Since Saturday early morning from various parts of Yerevan people have been arriving at the Concert Complex. If somebody didn’t know about the Congress of the RPA that had to take place on that day he/she might assume that something is definitely going on.
First it was unusual for a weekend to see luxurious cars with state golden number plates spurring in the city. The taxi drivers either knew or guessed why the most of their orders were directed to the Complex and that’s why they were explaining to other passengers that they cannot get to them because of the heavy traffic. In the minibus a TV cameraman was agreeing with his partner on the phone to split up the work – the speech of the president and the rest. And the solemnity of the day was even more proliferated with the number of luxurious cars gathered in one place. Perhaps there would be no other occasion to see so many Hummers, Brabuses and other luxury cars if it wasn’t the Congress of the RPA. Inside the Complex the participants of the Congress were received with flowers and the lobby with decorated and laid tables. And although the Congress was supposed to start at 11:00 but the delegates were called at 9:30 in the morning. All the delegates from marzes were duly on time. Perhaps in order to keep the delegates’ patriotic spirit and the mood of the day on a high level they hood patriotic songs, such as “Yerevan dardzats im Erebuni,” “Yerevan, Yerevan” and others, which were often paused by some other more active Armenian songs. A little later, minutes before the beginning of the Congress the official RPA members started to visit – the MPs, governors, mayors and ministers. They were not arriving alone but with their escorts and they were walking with them inside the lobby.
Besides 1800 delegates of the RPA about 200 guests were invited as well. Among these guests were heads of political powers such as Vazgen Manukyan, Artur Baghdasaryan, Artashes Geghamyan, Gurgen Arsenyan and others. PA party leader Gagik Tsarukyan did not attend the event as he was in the US. They had invited intelligentsia representatives as well, who were mainly the same people from the public council or Yerevan community council. In other words, all “clients” of the authorities were present. Artur Chilingarov from the Russian Edinaya Rossia party was invited as well. He is Armenian and during the event read the message of the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The opposition, i.e. the ANC and Heritage party were not invited. The ARF was represented by Hrant Margaryan and Artyusha Shahbazyan, who left the hall after Serzh Sargsyan’s speech. Former president Robert Kocharyan did not take part in the summit. In order to represent the summit in the best manner they had invited two groups from each TV company, and one of these two groups was for inner use and the other one for external. Accordingly, during the past three days all TV companies were covering the RPA summit in their news.
On the stage there was a long table and 14 chairs for the 12 members of the RPA executive board. The other two chairs were for the new members of the executive board, i.e. for Tigran Sargsyan and Gagik Beglaryan. These two chairs were free till the end of the party elections. However Tigran Sargsyan could not resist his temptation and took a sit on the 13th chair before the election would finish. He knew that he would become a member of the executive body but did not know that he had to pass through the demonstrative procedure of election. Somebody whispered the prime minister that it was not the time to be on the stage yet and we went down and took a sit somewhere in the hall. We met the minister of economy Nerses Yeritsyan and finance minister Tigran Davtyan and asked them why they had joined the RPA. “When I was appointed minister I decided to join the RPA. When time came I had to make a formal decision, however I had made my decision before joining the president’s political team,” said N.Yeritsyan.
The minister of city construction Aram Harutyunyan took out a badge of RPA from his pocket and gave to Nerses Yeritsyan and told him: “Take it and let everyone see it.”
Tigran Davtyan says that when he was in office during the past ten years he has been a part of the party team. “In a word, it was not a surprise but logical,” he said. The head of the government’s HR Davit Sargsyan refused to comment. We asked the prime minister to give comments but he refused too and said he would organize a press conference for that purpose.
Before the event the head of the Araratian branch of the Church went up to the stage and prayed. “Well done,” said the president to him. By his suggestion the participants approved the agenda and continued. By the way, all issues of the agenda were approved unanimously. Nobody abstained or was against. This fact and the soul of the organized event remind us about the party meeting of the communists. The president made a long speech and he was reading the text of the speech at the three prompters on the stage. His speech was more like a wish than reality and he touched upon the topics of the inner and other political issues, financial crisis, Armenia-Turkey relations and Karabakh conflict settlement. “The RPA and the coalition partners have taken on responsibilities for our country and people. In consideration of the ongoing hard processes in the world and in our region in particular, we can affirm that this responsibility is historical. We have voluntarily taken responsibilities against our people. So far we have not done anything that would be in contradiction with our promises and platforms. We are implementing the platform step by step both in the external policy and inner political field… We are a political power, which does not change the attitudes every week as it is often done. When we say yes, it means yes, and if we say, no, it is no,” said the president.
