March 5, 2009

Heritage Demands That the Authorities Take Immediate Measures to Take the Country Out of the Current Political and Economic Crisis

The Heritage Party holds that the crisis of trust in the country has entered a new phase, and it has found reflection in the economy and the social condition of a large cross-section of the people. Due to the fact that, for numerous months, the Armenian Central Bank artificially controlled the exchange rate of the Armenian national currency—the dram—on account of the country’s currency reserves, and that the Bank continually refused to gradually devaluate the dram by revitalizing the “liquidity” policy, the Armenian currency lost 20 to 30 percent of its value in just one hour. And to be more precise, the dram simply collapsed. These events comes to show that the ruling administration had not prepared the country for the imminent crisis, that it did not make use of any opportunity to guard Armenia from the financial, economic, and social distress, and, moreover, it allowed this financial distress to transform into another occasion for profit to group of oligarchs. Today the authorities have no practical mastery over the situation and also have ruined their own financial, economic, and social policy by ignoring the state budget. Similarly, now returning to February 19 and then to March 1, 2008, the authorities destroyed all avenues that might have led this country out of a political crisis.  

Remaining faithful to its precept which finds that Armenia is in need of fundamental, systemic, liberal, democratic, and social reforms, Heritage firmly believes that under such conditions the political opposition cannot apathetically await—in anticipation of a probable change in power—the next societal outburst, the extensive public impoverishment, and the collapse of the state system. We acknowledge first and foremost that such outburst is fraught with the danger of losing control of the domestic situation. This is a situation during which political processes that lack legitimacy, and which are largely criminalized, ultimately can go beyond the legal format and enter the confrontational stage of the “everyone against everyone.” It is extremely perilous to wait and postpone at a time when a national catastrophe faces the authorities and the opposition alike. The current crisis has the power to destroy our hopes of social harmony and our ability to meet external challenges.

The Heritage Party therefore demands from the ruling administration—and the incumbent president, in the first place—to fundamentally change the country’s modus operandi and to promptly take the following steps:

1. Immediately release the citizens—the political prisoners—who are being pursued for political reasons, expose the crimes committed on March 1, 2008, and bring their true perpetrators to justice. This will help ease the political tension, which is a component of the current crisis.
2. Eradicate the foundations of the oligarchic and criminal system.
3. Prepare and subsequently administer the budget, secure the transparency and legality, and incorporate opposition members and trustworthy public representatives into the systems of oversight.
4. Immediately present the state budget for the National Assembly’s review, prevent the abridgment of budget’s social section, increase the social sector that receives state assistance, and introduce the progressive taxing system as a source for additional tax revenue. Immediately bring the large taxpayers to the taxing sphere, provide additional tax and customs privileges to small and medium-size enterprises, and, on the threshold of the spring-sowing season and in order to avoid the impending food shortage, increase the state subsidy being provided to the private farms.
5. Secure lawfulness, liberty, fairness, and transparency during the elections for Yerevan’s mayor and the pre-election period. Guarantee public trust toward the electoral processes, a trust which is impossible to gain without exposing and subsequently holding accountable the falsifiers of the results of the 2008 presidential and local government elections, as well as the murderers, instigators, and masterminds of the March 2008 tragedy.

If these steps are not taken, the economic and political crisis in Armenia gradually will grow deeper. In that case, a fundamental change of power will be the nation’s only recourse, and the Heritage Party will demand the resignation of the current authorities.

5 March 2009
Yerevan