“I Was Simply Stunned by the Discussions in the Spirit of ‘Kikos’ Death’”, Naira Zohrabyan

GPK MP Naira Zohrabyan wrote on her Facebook page: “Happy New Year and Christmas! Several public organizations, including the legal organization ‘VARDANYAN@PARTNERS’, approached me, presenting a draft law defending the ‘right to life of the unborn child’ and primarily proposed to put this draft law into circulation to prevent sex-selective abortions.

I have already mentioned that the PACE has repeatedly addressed the issue of sex-selective abortions in Armenia, and with this indicator, we are among the top three PACE member countries alongside Azerbaijan and Albania. Therefore, we decided to discuss the issue of presenting such a legislative initiative. Incidentally, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ararat Mirzoyan, who had also received the same legislative initiative proposal from the same organization, had written to the Permanent Committee on Health and Social Issues of the National Assembly. As stated on the official website of the National Assembly, the MPs have responded negatively to the issue of putting the package of draft laws on amendments to the ‘Right to Life of the Unborn Child,’ ‘On Human Reproductive Health and Reproductive Rights,’ ‘On Amending the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia,’ and ‘On Amending the Administrative Offences Code of the Republic of Armenia’ into circulation, which was sent by the President of the National Assembly, Ararat Mirzoyan, on June 26, 2020.

Since the announcement of such an initiative, I have been approached by several public organizations that provided their justifications that such regulations cannot be in the best interest of women. The justifications provided were valid for both myself and Shake Isayan, thus we will not put this draft law into circulation.

The reason I mention this is that I was simply stunned by the discussions in the spirit of ‘Kikos’ death regarding a draft that has not even been put into circulation, which the Speaker of the NA himself sent to the main committee for discussion.

Honestly, I do not believe that if Ararat Mirzoyan were confident that this would belittle women, fundamentally violate women’s rights, and be humiliating for women, he would have sent it to the main committee at all. What I mean is, I understand that you have no topic, I understand that even if I write ‘Happy New Year and Christmas’, you will still attack and give dozens of interviews saying, ‘What right does the chairperson of the Human Rights Committee have to congratulate Christmas? So, let her resign.’

Don’t you realize that all of this is no longer entertaining? Because when absurdity and surrealism become widespread, it’s already serious. Very serious. Don’t do this. Your extremely personal attitude towards me, which does not interest me at all, doesn’t transform into a surreal cinematic theme around the ‘death of Kikos’ and a draft that has not even been circulated. It’s not serious. Definitely not serious. To say the least.”