The official ceremony dedicated to the 131st anniversary of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun at the initiative of the ARF Supreme Body was attended by the second and third presidents of Armenia, as well as former presidents of Artsakh, clergymen, statesmen, politicians and public figures, and the leaders and deputies of the Armenia and I Have Honor factions.
The representative of the ARF Supreme Body, RA National Assembly Deputy Speaker Ishkhan Saghatelyan, mentioned, “It is impossible to separate the history of the ARF from the history of the Armenian people. And during the past 131 years, the ARF Dashnaktsutyun has remained faithful to its mission – to serve the cause of the liberation of Armenia and the Armenians, to create the homeland of our dreams. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow the ARF Dashnaktsutyun has been, is, and will be the force that is loyal to the Armenians and the land, operating in the homeland and abroad, which has always kept the idea of an independent state alive.”
Read also
Ishkhan Saghatelyan mentioned that from 1999 to 2018, their party was part of the government in different ways, because the ARF not only knows how to fight well, but also how to build. “There were great achievements in those years. There were also mistakes. But those mistakes are quick to correct, they were mistakes that weakened us, slowed us down, but never destroyed us. The people’s expectations from the ARF Dashnaktsutyun have always been high, but the vote they cast is not enough. We have never been in the crowd for the sake of voting. We have always shown the path of real development, which has been difficult and impassable. We own the share of those years, both good and bad.” The NA Deputy Speaker focused more on the present and the future.
“Today Armenia and its people are in a deep crisis. The current government has failed in all spheres: Artsakh, foreign policy, security, defense, army building, and economy. They have also failed in areas that have supposedly been of value and conviction to them. It is already an obvious fact that they have nothing to do with democracy, human rights, a fair judiciary, the right of citizens to vote freely and to be elected. For them, as in other cases, they are just a slogan, Facebook status, a way to mislead the public, but never a goal. “Advocates” of a fair judiciary arrest judges who do not judge dissidents illegally, and “advocates” of free elections arrest community-elected community leaders. The law enforcement agencies have become a dumb tool to establish one-man rule in our country, or rather, a dictatorship. And the international community and human rights organizations are silently watching all this, and even saying that democracy is progressing in Armenia. Everything is clear.
This government benefits everyone except Armenians… We have already tolerated the arbitrariness of this government too much. He said, “I will negotiate whatever I want,” as a result of which we lost a significant part of Artsakh. Now he says, I am the government, I will decide whatever I want. Isn’t it clear what the end of this will be? Loss of statehood. Enough, we have no place to retreat, we have no time to wait. The so-called Armenian-Turkish reconciliation process, which will lead to Turkification, must be stopped. And this will be one of the main directions of our political struggle. The Turk who committed genocide against the Armenian people and replaced Yataghan with a Bayraktar can not have fun in the center of Yerevan, and we will follow it with animal instinct. It will not work. Forget it. We will not allow it.”
Then Ishkhan Saghatelyan addressed the ARF allies. “Dear friends, I know you are hurt and bitter. Many of you are clenching your teeth and waiting for a decision. Many of you criticize us for making that decision too late. Sometimes you even think that the ARF is not the leader, it has come to terms with it, it tolerates the treacherous government, the government that has brought disaster to the country, and it tolerates impudence. Even those who kneel before the Turks dare to raise their hands and go unpunished. As for the arrogance of the authorities, we simply do not want the country to turn into chaos and anarchy. I think I said it clearly. And when the main culprit and responsible person said, ‘If I’m wrong, let the people shoot me under a wall,’ I have to remind you again. We do not live in the jungle. There should be a law and a court in Armenia, and criminals should be punished by law. And they will.”
Ashot HAKOBYAN
