– Based on information from different sources, the “Intellectuals Forum” has promised to present the list of Armenian state officials closely tied with corruption and criminality before September 15. There was a time when you made the same announcement. Do you have anything to do with this initiative, or do you have your own discreditable proofs?
– I have nothing to do with the initiative taken by the “Intellectuals Forum”: That’s their initiative. But what will be the outcome of that? Generally, whenever politics start heating up before elections in any country, there is always a fight between who has better discreditable proofs. It would be better if people didn’t personalize that. I’m against getting into anyone’s personal life.
– When do you plan on letting everyone know about your proofs?
– When it comes time for elections. As long as the government tries to fight against us using the same methods, I must say that the National Security Services, the police and other structures will treat us the wrong way. I’m not going to agree with the “Intellectuals Forum” because the proofs that I’ve come up with are not for publication. I did that for the main purpose of finding out who’s who. The proof is not aimed towards lowering the person’s reputation, rather to show you how the political field can change, which party may reign supreme over another party, how it will function as a party. The most important thing for me is the analysis and not the evidence.
– So, will you use those proofs when the time comes? Will you reveal them?
– To this day, I have always done everything in public. I think that I’m the only political figure in Armenia who has written an open letter to the Minister of National Security in the past 10 years. Of course, I do everything publicly. You know, there hasn’t been a case when I don’t do what I’ve promised to do. I have always done whatever I’ve planned out. If I’ve said that I’ll publish the information, I’ve published it. If I said that I would reveal the secret codes of the mines, I have done just that. I wouldn’t want to reveal the proofs that I have because they are so negative that people’s lives may change eternally.
– Will you reveal them now?
– I wouldn’t want to get up to the point where I had to show them. I’ll never do something like that if not forced to and if that won’t hurt the government later on. If the proof mentions the state official, then he becomes the bait; criminals and foreign special services start to consider using him. That is when we have to start thinking of ways of freeing ourselves from those kinds of people. There is a state mechanism; if that’s going to hurt the government’s reputation and national security, then it’s obvious that those proofs will not be revealed and the ones making the decisions for the country will have the opportunity to free themselves of those kinds of people because they won’t be able to go along with Armenia’s interests.
– Recently, your article was printed in the Russian “Nezavilimaya Gazette”, where you stated that the Russian authorities are supporting the criminal authorities of Armenia and as a result, the Armenian people are starting to go against Russia. Who did you refer to and what were you trying to say?
– I’m the only political figure in Armenia who only told the truth. I wanted to tell the truth. Nobody has risked going to Russia, tell the truth and take into consideration the consequences that may follow. Armenia is becoming more anti-Russian. For the first time ever, Russian presses wrote that the Russian authorities support the Armenian criminal authorities. That proves that people are going against Russia. I am the only person who has openly said, ‘Russia, all that you have done for Armenia hasn’t made the country any stronger’. All the other political figures have just talked, but I did that without fearing for my reputation. The Russian authorities will really feel bad about that because here you have a pro-Russian political figure who plays a major role in Armenian politics telling them that they are not leading the right kind of politics and is not afraid of doing that.
– You also mentioned in that article that in contrast to the U.S., Russian authorities are not working with the Armenian opposition. Are you sure? Perhaps they really are working with them and you don’t know.
– No, I’m sure: If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t mention anything.
– Besides mentioning that the Russian authorities aren’t cooperating with the Armenian opposition, you also said that there are rarely any pro-Russian parties left in Armenia. Some people are of the opinion that by saying that, you’re telling the Russians to go ahead and do the “favors” of Armenia.
– I must say that if I worried over “favors” I would also be in Russia begging. Usually, you beg for favors in big countries. Big countries consider themselves big and always go for that. When the time comes, I will say which authority and oppositional figures wanted what and how much they begged and pleaded. It’s not important for me whether I become the next president or not. I think that the most important thing is that the ongoing processes in Armenia may lead to the extinction of the Armenian state and Russia plays a major role in preventing that. What were the reactions? I reached my goal. The president’s press secretary Victor Soghomonyan’s reaction proves that it was positive. I think that everything is alright. But the result of the article was what should have been the result: there is a lot of rumor going around in the Russian political field.
– Now about the Armenian national anthem. What do you think about changing it?
– I am in favor of changing it. I prefer having composer Aram Khachatryan’s music remain as the music of the anthem because I think that we can’t come up with anything better. I think that the lyrics must correspond to the reality. I truly praise our historical attributes, but we haven’t gotten anywhere with that anthem or the national emblem.
– So, will we get somewhere by changing the anthem?
– Perhaps. During the Soviet era, as far as I know, Soviet Armenia quadrupled its population throughout the course of 70 years with its national anthem and national emblem.
– This means that you’re also in favor of changing the national emblem.
– Yes. I haven’t seen a better national emblem than that of painter Martiros Saryan (of course, the star must be taken out). It is hard to say whether Armenia will have better national figures like Saryan and Aram Khachatryan.