On September 5, the RoA National Assembly will debate a resolution on the recognition of the NKR by Armenia. Hetq caught up with MP Hakob Hakobyan, a member of the ruling Republican Party faction and Chair of the Standing Committee on Social Affairs. Try as we might, we couldn’t get MP Hakobyan to state categorically whether he would vote for recognising the NKR or not. What follows is the give and take that occurred.

Will you and the Republican Party be voting for or against recognition? Please be precise. The Republican Party is the ruling party today and as such it will debate the fate of the Armenian people, the RoA and the NKR in the National Assembly. In other words, you still haven’t decided about how to vote. Not as yet. Personally, are you for or against recognition? I don’t think there is any Armenian who is against the independence of Artsakh. Given that the Republican Party is in the majority, if it decides not to vote for recognizing the independence of Artsakh, than most MP’s will follow the party’s lead. Such a decision would be taken on political considerations; whether or not it is the right time to recognize the NKR. In other words, the party has to decide for you? We are the party. We will decide. What will you decide? That must be discussed. Right, by you personally. Enough already. Want do you want? Is there anyone who is against recognizing the independence of the NKR? Yes, me for example. I’d rather see Artsakh united with the RoA. Many are for such unity and opposed to independence. That’s another matter.