FATHERLAND AND PEOPLE ARE INDIVISIBLE
Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
04 June 05
The term of the National Assembly is coming to an end. The
parliamentary election is coming up, therefore the Democratic Party
of Artsakh makes an account of the past five years work. In the
parliamentary election of 2000 the party held the majority of seats
in the National Assembly and, guided by its political programme, got
engaged in legislative activity, aiming to promote the rule of law,
democracy, economic progress, to pursue tax reforms, improvement of
social conditions and to build a civil society. In this context the
parliamentary faction supported the social and economic policy of
the Executive, which resulted in the growth of the NKR Budget twice,
and the receipts grew three times. This shows that the government
of the country has adopted a line of using the inner potential
of the country to create a self-sufficient economy, reflecting the
interests of the state and the people. We may reasonable state that by
supporting this policy we secured the interests of the majority of the
population, and the results are already tangible. At the same time,
we are far from considering all the problems of the republic to have
been solved. We can see the problems better than any other political
force; however, we prefer the steady rate of development to winning
over some additional votes through populist slogans. Otherwise, it
is not possible to achieve desirable results. I want to focus on the
legislative activity of the party, holding the majority in the National
Assembly, directed at promoting democracy in the NKR home policy. The
majority of the National Assembly drafted a series of important bills
which were enacted. Among these the law on television and radio,
providing for the establishment of the public television and radio
of NKR, is especially important. The legislation on the mass media
was improved to correspond to the European standards. Starting from
the right of the citizens for information, our parliamentary faction
proposed the bill on information which was enacted despite lasting
public debates and political manipulations. The adoption of the NKR
Electoral Code is also the outcome of the practical and constructive
work of the majority in the parliament. I also want to point out the
law on political parties and the law on non-governmental organizations,
which work and coordinate the relationships government – political
parties and government – non-governmental sector. Our faction attaches
great importance to human rights. The evidence to this is the adoption
of the law on the defender of human rights. We may say that by this
law we completed the first stage of creating a legislative basis for
this sphere. Certainly, I cannot deny that there are faults in our
work. More exactly, we did not manage to do everything. However,
we have what to report on and we have political will to admit our
mistakes, as well as we have future legislative projects. And what
about our opponent? I call the opposition alliance in the name of the
Democratic Party of Artsakh to present a similar report. If they have
anything to say, they are welcome. And for the time being, dear fellow
countrymen, I allow myself to state that a political force which votes
against the state budget bill but fails to come up with an alternative
bill has no right to express alleged anxiety about the social state
of the country. A political force which dissipated a sum counting
hundreds of millions in the framework of programmes of re-settlement,
such as the Artsakh branch of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation,
has no right to speak about the poverty, because if there are poor
people in our republic, they are first of all in the re-settled areas,
and the responsibility for the policy of resettlement was assumed
by the Artsakh branch of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. But
as soon as the international organizations started to deal with the
re-settled areas, the political force considering itself the devotee
of the nation hurried to give up responsibility. The preachers of the
opposition alliance like asking questions. I do not want to answer
back in the same manner but, nevertheless, I would like to ask:
“Is there any relation between the involvement of international
organizations and the refusal of the programme of re-settlement by
the Artsakh branch of the ARF? Do you perceive patriotism as denial
of responsibility or assumption of greater responsibility? And is
this how you are responsibility for the fate of the country and the
people?” Dear compatriots, I call to your civic resolve and ask you
to give the following question to the candidates of the opposition
alliance: “What does the slogan “Let the People Win” mean? Who are
the people going to defeat? Themselves?” This is not a rhetorical
question. People have already defeated the enemy once. Elections are
not for dividing the people into two camps. It was Stalin who said:
“Those who are not with us are our enemies.” Does the slogan mean
that if anyone does not belong to the alliance, they do not belong
to the people? With this medieval thinking certain people try to
divide the fatherland from the people. Whatever the outcome of the
election is, it will be the choice of the people. The political force
or candidate that will get the vote of confidence of the people will
win the election. Dear compatriots, I am convinced that on June 19th
you will not let certain people press you to defeat yourselves, and
you will make the right choice, giving your vote to the Democratic
Party of Artsakh which advocates stability and progress, peace and
welfare, the rule of law and human rights.
VAHRAM ATANESSIAN. 04-06-2005