JAM News
May 8 2020
08.05.2020
A large fight broke out in the Armenian National Assembly on May 8. Moreover, it took place in front of members of the government and the prime minister. The instigators were the leader of the Bright Armenia opposition faction Edmon Marukyan and an MP from the ruling My Step bloc Sasun Mikaelyan.
Colleagues, ministers and Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan spent several minutes trying to separate the MPs. The speaker of the parliament was forced to call a recess, as the situation still did not calm down after the fight.
How it happened
During a regular session, ruling party MP Babken Tunyan began to speak. He criticized representatives of the Enlightened Armenia opposition faction. After his presentation, Enlightened Armenia leader Edmon Marukyan went to the podium. He tried to respond to the criticism. But during his speech, deputies from the ruling faction began to shout commentary at him from their seats.
The situation became tense after Sasun Mikaelyan addressed the speaker, saying “listen, old man,” and threatened to “crush” Marukyan.
The opposition leader lost his temper and stepped down from the podium while the ruling party MP stood up to meet him.
After the fight, Marukyan returned to the podium and continued his speech:
“No matter how hard you beat me, I will speak. Who hit me from behind? Someone crept up and hit me from behind.”
“This is a shameful provocation and my biggest failure” – Prime Minister Pashinyan
The prime minister has already commented on the incident in parliament.
Nikol Pashinyan called Markunyan’s actions a shameful provocation. At the same time, he also emphasized that he condemned the actions of his fellow party members. The prime minister said that the ruling majority, that is, those who support the My Step faction, has no right to respond to such provocations:
“They want to provoke us. And every day, Sargsyan’s and Kocharyan’s [Serg Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan are two former Armenian presidents] criminal gangs and the members of parliament who serve them use their power as an instrument of violence. This is the truth of the matter…
I blame myself and consider this incident to be my biggest failure since the revolution.”
What the opposition says
Edmon Marukyan also commented on the fight.
He said that the Bright Armenia faction looks forward to a political assessment of the incident.
“The fight in the Armenian parliament is an issue concerning the revolution and its leader. I believe that the foundations of democracy, as well as the values proclaimed by the revolution, have been violated. A party leader has never been struck in the back in the hall of the Armenian National Assembly…In the future, we will determine how to adress this issue.”