Serzh Sargsyan gave an indirect answer to the opinion that he makes decisions in the RPA solely. “The RPA is not a leader party. The republican is not Serzh Sargsyan; Serzh Sargsyan is just a republican,” said the president by shaking his finger and continued, “You know that I have always discussed the important issues with the party before making decisions. Being loyal to the opinions of other people as well I have discussed the important issues with the party, starting from the anti-crisis program and ending up with the relations between Armenia and Turkey.”
He also answered to the opinions that he is implementing a wrong policy. “It is time to promptly figure out what to do with challenges. Is there any guarantee that the smartest, strongest, most reliable and united government may not make mistakes when facing such challenges? When making mistakes they will be able to understand and correct their mistakes rapidly because one cannot escape from mistakes all the time. The synonym of not making mistakes used to be the inactivity. Now inactivity is the same as a mistake. Unfortunately many people are waiting for such mistake. Thus, we should work and understand the essence of not making mistakes. Believe me that our people will forgive the mistakes; they will not forgive the inactivity. There is no way to stay away from mistakes. However there are opportunities to escape from mistakes. The first way to escape from mistakes is flexibility in the process of making decisions and changing them,” said the president.
Concerning the protocols signed between Armenia and Turkey the president said, “I would like to note that the principle of “reasonable times” is applicable here. If Turkey postpones the process of ratification, as I have already said, Armenia will make steps according to the international law. The same thing concerns the Karabakh conflict settlement and relations with Azerbaijan as well. Armenia is for the settlement of Karabakh conflict through peaceful talks, but we will not let any abuse against Nagorno Karabakh and we are ready to strongly respond to any abuse.”
He also discussed the topics of free media and development of the electoral system. In one hour after this speech the republicans started their elections without having nominated the president and board members. Before the NA speaker Hovik Abrahamyan would announce the beginning of the election, there were over 100 ballots in the ballot box. Even though Serzh Sargsyan, Tigran Sargsyan and Gagik Beglaryan were not competing, the elections proceeded with violations again. Later the RPA spokesman, MP Edward Sharmazanov said that those ballots had been invalidated. As a result, Serzh Sargsyan was elected the party president and T.Sargsyan and G.Beglaryan as members of the board by the unanimous vote of the party members.
Hovik Abrahamyan said that the parliamentary elections were not far away and people would vote for their party if they were sure that the party is strong and is loyal to the promises. “The party needs new professionals and people who are smart and honest, who people trust in. The party should stay away from the people who are pursuing private interests… We have high ambitions and there will be people trying to prevent us. We will resist them with smart and hard work,” said the parliament speaker.
Only three guests had the opportunity to speak, and these guests are A.Safaryan from the PA party, A.Baghdasaryan and Artashes Geghamyan. A.Safaryan’s speech was quite short and he concluded his speech with the following words: “Forward Armenia, let’s build prosperous Armenia together”. A.Baghdasaryan’s speech was mostly dedicated to his party rather than the RPA. He said that their cooperation with the RPA during the past 12 years had been fruitful, and this cooperation continued even when their power was opposition. “Due to our smart decision the LS made an agreement with the RPA to prevent the dangerous developments and bloodshed,” said Artur Baghdasaryan by seemingly trying to comment on the opinions that his decision was treason.
After The first two speakers Artashes Geghamyan went up to the scene. He was very touched to have the opportunity to speak. In the beginning he was so excited that was hardly speaking, but shortly he started speaking fluently. He said that due to Serzh Sargsyan’s initiative policy, Armenia had appeared in the focus of the attention of the international community. He said that before that the international community would remind about Armenia only when discussing the topic of the genocide. Concerning Artur Baghdasaryan’s words he said that in difference with the other political power they had not made any agreements with the authorities but would stay with them as far as the country is faced with serious challenges. “But I would not be Geghamyan if I did not say a sharp word: I wish the first and second presidents Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Robert Kocharyan were here too.” Geghamyan concluded his speech with the campaign slogan of president Sragsyan and said “forward Armenia”.
The RPA organized a very good reception for their delegates and guests. The chief cook of the Aries company Armen Ashotyan did not say how much money had been spent but said that they had ordered dishes for 1000 people.