Armenian Parliament rejects criminalization of recognition of NK as part of another country
Project “Hayakve”
The Armenian Parliament has voted against the inclusion in the agenda of a bill submitted by the Hayakve initiative on criminalizing the recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh as part of another state. “Twenty-six deputies representing the opposition voted in favo; 57 deputies of the ruling majority voted “against.” Nor was the draft was not approved by the commission on state-legal issues yesterday.
The authors of the initiative proposed to introduce an amendment to the Criminal Code, according to which violators of the law would face 10 to 15 imprisonment for recognizing NK as part of another state, as well as refusal of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide of the early 20th century.
Political observer Armen Baghdasaryan believes that the project is not directly related to the future of Nagorno-Karabakh. He characterizes the process started by the “Hayakve” initiative as “another episode of internal political struggle”.
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The Citizens’ Initiative received more votes than it was entitled to
According to the Armenian Constitution, in order to put an issue on the agenda of the National Assembly, a civic initiative had to collect signatures from 50 thousand citizens. Collection started at the end of June 2023, and the project was supported by 58 thousand citizens of the country.
As a result, the issue reached the Parliament, but did not receive a favorable opinion among the relevant commission of the National Assembly, and during the regular session it did not reach the stage of discussion.
The project can be submitted to a national referendum. However, for that the authors of the initiative will need to collect many more signatures — 300,000. “Hayakve” have not yet announced whether they will go this way.
“The ruling party ignored the draft that 58,000 citizens submitted”
The opposition believes that the deputies from the ruling majority ignored the opinion of more than 50 thousand citizens of the country who supported the initiative. This was stated at the session by the secretary of the Hayastan opposition faction, Artsvik Minasyan. According to him, the ruling team has confirmed by its position that it refuses to fulfill its pre-election promises:
“‘Civil Pact’ [the ruling party] also wants to come out with a message: forget what we promised, what we told you, we are doing what we need to do to keep our seats”.
Aram Petrosyan, representative of the Hayakve initiative, also recalled the provisions of the ruling faction’s pre-election program, with which it won the 2021 snap elections:
“They promised to guarantee the security of the people of Artsakh, talked about the settlement of the problem on the basis of the right to self-determination, but did the exact opposite. This is nothing but usurpation of power. Citizens would not give their votes if their program says that Artsakh will be recognized as part of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia will not protect the people of Artsakh when Azerbaijan unleashes a genocidal war against them, and the issues of the so-called enclaves and the return of Azerbaijanis to Armenia will also be discussed.”
The authors of the initiative and the parliamentary opposition announced that the government deputies reject the draft “without any legal arguments”. While the draft fully complies with the provisions of the country’s constitution and declaration of independence.
The argument of the MPs in power: “What good will this amendment do?”
MP Vladimir Vardanyan responded to the opposition that the parliamentary commission on state-legal issues, which he heads, issued a negative opinion on the draft after “substantial discussion for 7 hours”.
Vardanyan said he sees problems in the submitted draft “from the point of view of legal certainty.” In particular, he emphasized that the country’s criminal code already has provisions related to the denial of the Armenian genocide.
Deputies of the ruling team asked the opposition members what benefit this amendment would bring “besides the fact that it may create many problems.”
Opposition MP Artsvik Minasyan did not give a direct answer regarding the benefits and risks of the bill, but stated that “there are many reasons” for its adoption:
“The draft is important from the point of view of ensuring Armenia’s security, establishing Artsakh’s subjectivity, as well as ensuring the unity of the Armenian people, delivering the right messages to the international community from the point of view that the Artsakh issue is not closed.”
Comment
Political observer Armen Baghdasaryan believes that the goal of the initiative’s authors was not to pass the bill at all. In his opinion, it was an attempt to show the society that “the authorities betray national and state interests, so it is necessary to get rid of them as soon as possible.”
“Even after there are no Armenians left in Artsakh at all, it becomes the main pretext for internal political struggle, struggle for power. Just a pretext.”
The analyst believes that the Armenian authorities also realize this and “conduct this not very meaningful discussion” simply because they cannot avoid it.
According to Baghdasaryan, at the session of the state-legal issues commission held a day earlier, the ruling team, once again, tried to prove that “the former authorities are to blame for everything.”
“Meanwhile, it would have been more serious if a much more urgent question had been discussed: will the adoption of this project somehow help to solve the Artsakh problem in the future, at least partially, or will it harm it?”
He emphasizes that instead of discussions about the future, debates with “accusations of each other’s actions in the past” continue in the political field of Armenia.
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Project “Hayakve”
