SPEECH BY LEVON TER-PETROSYAN
“A1+”
01 March 2011
Dear fellow Armenians,
Instead of a speech, I suggest accepting the following statement:
“Registering that Armenia’s current bandit regime seized power through
falsified parliamentary and presidential elections and the bloody
crime committed on 1 March 2008,
-has ruled the country by systematically setting limits on the
freedom of speech, press and rallies and brutally violating human
and civil rights,
-has caused a severe blow to the Armenian nation’s dignity by
agreeing with the creation of a commission of Armenian and Turkish
historians calling into question the Armenian Genocide and adopting
the anti-constitutional law on establishing foreign language schools
in Armenia,
-has practically aborted the opportunity for a pro-Armenian solution
to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue through negotiations and has led the
conflict to a pre-war state as a result of disgraceful and unprincipled
policies,
–has cynically and persistently disturbed the revelation of murders
committed by the army and the police on 1 March 2008,
-is involved in continuously setting limits on small and medium
businesses and creating new difficulties for the socially
disadvantaged,
-has created an atmosphere of permissibility, impunity, widespread
theft, dominance of monopolists and insolence, which has increased
emigration to a devastating number,
-has led the majority of the people to extreme poverty and has deprived
them of the opportunity to not only live a dignified and more or less
good life, but the hope and perspective of reaching that,
-and finally, taking into consideration that the regime is not only
unprepared, but also incapable of taking any positive step toward
improving the social-economic state, establishing democracy and
legality and solving foreign policy issues, which is the proof of
its decline,
THE RALLY ORGANIZED BY THE ARMENIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS DEMANDS THAT
1. Before March 15, that is, before the visit of the Council of Europe
Co-Rapporteurs on Armenia, release all political prisoners sentenced
for their political views and activities, 2. Create an independent
international commission to study the events of March 1 or reinstate
the Fact-Finding Group by replenishing it with international experts
and set the objective of fully revealing and punishing all the
culprits of that monstrous crime 3. Compensate the material damage
of all citizens who suffered from the events of March 1, 4. Put
an end to the police’s warnings and threats to keep citizens far
from rallies and political activities, 5. Fulfill the indisputable
verdict of the European Court and reinstate the activities of “A1+”
television, bring all acting individuals violating that verdict
to justice and eliminate government control over all online media
6. Put an end to the authorities’ belligerent rhetoric and reinstate
the previous format of negotiations in order to get the process of
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution back on track, 7. Declare
the infamous decisions on the prohibition of open-air street trade,
terminating the activities of small stores after 8 p.m.
and the compulsory car insurance, 8. Eliminate the illegal levying of
the Value Added Tax for cars imported for personal use (and not for
sale), 9. Convert the minimum salary in Armenia to 200 dollars and
the unemployment benefit to 50% of that (100 dollars) and convert
the average pension to 40% of the average salary (112 dollars),
10.Remove the draft law put up for discussion by the proposal of
reformulating Article 142 of the RA Labor Code from the National
Assembly’s agenda according to which the issue of setting a 6-day
working schedule is reserved for the employer, 11.Set state subsidies
for producing the most important products by taking into consideration
the market price of production and the strategic importance of lands
located on the bordering regions, 12. Provide inventories and press
releases regarding the properties and incomes of the previous and
current highest ranking state officials and their families, starting
from the presidents, prime ministers, ministers, deputy ministers,
governors, mayors and ending with the judges, prosecutors, generals
and deputies of the National Assembly (formerly the Supreme Council),
13. Dismiss Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, Deputy Prime Minister
Armen Gevorgyan, Head of the Central Bank Artur Javadyan, Head of
the State Revenue Committee Gagik Khachatryan, Mayor of Yerevan
Karen Karapetyan, RA Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan, Head of
the National Security Service Gorik Hakobyan, RA Chief of Police
Alik Sargsyan, Head of the RA Special Investigative Service Andranik
Mirzoyan and Head of the Penitentiary Department at the RA Ministry of
Justice Hayk Harutyunyan for humiliating flaws in economic management
and ensuring legality, 14. The rally also deems it necessary to call
on international organizations, as well as the United States and the
European Union-member countries to put an end to the unreserved support
to Armenia’s dictatorial regime based on geopolitical considerations,
which not only hurts the implementation of democratic reforms, but
further strengthens the regime’s positions, 15. If the mentioned
demands or a large part of them are fulfilled, the rally authorizes
the Armenian National Congress to initiate practical dialogue with
the authorities and place the special presidential and parliamentary
elections as the only issue on the agenda in the upcoming months.”
As to how this declaration will proceed and what the authorities’
response will be, we will discuss that and give adequate conclusions
during our next rally to be held on March 17.
I think it is needless to explain that this is not just a political
declaration, but a milestone-plan for the current pan-national
struggle, which the members of the Congress and all participants of
the massive events are obliged to follow, knowing that success is
highly dependent on the discipline of our members and supporters. With
that said, from this day forth, the rallies of the Armenian National
Congress go from being political actions to a unique forum for social
self-government with the full-fledged competency to make decisions
and act.
“I don’t believe there is any eyewitness who wasn’t standing by the
people who were killed on March 1, 2008,” Artsvik Minasyan told.
From: A. Papazian