Civil Contract Faction Will Not Participate in Extraordinary National Assembly Session on Artsakh Issue

The Secretary of the Civil Contract faction in the National Assembly, Arthur Hovhannisyan, has issued a statement regarding the initiative of opposition factions to convene an extraordinary National Assembly session on the agenda of Armenian-Azerbaijani and Armenian-Turkish relations.

It states: 'Dear compatriots, as you know, the 'Armenia' and 'Honor and Dignity' factions in the National Assembly have initiated calling for an extraordinary session to discuss the agenda of Armenian-Azerbaijani and Armenian-Turkish relations. For more than a month, the parliamentary opposition has taken to the streets with slogans aimed at rescuing Artsakh, without proposing any logical path to solve the Artsakh issue. The parliamentary forces, which were once in power, have also failed to provide adequate explanations about their proven behavior of using the negotiating process on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue as a means to prolong their power during their years in office, betraying the interests of Artsakh, and pushing the issue into a deadlock.

It is now more than evident that the parliamentary opposition is once again attempting to exploit the Artsakh issue exclusively for internal political purposes. The initiative to hold an extraordinary National Assembly session is aimed at that objective. Lacking public support and a platform, the parliamentary opposition is trying to utilize the National Assembly podium as a lever to 'paralyze the city.'

Let us remind you that for months, the parliamentary opposition has boycotted inter-parliamentary delegations, refusing to present Artsakh and the interests of Artsakh's population on various international platforms. This best exposes the real motivations of the opposition.

In light of the above, we declare that the Civil Contract faction will not succumb to the political blackmail of the opposition and will not participate in the extraordinary session aimed at using the Artsakh issue for internal political purposes. At the same time, we declare that the Civil Contract faction, endowed with a strong mandate from the people, will continue to defend the rights and interests of Artsakh and its people on all possible platforms and will make efforts to promote the Peace agenda. The power of the people in Armenia is unwavering, and democracy is irreversible. Long live Armenian democracy.'