– How does the Armenian society relate to Europe and European values? How declarative and real is our willingness to make changes in the system of values?
– European values are for all people, thus they are acceptable for any nation and people. I think the society does not have any problems with these values. Conflicting situations in post-Soviet states are created by the authorities, who on the one hand officially adopt these values, and on the other hand represent them as an obligation from outside. I think the priority issue in Armenia is not the change of the system of values but provision of mechanisms for self-expression and development. Free self-expression of the society cannot result in values, which would be in significant contradiction with the European ones.
– May the political integration with Europe result in enrooting of European values in the perception of the society? Is there anything in our mentality to oppose to change of social, cultural and other norms?
– On the day when Armenia joined the Council of Europe I did not feel happy even though I like the European values. Why? Because before the political integration the society should have been given the opportunity of self expression and perception of these values. The European values are attractive because the action and idea are in the same box. What is the guarantee that people chose things such as freedom, right and equity if they don’t have the opportunity even to elect their community head, mayor or president? When the idea and action are separated, there may be an impression of opposition, but it is a mere impression.
– Can arts and culture become a reason to form a new system of perception in the society to generate a need for change of values in the society notwithstanding the political orientation?
– Arts are just a part of the civic discussion. Arts cannot be effective if there is no communication. There should be an interactive environment, and if it happens it may support this process to some extent. Unfortunately our culture of arts is the museum. And the factor of arts is the saint value. Arts can initiate discussions but these discussions will be in narrow circles as far as the culture of free choice has not won the tradition of blind values.
– Armenia is participating in a number of projects supported by the European Union such as the New Neighborhood project and Eastern Partnership. These projects envisage a lot of actions and reforms of different sectors. Can these actions result in change of mentality in the future?
– The projects you said are very important, but I thing there is a risk that these projects may not be effective like other projects and may not go out of this small box and several sectors. The perception of European Institutions and Values on part of the Armenian society should be linked with each other as much as possible. Failure to control the process on part of the institutions decreases the importance of European values. It results in the feeling of an external obligation in the society. The neighborhood or partnership mean that values should be higher than interests but not the vice versa.