Vice Speaker of the National Assembly Ishkhan Saghatelyan responded to criticism from pro-government and opposition forces that they did not do the right thing by leaving international delegations.
Aravot asked Ishkhan Saghatelyan, Armenian National Assembly Vice Speaker and MP of the Armenia faction, about how when they accepted the mandates, he had stated that the mandate gives new strength to the struggle against the government. He had said that they would be hard on the authorities, but we see that the authorities are hard on the opposition during the parliamentary sessions, so they have fully integrated into the authorities’ agenda. He was asked how he would explain this. He answered, “You think that they’re hard on us? If we had come to terms with the situation they are in, everything would have been peaceful, and you would not have noticed any tension. And the reason for the tension is that we do not tolerate or accept all this. Yes, the street struggle must be given a new impetus. And there was a lack of that during all of this, which I accept. I do not need to be convinced. We have a lot of work to do here.”
Ishkhan Saghatelyan said that they will use the tools of the parliament to remove Pashinyan from power. In response to the observation that the mandate does not contribute to that, the mandate only gave you a salary and a car, he answered, “Okay, how much is enough? Will giving up our mandate tomorrow morning benefit the struggle? If so, we’ll do it in the morning. And I’m honest here. Let’s evaluate the cases correctly. I do not rule out that at some point, we will give up all of this and we will give up the mandate. This is a process that we must be able to push forward. The important thing is not to put up with all this and not to retreat.”
Hripsime Jebejyan
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