In late 2001, before the presidential elections, the Rule of Law party [Arthur Baghdasaryan] was pro-Russian. Today, the party has turned in favor of European integration. Baghdasaryan was one of the unique pro-Russian politicians who presented the bill entitled “Recognizing Russian as the second state language” at the National Assembly (in fact, the co-author of that bill was secretary of the Justice alliance Victor Dallakyan, who is member of the newly founded yet unknown “Prosperous Armenia” party).
Fortunately, the bill was rejected back then and even Armenia’s pro-Russian politicians of today look back on that rejection with regret and believe that the government let go of its opportunity to get support from Russia. The old pro-Russian politicians explain that as the reason for Arthur Baghdasaryan’s love for Europe and his announcements to the world about integrating into Europe. According to observers, the last scandalous interview that Arthur Baghdasaryan gave to a German newspaper (the interview that led up to his resignation) was aimed towards just that.
According to politician Hmayak Hovhannisyan, proposing such a bill at the National Assembly proves that European integration is not a principle-based issue for the given party, in this case Rule of Law.
“That party thinks about the strategic significance and the events taking place at the given time. Now, since the European Union has adopted the “New Neighbors” policy, which made it clear that the EU is planning on integrating the Southern Caucasus countries with its values, A. Baghdasaryan turned pro-Europe. I know for a fact that Rule of Law has set strategic goals during this fight to come to power and is doing everything it can to reach success. I think that his initiative was proof of this.”
According to leader of the Armenian Christian Democratic Union Khosrov Harutyunyan, society must know who’s who, otherwise the former pro-Russian turns pro-Western and nobody has the chance to remind him of who he was before.
“I was surprised when I saw that bill proposed at the National Assembly. I would understand if the bill was proposed back in 1994-1995, but when Armenia is already a member of the European Council and it seems as though the country’s political orientation is towards Europe, it’s amazing to hear someone proposing to have some country’s language pass as the second state language. I can’t even find the words to describe that. The problem is not the fact that the given party didn’t realize what kind of blow this was to state politics; rather the country speaking the given language is behind all this and has its structures. The Rule of Law was letting the public know out in the open that it was doing what it was being told to do,” said Khosrov Harutyunyan. He believes that this kind of party is dangerous when coming to power because it is then when it’s prepared to fulfill any wish. In response to our question as to why Arthur Baghdasaryan brought that bill up again regardless of the fact that he was part of the authorities, Kh. Harutyunyan said:
“Back in 2001, Russian politicians started to realize that by European integration, Southern Caucasus countries can form and outline a new, non-Russian politics. It’s obvious that Russia started to take advantage of its opportunities in order to strengthen its cosmopolitan influence in the Southern Caucasus. The most interesting thing is that Russia tried doing that not with its own resources, like the U.S. did by opening the American University in Armenia, but rather by using Armenia’s resources. Thus, Russia once again paved the path using its usual strategy and found some submissive political party or figure, which tried to take the initiative after some promises. So, I the taxpayer had to carry the burden on my shoulders just to strengthen Russian politics and I was the one who had to take care of the expenses. As to why Rule of Law didn’t continue that politics, it’s because Armenia is going towards Europe day by day. In other words, there was no more interest and that initiative/politics was temporary. After the 2003 elections, it was clear as to what role the European Council plays in Armenia’s internal political life and the influence of the council and the U.S. The political party, as well as other pro-Russian parties all forgot about Russia’s interests. They started caring about the interests of other countries.”
As to why Russia decided to trust Arthur Baghdasaryan and not the other pro-Russian political parties in Armenia when leading its politics in 2001, Kh. Harutyunyan said:
“I think that Russia proposed its plan to many politicians, but Arthur Baghdasaryan was the one who actually tried to make it happen. Imagine a contest, where the first person that gets the packet was going to be the one trusted by Russia. The thing is that this got Arthur Baghdasaryan’s attention-his outlooks, including foreign aid, and he was the first to take on the task. The others didn’t make it in time. I think there were some political figures at the time who looked with regret and wished they were in Baghdasaryan’s shoes. We have to be aware of political figures who try to get a reputation through foreign aid.”
