During parliamentary discussions on the state budget, lawmaker Edgar Ghazaryan and Khachatur Poghosyan, chief of staff to the Armenian president, disagreed over the appropriateness of the president’s foreign trips.
Ghazaryan questioned the necessity of the visits and criticized the president’s participation in official events abroad, including swearing-in ceremonies and funerals, Factor.am reports.
“Even if he doesn’t attend those funerals, those people will be buried anyway. Nobody is waiting for him. And if he doesn’t attend those swearing-in ceremonies, those ceremonies will still take place.
“Our Constitution states that the government conducts the state’s foreign policy. The president has no authority to conduct foreign policy,” Ghazaryan said.
In response, Poghosyan said such foreign visits were not about the president independently conducting foreign policy but about representing the Republic of Armenia internationally.
According to Poghosyan, attending the funerals of heads of state and prominent leaders in friendly or neighboring countries is also a form of official state representation.
“If a head of state or someone regarded as a leader in a neighboring or friendly country dies, traveling to attend that person’s funeral means representing the state,” Poghosyan said.
