“It is symbolic that not only the President of the National Assembly, but also the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the National Assembly is the beneficiary of a grant for a research project in Turkey with questionable circumstances and funding in the National Assembly of Armenia (NA). And this is not the only thing that connects Ruben Rubinyan and Sargis Khandanyan. Both of them showed a discriminatory attitude during the reception of the citizens declared by them, and due to the fact of Mr. Khandanyan’s alleged crime, public criminal proceedings have also been initiated by the court’s decision, and I am waiting for the mediation of the Prosecutor General in that case as well,” said Edgar Ghazaryan, deputy of the National Assembly “Strong Armenia” faction, in his speech during the discussion of the candidacy of Sargis Khandanyan, who was nominated for the position of the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in the National Assembly.

“One of the deputies said in this hall, should the Catholicos of All Armenians be tried if his car runs through a red light? Going through a red light is an administrative offense, and no one is prosecuted for it, and if administrative liability is applied, it is not against the passenger, but against the driver. I have not yet heard that the driver of His Holiness was brought to administrative responsibility for such a matter, but I have heard that the Prime Minister’s motorcade passing through a red light killed a pregnant woman, and for that, neither the Prime Minister, nor his security officers, nor the police officer who received that order were punished and held accountable for their actions.

Maybe if that driver was a bishop of the Armenian Apostolic Church instead of being a police major, he would be immediately prosecuted, when our bishops are prosecuted without any real criminal act,” said Edgar Ghazaryan.

The latter reminded, what did Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan say in this regard back on June 20, 2013, in an interview given to “Azatutyun” radio station. Quote:

“There is a saying, isn’t there, that if you kill one person, you are a murderer, and if you kill thousands, you become an outstanding military leader.”

End of quote. Now let’s understand how a journalist became a “prominent military leader” with shady agreements with government officials.

“After being elected Prime Minister on May 8, 2018, when he went to Stepanakert in May, he made a statement that he is no longer going to negotiate on behalf of Artsakh, he is authorized to negotiate only on behalf of Armenia. He never said that thesis when he was a candidate for the prime minister on May 2 or May 8. that thesis was put forward only after he was elected prime minister, and after that he repeated that thesis in the National Assembly when presenting the government’s program, and on August 17, 2018, in Republic Square, on the 100th day of his tenure. Quote:

“I want to say the following: I said that I am ready to fully negotiate on the Karabakh issue on behalf of the Republic of Armenia, but the government of the Republic of Artsakh should negotiate on behalf of the Republic of Artsakh.”

What did this mean? This meant that the official negotiator of the Armenian side officially and unilaterally left the negotiation process from the internationally accepted negotiation format, which was the format of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship, without consulting the other main negotiating party, the president of Azerbaijan, and most importantly, the leaders of the OSCE Minsk co-chairman states.

And what happens when there is a conflict and the negotiator withdraws from the negotiation, leaving the conflict in the stage of development or stagnation? It leads to war. And when did the war take place (we are talking about the 44-day war – E.K.), in the 2.5 years of Nikol Pashinyan’s tenure as Prime Minister? 2.5 years is half of the maximum term of the National Assembly’s powers, and therefore of the government. During those 2.5 years, he had the opportunity to negotiate and present theses acceptable to the Armenian side (if there was the Almaty Declaration that was in 1991, or other theses – E.K.) as a negotiating party, but he did not do it,” said the opposition deputy.

He also reminded that during the entire term of office, from 2018 until the 44-day war, Nikol Pashinyan had only one official negotiation with Ilham Aliyev, just one. It happened on March 29, 2019 in Vienna, in which the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group participated, and the meeting was organized with their efforts.

“Before and after that meeting, he met with Ilham Aliyev many times. remember during the opening of the World Cup in Moscow, during the security conference in Bishkek, Munich, during various economic forums. None of them were formal negotiations.

And what happened instead of official negotiations? Suspicious meetings of heads of special services of Armenia and Azerbaijan in third countries, including Dubai. The former director of the National Security Service, Artur Vanetsyan, admitted that he had a meeting with the head of the National Security Service of Azerbaijan at least once a month, at regular intervals, in third countries. Naturally, none of those meeting had the right to negotiate, because they were not diplomats or foreign ministers, none of the OSCE Minsk co-chairs were present at any of those meetings, and during those meetings sealed envelopes addressed to each other by the heads of state were exchanged, the contents of which none of us have any information to this day.

And here are these secret agreements, bypassing the international format that was dissolved on August 8, 2025 in Washington, among other documents (including the initialing of the so-called “peace” document – E.G.), therefore, bypassing that format, the “great general” went to war. He went to war, causing irreparable loss of life to our people, the lives of thousands of young people, to our state, to the Defense Army alone, causing material damage of around 5 billion dollars during those 44 days. According to the most approximate estimates, the total damage to Artsakh’s civil facilities is estimated at about 100 billion dollars, Edgar Ghazaryan noted.

He asked a rhetorical question: and what did the authors of all this get in return? Bonus payments… they rewarded themselves with funding not provided for by law, they bought houses, private houses, making houses for hundreds and thousands of people.

“And what did they do after the results of that war?” Capitulation, war again in 2021, new capitulation, violation of all negotiation formats, dubious processes that led to October 6, 2022, which was preceded by the Jermuk war, after that again war in Artsakh in September 2023, new capitulation, Tavush surrender. This is the face of this government: war, victims, losses and rewards.

And when they ask the MP how his uncle is, he happily answers that thank God, uncle is fine. May the uncle be well, but my uncle cannot be well, where his namesake grandson, Aghajan Janoyan (whose baptismal godfather I am), a first-year student of the Mkhitar Heratsi State Medical University, died in that war. My uncle and I can never be good, we can never be good. We would be fine if Aghajan Janoyan became the military doctor of his dream and saved the lives of our soldiers, which you are trying to manipulate here,” Edgar Ghazaryan finished his speech, after which the situation became tense.

“Mr. Ghazaryan, behave properly, you are getting a warning because of your incorrect and arrogant behavior. And I warn you, dear colleagues, keep quiet. And I warn you that next time after such behavior, if you do not evacuate from this hall, you will be evacuated and thrown out of this hall and the building of the National Assembly,” said Hayk Konjoryan, chairman of the session, addressing Edgar Ghazaryan.

Narek Karapetyan, the leader of the faction, intervened in the situation.

“Mr. Karapetyan, you can’t speak now, I suggest that you call your deputy to order and moderate him, otherwise he will be moderated in such a way that he can never go beyond the limits again. Now you can’t, now please…” After these words, Hayk Konjoryan noticed that the CP deputies were leaving the NA plenary session hall.

Addressing the deputies of his own faction, he said: “Dear colleagues, from the “Civil Pact” faction, please return to the hall. Dear colleagues, Mr. Levonyan, where are you going, take your seats, take your seats, the session continues. Go back to the hall, take your seats.”

Details in the video.

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