Dear citizens and compatriots, I would like to apologize to you for the incident that you witnessed. This is what Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia, member of the ruling My Step Alliance Alen Simonyan said from the podium of the National Assembly today. He suggested that citizens draw conclusions and noted that it is necessary to record the fact that he has apologized. During a parliamentary session today, Alen Simonyan and leader of Bright Armenia Party and head of the Bright Armenia faction Edmon Marukyan offended each other very rudely.

It all started when deputy of the Bright Armenia faction Ani Samsonyan declared that nobody and not even the colleagues of the ruling alliance treat Alen Simonyan seriously, and this statement was made in Alen Simonyan’s absence. Simonyan’s colleagues supported him, and in response, Samsonyan said if her statement was not right, nobody would comment and wouldn’t support the deputy parliamentary speaker. When Simonyan returned to the room, he criticized Bright Armenia Party and particularly head of the faction Edmon Marukyan.

In response, Marukyan started speaking informally with Simonyan, to which Simonyan responded by making an offensive remark. As a result, this public debate crossed all the permissible and inacceptable limits of parliamentary ethics. The deputy parliamentary speaker reminded the leader of the political party about his past and about how he had refused to participate in the revolution organized by the My Step Alliance. During the speech, Edmon Marukyan would shout from his seat, but Simonyan also offended him.