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Sarkisian: Armenia’s Problems Will Not Be Solved through Violence or Arms
YEREVAN (A.W.)—Armenia's President Serge Sarkisian held a meeting at the Presidential Palace on Aug. 1, to discuss the recent occupation of a Yerevan police station and the political situation in the country.
In his remarks,
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In his latest pathetic speech this criminal is thanking his thugs for their brutality against the people,this is Armenia for you since March 1st and getting worse by the day so much so that we have now a state run by a thug for the benefit of his thugs that also includes corrupt oligarch karekin ii and his Bentley bishops.This is the face of sultan serjik and his ruling RPA party joined in crime in partnership with another corrupt party ARF Armenia in order to shut the voice of the Diaspora.
Asking for forgiveness is not enough.
The state is not above the law. Or shouldn’t be. We have to remember that one of the founding principals of a free, democratic country is that nobody is above the law. This includes private citizens and the state. The limits of actions of the citizen and the state is set by the law of the land. If anyone or any institution disregards and breaks those limits, they are to face justice in a court of law. That is how freedom and equality is assured in a democratic system.
If laws were broken by state’s security forces during the recent unrest, then the responsible bodies or persons must come before the courts and justify their actions based on the law.
This is not a speech that the overwrought people would expect. The president must unify all strata of the society, and not draw a distinction between “us” and “them”. What exactly Sargsyan meant by this: “We suffered two losses and have many injured. I express my condolences to the family of Sergeant Yuri Tepanosian [and] Colonel Arthur Vanoyan.” Meaning, he is only concerned with losses and injuries of the law enforcement forces? But what about dozens of severely injured unarmed demonstrators, hundreds of ordinary citizens who, only for peacefully standing in public open spaces, were subjected to unlawful detention and beating? What about dozens of unsuspecting household members in the local neighborhoods whose houses were broken into without warrant by angry police squads? Yet, the president thanks the law enforcement bodies for their, quote, “professionalism” and “expert work”… Unbelievable. Next, Sargsyan touched upon the “surrender of lands” issue reiterating that there would be no unilateral concessions and that Nagorno-Karabagh would never be part of Azerbaijan. But the public concern was not about unilateral concessions or whether Nagorno-Karabagh would be part of Azerbaijan. It was about proliferation of rumors about an inadequate concession on the part of Armenia in the form of return of the liberated territories, due to which the people have expressed their sharply negative stance on any possibility of surrendering a square foot of land as a concession, even if it’s not unilateral.
{who, only for peacefully standing in public open spaces, }
You are not serious, are you John?
Please explain how throwing rock, bottles, and sticks at police, kicking and punching them – who are just standing there – can possibly be qualified as “peaceful”.
[Խորենացու փողոցում բախումներ են ցուցարարների եւ ոստիկանների միջեւ]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwCh2ot1fp0
Sarkissian swears that [1] he will not let NKR to be part of AZ and [2] will never unilaterally concede anything in the NKR settlement. All is play on words. The question is which NKR?; the tiny autonomous enclave of the Soviet times, with no borders with Armenia, or the current NKR with the surrounding safety belt lands, contiguous with Armenia. UN and all nations recognize only the former Soviet era NKR on the map. Sarkissian can negotiate [multilaterally] and concede all surrounding lands around the old NKR and in return get AZ’s recognition of NKR’s independence. Sarkissian can then say he satisfied both his promises.
Will the Armenians buy that agreement?
Bravo MK, I’m 100% with you. Yes, you are genuine Armenian.
Hopefully this is not merely a hollow political speech.
We hope that he will walk the talk.
It is the duty and responsibility of all political parties in Armenia
to seriously reflect and think on the problems facing the country, and come up with fair, just and equitable solutions, that addresses the ills of the population .
Alas, this has been our wish for a very long time.
May be this time, it will be a loud and impactful wake up call.
Vart Adjemian
We Armenians have too many external enemies to worry about and don’t need to be fighting among ourselves. The Armenian Government should set up a fair and just process to deal with national issues and disagreements to the reasonable satisfaction of all.
Action in the form of legal outrages speak more loudly than the words of Armenia’s unelected imposed regime. The world is watching and is disgusted: https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/08/05/armenia-arbitrary-detentions-brutal-beatings
QUOTE THAT PIECE: “Among the vocal protest leaders facing charges of organizing mass disorder are Andreas Ghukasyan, an opposition politician, and Hovsep Khurshudyan, David Sanasaryan, and Armen Martirosyan, all senior members of the opposition Heritage Party. … On August 1 and 2, courts ordered the four leaders be held for two months in pretrial detention, ruling that each is a flight risk and would hinder the investigation or commit another crime if freed on bail. The men’s lawyers said that investigators did not provide the court specific facts to support the need for custody, but simply stated all possible legal grounds for denial. Without explanation, the judges rejected all defense motions to release the men, referring only to the gravity of the crime and envisaged sanction for it.”
I agree that Armenia’s terrible political and economic situation must be resolved politically and without violence. This will entail reforming current government policies and ‘quasi-laws’ protecting authoritarian rule.
Based on Sarkisyan’s speech, I believe ‘benefit of doubt’ should be given to Sarkisyan for responsibility of implementing necessary changes in the running of the country and stopping uncontrolled corruption by the ruling elite, including confiscating assets and money stolen from the public, as well as put them to trial for discrediting and dishonoring public trust in running their responsible office.
All the above reparation work must be carried out with utmost transparency, and open to public scrutiny and comments.
The current government has been running the country for so many years with little tangible benefits to the public and the country and thus people have expressed their discontent with the current ruling. Therefore, Sarkisyan, to allay the doubt and uncertainty with respect to the future government, should inform the public that he will not contest for the presidency in the next elections and allow another leader, selected by the majority to take over the reigns.