"For Social Justice" party leaves the Public Council of Armenia

ArmInfo. Arman Ghukasyan, chairman of the party "For Social Justice", and Tsovinar Kostanyan, deputy chairperson of the party, made a statement saying that in  connection with the appointment of Stepa Safaryan as the head of the  Public Council of Armenia, they are leaving the Public Council's  Science, Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Commission.

The party's statement to ArmInfo, in particular, states: "Last week,  it became known that the Armenian government approved Stepan Safaryan  as head of the Public Council. Daniel Ionnisyan was also accepted to  the council shortly before. Obviously, the current government has  shifted from policy of ignoring the Public Council to its complete  reformatting. "Apparently, the government intends to present civil  society in our country with a group of public organizations that have  pro-Western reputation, and even implement their projects with direct  financial support and in the interests of the United States and the  European Union.  These are the Armenian Institute of International  Relations and Security and the Union of Informed Citizens headed by  Safaryan and Ioannisyan. In our opinion, the Public Council should be  headed by a neutral figure that would be acceptable for various  segments of the Armenian civil society, but not Stepan Safaryan in  any way. By appointing such people on responsible positions, who  constantly voice provocations against key strategic military and  political ally of Armenia - the Russian Federation, as well as  integration within the Eurasian Economic Union, Armenia may harm  international interests. We, as members of the commission on science,  education, culture, youth and sports of the Public Council,  regretfully declare that after consultations with members of the same  party, we decided to leave the commission. We are always ready to  work for the benefit of Armenia, but we do not believe that the  current processes around the Public Council are in line with our  ideas about this good, "the statement said.

It should be reminded that on December 19, the Government of Armenia,  at the suggestion of the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan,  approved the director of the Armenian Institute of International  Affairs and Security Stepa Safaryan as head of the Public Council of  Armenia. The post of head of the Council has been vacant since  November 13, when Vazgen Manukyan left it. The latter headed the  Council on May 30, 2009. His term would expire in April next year.

Earlier, the National Assembly lawmaker Arman Babajanyan demanded  that Vazgen Manukyan be dismissed by sending a letter to the Prime  Minister Nikol Pashinyan. According to him, the reason for this was  the fact that during a conversation with Nairi Hunanyan, who was  serving a life sentence for a terrorist attack in parliament on  October 27, 1999, there were several references to the name of Vazgen  Manukyan.  Manukyan, for his part, openly stated that although he was  familiar with Hunanyan at the beginning of the Karabakh movement, he  did not maintain any ties with him in the future.

In early November, commenting on rumors about the possible  resignation of Vazgen Manukyan, the deputy speaker of the Armenian  parliament, Alen Simonyan, said that the Public Council is a useless  structure, and then, in an interview with reporters, confirming this  idea, he noted that it would be great if Vazgen Manukyan himself  realized the situation and resigned.