THE STORY OF AN ADDRESS WHICH LOST ITS MEANING
Hakob Badalyan

Lragir.am
12:30:19 – 02/02/2009

Four months have passed since Serge Sargsyan’s first State of the
Country address from the rostrum of the National Assembly. What has
changed in our country since then? What effect has the presidential
address had, which outlined the notions to guide the activities of the
government, the relations between the government and the society? It
should be noted that the address has changed almost nothing in the
life of Armenia, it has been forgotten. First, nobody seems to remember
about this historical address.

This must give the president reason to think. The reason is that
not even a small part of the declared approaches has been brought
into being.

"Our attainments and plans will lose their meaning if the future
generations grow up with the wrong dreams, if the hero of the Armenian
child is the youth who rides in an expensive car rather than the youth
who wins a school contest. Consequently, our attainments and plans
will lose their meaning in case our society does not face education,"
Serge Sargsyan said on October 2 at the National Assembly. The
recent notorious letter of the speaker of the National Assembly to
the speakers of parliaments of the CoE members is the best indicator
of appreciation of education by the Armenian government.

"We all know that things happen in our life when20separate people
decide to resort to strength, solve problems through force. I announce
that I do not understand that, I do not accept that. In the Republic
of Armenia nobody can consider themselves to be unpunished, in the
Republic of Armenia nobody can entitle themselves to the functions of
the state. I advise everyone to abstain from these rooted vices because
otherwise the consequences are going to be heavy," Serge Sargsyan said
October 2. Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan’s reprimand to the deputy
ministers of health Tatul Hakobyan and Abraham Manukyan a few days
ago who beat someone with their friends in a restaurant indicates how
the government cannot understand and accept when government officials
solve problems through force. All they get was a reprimand. Besides,
nobody has been arrested for similar incidents in the streets. And
such incidents were many in the past few months.

"We must pursue change in the culture when the way of earning and
prospering is avoiding competition through dirty, unacceptable and
illegal ways, where the greatest talent is the guile of the person
who avoids competition, which shatters the foundation of the young
Armenian state. We must come together to build a society of young,
ingenious young men where corruption is unnecessary and illogical,"
Serge Sargsyan said. Is it not illogical that so far no case of
corruption involving a high-ranking government official has been
revealed? Is it not illogical that there is corruption in the
country, and the government admits its existence but only lower
ranking officials are arrested or dismissed as part of the battle
on corruption? Was that the new image of battle on corruption about
which Serge Sargsyan spoke in his presidential address?

Serge Sargsyan said group interests are unacceptable but within the
four months that have passed since his address the government has
taken no practical steps to persuade and prove to all the layers of
the society that Armenia is everyone’s home, it is not only the home of
those who have power and rule in their homeland through that power. The
government continues to declare servants of the world plot all those
Armenians and Armenian nationals who dare express a different opinion,
who dare protect their rights and freedoms, who speak about democracy,
human rights, who dare express an opinion that differs from that of
the government.

Four months have passed since the first address of the president but
it is almost impossible to notice four basic changes which would
assure the citizens that the address is not a mere Constitutional
demand but psychology and mentality to which the person who utters
the address is committed.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress