– What solutions do you envision to overcome the crisis created after March 1 as a political scientist, who was actively participating in all the events of the radical opposition?
– The government should realize that it has a need of a dialog and understanding not only with the radical opposition but the whole society because the main issue for them is not only the healing of the political field but also the overall environment in the country. Thus, at present the society is full of suspicion to the government, doesn’t believe a single word that the government says and the fact that Kocharyan has been saying a few times that certain people spread gossips to destabilize the country is not just an accident. They have to realize that the campaign machine that has been used during the past 4-5 months not only serves its goal but vice versa. It even more increases the disappointment of the society. So how did it happen that the society got so disappointed of the government and started to consider them as their enemies? The absence of opinion exchange caused a situation that the government lost its ties with the people. In order to conduct a thorough analysis of what had happened it is necessary to open the electronic media to all political forces. I am scared of the current media, who invite and interview some illiterate people, who haven’t read single book in their lives. People perfectly know who is who and know that the government has decided to one more time wash their brains. All this causes animosity and antipathy. The Armenian man gets most mad when he is taken for a donkey. Unlike the Russians Armenians are not inspired. Armenians have always been skeptical and the most offensive thing for them is to realize that someone is trying to cheat them. Now our people are in a state when they feel that the government is trying to cheat them. In these cases they become full of hostility to the people and government, who brought them to that state. These people don’t understand what the secret of Levon Ter-Petrosyan is. It seems that in the fall he had made a step, which didn’t have any chance of success. He was reading a 1-2 hour lecture in the blistering cold and people would listen to him. Some people were saying, “what is he doing? No one is going to listen to him.” Our people realized that maybe this person is wrong in certain matters but at least he would pay attention to them and not degrade them. He was trying to speak to people in a blistering cold and convince them of something. During these years none of the governmental official has ever paid attention to average citizens. Average citizens were always ignored and not respected. By increasing the dignity of citizens he was able to deserve the support and trust of people, thus he was able to reach high level of democracy. During the past 4-5 months the incumbent government hasn’t even thought to give explanations to people. Vice versa, they would give such simple explanations on TV that people would get even more exacerbated. They were saying, “is the government trying to take us for donkeys?” The Armenians may forgive many things but not when their dignity is degraded. There is no need to speak with back-and-forth slogans. Instead they should speak with concrete ways. At present there is a dominating anti-Karabakh mood. Our society is quite fragmented and there is no need to make those sharp angles round.
– In his interview Serzh Sargsyan stated that he was not going to negotiate with someone, who named him a Tatar-Mongol or a bandit. Ter-Petrosyan brought up certain conditions for the chance of negotiating with him. And as you see the government refuses to accept those. In that case how this dialog is going to be formed?
– First, I don’t agree with Serzh Sargsyan’s statement, by which he is trying to justify the absence of his intention to negotiate with the opposition. Obviously he is not sincere. When Ter-Petrosyan is saying that at present we have a gangster state in Armenia and that the governmental elite is fully corrupt and when he is saying that the system is Mongol-Tatarian he was trying to express the reality. He was saying all that not to insult anyone but to describe the system. The international community says that there are corrupt officials in Armenia and Ter-Petrosyan calls them bandits. It is a matter of a taste. Sargsyan refuses to accept this and considers an attempt of insulting his personality. In certain cases he had forgiven people, who were trying to personally insult him. Artashes Geghamyan has numerously said that he is a murderer. He said that Sargsyan had tried to kill him, Gagik Tsarukyan. He was saying that Sargsyan is a gambler. Regardless of this Sargsyan forgave him and decided to communicate with him. That is the reason why Sargsyan’s reason doesn’t make sense and doesn’t inspire with confidence. The requirement of the international community, donor organizations is to start a dialog with the opposition. Besides that, he and Vazgen Manukyan called each other idiots. At present they not only communicate but are in a general sense in the same political team. At present collation has both coalition partners and customer-partners. For example, Artur Baghdasaryan. Three days prior to joining the coalition Baghdasaryan announced that the incumbent government is corrupt. He stated that the elections were falsified and that Sargsyan is not a legitimate president. Despite this fact Sargsyan didn’t refuse communicating with him. Therefore, Sargsyan’s reason is groundless. Victor Dallakyan also announced that the “spine” of this clan must be broken but at present they communicate, negotiate and work together.
– So why didn’t Sargsyan communicate with Levon Ter-Petrosyan?
– Let’s not rush. If you are thinking there is not going to be a dialog you are greatly mistaken. Of course a dialog is possible only after releasing the detainees from prisons.
– Do you think the government will fulfill the demands of the opposition?
– But most part of those requirements came from the international community and donor states. In fact when meeting the Ago Group the government promised to abide with those requirements. The Minister of Justice said that they agree with the international community and that the government is going to revise the law on rallies and meetings. We must differentiate the steaks from flies because one thing is a promise and another thing is the reality and willingness to do so. At any rate, this is actually the requirement of the society and the government must take into account the demand of its people and not the foreigners. It is impossible to avoid the demand of the people. The people become even more exacerbated when the government is trying to be extra nice to the international community and in fact doesn’t have any intention to actually improve the situation. They think that this time as usual the government is trying to swindle them.
– Who are the steaks and flies?
– The steak is the people and the flies are the party leaders, who wish to take a piece of the steak. To the question whether Ter-Petrosyan is not going to cooperate with the government he said that at the moment he starts to do that he will lose the trust of people. It means that the problem is the people. The government needs to flatter the people and not Baghdasrayan, Geghamyan… The government must sincerely speak to people. In 1988 during the Soviet rule Karen Demirchyan went to the people. Of course, they whistled and didn’t understand each other. At present we have 131 NA MPs but how many of them took the attempt of going to people and staying next to them during the crisis? I was there at that time and only those MPs were there next to people, who later got so easily persecuted by the government. Aren’t they the MPs of the independent Armenia and not the first secretary of the Central Committee? When in 1965 the emotional people were breaking the windows of the opera building by demanding to recognize the genocide Vazgen I went out to the people. During those totalitarian years he didn’t go to the first secretary of the Central Committee for permission to speak to people. Or he didn’t fly to Moscow to find out whether Brezhnev allows him meeting with people. He went out to people and calmed them down. I think we have a Catholicos now. Why didn’t he go to people to settle them down?
– He went to see Ter-Petrosyan instead.
– Was Ter-Petrosyan supposed to approve his step or what? Or was he waiting for Kochryan to specially tell him to go to meet with people? I haven’t seen any of the government representatives over there on March 1. It means that at present we do not have a National Assembly. If we had Parliament believe me they would come over there and there would be no bloodshed.