– Since 1998, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) has been backing up president Robert Kocharyan during all the elections, but now the president is trying to form new coalitional political parties to support him and leaving behind the ARF. Isn’t the ARF worried about this?
– We truly have intimate ties with the president. We have been working with him since 1998. The ARF has backed up Robert Kocharyan two times during both elections and we are in very good relations. As for forming new political parties, that is just a political process and we are positive towards that. Each political party has to implement its programs and establish itself in the political field. We trust our voters; we have an ideology and the ARF should not worry that much about similar political processes. In general, the ARF does not go against any political parties that function according to the law.
– Why do you think Robert Kocharyan formed other political parties when he already has the loyal ARF, the “Rule of Law”, the Republican party and other political forces?
– Political life will get harder in the upcoming months, so we can’t really say anything for sure. There are some things that don’t happen by chance and we have to look at them from that perspective. There are some levels and groups of society that feel the need to express themselves politically. This is why we may see more people forming political parties and that will protect the interests of some levels of society. If there are such groups thinking about forming political parties, then this means that the existing political parties are not doing enough. As a historian-politician, I am not too worried about that. If we consider ourselves an open, democratic society, then doing away with the authorities can be looked at as means of democratization in the political field. Basically, the people are not satisfied with large, united parties saying “yes” to everything and we may see political forces taking different courses. Let’s not forget that there are still few political parties in Armenia that have some ideology and they are all united by the leader or serve this or that leader. But after a while we will get deeper into the process of forming political parties, however, that process will lead up to doing away with the authorities and then having one ideology in common.
– Artashes Tumanyan, who is an ARF ally, director of the presidential staff and who has been in the top lists of the ARF, also plans on forming his own political party. Do you know why your ally wants to form a new political party and doesn’t join the ARF?
– Artashes Tumanyan himself can tell you why he is taking that step, if he is asked for an explanation of course. We have good relations with him too. He is in our list of key members; we agree on many things concerning the future of our nation and the steps needed to be taken. If there is a need to have a new political party, then that party must state its charter, programs, its ideology, after which the ARF will decide whether or not it will cooperate with the party. Currently, since there is no political party and there are no legal documents, we can’t express our attitude towards the party. But we still have intimate, normal relations with Artashes Tumanyan.
– Each of the pro-authority political parties know which of the new political parties will be the competitor and which one will lead a strong campaign when it comes time for elections. Don’t you think that Artashes Tumanyan and his political party will lead a strong campaign for the ARF since, as you said, he agrees with the ARF’s ideology?
– I don’t think that our voters have changed their attitudes throughout the past years. We rely on the voters and they have stayed loyal to the ARF since 1990. The rest is up to our politics-in other words, the economic, cultural and educational fields form a kind of platform. We as a political party are currently working on advancement. If new political parties appear in the political field, parties that can falter our advancement, then we can get other allies. But I don’t think that any political force can steal the votes from us, the votes of the society which is our base. That is the society which stays true to our national ideology.
– Don’t you agree with the opinion that the people forming political parties will try to create obstacles for the ARF during the upcoming National Assembly elections, making it so the ARF won’t be a majority in the NA?
– I don’t think there is any person forming a political party in Armenia which will go against any other party. Each person does it for himself. Nobody will make a lot of effort or spend lots of money to weaken another party. That will eventually happen-one will get stronger while the other gets weaker. But there will not be a special form of politics. I don’t think that anyone plans on forming political parties to steal votes from the other party and that there is any explanation for that. On the contrary, each party that is formed tries to establish itself in the political field and is worried that it will not be able to fit in among all the parties. That is when it will try to steal votes. Of course, we are a little afraid, but the ARF is the last to worry. The people know who we are and vice versa. The people know what the ARF represents; they either accept it or not. The people are more oriented towards the ARF.
– Many recognize the ARF as a political party that swears by the name of weapons. If, for example, Artashes Tumanyan’s political party goes along with the same ideology but doesn’t swear by the name of weapons, won’t that be dangerous for the ARF?
– Swearing by the name of weapons or our slogan is a tradition and the way of doing that is very important. We can ask ourselves why the English parliament preserves some traditions of the 19th century-traditions that are not accepted today. The ARF has a 115 year history and during that time, some values that have survived to this day are there to maintain other values. This refers to our slogan “Freedom or Death” and swearing by the name of weapons which shows how decisive we are. The preservation of these values only reflects positively towards the ARF’s image; the people that make different comments about the ARF are usually the ones that don’t cast their votes for the ARF. The people that do cast their votes for the ARF know what this all means. The people who don’t like us try to find something to accuse us. I don’t think that we may lose a number of voters because of this.
– Do you consider this kind of slogan normal in the 21st century?
– Swearing by the name of weapons and swords is done in many places in the 21st century. There are things that are transferred from one place to another and then become traditions.