Hardly anyone in Armenia would dare cede Artsakh to Azerbaijan -  Davit Sanasaryan

ArmInfo. It is not at all clear what policy underlies the opposition forces' promises to save Artsakh from Azerbaijan and Armenia from Turkification, Davit Sanasaryan, Chairman  of the Sovereign Armenia Party, said in an interview with ArmInfo.

"I can only assume that a policy toward joining the Allied State or,  to an extent, integrating with Russia, is being implemented. In any  case, Russia is playing its role in all these games  - and not at all  for mere participation. In any case, democratic processes are taking  place in Armenia, and elections are not accompanied with frauds  similar to those not long ago. And profound democratic changes in  Armenia cannot, understandably, be in Moscow's interests," Mr  Sanasaryan said. 

In this context, he does rule out that one of the aims of the  protests by the parliamentary opposition is to force Armenia's  Premier Nikol Pashinyan into remaining subordinate to Moscow, with a  "contingency plan" of changing power in Armenia if necessary. 

As to the reasons for the opposition forces' intensified activities,  Mr Sanasaryan singled out the premier's recent "inaccurate"  statements, which enabled the opposition forces to play on people's  emotions and beliefs, claiming an imminent surrender of Artsakh.  

"You know, the caliber of Nikol Pashinyan - or of any other person in  Armenia - does not allow them to cede Artsakh to Azerbaijan. Once  they attempt to do so, they will face such public discontent that  they will 'regret the mistake.' And everyone will see a real  revolution, not what is going on now. And however hard these people  try to emulate our street protests, they will fail for the simple  reason that it was the people, not parties, that took to the streets  in 2018 - the people humiliated and robbed by the leaders of the  present-day opposition. The people were defending their interests not  those of clans," Mr Sanasaryan said.  

He stressed that the righteous popular discontent with Armenia's  premier and demand for his resignation after the defeat in the 44-day  war met with the actions by supporters of Robert Kocharyan and Serzh  Sargsyan. In particular, most of the discontented prefers staying at  home after seeing the "former ones'" activities. And most of the  voters supported Pashinyan in the early parliamentary elections only  to prevent the return of Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan.

"And now Pashinyan is making unacceptable statements on both Artsakh  and Armenia, but people are not taking to the streets as they are  perfectly aware that the cries about Artsakh, Turks and enemies are  nothing but a struggle for power. And, in some cases, the reason for  this struggle is those people's desire to not find themselves behind  the bars," Mr Sanasaryan said.