Tweet
Serzh Sargsyan `Shut His Mouth'
http://en.aravot.am/2013/02/02/151920/
February 2 2013
Another bloody election
Yesterday Serzh Sargsyan, the leader of the ruling Republican Party
and a candidate for president, said during a meeting in the Yeghvard
House of Culture within the framework of the campaign in the region of
Kotayk: `OK, the president who is elected through a free and fair
election has a big mouth; it is big in international organizations, it
is big when he carries out reforms inside the country.' As early as
before the election campaign the Republicans had called for conducting
a free, fair, and transparent election, being absolutely sure they
would win and making statements about that. `You know that we have
always attached importance to holding good, free, and fair elections.
It is very important for having a powerful and developed state. If
your citizen doesn't trust you, doesn't trust the results of
elections, that citizen will hardly show his true worth. We live
inside the international community, and it would be very desirable, it
would be as necessary as the air we breathe, if our partners also
trusted the results of this election, if they were sure that they
dealt with the man who had really been elected. Therefore, I ask you
all to make sure that no one criticizes us, neither our citizens, nor
the international observers, particularly given the fact that we are
offered brilliant opportunities. It seems they offer us an opportunity
on a plate to conduct the best election that complies with the
European standards,' Serzh Sargsyan, the Republican candidate for
president, said in the administrative district of Davitashen during
his first campaign meeting.
The smooth progress of the election was disrupted by the unprecedented
shots fired on the 11th day. Who and why shot at the leader of the
Union for National Self-Determination (UNSD) and a candidate for
president? Against whom were those shots, Hayrikyan, Armenia, Serzh
Sargsyan, the peaceful election campaign or the presidential election
and its results? The 1995 parliamentary election, then the 1996
presidential election and their results, the events of October 27,
April 12-13, March 1, and February 1; why isn't it possible to conduct
an election in independent Armenia without blood? Aravot tried to get
answers to some of these questions from Vardan Harutyunyan, the head
of the Center for Freedom and Rights.
* Can the incident that happened to Paruyr Hayrikyan create a new
political situation in Armenia?
* I cannot say what it will result in, but I can surely say that this
is a new thing in Armenia. This is the first time that one has shot at
a candidate for president. Admittedly, there have been violent actions
against candidates for president in the past; let us remember Levon
Ter-Petrossian's actions, the events of March 1, the `clearing up' of
Freedom Square, there has been everything, but this is the first case
that one has shot at a candidate for president. I don't know who, why,
for what. I hope that it will be solved, and one will be able to say
something.
* Do you share the opinion that what happened was a political action
against the Armenian state and statehood?
* This was an action against a politician, an action against a
candidate for president, and that action certainly, surely was against
the state.
* Do you see similarities between the election campaign of 1996 and
the current election campaign?
* No, I don't. Now I don't see any election campaign at all. I mean I
don't see any election. I can surely say that there is no election.
There is no process, as a result of which a part of society may not
know exactly this one or that one will be elected. There was such a
situation in 1996; there was a government and opposition, and the
opposition basically could have won.
* I mean in 1996, methods were used that cast a shadow on Levon
Ter-Petrossian's reelection. It seems that now there are signs of it.
* Every government faces the threat of being shadowed; it doesn't
matter whether it is Levon Ter-Petrossian, Serzh Sargsyan or I. The
government should take every action possible, in order to keep this
shadowing away from it. In that sense, the only similarity is that
this one is a government, and that one was a government too.
* Don't you think that shots at Paruyr Hayrikyan were shots at Serzh
Sargsyan? Serzh Sargsyan needed this incident with all its
consequences least of all.
* I don't know who needed it, who didn't need it, and who will or
won't benefit from it, but as a result of a gunshot Paruyr Hayrikyan
was injured, not Serzh Sargsyan.
NELLY GRIGORYAN
Aravot Daily
http://en.aravot.am/2013/02/02/151920/
February 2 2013
Another bloody election
Yesterday Serzh Sargsyan, the leader of the ruling Republican Party
and a candidate for president, said during a meeting in the Yeghvard
House of Culture within the framework of the campaign in the region of
Kotayk: `OK, the president who is elected through a free and fair
election has a big mouth; it is big in international organizations, it
is big when he carries out reforms inside the country.' As early as
before the election campaign the Republicans had called for conducting
a free, fair, and transparent election, being absolutely sure they
would win and making statements about that. `You know that we have
always attached importance to holding good, free, and fair elections.
It is very important for having a powerful and developed state. If
your citizen doesn't trust you, doesn't trust the results of
elections, that citizen will hardly show his true worth. We live
inside the international community, and it would be very desirable, it
would be as necessary as the air we breathe, if our partners also
trusted the results of this election, if they were sure that they
dealt with the man who had really been elected. Therefore, I ask you
all to make sure that no one criticizes us, neither our citizens, nor
the international observers, particularly given the fact that we are
offered brilliant opportunities. It seems they offer us an opportunity
on a plate to conduct the best election that complies with the
European standards,' Serzh Sargsyan, the Republican candidate for
president, said in the administrative district of Davitashen during
his first campaign meeting.
The smooth progress of the election was disrupted by the unprecedented
shots fired on the 11th day. Who and why shot at the leader of the
Union for National Self-Determination (UNSD) and a candidate for
president? Against whom were those shots, Hayrikyan, Armenia, Serzh
Sargsyan, the peaceful election campaign or the presidential election
and its results? The 1995 parliamentary election, then the 1996
presidential election and their results, the events of October 27,
April 12-13, March 1, and February 1; why isn't it possible to conduct
an election in independent Armenia without blood? Aravot tried to get
answers to some of these questions from Vardan Harutyunyan, the head
of the Center for Freedom and Rights.
* Can the incident that happened to Paruyr Hayrikyan create a new
political situation in Armenia?
* I cannot say what it will result in, but I can surely say that this
is a new thing in Armenia. This is the first time that one has shot at
a candidate for president. Admittedly, there have been violent actions
against candidates for president in the past; let us remember Levon
Ter-Petrossian's actions, the events of March 1, the `clearing up' of
Freedom Square, there has been everything, but this is the first case
that one has shot at a candidate for president. I don't know who, why,
for what. I hope that it will be solved, and one will be able to say
something.
* Do you share the opinion that what happened was a political action
against the Armenian state and statehood?
* This was an action against a politician, an action against a
candidate for president, and that action certainly, surely was against
the state.
* Do you see similarities between the election campaign of 1996 and
the current election campaign?
* No, I don't. Now I don't see any election campaign at all. I mean I
don't see any election. I can surely say that there is no election.
There is no process, as a result of which a part of society may not
know exactly this one or that one will be elected. There was such a
situation in 1996; there was a government and opposition, and the
opposition basically could have won.
* I mean in 1996, methods were used that cast a shadow on Levon
Ter-Petrossian's reelection. It seems that now there are signs of it.
* Every government faces the threat of being shadowed; it doesn't
matter whether it is Levon Ter-Petrossian, Serzh Sargsyan or I. The
government should take every action possible, in order to keep this
shadowing away from it. In that sense, the only similarity is that
this one is a government, and that one was a government too.
* Don't you think that shots at Paruyr Hayrikyan were shots at Serzh
Sargsyan? Serzh Sargsyan needed this incident with all its
consequences least of all.
* I don't know who needed it, who didn't need it, and who will or
won't benefit from it, but as a result of a gunshot Paruyr Hayrikyan
was injured, not Serzh Sargsyan.
NELLY GRIGORYAN
Aravot Daily