With the accompaniment of the string orchestra, balloons, red flags and the picture of the great proletariat Vladimir Lenin, party representatives started the march from the statue of Aram Khachatryan to the square near the Alexander Myasnikyan statue, where they held their May 1st gathering.
The slogan for the meeting was “Down with America, Always with Russia”. Leader of the “New Times” political party Aram Karapetyan made some pro-Russian speeches a couple of days before, and now it was communist party leader Ruben Tovmasyan’s turn. They are making these pro-Russian speeches during a time when the Russian “shaved-heads” have started attacking Armenians in Russia frequently. Just a couple of days ago, 17-year old Armenian teenager Vigen Abrahamyants was killed. According to Mr. Tovmasyan, the murder of the 17-year old is a separate case.
“We shouldn’t consider that a result of Russian politics. The Russians, with their liberalism and great people helped create better conditions for the children of Armenia to live in. Some of the people who grew up in that Armenia were the Orbeli brothers, the Mikoyan brothers, Victor Hambartsumyan,” said Mr. Tovmasyan as he tried to justify his Russian nationalism and added that they have also condemned that “violent act” just like the Russian communists.
However, Ruben Tovmasyan showed his disrespect towards the U.S.
“The U.S. is not satisfied and will never be satisfied with its raptorial politics. It is simply taking advantage of the fact that the Soviet Union doesn’t exist, which could put the U.S. in its place in an instant. The U.S. is enclosing Russia through the means of NATO and this is a great danger for Russia,” said the leader of the communist party and added that he is ready to lend a helping hand to the countries suffering the effects of “U.S. control”.
“We are ready to help the people of Cuba, which the U.S. has blockaded for the past 40 years. We are ready to help the people of Belarus, who gave 83% of the votes for Lukashenko, who deserved to be president with the basis of democratic elections. We would also like to cooperate with the newly elected communist leader of the Italian parliament, as well as the Indian communists.”
According to Ruben Tovmasyan, the anti-communist hysteria is on the rise today in Armenia and the U.S. is the one responsible for that.
“The U.S. still has to pay for the killings in India, for the nuclear weapon experiments that killed many people in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, for blockading Cuba for the past 40 years, for the outrageous wars in Vietnam and Korea, as well as the events in Iraq. We just can’t let the U.S. go on like this. Currently, the U.S. is thinking about attacking Syria and our neighboring country Iran. Who gave the U.S. the right to govern countries thousands of kilometers away?” said Tovmasyan in an outrage. After this, the Communist Party leader showed the people “the right path to take towards developing the country”.
“I have said this before, I say it now and will say it until the day I die-Armenia must stay with Russia. It’s really not worth speculating Armenian-Russian relations because of something planned by the U.S. So, Armenia should really stick with Russia and no other country,” said Tovmasyan with great enthusiasm. The party leader’s speech was interrupted from time to time with the “Hoorays” of the schoolchildren standing in the square with their pioneer collars. In fact, there were only about 700 participants, but as first and former secretary of the communist party Ruben Tovmasyan said, there were more than 15,000 people participating in the May 1st march. Armenians from all over the Armenia had come to the gathering.
The ACP took control of the authorities in half an hour
“168 Hours” asked Tovmasyan yesterday whether the party is pleased to see president Robert Kocharyan taking steps to turn Armenia into an outskirt of Russia.
“I don’t feel that he is going towards Russia. He is doing the same by going towards America. I would be pleased with his pro-Russian actions only if he were to appreciate the 1,200,000 signatures of the Communist party members for joining the Russia-Belarus jointure. We can’t achieve anything with this isolation. Who else but the Communist party has adamant politics towards Russia? Nobody has the right to express opinions on that bond.”
Is it possible that the Communist Party will defend “New Times” political party Aram Karapetyan’s nomination in the upcoming presidential elections based on the fact that he had proposed forming an Armenia-Russia confederation? In response to this, Tovmasyan replied:
“That’s impossible. Karapetyan is not being pro-Russian by saying that. By analyzing the speeches made by people who say one thing and then say the opposite later on, I can tell you that the communist party simply can’t move forward with those opinions. Don’t think that the communist party will defend the nomination of someone who is a non-communist. The Armenian Communist Party will nominate a communist and defend him until the end,” he assured.
In fact, the Communists rest assured that they are going to exceed the 7% limit during the 2007 parliamentary elections and will be presented in the National Assembly.