RA Prime Minister calls for tolerance being anxious about
preventing recurrence of October 27
05-03-2009 17:20:00 | Armenia | Politics
YEREVAN, MARCH 5, NOYAN TAPAN. "Today there is an occasion
for thinking for a moment: "whether we learnt lessons after the
death of Vazgen Sargsian and our friends perished with him,
whether we realize that intolerance, hatred, malice prepare a
new ground for new murders, whether we feel responsible for
forming an atmosphere of tolerance in RA. I realize well that
first of all the government and authorities are responsible for
formation of an atmosphere of tolerance, cooperation for the
simple reason that we have serious state levers for doing it, RA
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsian stated before opening RA
government's March 5 sitting. He reminded that today we mark the
50th birth anniversary of former Defence Minister, then Prime
Minister Vazgen Sargsian, who was killed as a result of the
October 27 crime.
According to T. Sargsian, criticism and freedom of
expression are necessary for the government to be able to see
from outside and to disclose its mistakes and shortcomings.
"However when that crticism goes beyond all limits, when we open
newspapers and see not criticism, but malicious, false
accusations, extreme estimations having nothing in common with
reality and having a single goal, to insult a person, we
understand that we still have much to do. That malice,
intolerance mould new bullets, there will be new murders unless
we manage to radically change this atmosphere," the Prime
Minister said.
He added: "I myself was a representative of radical
opposition (National-Democratic Union party: NT) for five years,
I consider myself guilty of many things, I apologize to our
opponents for our mistakes, for my personal mistakes. We should
be tolerant, we should not burn the cooperation bridges."
According to T. Sargsian, Armenian people's history lessons
are the following: "we make progress only at the moment we
manage to ensure cooperation."