April 7, 2006

HERITAGE PARTY HOLDS EMERGENCY CONFERENCE

Yerevan—The Heritage Party today convened a special meeting of members and supporters at the auditorium of the Writers’ Union of Armenia. Throughout the event, the party faithful analyzed the latest political developments and deliberated on future courses of action.

The conference opened with Hasmik Harutiunian’s rendition of Armenia’s national anthem, “Mer Hairenik.”

Heritage’s political secretary Vardan Khachatrian welcomed the capacity audience with opening remarks. “We are determined to fight until victory, and our collective resolve will prevail despite the repression and political persecutions by the ruling administration,” he said.

Raffi K. Hovannisian, chairman of the Heritage Party, was then invited to take the floor. In a powerful keynote address, he explored recent political developments and proposed measures toward resolving the adverse effects of the myopic domestic and foreign policies of the sitting presidency.

Making an assessment of current realities, Hovannisian revealed the “theater of the absurd” which has come to grip the country’s social and political life. “The real perpetrators are accusing the innocent, the politically purchased are preaching ethics, and patriotism is once more being tainted by criminal hands,” he said. Convinced that the divide of estrangement between the people and the rulers of the day further deepened following the outrageously falsified constitutional “referendum” last November, Hovannisian asserted that the incumbent ruling clique, which “has turned our Homeland into their bonanza,” is no longer capable of perceiving contemporary challenges and surmounting them with strategic leadership and in the national interest.

Raffi Hovannisian concluded with his and the Heritage Party’s common vision for the Motherland, a future incompatible with the terrible truths currently reigning within all spheres of national life. “The parochial maintenance of petty power cannot remain the defining line of our identity, our civilization, and our statesmanship,” he noted, calling for a determined struggle to restore our nationwide unity, civic society, public trust, and the conduct of free, fair, and dignified elections.

In his talk, Academician Rafael Ghazarian made an appeal to tolerate no longer the immorality and perversion of the ruling circles. Brute force must be met by popular strength, he maintained. “That strength is the body politic which must stand firm against the infringements of the criminal gang. That strength is in rediscovering our past unity.”

Also noteworthy were interventions by renowned actors Vladimir Abajian and Yervand Manarian, Heritage board member Anahit Bakhshian, head of the party’s Vanadzor division Garnik Sahakian, former Goris mayor Samvel Harutiunian, and many others who called upon the public to unite and bring the country out of the current crisis. They also drew attention to the fact that democracy, freedom, and the rule of law are an imperative for Armenia.

In the collective view of Heritage Party members, the main obstacle standing in the way of the country’s democratic progress is the ineffective domestic and external policy of the current administration. And the way out of this predicament, in their firm belief, is the rapid formation of new and legitimate authorities.

In his closing remarks, Raffi Hovannisian underscored yet again that “temporary obstacles cannot and must not block the party’s way, which today continues its national quest with even greater responsibility and pride.”