CERTAIN FIGURES DO NOT STAND TRIAL
Lragir.am
22 May 06
In the May 22 meeting of parliament the adoption of the agenda was
hampered again by the opposition. The first meeting of the four-day
session, opened with the resignation of the speaker, was “devoted” to
the resignation of the speaker of the National Assembly. In accordance
with the bylaws, within five days Arthur Baghdasaryan must reaffirm his
resignation, which is then accepted by the parliament. The opposition,
however, claimed debates on the resignation of the speaker before
adoption of the agenda. Tigran Torosyan replied that this is not
foreseen in the regulations. Then the opposition decided to use the
opportunity, and the time foreseen for speeches on the agenda were
used for assessments of the opposition to the resignation of the
speaker. The leader of the National Unity Artashes Geghamyan was
highly vigorous, who accused Arthur Baghdasaryan of avoiding giving
the names of Robert Kocharyan and Serge Sargsyan and bypassing
them in criticism. Artashes Geghamyan suspects that this might be
the consequence of the atmosphere of fear pointed out by Arthur
Baghdasaryan. Geghamyan thinks that Arthur Baghdasaryan himself
became the victim of the same atmosphere of fear. Hovanes Margaryan,
a member of the Orinats Yerkir faction, retorted, saying that Orinats
Yerkir is not a scared political force.
“Our fear was arrested and imprisoned long ago. We have established
our political line and we have always frankly and clearly expressed
our opinions,” said Hovanes Margaryan.
Victor Dallakyan made a statement about the political and parliamentary
crisis, saying that the secession of Orinats Yerkir marked the
collapse of the coalition. “In accordance with the coalition memorandum
signed in 2003, if a party secedes from the coalition, the coalition
stops. In other word, what we have today in the Republic of Armenia
is a parliamentary and political crisis. The coalition does not exist
any longer, and there can be two solutions from the points of view of
politics and political science. One is to dissolve the parliament,
the other is to dismiss the government and form a new parliamentary
majority,” says Victor Dallakyan.
According to Victor Dallakyan, it is political nonsense to pretend
that nothing happened, and to trade in offices.
Despite the attempts of Deputy Speaker Tigran Torosyan to
prevent discussion at the expense of adoption of the agenda, he
was nevertheless, involved in the debate, mostly due to Artashes
Geghamyan. Geghamyan reminded about Arthur Baghdasaryan’s statement
that a number of bills damaging the interests of people may be
introduced to the parliament. According to Geghamyan, it is a direct
accusation against the Republican majority.
Tigran Torosyan thinks that what happened is a regular political
process, and requires an adequate attitude. According to Tigran
Torosyan, this is required from all the political forces.
“Orinats Yerkir does not need protection, and the opposite is
Pharisaic. As well as attempts to protect, attempts to say something.
Whatever outlooks Orinats Yerkir had, it expressed them directly
and straightforwardly. It does not depend on whether I agree, or you
agree, or both of us disagree. It is a matter of morality, a moral
attitude towards our colleagues. And it will be correct if we remain
within these limits. I agree that a number of challenges and abusive
phrases have nothing to do with morality, and unfortunately, the first
steps show that certain political figures do not stand this trial,”
stated Tigran Torosyan.