LEADER OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY: ONE MORE REASON WHY THE ARMENIAN SOCIETY IS DISINTEGRATED IS THAT THE ARMENIAN OPPOSITION IS LED BY THE FIRST PRESIDENT LEVON TER-PETROSSYAN

ArmInfo
2008-12-17 13:13:00

One more reason why the Armenian society is disintegrated is that the
Armenian opposition is led by the first president of Armenia Levon
Ter-Petrossyan, the leader of the Democratic Party of Armenia Aram
Sargsyan said during a press-conference today.

Sargsyan said that, when today the entourage of Ter-Petrossyan is
complaining of repressions, he is experiencing a kind of deja vu. In
1995 and 1996 the Armenian National Movement led by Ter-Petrossyan
rigged parliamentary and presidential elections and, when the
opposition tried to protest, applied tough repressions. It was ANM
who gave start to this vicious system of terror, electoral fraud and
violence and now it has boomeranged on its own self. If the present
opposition was led by another person, the Armenian society would be
much more integrated.

The member of the ANM, ex chairman of the standing parliamentary
commission on foreign relations Hovhannes Igityan does not agree with
Sargsyan’s position.

In 1996, when the raging crowd stormed the parliament building and beat
the speaker of the parliament Babken Ararktsyan and the vice speaker
Ara Sahakyan, the authorities arrested just 6 people, including several
MPs. A few days later the MPs were set free and none of the detainees
was prosecuted. "What is going on today looks like revenge: almost
70 political prisoners are in jail just because 12 and 13 years ago
there were not very fair elections in Armenia," Igityan said.

Sargsyan said that the Mar 1 events in Yerevan happened because of
the first and the second presidents of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrossyan
and Robert Kocharyan. "All the others are just the executors of their
will. Until they are punished, there will be no unity in society,"
Sargsyan said.

As regards the Jan 2009 PACE session, Sargsyan said that, if Armenia
is deprived of the voting right, it will be a big blow for the
country. "What will we do then? Congratulate each other? We must get
together so as to jointly avoid this shame," Sargsyan said.

Igityan said that PACE’s tough assessments were enough and Armenia
must not be deprived of its voting right.