Ruben Rubinian, a deputy parliament speaker affiliated with the ruling Civil Contract party, targeted the father of Anna Mkrtchian of the opposition Pativ Unem bloc in response to her statement branding Pashinian a “usurper.”
Mkrtchian, 30, attacked the premier during a parliament debate on amendments to a law on the Armenian defense industry drafted by the government.
“No bill, including the one relating to the defense industry, can change the fact that the power usurper lost $6 million worth of weapons to Azerbaijan [during fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh,]” charged the outspoken lawmaker. “Unfortunately, this bill also cannot change the fact that the power usurper refuses to retake Armenian territory seized by Azerbaijan. And, after all, neither this nor any other bill can change the fact that Nikol ordered Armenian soldiers not to shoot to defend themselves and their country.”
“Ms. Mkrtchian, why did you come here at all?” shot back Rubinian. “I propose that you follow the example of the [opposition] Hayastan faction and get out of here. You are of no use here. And the power usurpers are you, your political dad, your biological dad and others.”
The Hayastan deputies boycotted the debate in protest against personal insults uttered by other Pashinian allies during Wednesday’s session of the National Assembly that nearly degenerated into a brawl. One of those deputies, Levon Kocharian, lambasted Pashinian in a speech. Hakob Arshakian, the other vice-speaker representing the ruling party, responded by insulting his father and Hayastan’s top leader, former President Robert Kocharian.
“Let me tell you what people say about Robert Kocharian. They say ‘his father is a Turk,’ but we never say that from here,” said Arshakian.
Kocharian reacted furiously, swearing at “whoever calls my grandfather a Turk.” Deputies from both political camps intervened to prevent a violent clash between them and several other Civil Contract lawmakers.
“Anyone who will call me, my teammates or anybody else a Turk as an insult … their mother, father, family, loved ones,” one of those lawmakers, Arsen Torosian, stated moments later.
Sargis Khandanian, the pro-government chairman of the parliament committee on foreign relations, defended Arshakian’s and Torosian’s rhetoric on Thursday.
“Mr. Arshakian was not making any claims and was not doing so in an offensive context,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
“Levon Kocharian used a swear word, while Arsen Torosian did not complete his sentence with a concrete verb,” reasoned Khandanian.
Violence and mutual insults have not been uncommon in the current Armenian parliament elected in 2021. The rival political camps blame each other for such ugly scenes that had been rare under the country’s former governments. Opposition representatives say, in particular, that Pashinian has ordered his loyalists to provoke them in a bid to suppress opposition criticism of his policies and track record.
The premier lost his temper on the parliament floor as recently as on May 7, threatening to jail Hayastan deputies after they accused him of turning a blind eye to corruption among members of his entourage.