You Are Not Honest: Romanos Petrosyan Responds to Sasun Mikayelyan

The Governor of Kotayk Province, Romanos Petrosyan, whose relationship with the head of the Yerkrapah Volunteers Union and MP from the My Step faction, Sasun Mikayelyan, is strained due to conflicts during the elections for the mayor of Abovyan, responded to Mikayelyan's statements yesterday via a Facebook post. It should be noted that unlike Romanos Petrosyan, Mikayelyan did not support the candidate from the ruling Civil Contract party, Grigor Gulyan, in the elections, which resulted in the victory of the incumbent mayor, Vahagn Gevorgyan, backed by the Prosperous Armenia Party.

Romanos Petrosyan specifically wrote: "I regret to say that you are not honest, neither with yourself and your past path, nor with me in relation to my selfless dedication to our 'common' cause. As for loyalty to the goals and values of the revolution, I will remain silent... God is the judge of us all. Time will give its assessment. I have said more than once that for me, no authority exists. My belief is the Republic of Armenia, and I will be and remain the relentless soldier of our statehood, the rule of law, and the society of equality."

P.S. I apologize to our esteemed media colleagues for leaving over a hundred calls unanswered and kindly ask that there be no more inquiries regarding yesterday, as I will no longer make any comments; I will only act, and I will act as I always have—exclusively for the sake of the Republic of Armenia and its Citizen.

It is noteworthy that yesterday, during a conversation with journalists in the National Assembly, Sasun Mikayelyan addressed the Abovyan elections, mentioning that the candidate from the Civil Contract party, Grigor Gulyan, lost the elections precisely because of Romanos Petrosyan. He stated: "Romanos wanted to become a face in the province; he presented a candidate at the board meeting, and I voted against it. The second time, when the candidate was to be nominated by the Civil Contract party, I again voted against that candidate. I did not interfere in the elections, I did not intervene at all, which means I maintained the order of everything in the Civil Contract. Moreover, I suggested that we recognize Grigoryan, the current mayor. I stated that we should not introduce shocks—he is a very educated, normal young man; he is one of the mayors who has fulfilled the budget by 100-104 percent. In other words, the budget has been exceeded. This has not happened in the Republic of Armenia today, and it should not be brought into another arena. This was the overall situation: I did not interfere at all, and I did not stab the Civil Contract in the back; I did not tell anyone to go and vote for the incumbent mayor."