Whereas the authorities started the New Year off with the scandal of cultural minister Hovik Hoveyan, which led up to his resignation, the opposition split up. As mentioned in our previous edition, on January 11, member of the political council of the “Republic” political party and leader of the youth organization Vahan Babayan sent a letter to leader of the party Aram Z. Sargsyan via one of his friends informing him about his decision to leave the party. This was a blow to the “Republic” party. This was a blow not because the party suffered a loss by losing a member like Vahan Babayan, but rather because there was new logic in the new council after the resignation of party members Albert Bazeyan and Vagharshak Harutyunyan: Aram Sargsyan formed the council by appointing people that stay true to political ideologies and people that have intimate ties with him. One of those people was Vahan Babayan who left the party only after three months.
Vahan Babayan gave a clear explanation as to why he left the party during an interview yesterday. The young political figure is disappointed in the opposition and since he sees that the long promised revolution is not taking shape, (a revolution that Vahan Babayan and many others wanted in order to get some positions), he decided to leave the “Republic” political party.
“I think that the leaders in whom we believed in were not able to solve their problems and reach their goals. I saw how the “Republic” party was not able to accomplish what it wanted to do and I felt that my goals and ideas meant nothing at all; that I didn’t need to be a member of the political party,” says Vahan Babayan, although he did mention that he respects Aram Z. Sargsyan as a great political figure and he can relate to the party’s ideology.
“In contrast to the “Republic” party, which has always been the locomotive of the opposition, the “18+8″ and other unions that have formed and are in the process of forming, don’t really express the people’s opinions and are not democratic. The people are sick and tired of opposition leaders, they are tired of Arshak Sadoyan’s long speeches and asking Artashes Geghamyan why he doesn’t come to the public meetings. The people are tired of many things and they need to see new political figures, a new generation,” says V. Babayan as he reflects upon why he left the party. He also mentioned one other reason.
“I have never made a speech as a young political figure during the meetings. They don’t give youth a chance. I have never asked or suggested making a speech because, after all, the leaders were the ones deciding. They are not interested in having the new generation speak out and make their way to the parliament by making speeches. It seemed senseless to continue like that because nobody would hear what I wanted to say,” said the young political leader as he expressed how offended he was. Now he is demanding not only the authorities, but also the opposition to step down.
“Whereas I used to demand the authorities to step down, claiming that they can’t rule the nation, now I am ready to demand the opposition to step down because it wasn’t able to gain the trust of the people and it didn’t keep the promise made to the people. The opposition leaders must have a little manhood and speak out to the people. They hadn’t calculated right. Armenia is in this situation today thanks to the personal ambitions of each member and the steps that they took without thinking twice. Starting a revolution doesn’t mean gathering 20,000 people and moving towards Baghramian street. A revolution is a serious process which bring changes to the system, as well as the formation of new political parties. I think that Armenia needs a revolution. In my opinion, in order to start a revolution, Armenia needs an active social movement, motives and a strong oppositional leader. But the opposition just couldn’t leave its ambitions aside and understand that the opposition needs just one leader. Today, it is impossible to find one leader among the political parties and start a social movement. What does civilized Armenia mean? Is Armenia a military state that all of a sudden we need to form committees? The people are tired of all the parties, unions and committees,” says Babayan.
Couldn’t Vahan Babayan express his opinions during the council meetings, especially since the other members of the council were not going against the leader of the party while making their speeches?
“I have not considered myself the leader of the party, nor the only one that decides. I have just been one of the decision makers. My decision doesn’t mean anything; it is all up to the leader. I will make the opposition open up their eyes by leaving the party and I will accomplish all the goals that I have set forth during my political career.”
In the end, Babayan compared himself to Chief Secretary of the U.S. State Department Condalezza Rice.
“When Condalezza Rice left the Democratic Party and joined the Republican Party, which takes different courses in politics, journalists asked her why she made that decision. She answered: ‘The Democratic party members looked at me as just a member of the party, but the Republican party members looked at me as an individual.” However, V. Babayan doesn’t know which political party will accept him as an individual yet. According to some rumors going around, Vahan Babayan has been offered to join the “Prosperous Armenia” political party and some say that he was told to take this step with the advice given by some of Defense Minister Serj Sargsyan’s close friends. But V. Babayan denies the rumors.
“I have not received an offer from any political party yet. I welcome Gagik Tsarukyan, who is stepping into the political field by forming his own political party. He has helped the people and youth a lot. As for me joining his political party, now is not the time to talk about that. I personally don’t know him and have not received an offer. I still haven’t decided as to which political party I will join,” he said.
What do members of the “Republic” party have to say about their former colleague’s decision? Member of the party council Suren Surenyants doesn’t understand why Vahan Babayan did what he did.
“I don’t understand why someone who agrees to become a member of the party council and then leaves the republic three months later just because he is a little disappointed,” says Mr. Surenyants. According to him, the opposition-including their political party-has committed many errors and Surenyants has never thought twice about saying that to journalists as well as during the council meetings. In his opinion, V. Babayan has the same opportunity. As for Babayan’s announcement claiming that the youth is alienated from the political party, S. Surenyants said:
“Vahan Babayan is only 25 years old and had a wide range of opportunities by getting elected as a member of the party council. I would like to see young politicians actually get involved in politics and stop thinking like Vahan Babayan. We are living in a time when people no longer look at nicely dressed politicians and we will never go back to living in those times, although those kinds of people are the ones governing the nation,” said S. Surenyants.