Why did the Republican Party make a decision to fine Artur Harutyunyan, aka Palach (executioner)? On the other hand, let’s say, Surik Khachatryan, the governor of Syunik, who is a more scandalous figure and is always involved in sensational events, has never been criticized publically by the RPA. Or they didn’t impose a party fine on the MPs that voted on behalf of others and those who love to speak offensively about the representatives of the opposition parties. Let me make the freshest examples – RPA member Samvel Nikoyan, the Speaker of the National Assembly “advised” Stepan Safaryan representing the Heritage Party to wash his ears; Karen Avagyan, a member of the RPA executive body, called the leader of the Heritage Party nothing else than a “jester.” The list of Republicans worth being criticized can be spun out.
www.aravot.am inquired from Republican MPs whether the RPA members were guided by the principle of favorites. Hovhannes Sahakyan said the following, “We are a political force, a live organization and we are not ensured against either positive or negative phenomena. We are adherent to our principles concerning our colleagues, more so, coalition colleagues. We have always called for tolerance, mutual understanding and solving issues through civilized debates and moreover, if people have personal problems, issues, they should not bring those onto the political stage. If the person you mentioned, Artur Harutyunyan, has any personal problems and tries to bring those onto the political stage, the RPA has taken a step, according to its articles of association and administered a reprimand, which clearly reads that one shouldn’t mix personal problems with politics.”
As for the other cases mentioned above, Hovhannes Sahakyan assures that the RPA members discuss all cases and if the issue’s “reasoning or provocation is less or is more than the real picture, we try not to discuss it, because the impact of its consequences is much harder to eliminate.” In response to an observation that provocations in the incidents that happened with and around the governor of Syunik always exceeded, Sahakyan said that he didn’t want to personify, making an example of the incidents that had taken place in the Spitak office of the RPA, when 7-8 fellow party members had engaged in inappropriate activities, therefore, they had gotten respective party punishments. “If some youth with a nickname stood out and was fined, one shouldn’t make a big deal of it,” said our interlocutor.
In response to the same question of www.aravot.am, Eduard Sharmazanov, the press secretary of the RPA and the deputy speaker of the National Assembly, said, “The RPA has expressed its opinion on every issue you have mentioned. A consultation was held at the National Assembly speaker’s office in regard to the incidents that took place in the National Assembly, a statement for the press was made. As for the governor of Syunik, it is a legal issue and we said that we had nothing to say.” See other observations of Eduard Sharmazanov in the video.
Read also
Nelly GRIGORYAN
