Narek Karapetyan, head of the National Assembly “Strong Armenia” faction from the podium of the Parliament, referred to the speeches of the candidates for the presidents of two of the National Assembly committees.

“During these 2 days, we had a presentation of the candidacy of the heads of the two commissions. The first is Mr. Gabrielyan, the second is Mrs. Julhakyan. We heard Mr. Gabrielyan’s speech, it was quite balanced, and we see that the man is ready to work with the opposition with good ideas. Since it is a defense sector, we see that it can create a lot of positive opportunities. In the second case, I cannot share the same opinion, because Ms. Julhakyan, with a well-prepared legal background, politically defended the line that exists in the country, but which legally will lead us to a closed room, – she noted and added, – Why do I say that, all the authorities that have been in Armenia, do you know what united them? have they considered that they are eternal, that they will judge this law that they are writing, not that they will be judged by it? From talking to everyone, communicating with everyone, I understood that everyone regrets one thing, that they did not create a competitive legal and judicial system.

No matter how well different forces govern the country, the government in a democratic country is changeable, and you, standing before us, very confidently say that the question is how many political prisoners there are.

There was also a person who said: How many political prisoners were there during Serzh Sargsyan’s time or during the time of the Second President? We are comparing them to political prisoners, did they do bad things… I heard dozens of words saying that they did bad things. Did they do badly? Don’t do the same.

From our friends, I turned around and listened to you, you almost convinced me.

I turned around and saw that half of them came here from the fortress. We invite all European embassies to participate in the court sessions, to see what people are being tried for.

In one of the communities, a man is being tried for bribery, because he promised that after the victory of “Strong Armenia” Ruben Vardanyan will return. In Alaverdi, a man is being tried for having told two people in an open connection: register for work, they paid tax as a party propagandist.

Many preachers judge: tax paid, registered preacher, and the name, they hear a conversation: you transferred the money, the registered person is a preacher.

Mr. Rubinyan told another story, the story of the kebab, that the father-in-law and the son-in-law talked to each other, the father-in-law made a joke, and the father-in-law was caught. It’s that man’s father, he wouldn’t give a kebab for a choice.

You will have to cut every case and present it like that, but nothing will force our people, you won’t be able to convince them that you should rightfully be here. You should not have been here, the “Prosperous Armenia” party should have been here. You said it should have been cancelled. After the cancellation, a second vote was needed, and the “Prosperous Armenia” party would be here. You took away hundreds of our friends, filled the forts, 2 days ago you filled the forts with more than 100 people.

You want to come out and say something else, give a politically perfect speech, but before you, they had that speech during the Republican Party, they had the same speech during the Second President’s time, and they had the same speech during the First President’s time, but it didn’t change the wheel of political changes. The cycle ends, the government changes, and you will be judged by the court that you made. Of course, us too, all of us.

Our vision of our motherland, the first thing is whether the judiciary can be independent or not. There are fears about some kind of affiliations, various countries, Singapore, almost all European countries have gone that way and provided solutions. You are destroying the foundation of the country, and how the society, in general, feels about their country,” continued Narek Karapetyan.

According to him, the government received less than 50 percent of votes, that is, more than 50 percent did not elect them.

“I’m not saying that everyone chose a force, but they didn’t choose you. Those people need a sense of protection, you have to build that system, you are responsible for it. The commission that you lead is not a commission of political power, tomorrow you should have such a court that, if you have been honest during this time, will justify you, not be afraid of someone’s call. In terms of religion, we have a big difference, I think that discussing our religious topic here will simply lead to disruption of the sessions.

We are really followers of the Armenian Apostolic Church, we do not pretend, we consider the leader of our legitimate church, our Catholicos, Garegin Vehapari, who was elected by all Armenians in 1999.

And do you know what happened after 1999: the deaths of 100,000 Armenian children? If you reject the Catholicos, you reject the people, from a religious-Christian point of view, you question whether 100,000 of our compatriots are Christians.

We are a secular country, we may not discuss the religious issue much in the National Assembly, because the issue will go beyond the scope of political discourse every time. That’s it.”

Then, turning to Ruben Rubinyan, the leader of the “Strong Armenia” faction said that the opposition is there to ask questions in the National Assembly.

“We will do everything to improve our country and bring real changes,” he stressed.

In response to the last part of Narek Karapetyan’s speech, Ruben Rubinyan did not agree that there is a difference between them and them on the religious issue.

“Perhaps between Mr. Bakoyan and the rest of us, not maybe, but there is definitely, our Assyrian friends. But between us, at least among those who are followers of the Armenian Apostolic Church, there is no religious difference, there is a political difference, because the debate you pointed out and the debate of whether or not to call x person by x name is not a religious debate at all, it is a political debate. And why our church and what is happening around it has become the subject of political debate, it is a very big political question, which I think we will have an opportunity to discuss in the near future,” said Rubinyan.

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