The ARF Armenia’s 24th Supreme council session took place, during which a new Supreme Body was elected with a new staff. Ishkhan Saghatelyan was reelected representative of the Supreme Body.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Saghatelyan spoke about pressure against ARF leaders in communities. He said that they are gathering evidence for all cases to present to international agencies.
Aravot Daily asked whether it could be countered by the authorities as an intervention in our internal problems, as well as what tools he sees in the domestic field to fight against it. Saghatelyan answered. “I am not only referring to heads of communities who are ARF members. It can already be said that it is widespread. It does not matter if they are from the party. If they did not follow the dictates of the government or they had a different political position, the government calls the community leaders and demands their resignation. What is the purpose of this? Did you know that in two months local elections will be held all over the country? They are trying to isolate the leaders of those communities to achieve their resignation and to appoint temporary officials in their place, who, experience has shown, are obedient to their party and, most often, incapable and inexperienced people, so they can win local elections. They are also destroying that institution of local self-government.”
Saghatelyan said that they support the leaders of those communities starting from legal services to other measures. “We are with them and we will not allow this. The authorities hiding behind the people who speak about the people and speak on behalf of the people have nothing to do with democracy. These people seek to establish a dictatorship under one person, which we will not allow. We will fight against that in every way. We will see soon enough.”
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Hripsime Jebejyan
