“If we consider it as panic, one can talk about panicking, because one can notice new phenomena in the Armenian reality. Some statements are made about nominating candidates for the presidential election not in Armenia, but outside Armenia. Certainly, we are panicking because of losing the type. We, as national conservatives, are panicking, because a new type has been formed,” Hovhannes Sahakyan, the secretary of the RPA parliamentary group, said during a conversation with Aravot, answering a question whether the RPA was panicking because of the PAP delegation’s visit to Brussels, its meetings there and statements made during those. Let us remind that yesterday Naira Zohrabyan, the secretary of the PAP parliamentary group, said during a conversation with Radio Liberty, talking about RPA members’ commentaries on PAP leader Gagik Tsarukyan’s visit to Brussels and statements made there: “I would suggest that people who are in an extreme panic not allow that panic to cloud their politeness and political correctness. Probably you should ask them about the reason for panic, perhaps, they know something, they have some presentiment.” And Hovhannes Sahakyan generally doesn’t think that there can be “some imaginary nominations that can make the RPA panic,” “When one can notice some unofficial clarification who will be nominated, our chances improve by that. In terms of the country’s security and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, Serzh Sargsyan doesn’t have any rivals among the probable candidates at least today. I am talking about a more serious, more important problem. The time for political language is over, one should tell the facts. They also know quite well that the RPA hasn’t panicked for a long time already.”
We asked Hovhannes Sahakyan to explain what the PAP leader’s visit to Brussels, the official statements released by the PAP notwithstanding, aimed at and why these statements were made in Brussels, “It is impossible to struggle against corruption in the country, if the main corrupted persons direct that struggle,” “Gagik Tsarukyan is a good candidate for president.” “I would suggest that PAP members officially state what happened there. What statement was made? Did he speak of corruption and sensational things that have appeared in the press or not? If it happened, what was it like so we can clarify our commentaries and explanations?” Moving on to Naira Zohrabyan’s “language and style,” Sahakyan said: “Perhaps, they are panicking, since people that play the leading role in the European Parliament, being in Armenia and meeting with the president, described the work done in these past few years only as positive, described the situation in Armenia only as positive, they demanded that the future presidential elections be held against the same positive background. And all the preconditions for that are already there. Being in Brussels a week ago personally and having meetings with representatives of different political teams, I noticed how positive they described the work of today’s government of the Republic of
Armenia and have great expectations from the upcoming presidential election. Perhaps, given those facts, the PAP packed up its stuff in panic and went to Brussels, in order to inform that they still exist, have goals and intentions.”
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And generally, our interlocutor doesn’t see anything good, bad or sensational in meeting some people, “one of the 14 vice-presidents, some Spanish vice-president” in Brussels. He says that Armenian parliamentarians meet with 7-8 different officials a day during their visits to the European Parliament, if, certainly, the visit is not for a particular issue, task, plan or purpose. “When PAP members try to reveal that plan and purpose, they should say what the visit was for, whether it was just a meeting between parties, whether there were issues related to the presidential election,” Hovhannes Sahakyan says.
NELLY GRIGORYAN
