Friday, December 1 2023 15:58

ArmInfo. The Hayaqve initiative has reached an important point. Avetik Chalabyan,  coordinator of the initiative, announced this at a press conference on December 1.

He stressed that on December 4, the draft law on amendments to the  Criminal Code will be officially discussed in the National Assembly,  in which the majority of seats belong to MPs of the ruling Civil  Contract party. "They do not hide the fact that they intend to fail  the presented document in order to close the Artsakh issue forever,  handing it over to the enemy on paper. They also set the goal of  forever abandoning international recognition of the fact of the  Armenian Genocide, turning Armenia into a Turkish crossroads,"  Chalabyan noted.

The coordinator of the initiative called on all signatories to defend  their homeland, Armenian Artsakh, and the people's right to  compensation for the Armenian Genocide. "Today it is very important  that we once again show our determination and unity in order to  defend our rights in this non-national National Assembly," Chalabyan  said, calling on citizens to gather in front of the parliament  building on December 4 at 10.00am.

On October 11, the Hayaqve initiative group officially introduced a  bill on the criminalization of the transfer of Artsakh to Azerbaijan  and the refusal to recognize the Armenian Genocide to the National  Assembly of Armenia on the parliamentary agenda. As ArmInfo  previously reported, on June 20, the RA Central Electoral Commission  (CEC) approved the application of the Hayaqve initiative group to  collect 50,000 signatures and submit a legislative initiative to the  National Assembly, and in case of rejection by the National Assembly,  300,000 signatures. 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 the 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 has been completed; a total of 58 thousand signatures  have been collected.