Saturday, 2 August 2014
Prime Minister: We are not afraid of war and are ready to defend our land and water
On a working visit to Gegharkunik Marz, Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan took questions from media representatives.
During a briefing, the Premier referred to the tense situation at the border between Armenia and Artsakh, emphasizing that Armenia is prepared to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through peace talks in the OSCE Minsk group format. He urged Azerbaijan to abstain from escalation, if not; Armenia has the power to silence the enemy.
“There is a cease-fire agreement, and each attack will be retaliated adequately with several times more powerful response. We have that potential, but every killed soldier is a bitter loss for us, for our country, his family and his parents. The Presidents are scheduled to meet in Sochi on August 8-9 and we hope that important agreements may be reached during their meeting. We are not afraid of war and are prepared to defend our land and water. Simply war is not a reasonable tool to solve a problem in the 21st century, but we also have to accept the imposed war and defeat the enemy. Our army is adequately equipped and we have no concerns whatsoever, but we are saddened at the loss of our soldiers. God grant that instead of relying on petrodollars, our opponent would appeal to sound mind. When one’s financial possibilities prevail over his capacity of reasoning, he becomes ever more dangerous,” the Prime Minister said
Concerning the auction of the SCC, the head of government noted, “The State had made available a loan equivalent to USD 20 million, and the Sports Complex building was kept in pledge. The loan was not repaid in time; the State wants its money back, and the competent authorities are now handling the process.”
Speaking of the restoration of Lake Sevan’s trout resources and the design of an integrated development program, Hovik Abrahamyan mentioned, “Our visit seeks to explore the area and implement the proposed project in two settlements. This important project has a total cost of about 60 billion Armenian drams, with 3 billion expected to be spent at the first phase.”
