TIME GIVES ASSESSMENT TO ANY POLITICAL POWER
Lilit Poghosyan
Hayots Ashkharh Daily, Armenia
Oct 4 2007
Yesterday, after the National Assembly – government Q & A session
Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan, traditionally, answered the questions
of the journalists.
"Everyone has touched upon Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s claim to return to
big politics. What is your attitude towards this fact?"
"I don’t think the statement of the question is right. What do you
mean by saying " ex-President returns to politics". In my view, in any
country, the ex-President, be it first or second or the twentieth, is
engaged in politics. Otherwise politics will be engaged in him. Usually
it happens.
Another thing is, to say that this or that politician has become active
or passive in politics. This statement of the question is right. Levon
Ter-Petrosyan’s speech in "Armenia-Marriott hotel proves this. If we
compare this speech with the publications of some newspapers belonging
to Armenian Pan National Movement, during the recent 10 years, we
will see that the speech of the ex-President is the sediment of those
publications. I don’t see any problem here.
Political life is becoming lively and I think it is normal."
"As reported by certain Mass Media, the congress of the Republican
Party is delayed because government elite intends to hold extraordinary
presidential elections."
"I have heard anything except this. We have announced many times that
in Armenia there is no bases to hold extraordinary elections.
And everyone knows that the date of RPA congress has already been
decided. If someone wants another thing or if someone thinks that
he/she is the best informed and tries to spread information this is
a different issue."
"If the office of the first President appeals to the Republican and
"Bargavach Hayastan" parties, proposing a meeting, will you accept
the proposal?"
"Are you a mediator?"
" Was the meeting between Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Dashnaktsutyun
unexpected for you, taking into consideration the existing problems
between Armenian Pan National Movement and ARFD?"
"I have already mentioned that it was not unexpected for me. On the
other hand, it was not a big event, to be expected or unexpected."
" Do you consider Levon Ter-Petrosyan a serious rival?"
"I have always said and I still say that I don’t observe presidential
elections as a rivalry or a clash of opponents, it is a chance to
introduce the credo of the country’s future to your people."
"After 1998, society and certain political powers demanded to
give assessment to the activity of the administration of Armenian
Pan National Movement. But you didn’t. At present they are giving
assessments to "these authorities". Do you think it is a natural
procedure?"
" You see, every new power must strive for unification, must try to
develop the notion of unification in society, instead of labeling
and giving assessments. Time and people will give assessments to any
political power.
If today someone is trying to give political assessment to us, it
doesn’t mean that it is the assessment of the people, the voters. It
is the opinion of that particular person. Thanks to God, freedom is
appreciated in our reality, and I also appreciate freedom. They are
free to say whatever they want. But an individual and especially a
political figure must clearly understand the value of his/her words."
"Do you think the accusations of the ex-President regarding the
corruptive activity of the present authorities in also private
opinion?"
" Better if you go through the publications in the newspapers and
Internet before 1998. The same first President has been accused of
corruption. If, at present, he enjoys blaming us, let him enjoy."
" They are also trying to link the incident that happened with Tigran
Arzakandyan with your name. After all, has Mr. Arzakandyan been a
member of RA delegation?"
"Many people try to link my name with different things. If you are
really interested you should open the web site of the government and
there you will see the staff of the delegation. You can also call
hotel "Metropol" and ask whether a person named Serge Sargsyan been
registered there. To have more correct information just call to the
Protocol Service of the Russian Federation and ask in what hotel did
the Prime Minster stay during his official visit. I have nothing to
add or to justify myself."
"How would you evaluate the economic analyses made by the ex-Prime
Minister Hrant Bagratyan on the state budget of 2008?"
"I’m not an economist and I’m not going to argue with Bagratyan about
economic issues. I can only observe his publication from the point
of view of the head of government.
First: the government program is a good program a) it could have been
better, b) can we implement this program or not. The answer of "b" is
"Yes!" because we have sufficient political will, we have a good staff
of economists and good organizers, and we are going to implement this
program. The answer of "a" is "Of course, we could have introduced
a better program." They say the best is the enemy of the good. Next
time we will try to introduce a better program.
The second observation refers to the statement made by Mr.
Bagratyan, saying that the numbers we have mentioned are not
reliable. I don’t think it is a scientific approach, for the
simple reason that the scientist refers not to the numbers but the
processes, later he returns to the numbers. As for the reliability
of the numbers we have mentioned in the program, Armenia’s Statistics
Service exercises the same methodology all the EU countries employ.
And according to the assessment of the international organizations
Armenia’s Statistics Service is one of the best in Europe. This is
not my assessment, it is the evaluation of the World Bank and other
international organizations.’ "During the Q & A they also touched
upon increasing the prices of certain food products. But we still
didn’t understand have you recorded any cases of artificial increase of
prices.’ "The government is continuously studying this problem. Once
we record violations we will immediately take measures. For now I
haven’t seen a sphere where there is unreasoned increase of prices."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
