General: Everything possible must be done to ensure that  Nagorno-Karabakh issue remains open

ArmInfo. The "Armenia" opposition faction of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia proposes to approve the draft statement of parliament regarding the proposal presented by the Hayaqve initiative on the criminalization of the refusal of self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh and the belittlement of the Armenian Genocide. This was stated by faction secretary Artsvik Minasyan at a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs on December 4.

According to him, the faction proposes not only to approve the draft  statement, but also to include the issue on the parliamentary agenda.  Minasyan noted that the initiative managed to collect the required  number of votes (50 thousand) to introduce the relevant amendments to  the Criminal Code, which is the most important institution of  democracy and the first time when citizens themselves participate in  lawmaking. The bill is also important from the point of view of  protecting national values, namely, recognizing the right of the  people of Artsakh to self-determination and condemning any actions  directed against this right and recognizing these actions as criminal  offenses.

On October 11, the Hayaqve initiative group officially put on the  parliamentary agenda a bill on criminalizing the transfer of Artsakh  to Azerbaijan and the refusal to recognize the Armenian Genocide. As  ArmInfo previously reported, on June 20, the Central Election  Commission (CEC) of the Republic of Armenia approved the application  of the Hayaqve initiative group  to organize the collection of 50  thousand 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 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.

In parallel with the discussions in the RA NA committees, numerous  citizens gathered in front of the parliament building, demanding that  amendments to the Criminal Code be included in the NA agenda. In a  conversation with journalists, former Deputy Chief of the General  Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Tiran  Khachatryan, said that everything should be done to ensure that the  Nagorno-Karabakh issue remains open. According to the general, it  will allow further steps to be taken for the possible return of  Artsakh. According to Khachatryan, since 1989 there have been  possibilities for the reunification of Nagorno-Karabakh with the  Republic of Armenia. These prerequisites and grounds remain today; to  abandon them would mean closing the issue once and for all.