Details from the Closed Meeting in Aghveran: 'Zhoghovurd'

The newspaper 'Zhoghovurd' reports that new details have emerged about the meeting of the 'My Step' parliamentary group, which was also attended by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. The meeting took place in Aghveran at the 'Best Resort Aghveran' hotel. Many group members had been there since Saturday. Nikol Pashinyan arrived in Aghveran on Sunday at 10 AM and stayed until the evening.

According to 'Zhoghovurd', the meeting was attended by parliamentary deputies from the group and members of the 'Civil Contract' party, except for Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan, and deputies Hakob Simidyan and Mkhtiar Hayrapetyan. Notably, the two-day relaxation and meeting in Aghveran was financed by the Council of Europe through the initiative of one of the deputies, who secured the funding.

Under the auspices of a European-funded grant program, many members of the ruling group who spent Saturday in Aghveran discussed the need to establish an Ethics Committee in the National Assembly. On Sunday, when the Prime Minister joined the deputies, various questions were raised regarding Armenian-Turkish, Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, as well as Armenian-Russian relations.

Interestingly, when it was mentioned that the Armenian-Russian relations should be strengthened, the Prime Minister opened up and stated that this could raise issues and could impose conditions that they may not be able to fulfill. 'There are questions that we need to discuss,' said Pashinyan.

During the discussion, particular attention was given to military construction and issues concerning the borders of Syunik, with attendees questioning how the homeland would be defended with a fragmented army. After this wide range of questions, Nikol Pashinyan asked the attendees if they believed their government enjoyed respect at the moment.

Following this question, for instance, deputies Hayk Sargsyan, Arusyag Julhakyana, Suren Grigoryan, and others stated that the authorities faced no problems and moreover, there was no need for snap parliamentary elections, and they could skip them. Only Deputy Speaker Alen Simonyan mentioned that they needed a restart and that snap elections were necessary. However, all of this remained at the discussion level, and no final decisions were made.

It is noteworthy that only after the Prime Minister returned to Yerevan was a statement made public that the 'My Step' group was against snap elections. Many attendees at the discussion in Aghveran were unaware of the final decision; once again, a statement was issued on behalf of the group that not everyone was informed about.

This situation may lead to further resignations from parliamentary mandates in the near future, with names to be disclosed later, indicating who has been commissioned to convince deputies not to leave the group or resign their mandates. According to 'Zhoghovurd', there was a very heated situation in the offices of the group deputies yesterday, and many were vocally expressing backstage that snap elections are indeed necessary.

For more details, refer to today's issue of the newspaper.