Epress.am News from Armenia
Armenia’s Police reports that entry to Nagorno Karabagh will be temporarily forbidden in relation to the state of exception declared in Armenia. Exceptions will be made only for persons registered in NK, cargo transporters, journalists and observers from Armenia that will be covering and observing the presidential and parliamentary elections in NK.
Head of Armenia’s Police PR Department, Ashot Aharonyan also writes on his Facebook page that, “In order to increase the effectiveness of prevention of coronavirus epidemic spread, Armenia’s road police and local police departments will immediately place check-points on roads connecting Armenia and Karabagh (Sotq-Karvachar, and Tegh village to Artsakh) and will temporarily forbid the entry of all persons to Artsakh Republic.” Exceptions will be applied to persons registered in NK, cargo transporters, journalists and observers from Armenia that will be covering and observing the presidential and parliamentary elections in NK.
Despite public outcry to cancel or postpone the presidential and parliamentary elections appointed on March 31 2020, they are scheduled to take place. The pandemics of the coronavirus and preventive measures taken all over the world and state of exception declared in Armenia have not stopped the candidates from actively purpsuing their election campaigns in Karabakh. Head of the information unit of the committee to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Tigran Abrahamyan, states that there are no intentions to cancel or postpone the elections in NK.
Gayane Ayvazyan, compares this stubbornness to the unsurprising stubbornness of Russia’s Putin, who, eventually gave in and indefinitely postponed the constitutional referendum in Russia. Ayvazyan writes, “The virus penetrates recognized states, but in an unrecognized state it is ok to make a civilizational doomsday and remain unpunished… In general, what do elections mean in Karabakh? What is the legal basis of these elections that are so urgent and not subject to postponement. Today, they do what they wish in Karabakh, the authorities in Armenia are unable to stop the elections given the pandemic situation, while the foreign institutions simply do not recognize them and therefore do not interefere. And again, Karabakh displays a bullying child syndrome, and giving way to the whims of the child can have irreparable consequences. The revolutionary authorities of Armenia face the most serious task of changing this anatomy of power, otherwise Nikol Pashinyan will remain a nice advertisement in our lives. The value of self-governance is left to the old reactionary forces all the way from school governance to Karabakh. They do as they wish, causing disasters – small or big.”