Kocharyan’s office to PM: best debate partner is hospital orderly

PanARMENIAN.Net - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan lost his composure during a March 26 parliamentary Q&A session after recalling that Armenia’s three former presidents had declined his challenge for a live televised debate. He accused them of offloading onto him the consequences of a “capitulation” they had orchestrated and used emotionally charged rhetoric.

Commenting on the incident, Bagrat Mikoyan, head of former President Robert Kocharyan’s office, mocked Pashinyan’s behavior: “The best solution is to debate with the orderlies in the nearest psychiatric facility.”

He added, “The ending of his speech reveals a maniacal, unfulfilled urge to argue. The best solution is to debate with the orderlies in the nearest psychiatric facility. Also, mixing vodka with medication is generally unwise,” Mikoyan said tersely, Yerevan.Today reported.

Tigran Abrahamyan, Secretary of the "I Have Honor" faction, also weighed in, stating on Facebook that by invoking the former presidents, Pashinyan is merely trying to legitimize hiding the negotiation process from the public and orchestrating yet another betrayal behind closed doors.

“If we put aside the nervous spasms and indecent behavior of this unremarkable denier and look at the staged Q&A session as plain text, the message is this: if the former presidents refuse to participate in a live debate, I reserve the right not to disclose details of the negotiation process. Simply put, he declares himself accountable not to his people but to the enemies who have publicly humiliated him,” Abrahamyan wrote.

He further accused Pashinyan of being stuck in an immature phase of self-assertion: “The self-proclaimed Kaj Nazar plays Terminator inside, but outside he grovels and writhes at the feet of Aliyev and Erdoğan.”