After leader of the “Rule of Law” party Arthur Baghdasaryan declared his resignation from chairman of the National Assembly, during a press conference, he had second-thoughts about giving an answer to the journalist’s question as to what “Rule of Law” would do now in the political field.
“Isn’t it obvious that we are going to join the opposition?” he said.
Different oppositionists made different remarks about this. Should Baghdasaryan really confess his sins, or no? In response to this question, member of the political board of the “Republic” party Suren Surenyants said:
“I don’t really place much emphasis on confession and asking forgiveness in politics.”
According to him, each person understands those concepts differently, but he says that before becoming part of the opposition, Arthur Baghdasaryan must “evaluate the contents of the regime” of Robert Kocharyan and besides that, he must give answers to issues concerning Armenia’s foreign and internal politics, as well as cosmopolitan issues. The most humiliating thing is to see leader of the “Rule of Law” party, who has just declared himself oppositionist, intend on becoming an oppositional leader soon. What are the chances of him actually becoming a leader and what does the “Republic” party have to say about this?
“You become an oppositional leader as a result of an on-going process. First of all, you must have oppositionist orientations, a political team ready to work in the opposition, as well as some experience in the field. Right now, I don’t really know whether A. Baghdasaryan is ready to become part of the opposition or not,” says S. Surenyants.
Surenyants added that for the time being, A. Baghdasaryan’s comments and opinions forbid him to claim that he is an oppositionist or that “Rule of Law” is an oppositionist political party.
“A. Baghdasaryan’s comments about how the country has progressed in the past three years and that he doesn’t disagree with Robert Kocharyan on the Karabagh conflict don’t serve as a firm basis for me to say that Arthur Baghdasaryan is oppositionist now,” says representative of the “Republic” political party Suren Surenyants.
He also said that their party’s charter doesn’t prohibit collaboration with other parties and that it is possible for the party to work with parties such as “Rule of Law”, but that collaboration can’t end in itself.
“From the political perspective, I am not ready to work with either the “Rule of Law” or Arthur Baghdasaryan. We have to be fully convinced that that party represents an alternative power or is part of the opposition with its political orientation and organization,” says Suren Surenyants.
According to him, the opposition is not a closed sector and oppositionists have the right to choose their political partners whom, as he says, they choose when they share things in common. It is worth mentioning that the “Republic” party is in favor of establishing firm ties with NATO and the European Union. The leader of “Rule of Law” is recently talking a lot about the necessity of joining NATO and the European Union. Isn’t this enough in common to become “partners”? According to Surenyants, when a political figure talks about integrating into NATO or the European Union, he must first turn the standards of those organizations into the means of making internal reforms in the country.
“In other words, it is absurd to talk about NATO and the European Union without explaining why the 2003 elections and the 2005 referendum were based on fraud. A. Baghdasaryan has a problem with proving that he was the one responsible for that. Nobody can be a bearer of Western values or the system of values just by making declarations,” says S. Surenyants. He thinks that it’s important for Arthur Baghdasaryan to give clear answers to a number of questions, including the Karabagh conflict resolution process. Surenyants says that the latter is like a piece of litmus paper.
“The decision on the Karabagh conflict resolution is the major thing which determines if you are a bearer of Western values, or not. I begin to have second-thoughts when I hear Baghdasaryan say that he agrees with Robert Kocharyan on the Karabagh conflict resolution, while Kocharyan leads contradictory cosmopolitan politics for the Karabagh conflict,” says member of the political board of the “Republic” party. He believes that resignation from positions and the powerful political party means freeing yourself from the authorities. However, in order to become established in the opposition, not only must you have human resources, but also an alternative approach, be an oppositionist and have an organizational structure, which is ready to “take on the role of an oppositionist in an authoritarian country like Armenia.”