No competition expected

28/01/2009

Levon Zurabyan and Arman Grigoryan, the representatives of the Armenian National Congress in charge of relations with the PACE, will be present at the winter PACE session during the discussion of Armenia’s issue. Arman Grigoryan informed radio Liberty that they are going to meet with faction heads and officials in Strasburg to inform them about the approaches of the ANC and other information to enable them find a right solution. In answer to question whether the activities of the ANC and Armenia’s official delegation at the PACE can be viewed as something like a competition the latter said, “We are not going there to compete or fight with the other Armenian delegation. Our purpose is informing about the opinions of the Armenian National Congress and provide true information about the situation in Armenia. Certainly the other delegation will not represent Armenia but the incumbent political regime.” In answer to a question according to the ANC what is the role of the EU in the inner political developments in Armenia he said, “As the opposition leader, former president Levon Ter-Petrosyan has numerously said, the European institutions, including the PACE, have responsibilities against the Armenian people to support democracy. Certainly the role of the PACE is big but we don’t overestimate it; the main load of the Armenian democracy is on the shoulders of the Armenian people and our movement. In fact it will be very bad if the Armenian delegation is deprived of the voting right. It will be very bad for Armenia’s reputation, but it will be fully the fault of the incumbent political regime.”