Heritage party will definitely put to the vote bill on recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh during forthcoming four-day session of the National Assembly if the parliamentary forces reach consensus by then, head of Heritage faction Stepan Safaryan told NEWS.am.

According to him, they have not received any proposals from parliamentary majority. “Joint signing of the bill by all parliamentary forces and putting on it in the agenda is acceptable for us,” he noted. The Heritage member considers that this option is less risky than putting it to the vote and rejection by the parliament. Asked whether the party realized the risk when document was introduced for parliament’s discussion, Safaryan said, “Possible rejection by the parliament is more risky than ignoring the issue of Karabakh’s independence by national assembly for many years.”  

Safaryan also said that party’s decision to postpone the vote for 15 days was conditioned by request of Parliament Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan and the head of ruling Republican Party faction Galust Sahakyan. Parliamentarians appealed to Heritage leader Raffi Hovannisian requesting to postpone the vote and promised to find a solution. “However, if parliamentary majority breaks its word, we will put the document to the vote during forthcoming session. Our leader Raffi Hovannisian had already declared it speaking at the Parliament,” Safaryan added.

Parliamentary majority considers bill proposed by the Heritage party premature. ARF Dashnaktsutyun is the only party that stated it would vote for the document. ARFD’s leader Vahan Hovhannisyan stressed that nation-wide discussion should be held on the bill.