There have been attacks on the Public Council recently. This is what President of the Public Council of Armenia Vazgen Manukyan declared during the Council’s session today.

He emphasized that the first attack is against him, the president of the Council. He added that the other issues concern the necessity of the Public Council, the effectiveness of the Public Council’s activities and whether all members of the Council follow rules of ethics or not.

Vazgen Manukyan highlighted the fact that he had agreed to become the president of the Public Council because he thought it would lead to the start of a new stage for Armenia’s development, but was disappointed after a while. “I didn’t accept the discussions on vetting, transitional justice, the politicization of the trial over the case regarding the events of March 1, 2008 and the assaults on judges. Since I was concerned about all this, in June, I decided to meet with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and express my doubts and give him advice. I called him on the phone twice in July, bu the didn’t call me back, and this was unprecedented. I got the feeling that he doesn’t want to talk to me,” Manukyan said.