Opposition MP blasts Armenian speaker’s remarks on Artsakh people

Opposition Hayastan faction MP Mher Mekonyan strongly criticized National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan’s recent remarks on the Artsakh people.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Simonyan lambasted Artsakh’s ethnic Armenian population for fleeing the country following Azerbaijan’s large-scale military offensive in September 2023. He claimed that Artsakh’s army did not put up strong resistance against Azerbaijani troops.

“You got out of there because it wasn’t safe, though you could have stayed and fought till the end,” Simonyan said. “But you left.”

In a social media post on Wednesday, Mekonyan claimed that members of Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract party “use every opportunity” to accuse the Artsakh Armenians of not resisting Azerbaijani forces and abandoning their homeland after its “treacherous surrender”.

“The cynicism of the group that has seized power in Armenia knows no limits,” Mekonyan wrote. “The narrow-mindedness and cynicism of the Pashinyan regime members pose a real threat to Armenia’s national security. The Civil Contract party members have proven this time and again.”