YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—Opposition lawmakers stormed out of Armenia’s parliament on Wednesday after bitterly arguing with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan enraged by a question asked by one of them.
They protested against deputy speaker Hakob Arshakyan’s decision to expel several of their colleagues from the chamber because of their “incorrect” reactions to Pashinyan’s latest diatribe against the Armenian opposition.
The bitter altercation began after Hripsime Stambulyan, a deputy from the main opposition Hayastan bloc, asked Pashinyan to explain what his government will do in case of possible restrictions on Russia’s wheat exports which she said could result from the war in Ukraine.
Armenia has become even more dependent on Russian wheat since Nagorno-Karabakh lost large swathes of territory in the 2020 war with Azerbaijan.
“Since you surrendered about 75 percent of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) to the enemy and left many wheat fields [cultivated by Karabakh Armenians] in the enemy’s hands, what steps are you taking?” Stambulyan asked during the government’s question-and-answer session in the National Assembly.
Pashinyan did not answer the question itself and instead raged at her claim about “the surrender of lands.”
He again charged that former Presidents Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sarkisian, who now lead the country’s two parliamentary opposition forces, themselves were ready to make territorial concessions to Azerbaijan during their rule. He pointed to their broad support for compromise peace proposals made by the United States, Russia and France.
“Stop shedding crocodile tears here,” Pashinyan said, gesticulating angrily.
“I want to again warn you that every time you come here you should keep in mind that you are an executive official and have no right to answer our questions by waving your finger and yelling,” responded Stambulyan.
“To anyone who says I surrendered lands, I will talk with a finger” Pashinyan shot back. “I always did. Look at what happened during your rule.”
“I’ll wave my finger. I’ll also do other things, if necessary,” he shouted while walking off the podium to the accompaniment of angry remarks from other opposition deputies.
Arshakyan, who chaired the tense session, accused some of them of making disrespectful and “incorrect” statements and banned them from speaking up on the parliament floor. He did not object when Pashinyan branded his political opponents “traitors” and “plunderers” moments before.
“When your colleague speaks of ‘surrendering lands,’ she creates a tense atmosphere. Please stop using such language,” Arshakyan told those opposition members before ordering them out.
The other deputies representing Hayastan and the second parliamentary opposition bloc, Pativ Unem, responded by walking out in protest.
Sessions of the current National Assembly elected last June have been repeatedly marred by such arguments and even brawls.
Alen Simonyan, the parliament speaker and a leading member of Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party, last year routinely interrupted opposition deputies strongly criticizing the prime minister on the parliament floor. He claimed that they insulted Pashinyan.
In August, Simonyan ordered security officers to forcibly remove one of them from the chamber. Another opposition lawmaker was hauled off the parliament’s podium while delivering a speech in October.
Hayastan and Pativ Unem accused the authorities of illegally restricting free speech on the parliament floor for the first time in Armenia’s post-Soviet history.
