Saturday, July 22 2023 16:50

ArmInfo. As of the evening of July 21, 38,500 Armenian citizens have already joined the HayaKve  initiative  (Armenian vote) . Coordinator of the  initiative, Avetik Chalabyan announced on July 22 at a press conference in Yerevan, recalling that their task is to collect 50,000 signatures at the  first stage by August 19.

According to him, the initiative they started, in the context of the  humanitarian catastrophe in Artsakh, becomes even more relevant.

He drew attention to the fact that the Armenian authorities, on the  one hand, report that Azerbaijan is pursuing a policy of genocide in  Artsakh, and on the other hand, declare their readiness to recognize  Artsakh as part of the AR. According to him, these statements of the  acting authorities of Armenia at the meetings of the RA government  are nothing but classical schizophrenia. Announcing the results of  the initiative, he said that last week another 13,500 citizens  supported the initiative, thus the total number was 38,500. "Of  these, 19,870 in Yerevan, 18,010 in the regions of the Republic of  Armenia and 620 citizens joined by collecting electronic signatures,"  Chalabyan said, noting that the numbers are growing in all  directions. According to him, French politician Fran‡ois Rochebloine,  who has RA citizenship, supported the initiative from Gyumri.

Chalabyan also said that the Armenian authorities continue to put  pressure on citizens, especially public employee, who are terrorized  and threatened with dismissal.

As ArmInfo previously reported, on June 20 the Central Election  Commission (CEC) of the Republic of Armenia approved the application  of the HayaKve initiative group to organize the collection of 50,000  signatures and submit a legislative initiative to the National  Assembly, and 300,000 signatures if it is rejected by the National  Assembly. A 60-day period has been set for collecting signatures -  from June 21 to August 19, 2023. The initiative group submitted a  corresponding application to the CEC on June 12, in which it came up  with an initiative to change the legislation, which provided for  severe punishment for refusing self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh  and belittling the Armenian Genocide. The collection of signatures  under the initiative has been going on for 3 weeks.