– It is not a secret any more that four or three oppositional parties are negotiating on founding a united political unit before the upcoming elections (ADP, ADU, “Republic” and “Heritage” parties). Haven’t you been suggested to join them?
– I haven’t been suggested to join these four parties, but the ideological background that we had and wanted to use to join oppositional powers into one power, it is still under discussion. I mean that still have we have an opportunity to do it and not everything is lost yet. There are some parties that are interested in it, but this is another issue for discussion.
– They say the opposition will have two big branches, one of which will be formed by the mentioned four parties, the other one will be led by Aram Karapetyan. Which of these two powers would you like to represent?
– Our party can collaborate with those parties that have common ideologies with us since we don’t want to collaborate with parties with other ideologies. We would agree with that only if all the oppositional powers decided to form one united proportional list and participate in the elections all together. I mean we would agree if all the powers decided to have at least 50% of places and then decide what to do in the future. In this framework I think that the suggestion of “Alternative” initiative concerning impeachment is a very good idea. Besides that, I think that these are the poliical powers that should be responsible for organizing fair and free elections.
– Don’t you think that the decision of some separate oppositional parties to participate in the elections alone means that the oppositional powers have failed to unite?
– That is why I say “if we can…” It is up to them, but I don’t think it is a good decision. Each party has a right to do as they want, but I don’t think this method may lead us to victory. On the other hand, the oppositional parties may enter the parliament separately and later join in the parliament. This may help to create a strong oppositional power that may be strong enough to make core changes in the country.
– What do you think about Arthur Baghdasaryan’s interview given to “The world street journal”, where he spoke about the “settlement of the Karabakh conflict” and relationships with NATO? Also, what do you think about cooperating with his “Legal State” party?
– If Arthur Baghdasaryan did not want to give any explanations after the mentioned article was published in Armenia too, I think it is a very serious issue to discuss since I don’t think his idea is good for us. If he spoke that idea in 1990s, I think the Armenian people would be very disappointed about him. I don’t know why I was not much surprised at him, but I am surprised that an Armenian politician may say that “Karabakh is a conflict territory”. Karabakh cannot be considered as a conflict territory; furthermore, it has formed a state legally. I am much disappointed to see that we have to explain this thing in our own country too.
– Don’t you think that first of all the opposition should criticize him for speaking such things since that idea was spoken by their oppositional colleague?
– Generally I think that all the parties, included the oppositional parties, that are participating in elections should keep from criticizing each other. I don’t have a right to criticize his party and their programs, but I think the issue of Karabakh is a national issue (furthermore, it is more important in the framework of the relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey) and they should not speak such things. For instance, I don’t have any problems with issues such as fighting corruption and social issues, but I am against such announcements. I don’t agree with his announcement concerning joining NATO either. If NATO is coming here to create a global security system, it should include all the countries of our region, included Russia. If Russia is left out of that institution, it means that Russia becomes their competitor, which I think may be called also “enemy”. How does Arthur Baghdasaryan imagine conflicts between Armenia and Russia? That is why I think that such issues should be discussed seriously.
– Your party is organizing a party meeting on March 3, where you are going to publish the official format how your party will participate in the elections. In spite of that yesterday Raffi Hovhannisyan announced that they were going to inform about the format of their collaboration on March 2. Don’t you think that the fact that you are not involved in their talks means that you are not accepted by them as a real oppositional power? Furthermore, Aram Z. Sargsyan has said that they would collaborate with any oppositional parties, indeed they haven’t suggested you to collaborate with them.
-We will not stay alone, we can stand on our feet and we don’t have such problems. I think that they were divided in accordance with their geopolitical ideologies and think that our ideology is different than theirs. If they decided to create a format, which would be united to win, they would have to cooperate with all the parties. If they think these four parties are enough for them to win, it is their own problem and no one can tell them not to do it. We don’t have any problems with them, so it is up to them. If they suggest us anything, we will discuss their suggestions to see whether we are interested in their suggestions or not. As for the date that they are going to publish that information (March 2), I think it is dangerous for them and may create some problems connected with registering their organization in the future. However, this is a technical problem and it is up to them what to do. In a word, elections are for everyone and we will make our choice.