“Strong Armenia” stated that handing over Tigranashen was unacceptable and proposed a development strategy for the village.

Arminfo. Samvel Karapetyan’s “Strong Armenia” faction emphasized the inadmissibility of handing over the Armenian settlement of Tigranashen to Azerbaijan and proposed a development strategy for the village. The development strategy was announced by Narek Karapetyan, head of the “Strong Armenia” parliamentary faction, during a visit to Tigranashen on September 10.

“In the course of communicating with the villagers, we reached a number of conclusions: the villagers do not want to leave their homes; they want to remain in their homeland. This is one of the villages in the Ararat Valley.  Tigranashen is located approximately 40 minutes’ drive from Yerevan, but, according to local residents, it is in a neglected state; not a single program has been implemented here. And people do not know how to look to the future,” the politician noted.

According to him, “Strong Armenia” is proposing an alternative development program for Tigranashen so that people will not later speak of a gray and unhappy village. The opposition representative believes that tourism and winemaking could become promising areas for Tigranashen.

He drew attention to the fact that all pastures adjacent to the village are closed to the development of livestock farming, which prevents the villagers from fully engaging in livestock farming.

“Tigranashen must remain Armenian, since a strategic road connecting the north of Armenia and Yerevan with Vayots Dzor and Syunik passes through here. About 8 km of this route pass through Tigranashen. And we have no right to hand over our country’s strategic road to another country simply because they demand it,” the politician stated. He noted that, according to the country’s administrative maps, Tigranashen is recorded as an Armenian village. According to him, this is also preserved in the administrative changes proposed by the authorities. He added that there is no subject for discussion here.

“About 2 million tons of cargo are transported along this route annually, while more than 100,000 trucks travel from Meghri toward the northern part of Armenia. Tens of thousands of passenger cars also pass along the road every day. In the event of losing the main route, an alternative could be the road through the villages, which could increase travel time between Yerevan and the border with Iran by almost an hour,” Karapetyan pointed out.

“For Tigranashen, ‘Strong Armenia’ is proposing development, while the ‘Civil Contract’ party is proposing surrender,” Karapetyan said. He stated that a major agricultural hub should be established in the village, which would enable the development of household farms in the village.

It should be noted that after the elections, the Armenian prime minister stated that the village was allegedly an Azerbaijani enclave and called it by its Azerbaijani toponym. The village is located on the highway connecting Armenia with Iran.