Armenian National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan today called on the opposition MPs to resign after they boycotted the parliament’s four-day session and announced they would be travelling to Artsakh.

Simonyan charged the opposition Hayastan and With Honor factions of “working together with Azerbaijani armed forces” by staging populist events that undermine the security of Armenia.

Earlier, Hayastan faction head Seyran Ohanyan accused the government of handing Artsakh over to Azerbaijan and incapable of resolving Armenia’s many internal and external problems.

Opposition MPs came to the parliament waving the flags of Artsakh.

“Recent developments confirm concerns that everything is on the Azerbaijani-Turkish agenda. Within the framework of the so-called peace treaty, we are preparing our people for new concessions, new defeats, new humiliations,” Ohanyan announced before opposition MPs exited the parliament.

Simonyan also charged the opposition of merely showing up at the parliament to receive their salaries and using the money to fund opposition news outlets.

“No one reads those websites. No one watches your TV channels except the mass of your voters,” Simonyan said, noting that opposition MPs would not resign in protest because they need the money.

Ruling Civil Contract MP Vagharshak Hakobyan ridiculed the opposition for engaging in cheap politics by raising the Artsakh flag.  

"These people, having been in power for thirty years, haven’t comprehended how to defend Artsakh. They are trying to secure cheap political dividends by exchanging disgraceful thoughts at a rally held a few days ago," he said.

Hakobyan said the opposition is endangering the citizens of Armenia and Artsakh by leaving for Artsakh.

Whether the opposition MPs will be able to reach Artsakh remains to be seen.

Update: Russian peacekeepers reportedly turned the MPs back at the Karabakh border