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Armenian National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan defended the parliamentary majority’s move to reject debates on a bill submitted by the Hayakve initiative and backed by the opposition.

The initiative supported by 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.

At a parliament session on Tuesday, Simonyan denied criticism that Armenian government members avoid using the toponyms “Nagorno-Karabakh” or “Artsakh”.

"I don't know where you got it from, all officials use it," he stated.

The parliament speaker claimed that the ruling Civil Contract faction MPs “saved” their opposition colleagues by rejecting the bill.

"We are helping you because you have become hostages to your own initiative,” Simonyan said. “You are pretending that this is the most important thing in an attempt to save your face. Here I have a question: if this bill had been passed, would you have prosecuted the president of Armenia's ally Russia for recognizing Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan?”

Opposition Hayastan faction secretary Artsvik Minasyan said the law would apply to everyone, including the ruling team.

"Thank you for a crucial remark!" Simonyan replied.