Hraparak daily of Armenia writes as follows, in particular: After the unexpected resignation of Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)] NA [i.e. National Assembly] president Ashot Danielyan on July 2, the position has been vacant for more than a month.

NA parliamentarians are discussing the matter of his replacement. We have made several publications, informing that none of the [Artsakh] MPs undertakes to hold that position in the current situation, predicting that they will find themselves under the caterpillars of the [Armenian] state's punitive machine.

Representatives of the Artsakh NGO sector had tried to take the situation into their own hands; last week, the matter of the candidacies of Artsakh State Minister Nzhdeh Iskandaryan and public figure Anastas Israyelyan were discussed in the [Artsakh] representation [in Armenia], but the [Artsakh] MPs are against both of them and had decided that on August 18 they will gather again in the representation and nominate a candidate for Artsakh NA president from among themselves, from any [parliamentary] faction.

We were informed, however, that the assembly did not take place. According to our sources, they tried to gather earlier, but Dashnaktsutyun [Party] member Artur Mosiyan was absent from the country, they waited for him. And now he has returned, but, according to our information, [Gagik] Baghunts, who performs the duties of NA president, did not succeed in gathering the [Artsakh] MPs together.

Representatives of the [Artsakh] NGO sector are trying to take advantage of the irresponsible behavior of the [Artsakh] parliamentarians. Yesterday, they had disseminated an anonymous message that the best candidate for the president of Artsakh is political scientist Stepan Hasan-Jalalyan.

In fact, the Artsakh MPs have decided to give in to [Armenian PM Nikol] Pashinyan's pressure and, with their own inaction, are contributing to the implementation of his goals: the destruction of Artsakh's state institutions.