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Heritage Holds 4th Party Congress: V Khachatrian Elected Board Chair

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  • Heritage Holds 4th Party Congress: V Khachatrian Elected Board Chair

    PRESS RELEASE
    The Heritage Party
    Yerevan 0033, Armenia
    Tel.: (+374 - 10) 58.08.77, 52.22.38
    Fax: (+374 - 10) 54.38.97
    Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
    Website: www.heritage.am


    August 1, 2006


    HERITAGE HOLDS FOURTH PARTY CONGRESS:

    VARDAN KHACHATRIAN ELECTED BOARD CHAIRMAN

    Yerevan--The Heritage Party convened today its fourth annual congress at the
    auditorium of the Writers' Union of Armenia. The conference was called to
    discuss the party's accomplishments--despite countless roadblocks placed by
    the sitting authorities against normal party operations--to draw attention
    to its shortfalls, and to outline future courses of action.

    Heritage's political secretary Vardan Khachatrian welcomed the capacity
    audience with opening remarks. He mentioned that 600 delegates from Yerevan
    and across Armenia were expected to take part in the congress, but that the
    space limitations of the hall had allowed for only 213. "Despite a series of
    formal requests sent to the government, the latter refused to provide us
    access to any of the rooms at its disposal and routinely made available for
    such meetings," Khachatrian asserted. "Fear seems to have become a political
    category in Armenia."

    The congress opened with the singing of Armenia's national anthem, "Mer
    Hairenik." The delegates then approved the day's agenda, and the convention'
    s Secretariat and its Credentials and Editorial Commissions were elected.

    The first speaker was Heritage board member Anahit Bakhshian, who presented
    an accounting of the board's activities since last the party convened.
    Bakhshian maintained that against the backdrop of domestic multi-party
    politics, numerous impediments and incidences of repression, and an
    imperfect atmosphere surrounding the political opposition in Armenia, the
    Heritage Party was able to find its rightful place, keep its ethical
    character untainted, and remain faithful to its agenda and values. In short
    time, the number of party members has doubled to five thousand, new regional
    divisions have opened, and more than five scores of public meetings have
    been organized. That the party exceeded the fifty percent success mark in
    last year's local elections, said Bakhshian, can be attributed to its direct
    contact with the people--both in principle and in fact.

    "Opportunists and informants have no place among us. Our goal is to turn
    Heritage into an arena for decent citizens, a community which will assume
    the mission of forming a civilized, democratic, and highly developed
    society," Bakhshian said. She also noted that the party must prepare for the
    2007 parliamentary elections and will support fair and transparent elections
    as the only legitimate path to progress.

    Following the approval of the board's report, Raffi K. Hovannisian, chairman
    of the Heritage Party, was invited to take the floor. In a powerful keynote
    address, he specified the benchmarks of the party's future, discussed the
    state of Armenia within and beyond its borders, and set down forthcoming
    measures and priorities that would keep real and relevant the party's goals
    through meeting new challenges.

    In Hovannisian's view, the Heritage Party convenes its fourth congress
    having attained a stage of distinct organizational know-how. It has been
    enriched with the experience of hard work and the bitter yet enlightening
    lessons from our daily lives. "The party's human potential has grown not
    artificially, nor by the use of financial and administrative levers, nor on
    the account of transparent political benevolence, but rather through inner
    conviction, conscience, and a noble drive," Hovannisian stated, underscoring
    that our national well-being will not be served to us on a silver platter,
    but that it must be labored for and earned by all Armenians in our quest to
    strengthen the foundations of statehood.

    "The ruling administration, which only operates for self-interest, must be
    met with common rationality, high consciousness, and readiness to sacrifice
    for the cause." This, according to Heritage's chairman, is the key for the
    transformation of state and society. The road chosen and traveled by, in
    Hovannisian's belief, is laden with thorns, but the party cannot and will
    not resign its mission. In his words, the harmony between the individual and
    the collective, the alliance of the private and the national, the desire for
    freedom coupled with and actualized by an unyielding determination to fight
    for right will help us forge Armenia's tomorrow, tend to its shared legacy,
    and fulfill its sacred national purpose.

    After the keynote remarks, Hovsep Khurshudian, chairman of Heritage's
    Constitutional Commission, presented its report and offered motions to amend
    the party's Charter. Approved by open ballot, these changes did away with
    the elected post of party chairman, replacing it with a chairperson elected
    by the board from among its members.

    At the end of the first session, the delegates made nominations for new
    membership in the party's executive board. Through secret ballot, the
    congress elected as board members teacher and Artsakh war veteran Davit
    Badalian; high school principal Anahit Bakhshian; sociologist Dolores
    Davtian; theology professor Vardan Khachatrian; electrical engineer Gevorg
    Kalenchian; physics professor Rafik Hakobian; Armenia's first Minister of
    Foreign Affairs Raffi Hovannisian; teacher and judo trainer Armen
    Martirosian; and pharmacist Garnik Sahakian.

    In the convention's second session, the 2005-2006 report by the Audit
    Commission was approved, and new Constitutional and Audit Commissions were
    elected. The Constitutional Commission comprises Hovsep Khurshudian, Arthur
    Harutiunian, Sargis Manukian, Armen Martirosian, and Gayane Poghosian. The
    Audit Commission includes Arthur Galstian, Karapet Kalenchian, Asia
    Hambardzumian, Mamikon Sargsian, and Armine Vardanian.

    The Heritage Party congress also adopted a resolution expressing concern
    about unjust and undemocratic elections, which continue to reproduce the
    ruling clan. "As a consequence of the unreliability of the electoral system,
    the formation of power in Armenia is dependent on external forces and, being
    answerable solely to them, the incumbent authorities are reticent to conduct
    policies and make decisions that are in the country's national and sovereign
    interests," the resolution states. The party asserts that the accrued
    adverse phenomena pose an enormous threat to Armenia's sovereignty,
    democratization, national security, and stable development. Hence, the
    regional situation today compels each of us to become "not a subject but a
    citizen, not a government discard who is demeaned psychologically and
    crushed by poverty and privation, but a proud, dignified, and spiritual
    human being" for whom liberty is the value supreme.

    Following the congress, the newly elected executive board of the Heritage
    Party convened its first meeting wherein Vardan Khachatrian was elected
    chairman of the board upon the motion of Raffi Hovannisian.

    Founded in 2002, Heritage has regional divisions throughout the land. Its
    central headquarters are located at 7 Vazgen Sargsian Street, Yerevan 0010,
    Armenia, with telephone contact at (374-10) 580.877, fax at (374-10)
    543.897, email at [email protected], and website at www.heritage.am
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