Pashinyan: Those Who Make Statements Against Sovereignty Must Be Expelled from the Political and Public Sphere

YEREVAN — “I think the first to give an assessment of such statements should be the people of Gyumri—it’s very important,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during a government Q&A session. He was responding to a question from Civil Contract faction MP Karen Sarukhanyan, who noted that the mayor of Gyumri had made public, anti-national statements that called into question the sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia.

“We must all give our own assessment as well. I believe that those who make statements against the sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia should simply be expelled from the political and public arena. How? Through all the political methods available in a democratic country. I believe this will happen, because we also have a problem with the outcome of the elections there. We know that vote-buying took place, and we need mechanisms to prevent such cases in the future, so that people don’t mistakenly attain such positions by distributing bribes. I believe that both the phenomenon, the statement, and its author are a misunderstanding that will eventually be corrected,” said Pashinyan.

It should be noted that a few days earlier, Vardan Ghukasyan had spoken about Armenia joining a union state with the Russian Federation, claiming that Armenia had nothing to offer and could not survive outside such a union.