Two members of Public Council leave the structure after Styopa Safaryan becomes its head

For social justice party chairman Arman Ghukasyan and deputy head of the party Tsovinar Kostanyan report that the appointment of Styopa Safaryan in the post of the president of the Public Council forces them leave the Council’s commission on science, education, culture, youth and sports.

In the statement the party representatives stated that obviously the government is passing from the policy of ignoring the Public Council to the complete change of its policy.

“More probably the government aims to see a group of concrete NGOs not only having pro-Western position but implementing projects with direct funding, stemming from the interests of the United States and the EU,” the statement reads, saying that the mentioned NGOs are Styopa Safaryan’s Armenian Institute of International and Security Affairs and Daniel Ioannisyan’s Union of Informed Citizens.

“We believe that the head of the Public Council must be a neutral figure which would have been acceptable for different sectors of Armenia’s civil society,” the statement said, adding that involvement of people speaking against Armenia’s relations with Russia and against integration into EAEU may harm Armenia’s international interests.

Ghukasyan and Kostanyan stated that considering all the circumstances they have made decision to leave the commission.