L'affaire Raffi

[Ali Garh]

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Deputy of the National Assembly, and founder of Heritage Party Raffi Hovannisian has vacated his Parliament seat as of September 7 as a sign of disagreement with the recent developments in the foreign policy of Armenia.

The opposition leader and would-be presidential candidate has not officially resigned, but his party confirms the decision.

“The news about giving up the mandate is true. And it is his own decision,” Stepan Safaryan, secretary of Heritage Faction told ArmeniaNow.

According to Safaryan, the main motivations of such a decision “are the recent developments in the foreign policy of Armenia, and it is more important to express one’s own position concerning them than the mandate itself,” Safaryan adds.

Analyst Richard Giragosian, head of the Yerevan-based Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS) founded by Hovannisian, during an interview with ArmeniaNow evaluated the step made by the MP as a “symbolically significant event.”

According to Giragosian, this is a protest against Armenian-Turkish diplomacy.

“This is a protest over the course of Armenian-Turkish diplomacy, which sends a strong message to the Armenian government and opposition that issues of national importance, such as Armenia's talks with Turkey, are more important than individuals or personalities,” Giragosian says.

“His move is also a reminder that the future of Armenia depends on the decisions taken today. And the current issue of Armenian-Turkish relations should not, and must not be addressed by late-night statement reached in secret, but rather, must be debated and decided by the entire Armenian nation. In this way, his decision sends a clear and present message to the world, the Diaspora and to the Armenian authorities that Armenia's future is now at stake,” Giragosian adds.

Suren Surenyants, an Armenian National Congress (ANC) supporter, believes that “the giving up of the mandate will have no influence upon those processes.”

Heritage member Movses Aristakesyan will take over Hovannisian’s role as MP.

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