HAK condemns Armenian president’s speech
Armenian National Congress (HAK) Party has issued a statement, in
which it condemned the speech that Armenian President, Chairman of the
Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) Serzh Sargsyan made against Gagik
Tsarukyan, the leader of Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK).
“At the sitting of HHK’s political council on February 12 Serzh
Sargsyan made a long speech whose content creates a new situation in
Armenia’s internal political life.
The leader of Prosperous Armenia Party Gagik Tsarukyan was the only
subject of that speech. Accusing him of a thousand crimes, Serzh
Sargsyan demands – in fact, by means of threats – that Tsarukyan
should quit politics and engage only in business. This demand in
itself is a flagrant violation of the Constitution of Armenia. Each
citizen has the right to engage in politics and there are no
provisions or authorized bodies that restrict or forbid him/her to do
it. So Gagik Tsarukyan has as much right to engage in politics as
Serzh Sargsyan has.
The following ‘accusations’ of Serzh Sargsyan form the basis of the
dilemma facing Gagik Tsarukyan:
1. Unverified rumors have been circulating for years about billions of
drams of unpaid taxes, with those billions stolen from elderly
people’s pensions and young people’ education right being hidden under
the guise of the so-called scanty ‘philanthropy’. I urge the Armenian
prime minister to instruct the appropriate bodies to verify in detail
the authenticity of these rumors and present them openly to everyone.
2. Rumors are also circulating about the creation of a professional
mechanism of concealing the numerous criminal offences”.
Serzh Sargsyan then instructed the Government and law enforcement
bodies to verify the authenticity of such ‘information’, and he in
fact instructed the ‘Republican Party of Armenia’ faction to start the
process of stripping Gagik Tsarukyan of his parliamentary deputy
mandate.
So it turns out that Serzh Sargsyan, while being aware of that,
forgave him for years, in his own words, ‘sponsored’ and ‘raised’ him,
and only now he decided not to tolerate it anymore, considering it a
mistake. This, however, raises questions and serves as a basis for
some natural conclusions:
a) If such ‘information’ was being spread ‘for years’, why wasn’t it
verified on the first day? It turns out that that Serzh Sargsyan
abused his office to cover up ‘Tsarukyan’s crimes. How much does it
become the office of the country’s president? In other words, if Serzh
Sargsyan attaches a label of ‘criminal’ to Gagik Tsarukyan, he is at
least in the position of ‘a person who knows, but does not report’.
b) If, while being aware ‘for years’ of such ‘information’, Serzh
Sargsyan cooperated with Prosperous Armenia which made part of the
ruling coalition, and until recently he proposed that the same
Tsarukyan should come to power by becoming prime minister, and later
Armenian president – following the ‘constitutional changes’, then why
did he suddenly start to speak from a diametrically opposite position?
c) If, nevertheless, this was not detected on time, then Serzh
Sargsyan’s speech and threats are nothing other than an overt order
about a political reprisal against the opponent, although it is
presented as a measure to liberate the country and people from
Tsarukyan as a representative of the ‘criminal-oligarchic’ class. The
accusations that are made a priori against Gagik Tsarukyan can also be
made – accusations are ten times as much and with obvious facts –
against 90% of HHK’s ‘elite’.
Serzh Sargsyan’s speech is vulnerable from the legal, political, and
moral aspects. HAK views it as an unsuccessful attempt by the ruling
regime to distract public opinion from own sins. People know quite
well who is to blame for the current troubled situation in the country
and they will eventually hold the real criminals accountable,” HAK
said in a statement.
14.02.15, 15:51