‘A disaster’: Naira Zohrabyan slams possible appointment of Lilit Makunts as Armenia’s new ambassador to US
MP Naira Zohrabyan from the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party on Monday strongly condemned the possible appointment of ruling My Step faction head Lilit Makunts as new Armenian Ambassador to the US by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan as a “disaster”.
Speaking to reporters at the parliament, the lawmaker recalled Pashinyan’s calls for appointment of exclusively professional diplomats as ambassadors while the latter was an MP.
Zohrabyan says now “a woman who only knows English” may be appointed ambassador to the US, which is one of the three OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries.
"This is a disaster. In the person of Nikol Pashinyan, we see a man who does the diametrically opposite of what he has been saying for years as an opposition MP. Now I even refuse to talk about the consequences that may arise as a result of all this. We have a disintegrated state and every such decision is a direct blow to our country. It seems to me that Nikol Pashinyan wants to take his allies to a safe place, because he understands very well that the time of political and legal accountability will eventually come,” she said.
Naira Zohrabyan noted that in case of a change of government, the diplomats appointed by Pashinyan will definitely be recalled, but in that case they can stay in foreign countries, avoiding prosecution.
However, the deputy said she strongly believes that Nikol Pashinyan will eventually be removed from office.
"Nikol Pashinyan himself knows that he will leave. He still has an opportunity to leave by political means. The cause of our defeat, whether it was betrayal or something else, must be examined in a fair trial,” Zohrabyan said.