Presently, the RA National Assembly is reviewing a bill presented by the Heritage Party calling on Armenia to officially recognize the independence of the RMK (Republic of Mountainous Karabakh). The parliament’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs has already expressed its opposition to the proposed legislation. Committee member Shirak Torosyan noted that Armenia already de-factor recognized the independence of the RMK but that given the ongoing Minsk Group negotiations, now wasn’t the best time for such a move by Yerevan. Torosyan added that if the negotiations result in anything positive for the Armenian side, the Armenian government would then declare its recognition. He stated that to recognize the RMK now would result in a dead-end in the negotiations process. When asked by Heritage Party MP Stepan Safaryan when such an opportune time might possibly arise, Torosyan answered that the government would issue the news. Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan expressed the opinion of the government by stating that while the recognition of the RMK was always on the "agenda", now wasn’t the most fortuitous time. This elicited a proposal by ARF MP Vahan Hovhannisyan stating that if the government couldn’t bring itself to recognizing the RMK, the next best thing would be for Yerevan to recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan to the extent favorable to the Armenian side, i.e. without the territory of the RMK. After some technical glitches with the voting apparatus, 16 MP’s had registered to participate in a debate on the matter. During the discussions, many of the ruling Republican Party MP’s filed out of the parliament chamber, thus leaving the bulk of the debate to the MP’s of the ARF and Heritage Party.