Samvel Shahramanian sparked a storm of criticism from Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract party late last week when he essentially described his decree, signed over a week after an Azerbaijani military offensive, as unconstitutional.
Senior Civil Contract figures also said that continued activities of Karabakh leadership bodies would pose a threat to Armenia’s national security. Some of them said that would be a “time bomb” planted under the country.
“It is [Prime Minister Nikol] Pashinian and those [pro-government] parliament deputies who are the biggest time bomb against Armenian statehood and the future of Artsakh,” said Hayk Mamijanian, the parliamentary leader of the Pativ Unem bloc mainly comprising former President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK).
“Artsakh had been set up by blood, not a piece of paper, and it cannot be liquidated by a piece of paper,” Mamijanian told reporters. “I will refrain from giving Mr. Shahramanian advice. I think that we have yet to see what the Artsakh authorities are going to do.”
Shahramanian’s office and other exiled Karabakh bodies must continue to operate from Armenia, he said, adding that this would help to keep the Karabakh issue on the international agenda.
Pashinian indicated last week that the issue is closed for his administration. Pativ Unem and other opposition groups hold him responsible for Azerbaijan’s recapture of Karabakh. They say that Pashinian paved the way for the Azerbaijani offensive by recognizing Azerbaijani sovereignty over the region.