no such thing happened," the expert noted.

As Khachikyan noted, after this, the authorities began spreading  another lie, claiming that this would preserve Armenian territory.  "However, as soon as they are asked about the so-called 'Zangezur  Corridor,' they say 'what corridor,' demanding that this word not be  used. But time passes, and they are already talking about handing  over the road to a private company. So, we see how we are being  deceived again," the political scientist emphasized.

Khachikyan noted that the leasing of a private company on Armenian  territory would not have been met with a negative reaction if all  this had occurred within the framework of Armenia's sovereignty.  However, as the expert recalled, it later emerged that the road would  be transferred not to a private company, but to a third state, which  would hold 74% of the shares. "That is, we're not citing Blackwater  (an American private military company - ed.), but rather we're giving  a full 74% of this company to another country, thus losing our  sovereignty. It turns out that we were deceived in this matter as  well," Khachikyan noted.