Yuri Bakhshyan speaks about Parliament and slaps he received (video)
In autumn 1998, there were talks that Armenia's National Assembly had already discredited itself. Republican Yuri Bakhshyan thought that people perceived Parliament as a body capable of solving social problems but no one asked how much salary lawmakers and government officials received to work for people. “I am one of the lawmakers who think that high-ranking officials should receive decent wages.” It is a well-known fact that most of our MPs have businesses and do not feel the lack of money. Yuri Bakhshyan said lawmakers still had the right to be engaged in business. New parliamentary elections were to be held in the country in 1999. It was obvious that the Republicans and Yerkrapahs would not yield their positions. What might happen if their votes skyrocketed? “I do not think that there will be such figures in the next elections, because the interest is great in these elections. Having a majority in the National Assembly is a question of power,” Mr. Bakhshyan said. He did not blame voters who took bribes, fuel or electricity charge receipts. “Many people may agree to it because of the social tension that exists in our society.” In autumn 1998, it was clear that the future parliament will not feel a shortage of criminal authorities, who needed immunity. “Perhaps, it will be painful to deprive an MP of his immunity,” he said. One of the most intellectual figures in the Armenian parliament predicted the main problem of future Armenia: ‘people are using insults instead of criticism, more negative feelings are observed in people, which cannot be left without consequences.’ “Accumulating negative emotions and negative charges in us we convey them to the people surrounding us who later return those emotions to us,” Mr. Bakhshyan said. In May 1999, Yuri Bakhshyan was re-elected as lawmaker and was appointed Vice-Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly. Five months later, five gunmen stormed into the parliament, killing Armenian Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan and several other parliamentarians, including Yuri Bakhshyan.
