Naira Zohrabyan (born 8 May 1965) is an Armenian politician who was a member of the

National Assembly of Armenia The National Assembly of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի Հանրապետության Ազգային ժողով, ''Hayastani Hanrapetyut'yan Azgayin zhoghov'' or simply Ազգային ժողով, ԱԺ ''Azgayin Zhoghov'', ''AZh''), also infor ...

for the

Prosperous Armenia Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP; hy, Բարգավաճ Հայաստան կուսակցություն, Bargavatch Hayastan kusaktsut’yun, abbreviated as ԲՀԿ BHK), is a conservative political party in Armenia. It was founded by businessman Gagi ...

party. She stood for her party to become the

Mayor of Yerevan The Mayor of Yerevan () is head of the executive branch of Yerevan's government. The mayor is elected by the Yerevan City Council. Recent 2018 Yerevan City Council election, city council elections took place in 2018, 2017 Yerevan City Council elec ...

at the

2018 Yerevan City Council election Yerevan City Council elections were held on 23 September 2018. The snap election was trigged after the resignation of former mayor Taron Margaryan amid the aftermath of the 2018 Armenian Velvet Revolution. Well-known comedian and actor Hayk Maruty ...

. She refused to attend a televised debate. She came a very distant second behind

Hayk Marutyan Hayk Hrachyayi Marutyan ( hy, Հայկ Հրաչյայի Մարության; born December 18, 1976) is an Armenian actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer and politician. He was the mayor of Yerevan from October 2018 to December 2021. Marutyan ro ...

Biography

Naira studied in Yerevan School 21. In 1987 she graduated from the Yerevan Fine Arts and Theatre Institute, with a degree in Drama Studies. From 1989 to 2006 she was a political analyst in

Haykakan Zhamanak ''Haykakan Zhamanak'' ( hy, Հայկական Ժամանակ, ''Armenian Times'') is a daily newspaper in Armenian published in Yerevan, Armenia, since 1999. It is a follow up of the daily newspaper ''Oragir'' (Օրագիր) established in 1998 and ...

daily.

Career

She has been a Representative of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. In December 2020, Parliament removed Zohrabyan from her position as Chair of the Human Rights Committee over her remarks made earlier in December addressed to

Prime Minister of Armenia The prime minister of Armenia is the head of government and most senior minister within the Government of Armenia, Armenian government, and is required by the constitution to "determine the main directions of policy of the Government, manage the ...

Nikol Pashinyan Nikol Vovayi Pashinyan ( hy, Նիկոլ Վովայի Փաշինյան, ; born 1 June 1975) is an Armenian politician serving as the prime minister of Armenia since 8 May 2018. A journalist by profession, Pashinyan founded his own newspaper in 1 ...

. In January 2021, at a meeting held by the

Armenian government The politics of Armenia take place in the framework of the parliamentary representative democratic republic of Armenia, whereby the President of Armenia is the head of state and the Prime Minister of Armenia the head of government, and of a mul ...

in the

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, Pashinyan stated in response to a question from Zohrabyan in regard to the Battle of Shusha, that "there was no option in the whole negotiation process to prevent the Azerbaijani refugees from returning to Shusha," adding that before the Armenian forces seized control of Shusha in 1992, "90% or more of the city's residents were Azerbaijanis." These statements created a resonance in the country, with political figures like

Aram Sargsyan Aram Zaveni Sargsyan ( hy, Արամ Զավենի Սարգսյան; 2 January 1961) is an Armenian political figure. He was Prime Minister of Armenia from 3 November 1999 to 2 May 2000. He is the younger brother of Vazgen Sargsyan. In 2001, he fou ...

, Mikayel Minasyan, Naira Zohrabyan, and

Zaruhi Postanjyan Zaruhi Postanjyan ( hy, Զարուհի Փոստանջյան; born January 16, 1972, Yerevan) is an Armenian Member of Parliament since 2007, a public activist and a member of Heritage board. She was the head of "Heritage" faction of National Asse ...

, criticising Pashinyan. At a briefing, local journalists asked the MPs representing

My Step Alliance The My Step Alliance ( hy, Իմ Քայլը դաշինք, Im Kaylə Dashink', IKD) was a political alliance in Armenia formed by the Civil Contract party, the Mission Party and various independent representatives of civil society. It was formed i ...

, which is led by Pashinyan, whether or not they had "any doubts" of Shusha being "an Armenian city," though left the briefing without answering the question. On 3 December 2020, Deputy Head of the Shushi Province, Samvel Harutyunyan, stated that about 4,500 Armenians were displaced from Shusha. On the

land mine situation in Nagorno-Karabakh The region of Nagorno-Karabakh and areas around it are considered to be some of the most heavily mined regions of the former Soviet Union. Mines were laid from early 1990s by both Azerbaijani and Armenian forces during and after the First N ...

, Representative of the leader of Nagorno-Karabakh on special assignments Boris Avagyan claimed that

HALO Trust The HALO Trust (Hazardous Area Life-support Organization) is a non-political and non-religious registered British charity and American non-profit organization which removes debris left behind by war, in particular land mines. With over 10,000 staf ...

handed over minefield maps to Turkish special services, which, in his opinion, helped Azerbaijan’s successful military operations during the

second Nagorno-Karabakh war The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict in 2020 that took place in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding territories. It was a major escalation of an unresolved conflict over the region, involving Azerbai ...

in the autumn of 2020. Ayvagyan claimed that under the pretext of studying dangerous areas, this organization carried out reconnaissance work throughout the territory of

Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh ( ) is a landlocked country, landlocked region in the Transcaucasia, South Caucasus, within the mountainous range of Karabakh, lying between Lower Karabakh and Syunik Province, Syunik, and covering the southeastern range o ...

. Zohrabyan supported these claims. HALO Trust said the accusation was "an absolute lie".

Personal life

Naira Zohrabyan is the widow of the famous translator Samvel Mkrtchyan. She has one daughter.

References

Living people 1985 births 21st-century Armenian women politicians 21st-century Armenian politicians Politicians from Yerevan Prosperous Armenia politicians Members of the National Assembly (Armenia) Members of the 7th convocation of the National Assembly (Armenia) {{Armenia-politician-stub