– In the context of the anti-campaign conducted against Levon Ter-Petrosyan they often speak about such episodes of Karabakh war, which they shouldn’t have spoken anyway. In particular, I mean the statements of Samvel Babayan. Don’t you think that these mysterious revelations become dangerous for our country and will enable Azerbaijan to use those against us in future regardless of whether the brought up statement is the reality or not?
– Let me first say that no one in Ter-Petrosyan’s team is afraid of any revelation. Ter-Petrosyan’s team has worked in a very transparent manner. All the documents, which have been discussed, were publicized by the media. The media has also publicized the outcomes and solutions. That’s why whatever they are trying to say is mere black PR against our candidate. But your question actually implies some hazard for our country. We should take into account that those were war years and that the war is not over yet. We only have arm cessation. The process of negotiations is continuing and we must realize that any information which I confidential shall not be used during the electoral campaign. I am sure that the people, who have occupied quite responsible positions, such as Defense Minister of NKR, chief commander of NKR army, will be wise enough to realize that there are certain things that they should be speaking about no matter how much they wish to be elected. Today if we go through all the social polls we will see that the number one priority of Armenians is the resolution of Karabakh conflict. And the fact that the government is trying to make this matter the cornerstone of their campaign, really jeopardizes our national security. Arman Melikyan’s nomination speaks about the fact that the government is trying to build its campaign on focusing on NKR conflict. The fact that Melikyan doesn’t have an NKR descent and his rough attitude about the conflict resolution, proves that the government is nominating one more candidate to conduct black PR against Ter-Petrosyan. Thus, there are many dangerous moments in everything.
– Certain presidential candidates, such as Artashes Geghamyan, Arman Melikyan substantiate their nomination with the words, “because of Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s deeds we are running now.” Does this give us grounds to claim that this is a well thought out tactics.
– It is obvious that the government has serious interference in the process of nomination. That is no news. It is obvious that the government is interfering in the process of nomination. It happened in 1998 and in 2003. In 2003 Artashes Geghamyan could have endorsed Stepan Demirchyan. But he refused to do so and instead gave a chance to Kocharyan to win the elections through violations. What does Geghamyan do now? You see that there are political forces, which receive airing time so that they would criticize Ter-Petrosyan. There are thousands of reasons for that. Geghamyan found explanations for that in 2003 and during 2007 parliamentary elections and now he is trying to do the same. But we should know that certain politicians conduce to the reproduction of the incumbent government through their behavior. The main concern, which was expressed on November 16 rally by Ter-Petrosyan, was that we are not able to jointly fight against this evil phenomenon. And by saying evil he meant the incumbent government. Because of our inability to unite we will conduce to the reproduction of the gangster state. The best way to get rid of the government is to unite and jointly fight against the evil. Ter-Petrosyan has even expressed his willingness to leave politics in three years after he completes his mission. That way he will enable to form a normal government through free and fair elections. We have prerequisites for that. And the nomination of the first president shows that we don’t have the past environment of apathy and disappointment. The society sees an alternative to Serzh Sargsyan in the person of Levon Ter-Petrosyan. In the event of such environment it would be correct if the other minor opposition forces united of the sake of a joint deed.
– When they first made a petition of uniting some politicians rushed to refuse that. You made an opinion that this is only the first emotional reaction. But the past days showed that their attitude hasn’t changed at all. How would you explain this?
– Our republic, our independence is jeopardized now. And I was hoping that the political figures of Armenia would focus on the national interests of the state but not their personal ambitions and benefits. Unfortunately some politicians cannot get rid of their personal ambitions and make all their steps based on their own benefits, which cannot bring to any victorious results. I am sorry about especially those politicians, who have been the most active players of our political field during the past 15-20 years. It is unfortunate but not tragic. Every person has the right to make his/her own decisions. We received only 1-2 negative responses about the suggestion. Consultations with other political forces are still continuing.
– Till now we hear lots of “reminders” and Ter-Petrosyan’s team responds to those. Don’t you think that you may be too penetrated into the past and ignore the future?
– Ter-Petrosyan’s team doesn’t need any reminders. After a 10-year silence it is obvious that we should come up with certain evaluation. People have said different things about this person for 10 years. And even myths are created about that. The society was waiting for certain answers. And Ter-Petrosyan’s speeches were not reminders. There were just facts about the current reality. He evaluates the current government and the overall situation in our country. Meanwhile he is offering the solutions, by which we can bring the country back to the right track. I am sure that there is going to b more stuff in his upcoming speeches about the future of our country because our movement is not to just oppose but to work on behalf of our country. As of the other field, that is the government, then it is busy criticizing the opposition. By choosing their main opponent they ate making their best to belie him. The government has got nothing else to say.
– If we briefly present the main theses of the government they are the following: We have liberated NKR by opposing the will of Ter-Petrosyan and secondly Ter-Petrosyan’s nomination made the Turks happy.
– Those are very simple and primitive statements. Ter-Petrosyan was the chief commander of the RA army and every single action was undertaken by his decree. And to say that the commander wasn’t aware of what was going on is very primitive. I am surprised why they have started to say such things after TerPetrosyan’s decision to run. They weren’t speaking about that during Ter-Petrosyan’s presidency. Vice versa, we have always been receiving words of gratitude addressed to the RA government for supporting the brothers and sisters of NKR. During the former government there was only one approach that the international recognition of the Armenian genocide shouldn’t be number one priority of Armenia’s foreign policy. But that doesn’t mean that the RA government wasn’t going to support our Diaspora to lobby on that matter. What has the incumbent government achieved during the past 10 years? There is no progress. And to say that the Turks are glad that Ter-Petrosyan is coming back to power is only a simple and street trick. I am sure that Ter-Petrosyan will speak about this in his further speeches. We are often inclined to speak about simple realities constantly speak about simple facts because if the media is full of such accusations we should somehow respond to that. Only after responding we go on with our message.
– And the last question please. Is there any news in the case filed against you?
– During this period there hasn’t been any contact with the investigative body. In my opinion nothing was done in Russia either. At any rate, that man Sashik Aghazaryan, whose activity was supposed to be checked on, nothing was filed against him either. I think that they are only trying to make this case forgotten because they were not able to put any actual evidence on me. Besides one of the main tactics of pressuring me is that they have my signature of not leaving the country. But sooner or later this case will be cancelled. And the ones, who ordered it against me, must answer for that. You know I have applied the European Court on Human Rights. Of course, it is a time consuming process but I am sure that we will also have the truthful verdict of the European Court about the misdeeds of the government.