Idea of arming Armenian border villagers gains support –

Panarmenian – Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan met Thursday, July 24, with the members of the Public Council to discuss the immigration problem, its causes and ways of prevention. The meeting also focused on Armenia’s joining the Eurasian Economic Union, border security, environment, electricity price hike, funded pensions as well as constitutional reforms.

The border security got special attention, causing hot debate regarding a possibility of arming the residents of border villages. President Sargsyan, however, spoke against any initiative of the kind.

Earlier, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan said that all the possible routes from Azerbaijan to Karvachar area of Nagorno Karabakh will be mined.

“The Nagorno Karabakh defense army is taking appropriate measures to discover possible routes of penetration from Azerbaijan into Karvachar, including work on mining of those paths,” Ohanyan said. “The alert level on the frontline has been raised. Commanders of the NKR defense army are taking all necessary measures. Population is warned accordingly.”

Meanwhile, former commander of Arabo detachment Manvel Yeghiazaryan said he supports the idea of arming the residents of Armenia’s border villages.

“It’s erroneous to think that weapons can results in increase of the crime rate in the area,” he believes.

Yeghiazaryan also supported Tavush province governor’s offer to invite diplomats and representatives of international organizations to visit the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, where “they can see everything with their own eyes.”