Ruling Civil Contract MPs and Armenian government representatives walked out of a parliamentary hearing on the difficulties faced by Nagorno-Karabakh refugees on Wednesday.
Some attendees had been introduced as representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh authorities and parliamentary factions. Since Azerbaijan’s full takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023, Armenian authorities have repeatedly warned against the existence of Nagorno-Karabakh state institutions or a government-in-exile in Armenia, claiming it could be used by Azerbaijan as a pretext to take military action against Armenia.
The hearing was attended by representatives of all parliamentary factions, refugees, and Armenian government officials from several ministries and agencies, including the deputy Minister of Labour and Social affairs, Lusine Kocharyan.
The ruling party MPs left the hearing almost an hour after Armenia Alliance MP and committee chair Lilit Galstyan introduced several attendees as representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh authorities and parliamentary factions, naming them individually.
‘I am very glad that today we have such a serious delegation from the Parliament of the Republic of Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh], and this will make our discussion more substantive and comprehensive’, Galstyan said.
After such an introduction, the discussion continued with the Nagorno-Karabakh representatives raising issues affecting refugees’ integration, including gaps in the government’s state housing programme. According to refugee representatives, around 4,000 families have been able to purchase homes under the programme so far.
They also raised concerns over cuts to financial assistance, which they said had significantly worsened refugees’ social conditions, as well as high unemployment. The region’s former State Minister, Artak Beglaryan, said the poverty rate among refugees reaches 60%–70%, compared with an average of 23% in Armenia.
Beglaryan also highlighted hate speech targeting the refugees, which was also generated by the authorities and criticised the authorities for their selective approach when it came to accountability.
The discussion was interrupted by Civil Contract MP Mariam Poghosyan, who raised her hand to ask a question.
‘We came here today expecting to discuss issues concerning the social problems of our compatriots from Karabakh, but this meeting seems to have turned into an interparliamentary meeting, with the names of various official positions being mentioned. We have repeatedly said that there cannot be two parliaments, two governments in Armenia. We are forced to leave this discussion’, Poghosyan said.
Civil Contract MPs and government representatives subsequently left the hearing.
Galstyan, who said it was their ‘right’ to leave, expressed surprise that government representatives had also followed them.
‘Government representatives, are these issues not addressed to you? I don’t understand why you are leaving this hall. You are the government, and you are accountable to the parliament’, Galstyan said.
In turn, the region’s former Human Rights Defender Gegham Stepanyan expressed hope that the government representatives would at least follow the discussion online to see what issues were being raised.
After leaving the hearing, MP Poghosyan told reporters that the authorities maintain regular contact with Nagorno-Karabakh refugees and work to address their concerns.
Following the incident, international law specialist Ara Ghazaryan, who attended the hearing, compared the Armenian authorities’ behaviour with Azerbaijan’s conduct, when the latter asked the European Court of Human Rights not to use the Armenian toponyms when referring to Nagorno-Karabakh or to refer to documents issued in Nagorno-Karabakh.
For ease of reading, we choose not to use qualifiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecognised’, or ‘partially recognised’ when discussing institutions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.
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