YEREVAN. – The Istanbul Convention is not on the NA agenda, it has not been officially put into circulation. Vladimir Vardanyan, Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs, stated this in a conversation with journalists after the discussion held with the participation of senior officials of the Council of Europe, in the National Assembly of Armenia.

“In order to be officially put into circulation, it has to go through a certain process - the government, the CC, the National Assembly - after which we will talk about ratification. Armenia is a member of the Council of Europe and we must go that way in terms of quality. This is just a matter of discussions at the moment,” Vardanyan said.

He expressed his surprise that the Convention could generate such a reaction in Armenia: “There are many other conventions that have been ratified by the Republic of Armenia, which may be more important. In order to criticize this or that document, it is necessary to read it clearly, to understand the justifications underlying it,” he said.

Today the National Assembly held a joint debate with the deputies and high-ranking representatives of the Council of Europe regarding the ratification of the Istanbul Convention. The discussion was closed. The meeting was attended also by the Vice-President of the Venice Commission Veronika Bílková, and Marceline Naudi, head of the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO).

At the same time, there was a protest against the ratification of the Istanbul Convention outside the National Assembly.