Leaders of the Hayastan and Pativ Unem blocs announced late on Wednesday plans to push a relevant resolution through the National Assembly as they continued daily demonstrations in Yerevan demanding Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s resignation.
Hayastan’s Artsvik Minasian said on Thursday that they will try to force an emergency session of the parliament for that purpose on June 3.
“The purpose of this statement is to clarify whether we are going to protect our interests or serve the interests of the Turkish-Azerbaijani duo,” said Armen Rustamian, another senior Hayastan parliamentarian. “If they [the parliament’s pro-government majority] don’t accept this resolution it will mean that they serve the interests of the Turkish-Azerbaijani duo.”
Lawmakers representing Pashinian’s Civil Contract party would not say whether the parliamentary majority will back the resolution or at least agree to discuss it on the parliament floor.
“Let them come [to the parliament] and we’ll figure out,” one of them, Artur Hovannisian, told reporters.
Opposition lawmakers have been boycotting regular sessions of the National Assembly since the start of the anti-government protests in Yerevan on May 1.
The protests began two weeks after Pashinian signaled his readiness to “lower the bar” on Karabakh’s status acceptable to Armenia. Critics claim that he pledged to recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over the Armenian-populated territory in ongoing peace talks mediated by the European Union.
Pashinian’s political allies deny such claims. But they have not publicly clarified whether Yerevan will insist on the Karabakh Armenians’ right to self-determination in planned negotiations on a peace treaty with Baku.