The 'Holy' Movement Was Sacrificed at Serzh Sargsyan's House, Says Marukyan

Edmon Marukyan, the leader of the 'Enlightened Armenia' party and former ambassador for special missions, stated in his video message that he had suggested that Bishop Bagrat publicly evaluate the previous regimes and provide guarantees that there would be no attempts to return them in any form.

“I also said that, for instance, Serzh Sargsyan resigns from the position of chairman of the Republican Party, Robert Kocharyan announces that he will not participate in any political processes, and his son resigns his mandate. This means they are ceasing all their participation and this also applies to the satellites gathered around them, leading the Bishop down a pure path where over 50 percent of the voters are from the opposition. The Yerevan elections have shown this. I demonstrated how the ruling party received 32 percent of the votes in the Yerevan elections without the participation of Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan, meaning 68 percent did not vote for them,” he said.

According to Marukyan, subsequent information leaked: “The Bishop stated that he had met with Serzh Sargsyan, after which information was published by the 'Hraparak' newspaper that this meeting occurred in Dzoraghbyur at his residence. This was an indicator that what we expected the Bishop to do was going in the opposite direction. We were saying: distance yourself, condemn, go the way that has popular support; the Bishop went the opposite way. He invites all forces to a meeting, and he himself walks to Serzh Sargsyan's house. When I learned about this, I understood that this is a diagnosis, a verdict on this process. I realized that the Bishop is inexperienced, and those around him, Garink Danielyan from the ARF and others, convinced him and brought him to Serzh Sargsyan’s house. Thus, he has discredited all the forces he invited to the meeting.

I wanted to talk about this fundamental disgrace, but I refrained because protests were still ongoing. Those who brought the Bishop to Serzh Sargsyan's house and then published that material effectively sacrificed the movement to Serzh Sargsyan. After that, I do not have any expectations that anything can take place,” Marukyan said.

He pointed out the fact that Nikol Pashinyan announced from the parliament podium that the movement led by Robert Kocharyan and Garegin II is doing this, this, and this, and he did not mention Serzh Sargsyan’s name. “Now I want the Bishop or those around him, for example Garink, to clarify... Garink, can you clarify why Pashinyan does not mention Serzh Sargsyan’s name, given that Serzh Sargsyan had more people invested next to you than Robert Kocharyan? What kind of deal is there between you, what has happened, what have you agreed upon? Meanwhile, Serzh Sargsyan is being justified in court. In that court, which, according to your claims, has turned Armen Ashotyan into a political prisoner,” he noted.