I had a meeting with H.E. Mr. Patrik Svensson, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Sweden to Armenia
Referring to the statements made in Brussels as a result of Armenia-Azerbaijani negotiations hosted by Mr. Charles Michel, I introduced my colleague to the Decision of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Armenia on July 8, 1992, which reads ” to consider any international or domestic document in which the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh will be mentioned as a part of Azerbaijan, unacceptable for the Republic of Armenia”.
In this context, I alarmed that even if Nikol Pashinyan signs a document on leaving Artsakh as a part of Azerbaijan, a serious problem of legitimacy will appear.
I informed Mr. Svensson that Nikol Pashinyan speaks on behalf of the whole Armenian people while already more than 300000 signatures have been collected within the framework of my initiative, named “No to the Ethnic Cleansing of Artsakh”.
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I also introduced my colleague to all of the concerns that as a result of the tripartite negotiations in fact Nikol Pashinyan recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan including Artsakh as a part of Soviet Azerbaijan in case that Azerbaijan doesn’t consider itself as the successor of Soviet Azerbaijan.
Referring to the actions by Azerbaijan to escalate the situation in Sotk, in which nearly 800 employees couldn’t go to work, but Nikol Pashinyan discussed completely other issues in the National Assembly, I introduced my colleague that it was already unacceptable to tolerantly deal with the words voiced from the rostrum of the session hall of the National Assembly on recognizing Artsakh as a part of Azerbaijan.
I added that in that situation I decided to make a political action as a protest, that was not to leave the rostrum which is acceptable in democratic countries. But the security servicemen removed me from the session hall using a violent force during the break time.
I also introduced the Ambassador to the details of the extraordinary session of our Committee, including the use of such expressions by the MP, Secretary of the ruling “Civil Contract” faction Artur Hovhannisyan to the address of the candidate for the position of Ombudsman proposed by the opposition factions as “I will cut your tongue”, “I will cut your ears”.
I also alarmed about the blasphemy by Hovik Aghazaryan, another MP from the ruling “Civil Contract” faction to a woman, and told that the mentioned MPs with such behavior have remained unpunished in case that Nikol Pashinyan considers Armenia as “a bastion of democracy”.
In his speech the Ambassador thanked for introducing him to the mentioned alarms, and assured that he had taken those messages into consideration, and will convey them to their partners at UNDP so they can incorporate relevant activities in Sweden-funded project implemented in the parliament.
Mr. Svensson also expressed his concerns over such incidents in general and underlined the importance of developing and adhering to a code of conduct at the parliament.
Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs, nonpartisan Taguhi Tovmasyan