Metaxe Hakobyan: Artsakh people are leaving Armenia, they see no hope under this government

No one, regardless of their position, can organize the return of Artsakh people, Metaxe Hakobyan, member of the National Assembly of Artsakh and chair of the “Justice and Return” NGO, told Alpha News.

“There are some groups—I can’t say exactly who they are—that spread news that some people are organizing the return of Artsakh people. I should say that my name was also on the list of those people because, for a long time, I received calls all day long. People from different regions sent me lists, saying that they were ready to return. They stopped when I explained that it is not so and that no one, regardless of their position, can organize their return. Any conscious person, not necessarily a politician, understands that there must be political regulations.

You cannot make a list of 1,000–5,000 people and say: I am going to live there under any conditions. Let me tell you, people won’t even go. They just thought that the politicians organized it, so they had probably settled some issues,” Hakobyan said.

According to Hakobyan, the Nagorno-Karabakh National Assembly does not work in Armenia in the same way as it worked in Artsakh.

“It does not work the way it did in Artsakh, because in Artsakh, it was fine if there were active and passive MPs, but here it is not like this. Everyone must be active, so that the work can be fully seen. The National Assembly of Artsakh is not busy with very big and serious things. Most of the MPs are busy with the social problems of the population. We try to keep both sides, both political and social, since many people turn to us because of injustice or because they have no way out,” Hakobyan noted.

According to Metaxe Hakobyan, the money that the people of Artsakh receive monthly is not enough to live even in a rural community.

“Soon the program of housing rent compensations will end. It’s not that people were able to solve any problem with 40+10 thousand drams, because even in rural communities, apartment rents are quite high. The money received is barely enough to pay the house rent and is provided late; in many cases, the landlords don’t allow people to live in their house anymore. I talk to many people. I try to check with at least 10–20 families a day. Many of them still do not have a permanent job. They have temporary jobs that cannot provide a stable salary for the family,” she noted.

According to her, many people leave Armenia and emigrate because of the government.

“Many leave Armenia because they don’t have a job; they can’t live here. They are going not only to Russia but also further to Europe and the USA. At the airport, there are many families leaving without wanting to return. This is mainly because, under these authorities, they no longer see the hope or the possibilities that they will be able to return to Artsakh, or they do not have the strength to overcome all this. Of course, at the same time, there is a part of the population that is fighting and trying to change this situation,” Hakobyan concluded.