Civil Contract won't join opposition's special parliament meeting

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia's ruling Civil Contract party will not participate in a special sitting of the National Assembly initiated by the country's opposition to discuss the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh).

Lawmaker Artur Hovhannisyan said in a Facebook post that the Civil Contract party "will not give in to the political blackmail of the opposition".

The MP maintained that it was "more than obvious" that the parliamentary opposition is trying to use the Artsakh issue exclusively for internal political purposes.

"Without the support of the people, without an audience in the square, the parliamentary opposition is trying to use the National Assembly as a lever to paralyze the city," Hovhannisyan said.

The MP claimed that the ruling party, which he said has received a "strong mandate" from the people, will continue to defend the rights and interests of the Artsakh Armenians on every possible platform, to make efforts to advance the peace agenda.

In recent weeks, protesters demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan have taken to the streets to block major roads in the capital Yerevan and call on the population to commit acts of civil disobedience. Pashinian has come under fire after he and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev agreed to start drafting a bilateral peace treaty to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and set up a joint commission on demarcating the borders.