The Continuation of the Pasinyan-Arayik Harutyunyan Conflict According to 'Hraparak'

The newspaper 'Hraparak' writes: 'The conflict that arose with the authorities of Artsakh at the end of last year, when harsh responses were heard from Artsakh during Nikol Pashinyan's year-end press conference, continues.

Recall that Pashinyan almost explicitly stated that hoping for independence and the status of Artsakh is pointless. His statements were even responded to by the President of Artsakh, Arayik Harutyunyan, who declared: 'The full recognition of the right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination is not negotiable and is not subject to any compromise, and the exclusive owner of this issue is the people of Artsakh. Only the authorities of the Republic of Artsakh are authorized to speak on behalf of the population of Artsakh.'

Recently, Arayik Harutyunyan, who arrived in Yerevan to attend Papikyan's wedding, also participated in a consultation held by the government on Artsakh issues, during which Pashinyan said: 'In 2022, the government of Armenia will provide about 144 billion drams in budgetary support to Artsakh. In 2021, that figure exceeded 100 billion drams.'

Yesterday, in the circles of the ruling Civil Contract party, there was confusion, as they mentioned that during the conflict, Pashinyan had told the team that a huge amount of assistance had been sent to Artsakh after the war, but a considerable portion of it ended up in 'Arayik's and his close associates' pockets.' He even stated that if he starts investigating that matter now, they will say that it’s political persecution against us, and therefore he refrains from doing so.

Yesterday, they were asking: if the funds intended for Artsakh on 21 have been embezzled, why are they allocating more funds in 2022 without punishing anyone?' More details can be found in today's edition of the newspaper.