Armenian Speaker complains of campaign against his party

Iravunk, Yerevan
1 Mar 05

Text of Tagui Tovmasyan’s report by Armenian newspaper Iravunk on 1
March headlined “‘An organized campaign is being carried out against
me by the opposition as well as some government officials'”

Rumours have been disseminated recently that National Assembly Chairman
Artur Bagdasaryan received an official invitation directly from the
chairman of the Austrian parliament bypassing the Foreign Ministry,
as the latter made an attempt to foil that visit. Are these rumours
true? Artur Bagdasaryan answers this and other questions.

[Artur Bagdasaryan] Indeed I received an invitation from the chairman
of the Austrian parliament, but I do not think that the Foreign
Ministry tried to foil the visit, because after receiving the official
invitation I applied to the ministry so that the Austrian embassy in
Armenia deals with the organization of the visit.

[Iravunk correspondent] Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov did
not meet you during his visit to Armenia. Why?

[Bagdasaryan] In general, foreign ministers of other countries
visit the National Assembly within the framework of their visit to
Armenia. I do not know why Mr Lavrov did not visit our parliament,
although meetings in the parliament were not included in his
schedule. [Sentence as given]

[Correspondent] What are the reasons for disagreements within the
authorities?

[Bagdasaryan] The reason for disagreements within the authorities
is that the coalition forces have different positions on many
issues. This is natural because there is a difference between the
mechanism of proposed solutions and conducted reforms. Naturally,
different views on different issues cause gossips.

The Law-Governed Country [Orinats Yerkir] Party, as a political
force, has never been guided by the principle the worse the better,
that is to say by a policy that discredits others. The public know
all of us. I think that disagreements should not prevent us from
acting together and settling the problems of the country. Finally,
we work for the sake of, but not against, changing something in the
country for the better, but not for the sake of hampering positive
developments or discrediting somebody.

In 2005 the parliament will become 15 years old, and I have
declared this year the year of accord and tolerance. It would be
better if political forces, including those within the coalition,
were tolerant. We should neither underestimate nor overestimate
disagreements within the authorities. Politics is fight. I understand
that someone is irritated by the kind deeds of the National Assembly
or Artur Bagdasaryan. We are acting according to our programmes.

There is a saying – “No good work remains unpunished”. But I do not
want this principle to rule in our society. Very often I see that an
organized campaign is being conducted by the opposition, as well as
some officials within the authorities, against the Law-Governed Country
Party and me, because there are people who are not satisfied with
their success. They are happy only when not only they are successful
but when others are unsuccessful. I reiterate that I have become
immune and I do not think this is the best way to settle problems.
People know all of us very well, they know who is who. Finally,
he who mischief hatches, mischief catches.