YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—Armenia’s two main opposition forces have decided to boycott a parliamentary inquiry into the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh, saying that it will be controlled by pro-government lawmakers and therefore cannot be objective.
The ruling Civil Contract party’s parliamentary group announced on Thursday the establishment of an ad hoc commission that will examine the causes of Armenia’s defeat in the war, assess the Armenian government’s and military’s actions and look into what had been done for national defense before the hostilities.
The parliamentary majority said it will appoint seven of the eleven members of the commission. The opposition Hayastan and Pativ Unem blocs were offered to name the four other members.
Both blocs officially rejected the offer on Friday. In a joint statement, they argued that “the authorities cannot objectively investigate their own actions.”
“It is clear that the investigative commission will be engaged in staging the ‘innocence’ of the authorities,” they said.
“Taking into account these and a number of other circumstances, the opposition Hayastan and Pativ Unem factions decided not to participate in the work of the investigative commission set up by the authorities,” added the statement.
Representatives of Hayastan and Pativ Unem said earlier that such a commission must be headed by an opposition lawmaker and that Civil Contract and the opposition must be equally represented in it.
