“Our opposition can be roughly divided into three groups, and the division is, of course, provisional,” Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan stated at a convention on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA).

“Our first group comprises forces which are genuinely concerned with the destiny of the country and the nation, forces which ask questions, sometimes very pointed questions, raise issues and sound the alarm whenever the authorities are running late. We are grateful to these individuals for their honesty, rapidity, for keeping us alert, and pointing out our mistakes. We respect these forces, and we always consider their say while developing our programs. All those, who consider the political course of our Party and coalition partly right and partly unacceptable, can be counted in this group,” the Armenian leader said.

“It’s another issue that deficiencies of our work may slow down our advancement, but the chosen course, I am confident, is right,” said President Sargsyan.

“The second group consists of the individuals who see the resolution of all issues, which our country and our people face, exclusively in the change of power. They say, “as soon as we take over the stirring wheel from Serzh Sargsyan, everything is going to be all right. As long as he is the President, everything is and will be bad.” This simple formula has been in circulation for years. Blaming the President of the country for all failures, as well as the promise to solve all problems fast and easy, have, I trust, exhausted themselves. Total inability on their behalf to say something new on one hand and living by the principle “everything is bad” on the other, resulted in proclaiming the ideology of Tseghakron – infinite dedication to the Armenian nation advocated by Garegin Nzhdeh not more, not less than “racism”. To throw dirt at the Republican Party, and the members of the Party speak Nzhdeh’s name, means to throw dirt at Garegin Nzhdeh. As you see, a very simple “logical chain”. But we also speak the name of Hovannes Toumanian…As well as the names of many, many other great people. We will continue to follow the greats of our nation with no fear that during the next gathering another monstrous label will be attached to their brilliant images,” said the Armenian President.

“The Republican Party will not become Nzhdeh’s lawyer. He doesn’t need it at all, unlike nowadays blabbers he has things to tell his people and in conveying his legacy and ideas the Republican Party has its own humble role. In a nutshell, for the representatives of this group, the earth revolves not around the sun but around presidential chair. However there are also individuals who from time to time make smooth transition into the third group; sometimes they certainly move back, but more often stay there,” Sargsyan said.

 “The third group, which is fortunately not too large, has declared itself the opposition. I am not sure whether it’s been done deliberately or not, but they have been steadfastly implementing a distinct program of deprecating the Armenian nation, Armenian statehood and most of all, the Armenian Armed Forces. And it’s been done consistently and methodically, with certain calculations, with the employment of financial resources, and use of the vilest political technologies. Moreover, very often we find their precise wording in the Azeri and Turkish propaganda materials. I would like to underline that this is not about the substantial talks which touch problems existing in our army. We consider such criticism natural and important. Through the understanding of that very importance our Armed Forces are becoming more and more open and transparent for our society. In this particular case, it’s a totally different matter. We don’t consider members of the third group to be the Opposition, we have another name for them,” said the Armenian President.