Alen Simonyan is lying from head to toe. I do not need that pension. Hakob Aslanyan

Alen Simonyan is lying from head to toe and is not telling the truth. This statement was made today, March 25, during a briefing with journalists at the National Assembly by Hakob Aslanyan, an MP expelled from the ruling Civil Contract party, in response to the Speaker's claim that Aslanyan was "crying and begging to stay in the faction" during a meeting of the parliamentary group.

“Am I crying? Excuse me, can a person who has risked his life for the country three times cry over some kind of lie?” he commented.

In response to the question of whether he would have fallen to his knees and begged to be taken back, Aslanyan stated, “Then why did I go on Factor TV and announce that I was freezing my activities with them? I announced it, and then they called me in and removed me.”

He also noted a smaller yet significant detail: “To convince me to resign my mandate, they had reached out to my family members in America and Astrakhan, trying to influence me.”

Simonyan claimed, “You will still receive your pension.” To this, Aslanyan replied, “Firstly, I do not need that pension because I am a secured person. I have worked for 56 years in my homeland and today I am in a financial position where that pension will not play a significant role for me.”

When asked about the morality of saying “leave and go,” regarding Nikol Pashinyan, considering that he was also part of the Civil Contract list in the NA, the MP responded, “Has there never been a person in your entire life who you were good with, and then you ceased relations? I didn’t bring Nikol Pashinyan to power; they invited me during the 'Yelk' coalition when they had a shortage of personnel.”

Aslanyan further recounted how during the 2021 elections, Suren Papikyan said in Gyumri, “now, the speaker will be Hakob Aslanyan, a participant in three Artsakh wars, severely wounded in the last war.” He noted they used that narrative.

“In 2018, the issue was to remove Serzh Sargsyan by all means. The movement was going under the slogan ‘take a step, reject Serzh,’ there was no mention of ‘take a step, reject Serzh, choose Nikol.’ If it had been phrased that way, many would not have voted for Nikol. The deception was set from the beginning.”

Regarding whether he is satisfied with his decision to reject Serzh, Aslanyan said, “Each of us has the right to make mistakes; we are all human. Mr. Aghazaryan and I have always had our opinions internally; we were somewhat internal opposition. Don’t you see how uncontrollable Nikol Pashinyan’s actions became after they removed Mr. Aghazaryan and me? Our existence there was a certain restraint.”

On why the government is targeting him, Aslanyan explained, “Because yesterday I sadly stated that two months are left, and they need to get rid of you. I believe the people need to stand up.”

He also declared that Nikol Pashinyan can effectively utilize the manipulative idea that “if I am not here, Kocharyan will come,” while the people have a completely different rejection approach towards Kocharyan.