Lawmakers from the main opposition Hayastan alliance exercised last week their legal right to form a relevant ad hoc commission of the Armenian parliament. The parliament’s pro-government majority blocked, however, the commission’s activities by refusing to approve its composition.
Majority leaders dismissed as unconvincing opposition arguments in support of such an inquiry. They insisted that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government has been doing its best to help the more than 100,000 Karabakh Armenians who took refuge in Armenia in September 2023 as Azerbaijan gained full control of Karabakh as a result of a military offensive.
Opposition lawmakers countered that they continue to hear complaints from refugees about severe hardship and a lack of government aid on a daily basis. They condemned their pro-government colleagues for refusing to jointly investigate the effectiveness of aid programs and to propose alternative solutions.
Seyran Ohanian, Hayastan’s parliamentary leader, claimed that the party led by Pashinian blocked the probe for fear of a negative reaction by Azerbaijan.
“The current Armenian authorities are a great gift for the Azerbaijani authorities,” Ohanian told journalists.
“Once again they are betraying Artsakh, and this must be another indicator for our people,” said Artsvik Minasian, another senior opposition lawmaker.
The opposition hoped that the commission will also investigate “hate speech” against the refugees which is allegedly spread by Pashinian’s loyalists with the prime minister’s blessing. Opposition representatives single out comments made by Gagik Melkonian, a senior Civil Contract parliamentarian, last month.
“They [Karabakh Armenians] surrendered Artsakh and came here,” said Melkonian. “Now let them behave like guests, instead of wanting to become hosts. They had already been hosts [in Armenia] for 20 years. That's why this country is in this state.”
In a joint statement issued in June, Karabakh’s leading political factions exiled in Armenia accused Pashinian’s administration of discriminating against Karabakh Armenians and waging a smear campaign against them.
The statement was prompted by a police raid on Karabakh’s permanent representation in Yerevan during which security forces impounded a car used by Samvel Shahramanian, the exiled president. They broke into the mission’s compound one week after Pashinian accused Karabakh leaders of encouraging refugees to participate in antigovernment protests in Yerevan and threatened them with serious consequences.