In a petition submitted to speaker Alen Simonian, Hayastan’s parliamentary group said recent statements on the delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijan border made by Pashinian run counter to Armenia’s constitution and laws and therefore warrant a debate next week. It said Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian and Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan must also attend the emergency session to brief lawmakers and answer questions from them.
The four border areas used to be occupied by four Azerbaijani villages occupied by Armenian forces in 1991-1992 and later incorporated into Armenia’s northern Tavush province. Yerevan said until recently that they could only be swapped for large swathes of Tavush’s agricultural land seized by Azerbaijani troops at the time.
Pashinian effectively dropped that linkage on March 12 when he expressed readiness to unilaterally cede the four uninhabited and ruined villages to Baku, triggering uproar from many Armenian residents of adjacent Tavush villages. Opposition groups also condemned his plans, saying that they would make the entire region more vulnerable to Azerbaijani attacks. Hayastan’s parliamentary leader, former Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian, urged the Armenian military to disobey Pashinian’s “illegal” withdrawal orders.
Hayastan and the second parliamentary opposition force, Pativ Unem, have enough votes to force the emergency debate. However, the lawmakers representing Pashinian’s Civil Contract party can scuttle it by simply not showing up. It is not yet clear whether the party will agree to have the issue discussed on the parliament floor.
Meeting with Civil Contract activists in the southern town of Artashat on Saturday, Pashinian complained that despite his overtures Baku remains reluctant to recognize Armenia’s borders.