Gagik Melikyan: Everyone is responsible for their actions (video)
Armenian businessman and former chairman of the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) Gagik Tsarukyan today announced his return to active politics and intention to participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections. Any citizen of the Republic of Armenia is free to make a decision and take part in the elections. He [Tsarukyan] simply performed his political duties within his rights,” Gagik Melikyan, Secretary of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), said when commenting on Tsarukyan’s decision. The Armenian tycoon left politics in February 2015 when Serzh Sargsyan reminded him of his nickname (Dodi Gago) during a sitting of the ruling party. Tsarukyan was also forced to resign as BHK chairman. Republicans immediately began to openly criticize the businessman. “I do not think that he [Tsarukyan] was defamed by our party. Everyone is responsible for their actions, including withdrawal from politics," the HHK representative said. In his famous speech at the HHK sitting, Serzh Sargsyan also said that Tsarukyan, as a political actor, had become ‘an evil for the country.’“Whatever was said and announced had its grounds. Those are phenomena, and talks were about these phenomena. I do not think that such statements have ever been made about personalities,” Mr Melikyan stressed. Does Tsarukyan’s decision mean that Serzh Sargsyan and his Republican Party have forgiven Tsarukyan for his unsuccessful attempt to join the opposition and thwart Serzh Sarkisyan’s controversial constitutional reform? “I do not think that there is a need to remind anyone of anything; everyone is responsible for his actions," the HHK member said. While Melikyan does not exclude cooperation between his party and the BHK, he says the HHK will participate in the upcoming elections alone. “I think the HHK has good chances and we have always been at the forefront in terms of imposing a political agenda,” he added. The HHK views the BHK and other political forces as its contender in the April 2 vote and will do everything to take the greatest number of seats in the new parliament," Mr Melikyan sai in conclusion.
