Gyumri Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan, responding to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s recent comments, said he would not reply to the PM’s use of the phrase “must be expelled,” stating instead, “Look whom we’ve elected as Armenia’s Prime Minister,” according to Panorama.am .
On October 1, during a parliamentary Q&A session, Pashinyan accused Ghukasyan of heading a local clan and referenced public remarks allegedly questioning Armenia’s sovereignty. “I believe that those who speak against Armenia’s sovereignty should be expelled from political and public life, using democratic methods,” Pashinyan said.
Speaking to reporters, Ghukasyan responded: “I won’t stoop to their level. I won’t react to the term ‘expelled,’ but I can answer them one by one. If the Prime Minister of Armenia says such a thing to someone elected mayor six times and MP twice, I only want to tell the Armenian people — look who we’ve chosen as our PM.”
He questioned why political forces waste time on such disputes while Armenia faces serious internal and external challenges. “For two days now they’ve been attacking me, saying I won’t leave the podium. Don’t they have other work? The country faces crises. What wrong did I say? Who has spoken against independence or Armenia’s statehood?”
Clarifying past remarks, Ghukasyan stated, “When I speak of unity, I mean protecting Armenian statehood. If Russia, the U.S., or any other country threatens that, they become my enemy. I stand by what I said — to preserve our statehood, we need an alliance, but not to become a province. I said those who attack my words with paid comments are traitors and I haven’t regretted it.”
He reminded journalists that the ruling party lost the recent municipal elections in Gyumri. “You gave away Artsakh, won’t even say its name, and you lost in Gyumri. Now you talk about us all day. Everyone knows it’s you who handed out vote bribes — the whole city talks about it. There are cases where you gave people 60,000 drams,” Ghukasyan claimed.
In remarks to Aysor.am , Ghukasyan warned that the authorities would not be allowed to “turn Armenia into a Turkish vilayet.” “You’re doing this deliberately, making people leave the country so it becomes a Turkish vilayet. It won’t work,” he said.
He also declared that a revolution would begin in Gyumri: “We’re ready. If Pashinyan wants a revolution to start from Gyumri, I give him my word, whatever happens, happens. The people will decide. This is the end. There are no more limits after this.”
Ghukasyan added he intends to sue the Armenian government. “I’m planning to take legal action against the government soon. Since independence, no mayor has sued the government. They take 58 billion drams from Gyumri and return only 4 billion. They owe us 27 billion drams in budget funding, but only allocate four. That’s why I’m going to court.”
