President Serzh Sargsyan was hosted today at the Andranik Margaryan Political School of the Republican Party of Armenia. The President met with the students at the school and delivered a lecture before the audience. Serzh Sargsyan welcomed the students of the political school who are engaged in different professions: students, public servants, some of them are non-partisan or represent different political parties.
Noting that it was the second time he had met with the listeners of the Andranik Margaryan Political School, the President expressed the hope that the students of this stream would use their schooling time to get the best knowledge and skills.
At the beginning of the lecture, the President spoke about the schools founded by political parties, considering them to be a forge for training future politicians, or the forerunner of political activity. Serzh Sargsyan distinguished politicians from political activists and members of a political force, pointing out that he could cite thousands of people who while being party members are not engaged in political activities. They have a political orientation and they choose to vote for their party every few years from election to election.
In the President’s opinion, some people engaged in political activities may be busy with politics from time to time; for example, during elections they can get actively engaged in political activities trying to participate in campaigns, often propagate themselves, but it would not be appropriate to call them political figures.
According to President Sargsyan, in addition to the aforementioned two groups, there are professional politicians who are constantly engaged in political activities, who advocate a specific position within the given political organization. Being a well-known person by virtue of your political views does not yet mean that you are a politician.
After presenting his approaches, the speaker proposed to continue the meeting in the format of dialogue: listen to each other’s opinions and comment on the views voiced.
The President asked the audience to first of all express their opinion on the qualities that a politician may need. He added three more attributes to what he thinks a political figure must be endowed with. “First, a politician should be able to form a team. No one can succeed alone. Perhaps, one can succeed in business or in private life alone, though, here too, the team is very important, but politics implies availability of a strong team.
The second factor, which was evoked here, and I would like to emphasize is that the politician should be very balanced and tolerant. A politician should understand that if wants to embrace the political career, especially in great politics, he will always be subject to criticism. Those unable to accept criticism and keep their self-control, no matter how difficult it could be, can not achieve success.
The next feature, in my opinion, for politicians is that they have a great ability to assess the situation. In practice, whether in military service, business or, maybe, when setting up a family, one really should be able to estimate the situation,” the President said.
Serzh Sargsyan then offered to the students of the political school to try to understand what a rapidly changing or rapidly shrinking world means, and how this phenomenon affects our reality.
The topics discussed during the lecture featured the key challenges faced by the Republic of Armenia and the ways of dealing with them, over which the President and the participants of the meeting presented their views. They also touched upon the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the positions of the Armenian side in that process.
The President suggested those students interested in the subject get well prepared and hold another discussion to present their views, arguments and counter-arguments.
Serzh Sargsyan promised that he would accept the invitation for another meeting and would take part in such an important discussion.