Armenia’s third president, Serzh Sargsyan, commenting on criticism directed at him, said that his remarks regarding Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s potential third term referred exclusively to constitutional regulations and were made within that context.

“People who manipulate my words either have not understood the context or are fools,” he said, according to Panorama.am .

Earlier, Sargsyan said that he did not believe “Pashinyan is being elected for a third term, because the previous elections were snap elections.”

He stressed that attempts to misinterpret his statement are either the result of failing to understand the context or deliberate manipulation.

“People who manipulate my words either have not understood the context or are fools, because only a fool could think that I could justify someone who consciously led Armenia to capitulation, who surrendered my homeland, who attacked my Church, and who left territories of my country under the enemy’s domination. And what does it turn out to mean — that despite all this, he is guilty because he is seeking a third term? It is obvious that their efforts will not succeed; they will fail. What I said was very simple,” Sargsyan stated.