SERGE SARGSIAN: STRONG POWER IS GUARANTEE OF COUNTRY’S DEVELOPMENT

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 30, NOYAN TAPAN. Strong power is the best thing for
the people and represents a guarantee of the country’s development, the
Armenian prime minister, chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia
(RPA) Serge Sargsian, who took part in the ARF Supreme Assembly on
November 30, expressed this opinion during a talk with reporters on the
same day. Responding to concerns about formation of an autocratic power
in the country in case of the RPA candidate’s being elected president
(these concerns were voiced in the speech of Vahan Hovhannesian, ARF
Bureau member, National Assembly deputy who has been proposed as
presidential candidate by Dashnaktsutyun), S. Sargsian said that if it
were a bad thing, it would be forbidden by the Constitution.

"I was smiling while Vahan Hovhannesian was enumerating all good things
done by Dashnaktsutyun," S. Sargsian said, and added: "It turns out
that all good things in this country have been done by them, while bad
things – by others." According to him, V. Hovhannesian should have
taken into account that his speech was heard not only by several
hundred people in the hall but also by the society, by the people to
whom he has reserved the right to be a judge. S. Sargsian said that the
people forms its opinion based on actions of politicians, including
their speeches. And when things not corresponding to reality are said,
the result is a rating in line with a low percentage of votes received
by the given political force in elections.

On the whole, the prime minister considered the criticism levelled at
the authorities as a manifestation of normal political struggle, which
he prefers to personal insults and regards as progress in terms of
forming political culture.

As regards the first president Levon Ter-Petrosian’s accusation against
him that he was allegedly deported from Nagorno Karabakh in 1993, Serge
Sargsian said that it is an obvious lie. He called on reporters to find
out what period of time lies between the dates of the documents signed
by him as the chairman of the Nagorno-Karabakh self-defence committee
and the date of the decree, by which Levon Ter-Petrosian appointed him
minister. In the words of S. Sargsian, he does not want to return to
events of those years, considering it senseless.