Samvel Karapetyan: Armenia will be left defenseless if the 102nd Russian military base is withdrawn

ArmInfo.  There will either be a Russian military base or a Turkish one on the territory of Armenia—the choice belongs to the Armenian people.

Leader of the "Strong Armenia" bloc and businessman Samvel Karapetyan made this comment regarding Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statement that he "does not object to the withdrawal of the 102nd Russian military base."

"We will be left without protection. Or there will be a Turkish base on our territory. After all,  some kind of base must be located there. It will be either Russian or Turkish—choose," the leader of the "Strong Armenia" bloc said on September 11 in a conversation with journalists outside the building of the Anti-Corruption Court in Yerevan.

It should be noted that on September 3, during a briefing, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that the Armenian authorities had never raised the issue of withdrawing the 102nd Russian military base from the country, but if Russia decided to take this step, Yerevan would not object.  He assured that the Armenian authorities did not see a vital necessity for the base. He said this in response to a request to comment on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s words that the 102nd base could be withdrawn from Armenia "as early as tomorrow."

The Russian military base has been stationed in Armenia in accordance with an interstate treaty signed in 1995. In 2010, amendments were made to the document, under which the period of its presence on the territory of Armenia was extended from the initial 25 years to 49 years, until 2044.