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TER-PETROSYAN'S TEAM - NOT THE ONLY REPRESENTATIVE OF THE OPPOSITION
Lilit Poghosyan
Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on June 17, 2008
Armenia
On Friday, the Executive Body of the Republican Party of Armenia made
a decision to nominate Hovik ABRAHAMYAN as a parliamentary candidate
in constituency No. 17. What is such decision accounted for and hasn't
it given rise to controversies between the "old and new" Republicans,
as claimed by some people?
In response to our questions, RPA Press Secretary EDUARD SHARMAZANOV
presents his comments.
"The issue has been speculated in the press many times. I must say
that those rumors do not correspond to the reality. Discussions and
even controversies inside a party are always possible, and this
is normal. But as regards the issue of nominating a candidate in
constituency No. 17, there was no controversy here.
You are aware that there was a vacancy in the constituency in
connection with Henrik Abrahamyan's assuming a new post. And as
an active participant in the political processes and a member of
the political coalition, the Republican decided to propose its own
candidate considering that there are a lot of unresolved problems in
that constituency like in many others.
In this particular case, that candidate is Hovik Abrahamyan, member
of the RPA council. In its session, the executive body unanimously
proposed Mr.
Abrahamyan's candidacy, considering his authority and experience as
well as the activities implemented in the region."
"According to the scenarios circulated in the press and behind the
curtain, Hovik Abrahamyan 'is going' to replace Tigran Torosyan in
the post of the NA Speaker. According to another scenario, there's
going to be a 'castling', i.e. Hovik Abrahamyan will assume the post
of the Head of the faction and Karen Karapetyan will be appointed as
the Head of the presidential staff."
"I am the Press Secretary of the party, and I can never make
assumptions; I make my statements based on facts. And the fact
is that the party did not discuss any other issue apart from the
nomination of Hovik Abrahamyan's candidacy. Neither the issue of
changing the NA Speaker nor anything else of the kind was included
in the agenda. We work in a transparent manner, together with our
public and our colleagues from the press, and should anything of the
kind be discussed, the mass media will be the first to know about it."
"Not satisfied with the 'March 1', the opposition declares of its
intention of 'seizing' the Freedom Square and then coming to power
at any price, regardless the decision of the Mayor's Office. How do
you estimate this objective?"
"Let's note first of all that Ter-Petrosyan's team is not the only
representative of the opposition. There is an opposition inside
the Parliament, and there is an opposition outside the Parliament
which, by the way, supports neither the ideas of Mr. Ter-Petrosyan
nor the activities of his team. So, let's not consider them merely as
representatives of the opposition. They may be labeled as an extremist
opposition or revanchists, i.e. a group of people who are striving
for a revanche.
There is only one way in the civilized world. That is, to initiate
reforms in a normal way, through evolutions. All the reforms should be
implemented in compliance with the Constitution and our international
commitments.
If our colleagues from the opposition camp are striving for a shift of
power, they may achieve that through elections. And if they consider
that they should hold demonstrations by all means, they are free again;
they may exercise those rights in accordance with the Constitution
and the law recently adopted by the National Assembly.
As recently mentioned by the President of the Republic, elections
to the local self-government bodies are really going to be held in
autumn. Let them have their participation, win and work. After all,
democracy is the power of the majority which takes into consideration
the views of
the minority. The President and the ruling coalition have announced
many times and proven by their deeds that they are ready to vest
certain authorities in the opposition. The Parliament will soon
discuss the issue, and certain positions will soon be offered to our
colleagues belonging to 'Heritage' faction as well.
Lilit Poghosyan
Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on June 17, 2008
Armenia
On Friday, the Executive Body of the Republican Party of Armenia made
a decision to nominate Hovik ABRAHAMYAN as a parliamentary candidate
in constituency No. 17. What is such decision accounted for and hasn't
it given rise to controversies between the "old and new" Republicans,
as claimed by some people?
In response to our questions, RPA Press Secretary EDUARD SHARMAZANOV
presents his comments.
"The issue has been speculated in the press many times. I must say
that those rumors do not correspond to the reality. Discussions and
even controversies inside a party are always possible, and this
is normal. But as regards the issue of nominating a candidate in
constituency No. 17, there was no controversy here.
You are aware that there was a vacancy in the constituency in
connection with Henrik Abrahamyan's assuming a new post. And as
an active participant in the political processes and a member of
the political coalition, the Republican decided to propose its own
candidate considering that there are a lot of unresolved problems in
that constituency like in many others.
In this particular case, that candidate is Hovik Abrahamyan, member
of the RPA council. In its session, the executive body unanimously
proposed Mr.
Abrahamyan's candidacy, considering his authority and experience as
well as the activities implemented in the region."
"According to the scenarios circulated in the press and behind the
curtain, Hovik Abrahamyan 'is going' to replace Tigran Torosyan in
the post of the NA Speaker. According to another scenario, there's
going to be a 'castling', i.e. Hovik Abrahamyan will assume the post
of the Head of the faction and Karen Karapetyan will be appointed as
the Head of the presidential staff."
"I am the Press Secretary of the party, and I can never make
assumptions; I make my statements based on facts. And the fact
is that the party did not discuss any other issue apart from the
nomination of Hovik Abrahamyan's candidacy. Neither the issue of
changing the NA Speaker nor anything else of the kind was included
in the agenda. We work in a transparent manner, together with our
public and our colleagues from the press, and should anything of the
kind be discussed, the mass media will be the first to know about it."
"Not satisfied with the 'March 1', the opposition declares of its
intention of 'seizing' the Freedom Square and then coming to power
at any price, regardless the decision of the Mayor's Office. How do
you estimate this objective?"
"Let's note first of all that Ter-Petrosyan's team is not the only
representative of the opposition. There is an opposition inside
the Parliament, and there is an opposition outside the Parliament
which, by the way, supports neither the ideas of Mr. Ter-Petrosyan
nor the activities of his team. So, let's not consider them merely as
representatives of the opposition. They may be labeled as an extremist
opposition or revanchists, i.e. a group of people who are striving
for a revanche.
There is only one way in the civilized world. That is, to initiate
reforms in a normal way, through evolutions. All the reforms should be
implemented in compliance with the Constitution and our international
commitments.
If our colleagues from the opposition camp are striving for a shift of
power, they may achieve that through elections. And if they consider
that they should hold demonstrations by all means, they are free again;
they may exercise those rights in accordance with the Constitution
and the law recently adopted by the National Assembly.
As recently mentioned by the President of the Republic, elections
to the local self-government bodies are really going to be held in
autumn. Let them have their participation, win and work. After all,
democracy is the power of the majority which takes into consideration
the views of
the minority. The President and the ruling coalition have announced
many times and proven by their deeds that they are ready to vest
certain authorities in the opposition. The Parliament will soon
discuss the issue, and certain positions will soon be offered to our
colleagues belonging to 'Heritage' faction as well.