President of Armenia declares “war” to leader of opposition Prosperous Armenia Party

President of Armenia, leader of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Serzh Sargsyan came out with a speech at the meeting of the RPA Council on February 12. In his speech, Serzh Sargsyan touched upon the domestic policy processes, particularly, the statement by Gagik Tsarukyan, leader of the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), parliamentarian, a big businessman in Armenia, according to tert.am.

Sargsyan said he had decreed depriving Gagik Tsarukyan of his membership of the National Security Council of Armenia. "The supreme security body of the country is not a cinema where one can come and leave when he wants," the president said.

He said that Gagik Tsarukyan attended only 4 out of the 145 meetings of the National Assembly of Armenia in 2013-2014.  “The rumors about billions of drams of tax evasions Tsarukyan conceals under the veil of the so-called ‘charity’ have remained unverified for years.  I urge the prime minister to charge relevant bodies to thoroughly verify the reliability of those rumors and made it public,” Sargsyan said.

In the light of the unverified rumors saying that Tsarukyan has created a mechanism for concealment of numerous crimes, the National Security Council will meet on February 13 to settle that issue in cooperation with the law-enforcement, the president said.

“The political actor Gagik Tsarukyan has become the evil for our country. And it is natural. A man with low intellectual abilities who has the necessary mechanisms to participate in the political processes automatically turns into an obstacle to any progress. It became obvious yet long ago," the president said.

For conclusion, Serzh Sarhsyan said all his words applied to “the political or pseudo-political phenomenon ‘Gagik Tsarukyan’: I see no problems with Gagik Tsarukyan as a citizen of Armenia and businessman, unless the rumors about his unlawful activities are confirmed to be true,” the president said.

To note, Gagik Tsarukyan initiated a conference a week ago wherein it was announced that the situation in Armenia is explosive and directly affects the country’s security. The conference participants called inadmissible the political monopoly in Armenia and blamed the incumbent authorities for the heavy economic situation.

They touched upon the president-initiated constitutional reform calling it inadmissible. According to the Secretariat of the Tsarukyan-initiated conference, if the authorities neglect the opinion of the public and political forces and launch a constitutional referendum, the day of that referendum must be announced as a day of the referendum under the slogan “No” and launch 24-hour nation-wide rallies to demand a power shift.