ArmInfo.The ruling Civil Contract faction did not take part in the voting on the issue put forward by the Hayastan faction on including the draft on renaming the standing committee on state and legal affairs in the standing committee on external relations and issues of Artsakh, as a result of which the proposal was rejected.
On September 13, at the first sitting of the second session of the 8th convocation parliament, "Hayastan" faction lawmaker Aghvan Vardanyan recalled that earlier at the meeting of the profile commission the initiative to create a commission on Artsakh issues had been rejected. As a result, the opposition faction proposed to rename the committee on state and legal affairs. This initiative was also not supported by the Civil Contract. According to Vardanyan, today a completely new situation has developed both in the region and in connection with the Artsakh issue. In his words, the fact that the authorities do not dare to use the term Republic of Artsakh even in this situation speaks of "weakness, unwillingness, readiness for constant concessions." Meanwhile, as stated by the head of the committee on state and legal affairs, Vladimir Vardanyan, the proposed project does not solve the issues on the agenda. As a result, the ruling faction did not take part in the voting and the issue of including the initiative in the agenda of the plenary session was rejected.
It should be reminded that on September 10, the parliamentary opposition represented by the "Armenia" and "I Have the Honor" blocs once again proposed to form a commission that would promote issues supporting the interests of Artsakh. Aghvan Vardanyan, presenting arguments in favor of the creation of such a commission, stressed that the formation of the above commission will become a kind of message for Armenia's neighbors, in particular, it will make it clear to Baku that the Nagorno-Karabakh issue continues to be a priority for Armenia. Expressing his conviction in the relevance of the creation of such a commission in today's realities, he was indignant that its creation was being rejected under various far-fetched pretexts. Vardanyan also stressed that he does not share the opinion of the ruling majority that the new commission, in fact, will repeat the functions of a number of other - already operating commissions, in particular, the permanent parliamentary commission on foreign relations.
Meanwhile, MP Vigen Khachatryan recalled that the National Assemblies of Armenia and Artsakh fully cooperate and interact within the framework of an interdepartmental commission specially created for these purposes, which is obliged to organize meetings of parliamentarians of the two Armenian republics at least 2 times a year. The creation of a permanent commission, according to Khachatryan and a number of other deputies representing the ruling majority, will diminish the importance of the interdepartmental commission and bilateral cooperation.