According to Hmayak Hovhannisyan, Arthur Baghdasaryan’s “Recognition of Russian as a second state language” bill proposed in 2001 was very similar to the bill proposed by Victor Yanukovich days before the Ukrainian presidential elections. The only difference was that Baghdasaryan did that sooner and showed Russia that he is the one taking those kinds of initiatives in Armenia.
“Yanukovich did that before the elections while he was hoping to get some help from Moscow. He actually got the help, but the Orange Revolution followed shortly after and Yanukovich didn’t reach his goal by relying on Moscow,” said H. Hovhannisyan. In fact, politician Hovhanniyan, who remembers the last discussion on the details of that bill during the last National Assembly hearings, didn’t forget about Arthur Baghdasaryan moving to the next field.
“It was ridiculous, it was almost grotesque. A. Baghdasaryan, who had proposed something similar to that of Yanukovich, made a speech in Maydan in 2005 and approved Yanukovich’s thoughts and opinions, plans and his aims for the Orange Revolution,” said H. Hovhannisyan and added that in contrast to Yanukovich, Russia didn’t help the Rule of Law because, according to him, Russia is less Catholic than the people who want Russia to have political interference in the country.
“Russia knows very well that Armenia is a mono-ethnic nation and there is no basis for such issues. Ukraine is a different story, where more than half of the population considers Russian as the native language. The fact that there is actually someone in Armenia taking the initiative of passing a law on having Russian as the second language in the country is truly sad and it proves that citizens of Armenia is obsessed with getting help from abroad, whether that be from Russia, the U.S. or the European Union. That obsession is what holds people back from coming up with their own principles and staying true to them,” said MP H. Hovhannisyan.
In response to the question as to whether or not pro-European Arthur Baghdasaryan will change his orientation before the upcoming elections, Hovhannisyan said:
“Don’t forget that he proposed the bill in late 2001, before the “New Neighbors” policy was adopted, Georgia and Ukraine still didn’t know what was coming and Putin hadn’t announced that the CIS is like a mechanism separating civilizations and not integrating. Based on the political outlooks, Rule of Law thought it would be better to get ahead of the Kremlin officials in Ukraine and take the initiative of proposing such a bill. A. Baghdasaryan won’t do what he did back then because after that, the events that followed forced the Kremlin to stop thinking about getting back to where they started from by rose revolutions. For example, Yanukovich was played roughly by Ukraine. Things were different in Kazakhstan; they said that the parties appearing to be democratic oppositional were really part of the Kremlin and the Kremlin stayed where it was as a result of the revolution. That’s why Russia looked over its plans for the post-Soviet countries and the plan for making reforms with the countries’ authorities. Today, Russia is very careful. On the contrary, the EU has gotten active; the U.S. is trying to spread the system of values that Georgia and Ukraine instilled in other countries, including Armenia and Azerbaijan. Based on these conditions, it is very rare to see A. Baghdasaryan wish to do what he has already done. Their party is much more interested in NATO, getting aid from the U.S. and they are aimed towards that.”
In fact, according to H. Hovhannisyan, the Rule of Law is not the only party familiar with that “floating” politics. Hovhannisyan’s hint was for the National Unity party.
“Don’t forget that there are a number of oppositionist party and organization leaders who used to swear by the name of Russia, they were ready to reject the Armenian dram and join Russia and Belarus with the ruble. But today, those leaders have changed and are aimed towards the West, the U.S. and always Bush; they praise the U.S. and NATO which, I think, is something that makes Bush, Condoleza Rice and high EU officials laugh. The announcements they make can’t motivate those political figures to help them achieve their goals,” said H. Hovhannisyan.
Pro-Russian member of the Armenian Democratic Union Aram Sargsyan was also surprised to hear about A. Baghdasaryan’s bill. He said that even he wouldn’t propose such a bill about the language no matter how pro-Russian he is.
“There is only one thing you can do when you are an independent country-develop your language while studying other languages, which may be of help when it comes to interacting with other countries. But that doesn’t mean that your native tongue must be in the same condition as the other language or compare your native language with the other. If there are people who say that that’s the way it has to be, then we have to talk to them in the same language, that’s all,” he said. He added that this shows how much of a slave you are. According to Sargsyan, Armenians are becoming slaves to English-almost all the billboards in Armenia are in English.
“Isn’t it like slavery?” said Aram G. Sargsyan.