David Khajakyan-Alen Simonyan Facebook Debate Moves to Parliament

The head of the Yerevan City Council "Luminous" faction and member of the "Enlightened Armenia" party, David Khajakyan, has made a post on his Facebook page directed at the Vice President of the National Assembly, Alen Simonyan. In his post, he particularly mentions:

"Alen Simonyan seems to think that with his minor slip-ups he can unsettle us. But I have to disappoint him, as he is already revealing his true position and surroundings without our intervention. There’s just one thing I want to say directly to Alen Simonyan: friend, you’re a very small political entity, we have no substantive grounds to talk with you, especially since we’re convinced that you’re merely carrying out your superior’s orders."

Today, journalists asked Alen Simonyan about this post in the National Assembly, to which he responded that he had seen the post. "I believe that if a person makes a statement, they should be sure of it. There’s nothing like that regarding me. I have repeatedly proven that aside from the ‘Civil Contract’ party, Nikol Pashinyan, and the members of the board, linking me to other people and places is an absurd endeavor," said Simonyan.

Later, Khajakyan responded to Simonyan's remarks, noting, "After working with Alen Simonyan for about a year within the YELQ faction, as the faction leader, I have always urged to build arguments more substantively and to reduce the ‘epatage’. Today, when I hear that Simonyan is upset that I do not make black and white divisions in my interactions with the media and says it in an intriguing manner, I realize that as faction leader, I have not been able to make my democratic approaches sufficiently understandable. In this regard, I apologize to the public and the media. I hope Ms. Makunts will fill this gap."