The Armenian parliament controlled by the ruling Civil Contract party set up in February 2022 an ad hoc commission tasked with examining the causes of Armenia’s defeat in the war, assessing the Armenian government’s and military’s actions and looking into what had been done for national defense before the hostilities. The parliamentary majority appointed seven of the eleven members of the commission and offered the two opposition blocs represented in the National Assembly to name the four other members.
Both the Hayastan and Pativ Unem blocs rejected the offer, saying that the commission controlled by pro-government lawmakers cannot be objective. They have claimed all along that its primary mission is to whitewash Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s wartime incompetence and disastrous decision making.
The commission headed by Civil Contract’s Andranik Kocharian officially finished its work this spring, saying that its findings will be published in September on the fifth anniversary of the outbreak of the Karabakh war. Kocharian formally submitted a corresponding report to Simonian a month ago with the expectation that it will be released and debated during this week’s plenary session of the parliament.
Armenia - Andranik Kocharian, a senior pro-government lawmaker, attends a session of the Armenian parliament, Yerevan, March 26, 2025.
Simonian confirmed on Wednesday that he made sure that the report did not reach the parliament floor. There were no “legal grounds” for its inclusion on the session’s agenda, he told journalists, pointing to the National Assembly statutes that set an 18-month limit on the activities of ad hoc commissions. The speaker said he consulted with the parliament’s committee on legal affairs and legal experts before making the decision.
Kocharian, who also chairs another standing committee of the parliament, stuck to a different interpretation of the statutes, insisting that he did not miss any legal deadlines. He said he is still “waiting” for Simonian to allow him to present the report on the parliament floor.
Simonian said in this regard that the report will be publicized in a different format. But he did not elaborate.
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and speaker Alen Simonian arrive for a session in parliament, February 12, 2025.
Some Armenian commentators have questioned the official explanation for Simonian’s decision. They have suggested that Pashinian does not want to see a renewed public debate on his handling of the war even if Kocharian’s commission will almost certainly absolve him of any blame for its outcome.
Virtually all opposition groups hold Pashinian responsible for the six-week hostilities that left at least 3,800 Armenian soldiers dead. Pashinian gave them more ammunition in late August when he admitted rejecting in 2019 a Karabakh peace plan jointly drafted by the United States. Russia and France. The premier claimed that its implementation would have led to the “loss of Armenia’s independence and statehood.”
Pashinian has blamed former Presidents Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sarkisian for the 2020 war and the resulting fall of Karabakh. Kocharian (no relation to Andranik) ruled Armenia from 1998-2008, while Sarkisian lost power more than two years before the outbreak of the fighting.