Yesterday, after almost a year in office, the Speaker of the National Assembly of Artsakh, Ashot Danielyan, announced his resignation.
"After long deliberations, discussions and consultations of the last few days, I have decided to resign from the post of the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh. This decision was not easy for me.
I did not assume this position on May 21, 2025 out of personal interest, political ambition or desire to hold a position. My goal in assuming the position was not to leave the issue of maintaining state institutions in a state of limbo, especially at a time when the continuity of Artsakh's state structures, the political voice of our people and the protection of rights were facing a serious threat," he stated in his lengthy statement about the reasons for his dismissal without opening brackets.
"However, the false and artificial rumors, baseless accusations and slanders that have been circulating about my person in the last period also influenced the making of this decision.
I do not want the targeted campaign against my person to in any way cast a shadow on the reputation of the Republic of Artsakh, its state institutions and the National Assembly.
When the necessary unity and shared responsibility are lacking, one or more people cannot continuously carry the entire burden. Therefore, this decision is also a conscious step to protect the state structure from personal speculations and artificially created contradictions.
Therefore, I am submitting my resignation from the post of the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh," Ashot Danielyan stated. To remind: he was elected to the position of the Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly on May 21 of last year, by the parliamentarians of Artsakh, instead of Davit Ishkhanyan, who is in captivity in Baku.
Danielyan was elected as a member of the National Assembly of Artsakh on the list of former Artsakh president Arayik Harutyunyan's "Free Motherland-KDM" bloc, but during famous events, he did not welcome his agreement with Nikol Pashinyan's policy.
Already in Yerevan, Danielyan has repeatedly made public speeches, severely criticizing the policy of the CP government in the matter of Artsakh. Therefore, he became a thorn in the side of Nikol Pashinyan and his government both for personal reasons and in his position.
We were told that recently processes were generated against Danielyan by both the people of Artsakh and some circles in Armenia, which the authorities took advantage of and increased the pressure on him. It turns out that after the forced transfer to Armenia, the elite of Artsakh activated the accounts of the "Artsakh Fruit" company by judicial order, basing the argument that the company owes a lot to the people of Artsakh, and these sums are needed to pay off the debts of the people, but 16 million of the total 36 million drams were owed, and the rest were accounted for in the state budget to be used for the expenses of the Artsakh representation.
However, the representation, the members of the parliament have recently expressed dissatisfaction with the management of these funds, why these issues are not decided collectively, but Danielyan manages them alone, but the question of resignation, as our source claimed, was never raised.
Moreover, when Danielyan said that if they doubt him, he will resign, let someone else come, they expressed their opposition, realizing that in the current situation, it will put water in the mill of the plans of the RA authorities, they will no longer allow Artsakh NA Speaker to be elected and they will abolish this important state institution.
But some representatives of the NGO sector of Artsakh took advantage of this mixed situation, mainly those who are said to be governed by persons connected with the RA authorities. And they started to attack, live on Facebook, visit the Artsakh representative office and poison Danielyan's life.
They are the representatives of the group who protested in front of the Artsakh representation building months ago, allegedly on the charge of wasting and misappropriating the funds of the investment fund, and urged the ruling elite to raise the issue of responsibility, and if they cannot, to resign. Among them were Tigran Petrosyan, Nahapet Sargsyan, Artur Osipyan and others.
However, Artsakh circles say that the protest participants themselves received millions from the investment fund, so the term "robber" is also applicable to them. For example, a certain Nahapet Sargsyan received 60 million drams from the foundation to engage in beekeeping.
We were told that he was the one who fought against Ashot Danielyan the most actively in recent days, and a report about the crime was submitted to the law enforcement officers. Danielyan, realizing that behind the campaign against him are Nikol Pashinyan and his team, who live with the desire to destroy the state institutions of Artsakh, decided to submit his resignation, and he did not inform the deputies of the National Assembly of Artsakh about his move in advance.
We have been trying to talk to Danielyan or any other actor of this story for several days, but we have not succeeded. As for how the issue of the position of the NA Speaker will be resolved, our sources find it difficult to answer. To elect a new President, 17 MPs need votes, in the current situation it is not possible to secure that number, and many are afraid that they are not ready to be the target of Pashinyan's punishment machine, and some have a problem of livelihood and are absent from Armenia."
