Armenian opposition trying to get Yerevan out of new ceasefire deal: Lawmaker
Nov 10, 2020
Yerevan (Armenia), November 10 (ANI/Sputnik): Armenia's opposition party Prosperous Armenia is collecting signatures to convene an extraordinary session of the parliament to cancel Yerevan's participation in the new Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement, Iveta Tonoyan, member of the National Assembly for Prosperous Armenia, told Sputnik.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a statement that he had signed a joint declaration with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on a new ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, which is coming into force starting Tuesday. Under the new deal, Azerbaijan and Armenia will stop at their current positions, exchange prisoners and allow for Russian peacekeepers to be deployed in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
"We are collecting signatures to convene an extraordinary meeting in order to cancel this decision," Tonoyan told Sputnik.
Protests started in Armenia's capital following the announcement of the new ceasefire, with demonstrators storming the government building in Yerevan.
According to a Sputnik correspondent, thousands of people gathered in the center of the city and protesters also forced their way into parliament, calling for a new government to be formed that would cancel Armenia's participation in the new ceasefire.
"All the organizers of today's crimes will be brought to justice to the fullest extent," Pashinyan said commenting on the protests, as broadcast on Facebook.
Sputnik Armenia reported that protesters in Yerevan attacked President of Armenia's National Assembly Ararat Mirzoyan, pulling him out of his vehicle and beating him up. Eduard Aghajanyan, Chief of Staff to the Armenian Prime Minister, said as cited by Sputnik Armenia that Mirzoyan was injured but not in a life-threatening manner.
Pashinyan said that the decision to sign the ceasefire declaration was made based on the assessments made by people who are most aware of the military situation.
Later, he wrote on Facebook that he was calling on all the protesters to go home.
"All those who believe me and believe us, get ready for a fight. Do not doubt for a second that we did nothing dishonest and I did not make deals and acted in such a way as to have answers to all the questions and be untarnished before the motherland and the people," Pashinyan wrote. (ANI/Sputnik)
