Maybe Freedom Square will become a more efficient office for Artur Vanetsyan than his office in the National Assembly, because we do not remember that Vanetsyan shone in his parliamentary activities. In a conversation with Aravot, the leader of the Homeland party Artur Vanetsyan responded to these and other criticisms voiced by the pro-government circles in connection with the sit-in initiated by him. “If the authorities are destroying our country, do they think I should go and discuss the Mercury Law or talk about the possibility of planting trees? Those who do such things are simply not serious. What legislative initiatives are being brought to add a personal doctor for this or that, to provide the Prime Minister with a bodyguard after his dismissal, to remove the PPP from the NSS, or to pass a law to illegally remove the elected mayor of Vanadzor and appoint another person to replace him? Is that their legislative work? They are not doing anything, they are just some legislative initiatives to keep their power.”
Civil Contract MP Gevorg Papoyan had stated that “If Vanetsyan succeeds, we will have a war, and if he fails, we will have peace.” According to him, “We are moving towards the agenda of peace, they are moving towards war. The alternative to peace is war. Their success will lead to direct war; their failure will lead to peace. The people will decide whether there will be peace or war. Since there are 50 of them at the moment, the people have decided that there will be peace.”
Vanetsyan responded, “It is another manipulation to frighten people that if we are not in power, there will be a war, that if we do not hand over Armenia or Artsakh, there will be a war, if we do not give up our sovereignty, there will be a war. They are lying, they are the causes of the endless war and that’s it. The ceasefire agreement was signed on November 9, after that we are constantly threatened at the border, we have the presence of enemy forces in the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia, we have new prisoners, new casualties, and every day, we hear about the threat of war from Azerbaijan and Turkey.
They are the ones who brought the war. We are fighting against the war. If we are successful, there will be no war, I assure you. The people, it is true, choose the option of peace, but not what they are told. The people also choose the future, but not their future. We have to make a difference between what the people really want and what they want.” CC MP Vagharshak Hakobyan says that Vanetsyan may want to copy what happened in 2018 by riding a bicycle with other actions, but at least it is not serious. Vanetsyan answered that they were meaningless, unserious criticisms, “He came here and said, ‘Ride my bike.’ I did, so what?” Referring to Vanetsyan’s theses, we asked about how he said that, “I say, drive them away, I will become prime minister,” but how can people have a change of government without seeing who will come next.
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Vanetsyan answered, “I came to Freedom Square as a citizen, Artur Vanetsyan. I did not come as the leader of the Homeland party or the leader of the I Have Honor faction. And its purpose is the same: in the last few years, these authorities have manipulatively instilled in people that these are old, these are bad, these are old, these are new. I said, let us all put aside our flags, let us fight for Artsakh and Armenia. In that struggle, if we talk now about the division of power, who will occupy what position in the government, what will be done, it is not right. We will return to that issue when the opportunity arises, when we feel that there is already public pressure, the public wave that people are ready to carry out a change of government, we will return to that issue. That will be decided by the people. Let’s not compare that with what Nikol Pashinyan said, but the people will decide on the street who is the leader who will be able to lead this country. It doesn’t matter if it’s me or the others.”
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
