Your trusted source

MP Artur Khachatryan of the opposition Hayastan faction on Tuesday lambasted his pro-government colleagues for rejecting the opposition-backed Hayakve ballot initiative.

The legislative initiative which had collected 58,000 signatures called for criminalizing Artsakh’s recognition as part of Azerbaijan and any government decision to stop campaigning for international recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey.

The parliament committee on legal affairs gave a negative assessment of the initiative as seven MPs from the ruling Civil Contract party voted against it on Monday.

“The parliamentary majority once again blocked an opposition proposal from being debated at a parliament session,” Khachatryan said.

“As the National Assembly speaker, don't you think that the behavior of your teammates is a step aimed at destroying the Armenian parliamentarism?” the MP asked Alen Simonyan.

In turn, Simonyan criticized opposition MPs for boycotting parliament sessions and “poorly performing” their duties.

Civil Contract head Hayk Konjoryan announced his faction's decision to vote against putting the issue on the agenda based on the assessment of the parliament committee.

The parliament voted 26 to 57 to reject debates on the Hayakve initiative.