Rima Demirchyan: Karen Demirchyan would not live in present-day Armenia (video)
"He was honest in life and in politics.” Rima Demirchyan, the widow of prominent Armenian politician Karen Demirchyan describes him with these words. The great statesman would turn 83 today. Demirchyan’s relatives and friends, political and public figures and ordinary citizens today visited Komitas Pantheon in Yerevan to pay tribute to Karen Demirchyan. Standing beside her husband’s grave, Mrs Rima recalls the words of the politician, “I feel pity for my people. They have always been cheated like a naïve child. I shall not deceive my people and if I am able to raise the level of my nation during my term in office, I shall consider my mission completed.” Mrs Rima says Karen Demirchyan kept his promised like an oath. “They say politics and honesty are incompatible, but there are always exceptions. Karen Demirchyan was an exception,” she says adding that her husband did not manage to complete his mission. “If he was alive, we would be living in a better Armenia,” said Rima Demirchyan. Karen Demirchyan served as the First Secretary of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic from 1974 to 1988. He became speaker of the Armenian Parliament in 1999 until his assassination with other politicians in parliament on October 27, 1999.
