YEREVAN. – The martial law in Armenia must be lifted. The author of the respective parliamentary initiative, secretary of the opposition Prosperous Armenia faction Arman Abovyan, said this during the discussion of the National Assembly (NA) draft decision on the lifting of martial law in the country at Monday’s meeting of the NA Standing Committee on Defense and Security.
This draft decision was signed by the MPs of the opposition Prosperous Armenia and Bright Armenia factions in parliament.
“The martial law does not correspond to the situation on the ground in the country and is a big obstacle for all political processes,” Abovyan stressed.
He noted that the maintenance of martial law in Armenia pursues only political goals. In particular, as per Abovyan, it creates a legal obstacle to the resignation of the Prime Minister. Also, the lawmaker recalled that martial law was declared in the country on September 27, 2020, and it continues for 5.5 months.
The MPs of the ruling My Step bloc this time tried to justify the continuation of the martial law with the large-scale military exercise launched by neighbors Azerbaijan and Turkey. Besides, the chairman of the aforesaid standing committee, MP of the ruling bloc Andranik Kocharyan noted that this martial law had been partially eased.
After quite tense debates, the parliamentary committee disapproved the initiative submitted for discussion.
Now the parliamentary opposition may try to put this matter on the agenda of the next NA four-day sessions scheduled for next week. But it is quite clear that My Step will block the adoption of this decision.