Our NA sittings remind me of the well-known low-quality program "Scandals, intrigues, rumors." But I will not fail to answer all your questions one by one, since it is our problem. The vice-speaker of the National Assembly (NA) of Ruben Rubinyan—who is also the country’s special representative in the dialogue on the normalization of relations wit Turkey—stated this in the NA Monday, referring to the questions of opposition "Hayastan" Faction MP Gegham Manukyan.

Manukyan had noted that the Turks were the dictating side in the Armenian-Turkish process, and Turkish FM Mevlut Cavusoglu says one thing, and the Armenians just react to it. He also pointed to the fact that the Turkish special envoy’s car at last week’s Moscow talks had the country’s flag on it, but not the car of the Armenian special envoy.

In response, Rubinyan said: "First of all, it is not 'special envoy,' it is 'special representative.' Second, the special representative in our case is not a position, it is a function. I have not been appointed to a special position. I continue to be the NA deputy speaker, but I carry out the function of a 'special representative,' which has been delegated to me publicly, it has been documented including by the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Next, you say, 'Why did he leave [for Moscow] on the [account of the Armenian state] budget?' How [else] would I have left? Should I have received money in an envelope, should I have gone buy a ticket, [then] should I have gone? I have left with the budget money."

Referring to the reports on the car without the Armenian flag on it, Rubinyan said that before their Moscow meeting, the Armenian and Turkish special representatives had met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko, and as far as he knows, the Turkish special representative had gone to this meeting with the Turkish ambassador to Russia, and, most likely, the aforesaid is the car of the Turkish ambassador.