YEREVAN. – Writing a letter to the European People’s Party (EPP) leadership, and demanding that the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) be expelled from EPP membership is far from political logic.
Ruling RPA MP Artak Zakaryan, who is also Chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, told the aforesaid to Armenian News-NEWS.am.
He noted this commenting on the open letter which several civil initiatives of Armenia had addressed to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, European Council President Donald Tusk and European Parliament President Martin Schulz, and with a request that the RPA be removed from the EPP.
“The RPA’s being in the EPP is not an end in itself, and it [i.e. the RPA] carries out its activities for the sake of the interests of the state and our citizens,” said Zakaryan. “That letter can’t have any result because the Republican Party carries out its activities in the EPP family fully under the EPP programs and ideas, proceeding from the interests of our citizens. Unless it finds it expedient to stop its activities there, the RPA will continue its activities in this family, in the status of an observer.”
The abovementioned letter specifically reads:
“We are voicing our concerns about the unlawful detention of peaceful demonstrators who were arrested during the protests in Armenia on July 29, 2016. We are specifically concerned about the arrest, beatings and detention of the following individuals:
“Mr. Hovsep Khurshudyan, ‘Heritage Political Party, PR;
“Mr. Davit Sanasaryan, ‘Heritage’ Political Party, Spokesperson;
“Mr. Armen Martirosyan, ‘Heritage’ Political Party, Vice President.
“Mr. Andrias Ghukasyan, ‘Rise up, Armenia’, Founder, former 2013 Presidential Candidate of Armenia;
“Mr. Davit Hovhannisyan, ‘Rise up, Armenia’, Member.
“In our letter [to EPP President Joseph Daul] we also urged EPP to use all its leverages and apply all possible sanctions, including but not restricted to officially exclude criminal ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) from EPP’s membership, and demand RPA to immediately stop its orchestrated violations.
“We await your immediate actions. Armenians all over the world are waiting for your efforts.”
