YEREVAN. – If you are elected Prime Minister and some time later some other forces come out to protest actions with other problems against you, and your children are also among them, how would you treat it?
Ruzan Muradyan, a member of the National Assembly (NA) faction of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia, asked such a question to PM candidate Nikol Pashinyan at Tuesday’s NA debates on the election of the new PM of the country.
Pashinyan responded as follows, in particular: “I was 13 years old when the Karabakh movement began. Being a schoolchild in those days, I organized boycotting of classes, marches, demonstrations. During my political activities, my children have participated in many [protest] actions, and I consider that a very powerful civic school for them. I consider schoolchildren to be one of the strongest layers of our movement. This means that the recollection of what is taking place today will not be lost; it will remain in their recollection for at least 100 years. I welcome the schoolchildren’s activeness and am convinced that this will continue until the ultimate end of this process. Those processes will only have a positive role in schoolchildren’s upbringing as an individual, as a person. (…). We [our movement] did not compulsorily take any child anywhere.”
Subsequently, NA Chairman Ara Babloyan addressed Pashinyan and stated as follows: “I’ll leave the [NA Sessions’] Hall for ten minutes, as a protest against the statement you made regarding children. I hope, subsequently, international organizations dealing with children’s rights will explain to you where your mistake is, and that you don’t repeat such words anymore if you are elected Prime Minister.”
Main arguments of Armenia PM candidate’s address at Parliament
