Heated Debate Between Opposition Politician and Ruling Party MP Ended in Accusations

The debate at a press conference today between Petros Makeyan, head of the opposition party Democratic Homeland, and Hamlet Harutyunyan, an MP with the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), became quite heated and ended with accusations on both sides.

During the press conference, Makeyan touched upon the recently published US Department of State 2010 Human Rights Report.

“It says in the report that it’s not possible to change government in Armenia through elections and it also noted that in 2008, Serzh Sargsyan was elected through fraud, and this in diplomatic language; in fact, it means he wasn’t elected; that’s why HAK [the Armenian National Congress] will do everything to transfer power to the people smoothly and without disruption,” said Makeyan.

Harutyunyan, in turn, noted that the state department report wasn’t objective in the part of political processes in the country. According to the HHK deputy, the ruling party sees pluses and minuses, but it’s important that Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan himself speaks up about the shortcomings.

During the debate, Makeyan recalled his remarks on another occasion when he said that the authorities have neither the domestic nor foreign resources to repeat the events of Mar. 1, 2008. The opposition party leader added that listening to his colleague, he understands that the authorities might have the domestic resources to carry out “March 1” through such MPs who “after Mar. 1, 2008, can defend, with your held head high, the regime that shot its citizens in the center of Yerevan.”

Harutyunyan urged tactfulness, to which Makeyan said, “Listen here, you don’t make calls for ‘correctness’ with bloody hands; it’s enough. Your hands have become bloodied in Yerevan, protecting [former president] Robert Kocharian and by being in this regime.”

Retorting Makeyan’s remarks, Harutyunyan said that this denigrates the names of those who shed blood for this country.

And so it continued till the end of the press conference. Makeyan told Harutyunyan that hundreds of people are sitting in prison because of their political views, Harutyunyan said those people are criminals and not political prisoners (a term used by opposition activists). Note, Makeyan himself served one-and-a-half years in prison on charges related to the events of Mar. 1, 2008, when national police and military forces were called in to disperse mass protests following disputed presidential elections and used “excessive force and violence” which resulted in 10 dead and many more wounded.

The press conference ended with Harutyunyan saying, “I regret having wasted my time” and Makeyan saying, “I regret that I was in the same room with you.”