Have you asked the opinion of the 3 million?

31/10/2009 Hrayr MANUKYAN

Last week when the activists of the Environmental movement of Armenia organized protest actions against the ratification of the Armenian and Turkish protocols the Police tried to hinder their action and used violence against them, including NA MP Zaruhi Postanjyan. They have torn the posters.

By the way, the protestors also raised their complaint about the statement of Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, according to which he is responsible only for the three million Armenians. In the past the police have acted the same way during the protest action dedicated to Teghut forest. Why does the police act so? Yesterday Zaruhi Postanjyan personally asked this question to Tigran Sargsyan during the NA Q&A. “When you are saying that you are responsible for three million Armenians through this action I just wanted to say that Aghdam is our fatherland as well. However, the current Armenian government must be held responsible for the entire Armenian nation across the globe and it is in that context that he says that the Turkey-Armenia Protocols must be ratified. We believe that the ratification of the Turkey-Armenia Protocols is the continuation of genocide, deprivation of lands and killing of cultural heritage and the existence of the Armenian state in general," said Postanjyan. Prime Minister noted that his words were distorted and cut from his speech context. “What I said was this: we are certainly responsible for the 3 million Armenians living in Armenia because these people form Parliament and Government and elect President. We also bear responsibility for entire Armenian world and are concerned by their problems. Your words are offensive and unacceptable for the parliament and those words are not suitable for you,” started Sargsyan. Commenting on police operations, Sargsyan said that Justice Ministry is currently studying the circumstances of incident, and if law enforcers are found guilty of breaching the law, they will be held accountable. “All the documents will be examined and the cases of abuse on part of the law-enforcers will be investigated,” said the Prime Minister. “I don’t understand what your goal is when you are blaming me of mentioning three million of our citizens, who vote during elections and we receive their ballots. It is wrong to mar my words especially when I said that I intend to support the idea of the ideology of the Armenian world,” said Sargsan by adding that by this ideology we go beyond the boundaries of Armenia. These answers didn’t suffice Postanjyan and she said in an anxious manner, “I think that we are 10 million and it’s wrong to say three million.” She informed the Prime Minister that on that they were going to hold another similar rally in front of the government building. Together with other Heritage MPs Larisa Alaverdyan and Anahit Bakhshyan she showed the torn posters in the NA session hall. She also demanded safety. “I would request you to calm down and stop distorting my words,” echoed Sargsyan. "Armenian nation is not restricted by RA citizens; we have Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh and Javahk, as well as the entire Diaspora community. Together, they form the Armenian world," Premier Tigran Sargsyan told a Parliament session, answering the question of ARFD faction secretary Artyusha Shahbazyan. The Premier disagreed to Dahnkaktrutyun’s thesis on Diaspora being negatively disposed to RA-Turkish Protocols. At that he noted that only a small group of politicized Diaspora representatives were against current process with Turkey, as shown by recent studies. "That’s natural since Armenian world is not a monolithic structure," he stressed. With regard to RA Government’s responsibility, Mr. Saragsyan said that Armenian and NKR governments were constitutionally bound to bear responsibility for their citizens. "At this point, it is necessary to keep in mind that both Armenia and NKR form part of entire Armenian world. And as Armenia’s Prime Minister, I too bear responsibility for Armenians worldwide," Tigran Sargsyan stressed. “Therefore I’d ask you not to comment beyond the words that I express,” concluded Sargsyan.