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 YEREVAN
(RFE/RL)–Armen Rustamian, the chairman of the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation’s Supreme Council in Armenia, resigned
from Armenia’s National Security Council on Thursday in
accordance with the party’s recent withdrawal from the governing
coalition.
Rustamian served in the
presidential body comprising the top state officials in his
capacity as chairman of the Armenian parliament’s committee on
foreign affairs. Like other ARF members holding senior positions
in the executive and legislative branches, he tendered his
resignation after the party left the coalition in protest
against President Serzh Sarkisian’s conciliatory policy toward
Turkey.
Rustamian withdrew the
resignation a few days later, after the ARF leadership accepted
a government request to continue chairing two parliamentary
committees. Nonetheless, he asked Sarkisian on Wednesday to
terminate his membership in the National Security Council. He
was formally removed from the advisory body the next day.
According to Vahan
Hovannisian, the ARF’s parliamentary leader, in quitting the
council, Rustamian complied with a decision taken by the party
leadership. “The country’s National Security Council has a
number of rules,” explained Hovannisian. “Under its statutes,
the council members are obliged to implement decisions made by
the council.”
“Since we left the
coalition because of disagreeing with such decisions, it would
be impossible [for Rustamian] to meet this requirement,” he told
RFE/RL.
The coalition exit
automatically turned the ARF into an opposition force contesting
the May 31 mayoral elections in Yerevan. The party kicked off
its election campaign on Monday.
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