A brawl broke out in Armenia’s National Assembly on Thursday morning, October 29, during a speech by a ruling party lawmaker, leaving one opposition deputy with a bleeding nose and bringing an ambulance to the building, reports Zartonk Media.
It came two days after Armenia marked the 27th anniversary of the October 27, 1999 attack on the same chamber, when gunmen killed Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, Speaker Karen Demirchyan and six others.
Tension rose during remarks by Taron Chakhoyan of the ruling Civil Contract faction, who was answering opposition accusations of corruption. “People steeped in corruption talk about corruption, about fakes,” he said, naming Ishkhan Zakaryan and Gagik Khachatryan and referring to associates of former President Robert Kocharyan.
Chakhoyan then turned on Mesrop Manukyan of the Armenia faction. “Whoever talks about corruption, you were the assistant of Manvel the canned meat thief, do you understand?” he said, a reference to Manvel Grigoryan, the general and former lawmaker arrested in 2018 after supplies donated for soldiers were found at his properties.
He moved to Narek Karapetyan, who leads the Strong Armenia faction and is a nephew of the businessman Samvel Karapetyan, saying it was not his fault that Karapetyan’s entire family is involved in politics. Karapetyan answered from his seat, addressing Chakhoyan with the familiar “ara,” a coarse form of address that works as an insult when thrown back. Chakhoyan replied that Karapetyan was the “ara,” from head to toe.
Opposition deputies left their seats and began pushing and grabbing. Speaker Ruben Rubinyan declined to halt proceedings. “Dear colleagues, I am deliberately not declaring a recess,” he said, adding that he would not interrupt the session so everyone could see what was happening. “You decide whether there will be a fistfight or not, I’m waiting.”
The pushing turned into punches and kicks. Deputy Speaker Vahagn Aleksanyan threw a chair at opposition deputies. After roughly 10 minutes Rubinyan called a recess and summoned parliamentary security.
Andranik Gevorgyan of Strong Armenia was struck in the face, fell, and his nose bled, and Ruben Mkhitaryan of the same faction had his clothes torn. An ambulance was called to the building, one Civil Contract deputy fell during the fighting, and broken chairs were left in the chamber. Security removed only Strong Armenia deputies from the hall, and the confrontation continued in the corridor before subsiding.
Rubinyan blamed the opposition when the session resumed. He called Chakhoyan’s remarks “a completely normal speech,” said Karapetyan had insulted him from his seat and then stood and tried to strike him, and said Garnik Davtyan landed the first blow. “Mr. Karapetyan, you are directly responsible for what happened to you,” he said, warning that any Strong Armenia aides confirmed to have taken part “will be thrown out of the National Assembly, and their entry will be banned.”
“Dear colleagues, if you want a repeat, I’m not opposed,” he told the chamber. “Or else be quiet and listen.”
Strong Armenia accused the ruling party of staging it. “This was a planned provocation, we know who planned it and who carried it out, the SMS probably came too,” said faction secretary Tigran Abrahamyan, who told the Speaker: “Mr. Rubinyan, as for defending or not defending us, try to defend yourself.”
Rubinyan interrupted him to deny it, asking whether he had texted Karapetyan to tell Chakhoyan from his seat to say “ara” so that Chakhoyan would come up and hit him, and whether he had told Davtyan to hit Chakhoyan.
Marianna Ghahramanyan of Strong Armenia said Rubinyan bears full responsibility and “deliberately allowed the situation to reach this point,” and that the incident was arranged to draw attention from the previous day’s debate on the TRIPP agreement. Vaghinak Vardanov of the same faction said Aleksanyan behaved “as if he had put himself in Tarzan’s place,” throwing the chair toward Deputy Speaker Hayk Konjoryan, who he said should have been restoring order.
Anna Grigoryan, who leads the Armenia faction, said Civil Contract needs to control Chakhoyan or the chamber will see the same scenes again, calling him a fake from head to toe who has not grasped that he is now a member of parliament.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wrote on Facebook afterward: “I knew they were at least physically strong. Turns out, no.”
