“They are political parties: if they like they will take. if not they will take those whom they like,” said Arsen Mikhaylov, the president of the “Atur” Assyrian Association of Armenia, in an interview with Aravot.am, referring to the decision issued by the CEC yesterday that according to the latest census, the representatives of the biggest ethnic minorities living in Armenia should be included in the lists of forces participating in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Accordingly, Yezidi, Russian, Assyrian and Kurdish communities are separated. Such a change, note, was enshrined in the new constitution defining a parliamentary system of governance. Arsen Mikhaylov prefers the Iranian option. In Iran, a mandatory mandate quantity is defined for ethnic minorities depending on the size. The selection is made in the communities.
To the question of whether there are already political consultations and recommendations, our interlocutor said that they are cooperating with various political parties, mainly government as it is accepted in all countries in the case of ethnic minorities. There are Assyrians in the opposition party too but it is not a community cooperation, moreover, personal. “A few days later, there will be meetings and discussions, and decisions will be made about the cooperation of the specific political force and the nomination of the candidate,” said our interlocutor.
Yezidi community representative, president of “Sinjar” NGO, Boris Murazi, told Aravot.am, “As far as I am aware of, this requirement is not mandatory for the parties, and the parties may not include these four community representatives. Such a question was raised by the oppositions, namely Nikol Pashinyan. They were arguing that the parties may stay out of the struggle if they do not involve minority representatives. As far as I am informed, this concern was taken into account during the adoption of the Electoral Code.”
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Boris Murazi considers positive that there will be seats in the parliament for ethnic minorities and does not think that it is mandatory that they must be Yezidis, “If there will be a rep of another community who let’s say is well aware of the problems of Yezidi and was involved in raising these problems, I will vote for him with great pleasure.” Whether there were offers of cooperation made to Yezidi community or not, and whether there are candidates in the community, our interlocutor did not know. He just noted, “The community cannot have its candidates. According to the law, the parties are going to select people to include on their lists.”
Rima Varzhapetyan, the head of the Jewish community of Armenia, expressed her bewilderment at the fact that there are communities with less number but more organized and active, “We would like to participate. Our community is well organized, very active and very important for Armenia, and I think that only positive results can be registered from this cooperation. Well, what can we do if there is such a law that restricts …? I hope that there will be people in those communities who are willing and able to bring benefit.”
Nelly GRIGORYAN
