Deputy Speaker comments on  incident  in  NA session hall

ArmInfo.Armenian National Assembly Deputy Speaker Vahagn Aleksanyan has commented on the incident that occurred in the NA session hall on August 19.

By the decision of the Deputy Speaker, who chaired the parliament  session, NA MP David Ghazinyan from the opposition "Strong Armenia"  faction was suspended from voting until the end of the day. The  faction left the session hall in protest.  At a briefing organized  for the occasion, the Deputy Speaker emphasized that he was guided  solely by the demands for order and silence during the NA session.  Aleksanyan claimed he was not to blame for the incident. "There was  no dispute, so how could I have escalated the situation? I was  communicating with Mr. Ghazinyan until the very end, and you  witnessed it," Vahagn Aleksanyan noted. He added that despite the  presiding officer's warning, MP David Ghazinyan continued speaking.  The Deputy Speaker noted that even when the presiding officer  demanded that Ghazinyan leave the meeting hall, he objected, saying  he would leave whenever he deemed it necessary. This is a violation  of current legislation, and the presiding officer is obligated in  such a case to invite security personnel to ensure the normal  functioning of parliament.

 "Everything that happened occurred solely within the framework of  the Law on the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly. Until the  very last moment, I addressed Mr. Ghazinyan formally and did  everything I could to de-escalate the tension," the deputy speaker  said.

He disagrees with opposition representatives' claims that Aleksanyan  frequently interrupted them during their speeches. According to the  him, if a member of parliament resorts to misinformation while  speaking from the podium, the presiding officer is obliged to  intervene to clarify. Specifically, he pointed to the assertion by MP  Arega Hovsepyan that former Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister and  current MP Arayik Harutyunyan asked her whether she recognized  Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan. However, Arayik Harutyunyan has never  asked such a question. "And I simply wanted to remind her of this,"  the deputy speaker said, noting that he sees no fault in the  parliamentary opposition's decision to implement a new policy.