ARF HAS ALL THE WILL, DEDICATION AND DETERMINATION, AND PROGRAM TO MAKE A REALITY ITS WORDS

Yerkir.am
December 15, 2006

Speech by ARF Bureau representative Hrant Margarian at the event
dedicated to the 116th anniversary of the ARF, held in Gyumri on
December 14.

Dear and beloved attendees:

I have things to tell you, and so I will avoid an introduction and
will pass to the main thing I want to say.

There still is a lot of time before the National Assembly election,
but some forces have begun to give away stuff from the state means,
others have opened their wallets wide, others speak of death and
destruction everywhere.

We have words to say to you, words that are logical, words that
follows work, words that the ARF has all the will, determination and
dedication and program to turn into reality.

We are not different from others only by our way of being presented to
the people, only by our ways of election campaigning: we are different
from others by our very birth. If parties are formed before our
eyes, regroup to fit someone’s carrier, and such things as program,
charters and democracy have only formal meanings to them and never
an applicable value, we are the party that had been formed during the
history with a clear ideology and goal, where the party democracy is
a value, and everybody obeys collective opinion and decisions.

People join the ARF not to serve someone’s carrier, not to make someone
a parliament member, or minister or president, but they join the ARF,
when their life goal is to ensure the security of Armenia and the
Armenian people, when the prosperity, development and freedom of the
Armenian people become a life’ s goal, and finally, when they are
ready to fight for all that with a full determination.

We are a national party, and the brightest proof of it is our
wide-spread organization, as well as our constant agenda of activities
and concerns.

There is no other Armenian organization that like the ARF embraces all
the sectors of the Armenian people. It is not by an accident that it
is only the ARF that is present in Armenia, as well as the so-called
classical and Soviet Diasporas with its organizational structures and
work. And this is not a historic accident at all. We are the only
Armenian organization that is present in the Republic of Armenia,
Karabakh, Russia, Georgia – Abkhazia and Javakhk – and elsewhere. To
tell the truth, I am not very glad with this fact; I would like to
see that everybody was concerned with the concerns of all Armenians.

We are a national party, and it has nothing to do with nationalistic
movements and those who stir national conflicts. We want to see our
people secure, free and with opportunities to develop. We want to
ensure a dignified coexistence for the Armenian people with other
nations. For us, maximalist and defeatist approaches in national
issues are similarly unacceptable.

Being masters of our national rights does not mean hating other
nations, and the wish to live well cannot become a reality with
one-sided concessions. No one should threaten our people that if
the ARF is successful, inter-ethnic clashes will follow. We are the
masters of the people’s rights but the independent Republic of Armenia
is the main argument for us.

No issue should threaten our homeland and statehood. Our national
agenda was the reason we decided to be a part of the government after
the 1998 change of regime. But did anything change after 1998? It
did, indeed. The Armenian president changed, and the ARF that was
harassed by the regime, stood by the government, and as a result, the
country’s political course changed. But let’s add that the country’s
economic policy did not change as well as the cadre policy and moral
environment, the size of the corruption and social conditions.

Before 1998, they were trying to convince us that the Karabakh issue
belongs to the Karabakhtsis. They were trying to convince us that the
world would not tolerate a change of borders, that Karabakh should
remain a part of Azerbaijan, in other word, it should be buried
in Azerbaijan.

After 1998, the approach has changed, and the result is that today,
everyone, including Azerbaijan are convinced and confess that Karabakh
has never been and will never be a part of Azerbaijan. Now we are
talking about the borders of the independent Karabakh.

Before 1998, the issue of the Armenian Genocide was considered as that
of the Diaspora, and the authorities refused to make it an issue of
the Armenian foreign policy. It was considered a history issue, and
the history was considered a false science, a false category. Beginning
1998, the Armenian Genocide issue became an issue on Aremnain foreign
policy agenda; the success is known to you. Let’s not forget also
that the pursuit of the Armenian Genocide issue at the time ensured
Armenia’s recognition and influence on the international arena.

