Papoyan justifies Pashinyan`s actions with his desire for peace

ArmInfo. Everything that the Prime Minister and the government do is done in the name of peace, economic prosperity and the implementation of the "Crossroads  of Peace" project. In this way, during a briefing on September 26,  the Minister of Economy of Armenia and Deputy Chairman of the Board  of the ruling Civil Contract party Gevorg Papoyan responded to a  question about why Pashinyan appeared so happy during his meeting  with Erdogan, as evidenced in their joint photo, where the Armenian  Prime Minister was tightly clutching a book given to him by the  author - the Turkish President.

"And you are suggesting that we shouldn't establish diplomatic  relations with neighbors and instead pursue a policy of hostility?"  the Minister of Economy engaged in a debate with journalists.  But  Papoyan didn't not stop there and began to blame the former  authorities and their policies, which, in his opinion, were the  reasons that Armenia had been blockaded for 30 years, lacked  democracy, and had no discussion on economic prosperity. People lived  in poverty, while only a few oligarchs were becoming wealthy. "This  policy was the cause of Armenia's hardships, the reason for its  significant losses," added the Deputy Chairman of the Civil Contract.

He also stated that the previous authorities had negotiated the  surrender of lands and upon returning to Armenia they preached  "pseudo-patriotism" or paid media representatives for these purposes.  This statement caused indignation among journalists, one of whom said  that the previous authorities "paid not us, but perhaps journalist  Nikol Pashinyan." Papoyan did not continue the conversation and left.