Artur Baghdasaryan made a speech at the meeting only after being persuaded three times by the President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko. Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Ukraine in Armenia Alexander Bozhkon claimed that the talk between Artur Baghdasaryan and Victor Yushchenko had taken much longer than needed and he did not doubt that Yushchenko had probably repeated his proposal to Baghdasaryan three times before stating it in his speech: “Since the conversation took long, he could have mentioned the proposal four times. To tell you the truth, I have not counted well,” said the ambassador to Ukraine. The Ambassador stated that Artur Baghdasaryan’s visit to Ukraine was the first official visit made by the Armenian side since the “Orange Revolution”. Bozhko gave a good evaluation for this and said that he has high expectations of what’s to come.
It was a coincidence that A. Baghdasaryan’s visit to Ukraine was during the same time when Ukraine was celebrating the one year anniversary of the “Orange Revolution”. At the same time, the Armenian opposition announced that it is going to start the “Apricot Revolution” starting from yesterday. The Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Ukraine does not want to suggest what the Armenian opposition must do to reach victory, due to the fact that he also does not have the right to do that. “I can not suggest anything because I don’t want to get mixed up in your country’s internal affairs. Besides that, in regard to the approaches of Ukraine, I have stated that our country can not tell how each country can develop. Each country has its own road to take towards development,” said Bozhko. As a matter of fact, he stated this a couple of times during our interview with him. However, Bozhko did talk about the charm of revolution and referred to the Armenian people. The ambassador claimed that there had been some progress in Ukraine after the “Orange Revolution”. “We believed that there would definitely be changes. We knew that those changes would not take place in the course of two, three or even nine months,” he said. President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko presented the results of the “Orange Revolution” to the President of National Assembly of Armenia Artur Baghdasaryan during his official visit to Ukraine. “I think that this visit made by the Armenian delegation serves as a good opportunity for getting to know more about Ukraine, especially the period that began after the “Orange Revolution.” It was very important for Armenia to know about the democratic progress in Ukraine after the revolution,” said Bozhko. Then he started to number the many achievements of Ukraine after the revolution. “After the revolution, the salaries of workers in Ukraine have increased by 18% and as of today, they make up 165 dollars. The pension makes up 80 dollars and we must mention the fact that this pension amount is equivalent to the minimum amount necessary for earning a living. Besides that, the state pays a subsidy of 1800 U.S. dollars to the family that has a newborn child. The family also receives financial aid from the government each month,” said A. Bozhkon as he described the changes made after the “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine. According to the ambassador, they have made those changes with difficulty due to the fact that the country was not ready to take major steps immediately. However, the authorities that were formed after the revolution took that step because they had made a promise to the people and wanted to keep that promise. Of course, during the past year, in the ambassador’s words, there have been some mistakes. However, Mr. Bozhko considers that normal. “Each country paves its own path. No book states which path is the right one to take. The important thing is for the people to have faith,” he said.
In addition, Alexander Bozhko drew an interesting comparison yesterday during his speech: “Today, as I was coming to work, I heard on the radio that today marks the 90th anniversary of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochetti. So, I thought to myself that I could draw a comparison because this day also marked the first anniversary of the “Orange Revolution”. There are two roads to take for the development of the country. Ukraine has chosen the road leading to state development and another country has chosen the road leading to dictatorship. Which road is the right one to take? We all know that when we move towards state development we may face obstacles, but if we have faith that we can overcome those obstacles because after all, the path towards development is the right path. We also know that based on Europe’s experience,” said Mr. Bozhko.