The ANC (the Armenian National Congress) representative welcomed Yovanovitch’s speech

  and at the same time blamed the USA and the EU

 On February 28 the US Ambassador to Armenia Marie Yovanovitch, making a report on the subject “The Civil Society in Armenia”, in her speech perhaps for the first time and as many, including the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (SDHP) the central committee representative, the formal deputy director of the State National Security Committee of the RA Gurgen Yeghiazaryan assessed it, sent some messages to the RA authorities, opposition and also to our society, when she stated, “We saw in different times and on different continents that when citizens do not believe that their government represents their interests, the real security cannot be established”. In the context of the development of Armenia and the democracy in Armenia she also gave importance to the freedom of speech and the expression of ideas, for the security of those the performance of the right to rally by the citizens, and eventually alongside with the other conditions, including the involvement of the parties interested, “the correspondence of the forthcoming election not only to the international standards, but also its correspondence with the demands and hopes of the people of the RA”.

            This is what the representative of the ANC (the Armenian National Congress) Gurgen Yeghiazaryan said about Marie Yovanovitch’s statements. He said that he welcomed the US Ambassador’s speech and added that “this is, perhaps, quite appropriate, because the United States, which for many years had supported the African regimes”, now realize, perhaps, that the support for the regimes has bad consequences.  “1, 3 billion US dollars given to the Egyptian army every year, meant the direct support for the Mubarak regime. Did the United States not know that he was not legitimate, that he is a dictator? Or don’t they know now that they sit down and stand up with Ilham Aliyev who inherited his presidential office from his father. In Armenia the father did not hand his office over to his son, but at the same time the regime-to-regime hand over also took place in our country, the friend handed it over to his Karabakh friend”, mentioned G. Yeghiazaryan. He added also that the US and the EU member states still received Ilham and Serzh, supported the existence of those regimes financially through different institutions. “This is what the Western democracy is. And I don’t give a damn for that kind of democracy, when one inherits his office without elections or by the means of injustice elections. Do they tolerate Aliyev, because Baku has oil? And what do these countries expect from Armenia, do they expect us to give up Karabakh and then they will talk about democracy and the regime change in our country?” rhetorically asks the SDHP representative.

            He also blamed the international community and the USA for keeping silence during the events, which took place on March 1 2008. He stated that the USA and the EU states keep using double standards for different countries.  To stress that fact he recalled the reaction of the international community to the very events, which took place on March 1, and underlined that our people’s struggle for democracy took place on the conditions of informational blockade, which was implemented by that very international community. However today all the Western TV channels, including CNN and Euronews every day and the whole day broadcast the events that took place in Egypt and Libya. “There were 10 dead in Armenia on March 1, but I am convinced there were more people dead, 182 soldiers were wounded and all that happened in Yerevan in the vicinity of the French embassy was not in any way reported in the Western countries. So the US and the EU use double standards. Then one cannot help but think that there is some interest here. I mean in 2008 they still had some expectations from the illegitimate government of the RA, non-elected president and the expectations were so big that they closed their eyes on the events happened, on the violation of our people’s and citizens’ rights in a small country called Armenia. Maybe if the events, which took place in Yerevan in 2008, grabbed the attention of the international community and the international mass media, there would not be tragic consequences or would not be a misunderstanding between the international community and us lasting three years. But it did not happen”, said G. Yeghiazaryan.

            So does Ambassador Yovanovitch’s speech mean that they do not have any expectations from the Armenian government anymore? In reply to this question, the oppositionist said, “No. This was just a speech, but it is obvious that they still have expectations. Perhaps, now is the time for the West to receive its expectations, also to remember and to remind about democracy. If the things go that way, this regime will not last long. Serzh is not in a preferable position compared with Mubarak and Kaddafi”, stated G. Yeghiazaryan assuring that the events taking place in the Arab world have direct impact on Armenia.