YEREVAN, March 13. /TASS/. Several hundred people have gathered in Freedom Square in the center of Yerevan for a rally organized by the Miasin political movement to press for the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. The demonstration is being streamed live by local news portals.
Former Armenian Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan, who took part in the rally as one of the organizers, expressed satisfaction with the number of people who responded to the call for demonstrating and told the crowd that as many people as possible should join in to make "Nikol Pashinyan step down as soon as possible."
Bagratyan warned that that by continuing his policy, Pashinyan "will not only give away to Azerbaijan some villages of the Tavush Region, but tomorrow let Turkey demand the Amasya district and we will lose the border with Georgia."
Speaking at a news press conference held on Tuesday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan did not deny that Azerbaijan was demanding prompt handover of four Soviet-era exclave villages adjacent to the Tavush Region, placed under Armenia’s control as a result of hostilities in the 1990s. He also added that "what belongs to Armenia will remain in Armenia," implying that these villages were not part of the country in the Soviet era.