Ter-Petrosyan apologized to the political prisoners
Dear compatriots,
I would like to start my speech with a commentary on the Armenian National Congress' statement on April 18. In the statement, it was stated that Armenia had suffered three blows. The first blow was the termination of funding for the Millennium Challenges Program in Armenia due to lack of progress in democracy, reliability of elections and human rights protection. Secondly, the U.S. Department of State presented Armenia to the international community as a dictatorial country where human rights are violated. Finally, after the Monitoring Committee's discussion, the PACE Co-Rapporteurs on Armenia issued a statement in which they set aside the unrevealed murders of March 1 and the presence of political prisoners as the main reasons for the inter-political crisis.
If it weren't for the simultaneous release of the mentioned documents, they wouldn't draw that much attention because the evaluations, at least for the Armenian society, are not something new. We appreciate that the international community is finally saying what we have been saying for the past three years, but it is also important to find out why they have adopted that position. I think one of the reasons is the West's indifference or the awareness of guilt for tolerance toward dictatorial regimes in light of the events taking place in the Arab World and the push for revision of shortsighted politics.
With that said, I feel bitter and sad to see the international community's official position on the reality in Armenia. Was it difficult to avoid the severe blows to national dignity and the country? For what did our country have to be subjected to this humiliation? As painful as it is, it was the desire for power of a group of people through the enrichment at the price of the people. However, I don't doubt that the people in despair will sooner or later say the final word and the hour of retribution is close at hand.
Armenia truly needs social, economic, political and democratic reforms and the most urgent reforms are reflected in the statement that we adopted by a vote during the rally held on March 1. Three of those demands only refer to the first stage of the expansive program implementation and setting them aside doesn't mean that the Armenian National Congress has rejected the other twelve demands.
Some people don't even spare efforts to depreciate the value of the three demands viewed as primary demands for the current stage, claiming that the issue of Freedom Square can't be considered solved, that political prisoners had to be released either way and that the assurance of revealing the events of March 1 doesn't mean anything because the government will only limit itself to punish one or two people.
Leaving rumors aside, we realize that the three demands don't meet the expectations of the majority of the people, but it is impossible to deny the fact that those expectations won't be met without the fulfillment of those demands. As long as Armenia's political atmosphere remains unhealthy and there is no dialogue between the authorities and the society, we can't consider any initiative for social-economic reforms or talks on improving the people's situation as serious. The only way of changing the political environment and initiating dialogue is the quick fulfillment of demands.
The international community is not the one to solve Armenia's issue. We are going to solve those issues by either dialogue and national solidarity or physical confrontation the results of which can be devastating for the people and the country. We prefer the first road and are sure that the majority of society is also in favor of that road.
If you remember, in our previous rally, I announced that we expect the fulfillment of the three demands that we have stated and if not, we will declare a day of a split between the government and the society. Let's see if the demands have been fulfilled.
a. I think it is clear that the right to hold rallies at Freedom Square has been restored after three years and the authorities have finally refused to place this square among the list of prohibited territories for political events.
b. Serzh Sargsyan's statement regarding the need for full-fledged revelation of the events of March 1 is more than just an official assurance and signifies an instruction given to the police.
c. As far as the third demand for the release of political prisoners, it has not been formally fulfilled.
Two of our demands have been fulfilled, but the fulfillment of one remains incomplete in terms of time.
This means that there is still an opportunity for dialogue and there are no grounds for changing our tactics and the character of our actions. Figuratively speaking, the door of dialogue is, if not fully open, then partially open. I have no doubt that it will be fully open in a month and we will register that during our next rally on May 31 when Nikol Pashinyan and Sasun Mikayelyan express their words of gratitude from this platform. We have waited for three years, we will wait for one more month.
On behalf of the Armenian National Congress, I apologize to Sasun, Nikol and the other political prisoners for not being able to solve the issue of their liberty within the predetermined timeframe. However, I am sure that they will understand that the one-month delay is not a matter of principle for which it is worth ruining the serious attempt to change the political environment in Armenia that has already registered progress. I wish us all a good march.