Before 1998, the Armenian Diaspora was seen as a collective
of "orange eaters ". After 1998, the treatment of the Diaspora
changed. Homeland-Diaspora conferences, pan-Armenian games and "One
nation-one culture" events were held. I hope that adopting the dual
citizenship law in the nearest future will follow.

The Armenian Diaspora constitutes a part of the Armenian statehood
and Armenian identity, the Republic of Armenia is also the homeland
of the Diaspora Armenians, and they have obligations toward it.

Also approaches toward Armenia-Georgia, Armenia-Turkey, and
Armenia-Iran relations changed.

Maintaining friendly relations with Georgia, we were able to meanwhile
convey a family-like treatment to Javakhk. We did not show a defeatist
position toward Turkey’s hostile stance, but showed a dignified
confrontation in line with Armenian interests. We should never forget
that the opposite stance of the defeatist policy is not adventurism but
a struggle for own rights and success. The friendly relations with Iran
raised to a new level. The best proof is the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline.

The ARF is also a democratic and socialist organization; we are the
only organization in the region to be a full-fledged member of the
Socialist International. And for that exact reason, while becoming
a part of the government, always and everywhere we worked to push
the democratic and social issues. We were successful in the national
issues because we had the president’s support.

We were unsuccessful in democratic and social issues because we
were alone.

We were not the government, we were a part of it with the 11 per cent
of the people’s votes. It was not the government of the ARF.

Let me say that I am not trying to avoid responsibility, nor we regret
we became a part of the government. If the 1998 or 2003 happen again,
we will become a part of the government again. We have manded to do a
lot, but we have done whatever was possible under those conditions but
not what our program contains, what we think is right and necessary
to establish justice, prosperity and development in this country.

We believe that an organized and systematic fight against corruption
is necessary and not only corruption but also the shadow economy, the
impunity environment and nepotism. We managed to have Armenia join a
European anti-corruption organization, the GRECO, we proposed several
legislation in the National Assembly. It was by our proposal, but not
in the way we demanded, an anti-corruption body was established. But
all that and our position in the couloirs were not enough to move
forward. In order to fight corruption, the shadow economy and nepotism,
one needs to be clean himself, you should have a necessary political
will and morality. The ARF has all those features.

We believe that the economy should have a social shift. A state
interference is needed to soothe class differences that today are
polarized. There should not be poverty in Armenia. The economic
potential of Armenia allows for increase of the pensions and minimum
wages for several times. It was at our efforts that the pensions
were increased and a law was adopted stipulating that pensions should
match minimum consumer’s basket. We managed to do little.

We are sure that by elimination of the shadow economy and illegal
monopoly we van reach improvements in the social sector. This can be
done by a force that is not connected with those terrible phenomena
and has a relevant ideology and program for creating a just economic
and social system, and the ARF is such as a socialist party and a
ideological movement, a party for which the fight against injustice
is a mission and the meaning of its existence.

The values, according to which a person is appreciated, and as a
result, our cadre policy, are not based on the material potential of
a person, neither do we intend to respect false prominence. A person
is valuable by its modesty, his devotion and ability toward the
homeland. Those whose work and behavior in the society would credit
us should be our followers. We do not accept the spoiled persons who
have become a usual thing in our society.

I am speaking about people who enjoy government and elite nepotism
whoever they are: National Assembly members, ministers, mayors or
others. Everybody should be equal before law, and the law enforcement
agencies should be the protectors of simple citizens from such
elements. The ARF is a knightly party and has the indiscriminated
approach and determination to establish law and order.

We are the national, democratic and socialist party that would not
threaten the future for the coming years, that is why we believe in
and will pursue fair elections. We are the party that has internal
democracy and control. Our comrades who hold party and government
posts are under the control of our thousands of comrades. We have
no right to make mistakes, we cannot betray our principles. We have
been created to serve you, the Armenian people, and lead your way to
development and eternity.