PRESS RELEASE
The Heritage Party
Yerevan 0033, Armenia
Tel.: (+374 – 10) 58.08.77, 52.22.38
Fax: (+374 – 10) 54.38.97
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Website:
July 20, 2006
Heritage Calls News Conference: Headquarters Reopened?
Yerevan–Today the Heritage Party held its first press conference in its
offices since their being put under illegal lock on March 4, 2006, by the
management of the Paronian Theater. After months of disrupted office
operations, political persecutions, and judicial hassles–and accepting as a
legal basis the June 26 verdict of the Court of First Instance of Yerevan’s
Central and Nork-Marash communities, which went into effect on July 12–the
party’s board members, in the presence of several media representatives,
opened the office doors at noon and then proceeded inside. These doors had
been sealed for unsubstantiated reasons by marshals from the Service for
Mandatory Execution of Judicial Acts (SMEJA) on May 30, only one day after
the office’s reopening pursuant to the Court’s injunction. SMEJA and the
theater’s representatives refused to be present at the reopening of the
office. When entering the premises, the Heritage officials and the
accompanying participants in the press conference noticed that the seal
placed on the door of the office’s fifth floor had been broken and one of
the windows was open.
The opening remarks of the news conference were made by the Heritage’s
political secretary Vardan Khachatrian. "All that which the party has gone
through recently is for us merely one in a long series of phases of our
political quest for liberty, democracy, and the rule of law. This clearly
proves that the coming together of noble, ethical, and untainted forces has
no viable alternative," Khachatrian stated.
Responding to questions posed by the members of the media, Khachatrian also
gave details about the party’s main priorities and concerns as well as the
courses of action it plans to take. In his words, the Heritage Party has
already initiated multi-level consultations to consolidate the political
field and civil society, the results of which should become more tangible by
autumn.
The press conference also touched upon the Heritage Party’s position on the
regulation of the Mountainous Karabagh conflict. In this respect, Vardan
Khachatrian underscored the imperatives of Mountainous Karabagh’s
participation in the peace negotiations and the resolution of the conflict
within the context of the supremacy of human rights. Khachatrian also
revealed that, in addition to its ten-point plan as detailed on its website,
the party will soon prepare a comprehensive analysis of the Karabagh issue
and convene a special round-table policy discussion devoted to it, "since a
just settlement on Artsakh is the most crucial challenge facing the Armenian
nation and its future," Khachatrian concluded.
Founded in 2002, Heritage has regional divisions throughout the land. Its
central headquarters are located at 7 Vazgen Sargsian Street, Yerevan 0010,
Armenia, with telephone contact at (374-10) 580.877, fax at (374-10)
543.897, email at [email protected], and website at