Pashinyan on opposition rally, formation of investigation commission  and trilateral meeting of leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia  on November 9

ArmInfo. RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan considers the agenda of today's opposition rally in Freedom Square to be groundless and has nothing to do with reality.   Thus, in an interview with the Public Television of Armenia,  answering the relevant question, Pashinyan recalled that the RA  government had clearly formulated its position. 

What does it mean "not to be turkified"? "I am sorry, but very many  of the potential participants of that same rally had the agenda of  improving relations with Turkey when they were in power. They made  attempts, steps in that direction. Does this mean that at that time  they pursued the policy of turkification?  Development of relations  with Turkey has always been on the agenda of Armenia.  As for Nagorno  Karabakh, we have clearly stated our position, we have recorded it in  the Government's Action Plan, I said that we see the settlement of  the Nagorno Karabakh conflict through the format of the OSCE Minsk  Group Co-Chairs, with the content proposed by them. I would like to  remind you that after November 9, 2020, the Co-Chairs issued a  statement, recording the need to immediately resume the negotiation  process on the basis of well-known principles and elements," the PM  noted.

The Prime Minister of Armenia also once again stressed that at the  moment it is not planned to hold a meeting with the leaders of Russia  and Azerbaijan in a trilateral format on November 9 (meanwhile, the  Kremlin confirmed the upcoming meeting this week, ed. note). " I can  say that at this moment there is no agreement to hold a meeting on  November 9. During the previous question and answer session, the  Minister of Foreign Affairs said from the parliamentary tribune that  there are many ideas and proposals. We have said that we are not  against meetings, but the context of those meetings, the symbolism of  those meetings, the potential result expected from those statements  are very important.  I will tell you the following: wherever we can  register any result, we will not decline any meeting, but we are not  in favor of holding meetings as an end in itself. Regarding November  9 in particular, I can say that there is no such agreement at the  moment."

At the same time, the head of the Armenian government touched upon  the issue of creating a commission in the parliament to investigate  the circumstances of last year's war, assuring that it has not yet  been formed because: "First of all, the commission is created in  practice, because according to the law on "National Assembly Rules of  Procedure", the role of the commission of inquiry in the security  sphere will be performed by the same parliamentary commission on  security and defense. This means the commission already exists. Why  hasn't it been created yet? Because, first of all, not all of the  opposition MPs have applied and received permission to deal with  state top secret materials. There is a procedure provided by law for  that, and most of the materials will be discussed there in strict  secrecy regime.

Secondly, you know that we have an agreement that the  extra-parliamentary forces must be involved, the representatives of  the relatives of the victims and the missing must be involved.  According to the current law, there is no such procedure for directly  including into a commission. And now options are being considered on  how to involve them, with their consent, because the balance you  mentioned, in fact, cannot be violated, because the committee acts in  accordance with the "National Assembly Rules of Procedure" law, where  decisions are made according to the "National Assembly Rules of  Procedure" law. If we are talking about balance, one way or another,  the Government has a majority there in any case."

Pashinyan also added that Samvel Babayan, David Sanasaryan and Norayr  Norikyan were elected by extra-parliamentary forces to participate in  the work of the above-mentioned commission.  "But one way or another,  the balance in the commission cannot be violated, because we cannot  grant people with the status of an MP. Yes, they will fully  participate in the work of the commission, and they will be free to  express views, opinions, ask questions. But now look, here is the  problem. According to the law on "National Assembly Rules of  Procedure", the commission of inquiry must operate for 6 months, it  can be extended for another 6 months. Now we do not want to spend  these 6 months on these purely technical procedural issues. In other  words, we want to complete these procedural issues, and the  commission, from the first day of its de jure existence, will deal  with the main topic, in order to maintain that 6-month period," the  Prime Minister said, assuring that he was personally interested in  the answers to all the voiced questions, and not only those related  to the war, but also to specific episodes of hostilities.

According to the prime minister, after he came to power in 2018,  there was not a single case when the army said that "we need this,  and the authorities said there is no money."

"Of course, theoretically we can make an amendment to the law on  "National Assembly Rules of Procedure", extend it, but it is also  important that the term of activity of that commission should not be  unlimitted, because you said that the public expects answers. I must  say that I am personally very interested in hearing those answers,  and I expect that not only the military, the episodes of the war  should be examined, which is also very important. The issue of army  building, which I mentioned, must also be examined. I want the  commission to finally answer one question. For example, I say that  after 2018, when I was elected Prime Minister, there was not a single  case when the army said we need this, and we say, you know what,  there is no money for it. There was not a single case.

And you know, the so much speculated Su-30SMs are the brightest proof  of that. The army said, we need it.  Moreover, this is very  important. I received a few writs saying you should not get it and  etc. I put my signature under those writs, I said, you know what,  there is a professional body, discuss, give an answer, finally, is it  necessary or not? They discussed and gave a written answer that yes,  it is necessary. I said if it's necessary, we will purchase them. I  want the commission of inquiry to answer that question. I want, I  expect, I think the public also, the commission of inquiry to study  the negotiation process, the whole negotiation process, starting from  the 1994 ceasefire, after the victory."  

To clarify why to study the circumstances since 1994, the Prime  Minister assured that this is the only way to understand what  ultimately happened, in what state his government inherited the  negotiation process in 2018. He also assured that the current  authorities are not opposed to their actions being considered with  all the severity of the law, since they are confident in their  results.

 "And why do they deny when in the fall of 2017 the number one  negotiator of Armenia (third President of the Republic of Armenia  Serzh Sargsyan, ed. note) said that we are ready to surrender the 7  regions, but Azerbaijan puts forward new demands every time. Let's  find out what happene

It is worth noting that the previous authorities of Armenia have  repeatedly stated that they are ready to transfer 7 regions to  Azerbaijan in exchange for recognizing the independence of Artsakh.  Moreover, the issue should have been resolved in a batch format, and  not in a substantive format, as Azerbaijan insisted.