Alen Simonyan: Whether Artsakh people return to their homeland or not  is a matter of time

ArmInfo. "Due to security reasons, some time should pass." This is how the Armenian Speaker of  the Parliament, Alen Simonyan, answered the journalists' question whether it is possible for the people of Artsakh to return to Artsakh, are such discussions continuing?

"This does not mean that this issue is not being discussed, or that  there are appropriate solutions; I honestly cannot imagine how  Armenians today can return to Nagorno-Karabakh, given that in just a  few days over 100 thousand Artsakh residents left their homes and  fled for threats from Azerbaijan," he said.

At the same time, Simonyan emphasized that the authorities of Armenia  are trying to provide our compatriots of Artsakh with everything they  need, making every effort to do so. "We will continue to assist our  compatriots. But whether they return or not is a matter of time,"  said the head of Parliament.

And when asked whether it seems possible for Azerbaijanis to move to  Armenia, and vice versa, Simonyan noted that this would also take  time. "They (Azerbaijan) must weaken the rhetoric of hatred that they  have made their brand. It is not us who should be blamed in this  matter, because the opposition and the opposition media accuse us of  "pouring water into Azerbaijan's mill", he said.

Simonyan did not rule out that a certain amount of time will pass and  a certain number of Armenians will move to live in Azerbaijan, and a  certain number of Azerbaijanis will settle in Armenia and trade with  each other, live next to each other. "Yes, we are moving towards  peace, and without it peace is impossible. And I do not agree with  the belief that this is an unsolvable conflict.

Because history shows us the example of France and England, the  conflict between which lasted 116 years. They killed each other. But  today these are the biggest partners in the world. I'm not saying  that tomorrow or the day after tomorrow we will achieve a similar  result. But we live in the same region, which means that we need to  try to resolve all the problems," he concluded.

After Azerbaijan's large-scale military aggression against  Nagorno-Karabakh on September 19 of this year, which was preceded by  a 9-month total blockade, around 109,000 Artsakh citizens were  forcibly moved to Armenia.

However, in total, as a result of Azerbaijani aggression, starting  from the 44-day Artsakh war in 2020, 150 thousand Artsakh residents  were left their  homeless.