PRESS RELEASE
The Heritage Party
31 Moscovian Street
Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+374 – 10) 53.69.13
Fax: (+374 – 10) 53.26.97
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
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6 May 2008
Heritage Party Corrects Coalition Statement
The Heritage Party takes note of the collective statement, dated May
4, of the four parties which together constitute the ruling coalition
in the Republic. Because of its partisan and misleading nature,
however, one point requires immediate rectification.
Had the intent of the coalition parties been to present the full truth
to the public and to create the necessary environment for true
political dialogue, they would not have blessed the names of Raffi
Hovannisian and the Heritage Party with inclusion in their
declaration.
Heritage is, of course, touched at the thought of being remembered,
even if in passing, by the parties of power, but it is neither
sufficient nor serious for them and their authorized representatives
to speak declaratively about the imperative for honest discourse but
then to proceed to undertake measures and unleash polemical
interpretations which both belie the shallowness of their commitment
and serve to deliver a reality that bears no relation whatsoever to
even the most generous reading of their words.
For the record, when ten days ago presidential chief of staff Hovik
Abrahamyan requested by telephone Heritage Party chairman Raffi K.
Hovannisian’s consent to be named in an executive decree to an
interdepartmental working group charged with preparing by May 10 a
list of proposals to the president in connection with PACE Resolution
1609, Raffi Hovannisian informed Abrahamyan, inter alia, that he would
be away from Armenia for family and professional reasons until that
time. Nonetheless, Hovannisian explicitly stated his and Heritage’s
readiness to engage directly in a meaningful discourse with the
president and his working group whenever deemed desirable. What is
more, the executive board of the Heritage Party communicated to the
chief of staff its nomination of MP Stepan Safaryan to replace
Hovannisian in the daily activities of the working group, and to this
day has received no official response in this connection.
The coalition and those who author its statements are free, of course,
to write whatever they want. But if integrity means nothing, and
their sole aim is to create a formal if superficial record to take
something back to Strasbourg, then they should keep Raffi Hovannisian
and the Heritage Party out of it. Heritage does not need gratuitous,
self-serving sermons on how and when and where to work.
If, on the other hand, there does reside a sober understanding of the
gravity of the current crisis in the coalition’s pronouncements on the
relevant PACE resolution and incorporated demands, in whose favor all
of its delegates voted, then the Heritage Party stands ready in good
faith to negotiate with the coalition and its leader for
accomplishment of a program of national recovery for Hayastan and all
of our people.
The Heritage Party
6 May 2008
Yerevan
From: Baghdasarian