During this time thirteen years ago, Armenians were electing a
president for the first time. Although there were many candidates, it
was clear from the start that the people were going to vote for one of
them. That person was the candidate proposed by the Armenian National
Movement Levon Ter-Petrosyan. The candidate proposed by the movement
obviously had no election campaign. Armenia’s Communist Party, who was
against the movement, did not have a candidate. The other candidates,
despite their active election campaigns, did not have anything to say
in particular. The people were electing a president for the first time.
This had never happened in Armenia. Society had only heard about or
seen elections by watching television. People had heard some news about
the U.S. presidential campaigns. Many people who had seen those
campaigns had complained about why their elected candidate does not
communicate with the people, why he doesn’t make speeches, why he
doesn’t make promises, why he doesn’t have a slogan, etc.
During his meetings with the people, which were very rare,
Ter-Petrosyan used the Armenian National Movement’s “Fight, Fight until
the end” slogan. In his opinion, that slogan said all that needed to be
said. A fight had begun in 1988 and that fight needed to be carried out
to the end. The voter would listen to this slogan and, by instinct he
would raise his arm high. But the voter did not accept that as a slogan
because the campaign slogan that he knew needed to be some kind of
promise-a promise for life, prosperity and success. It had been only
20-25 days since Armenia declared its independence and it still hadn’t
been recognized by the rest of the world. The Soviet Union had
disappeared, but it still had not collapsed. In this situation, the
most rational slogan that the movement’s suggested candidate could
bring up was the one by the Armenian National Movement. The only thing
that could be talked about during a time when everything was
indecisive, when there was a war going on, when there was a blockade
and when one part of the country had been hurt by the earthquake was
demagogy. If I am not mistaken, on October 16, 1991, Levon
Ter-Petrosyan was elected president by 86% of the votes. The people
trusted one man who had to rule the country in the most difficult five
years for Armenia. After getting elected, there were many occasions
when the president made direct speeches and claimed that he would not
make any promises. During the five years of Ter-Petrosyan’s presidency,
success and misery went hand in hand. Success was in general and it was
not perceived by the people, however, misery was more of a personal
misfortune. Personal misfortunes such as loss of property,
unemployment, the cold weather, starvation and other privations were
closely connected with the authorities. The person guilty for the
personal misfortunes was blaming himself for the 1988 Armenian National
Movement and for electing a president with the slogan “Fight, fight
until the end” in 1991. The opposition kept on adding salt to the wound
of the people and never gave a reason for how the misfortunes happened
or where they came from. The opposition never compared the misfortunes
with the successes. Under these conditions, it seemed impossible for
the first president of the Republic of Armenia to be re-elected or
occupy the office for the second term. What was the candidate suggested
by the movement going to say to the public? The slogan “Fight, fight
until the end” was not going to work any more and the president was not
used to making promises that he could not keep. All the unrealistic
promises, starting from the economy, the salaries, the tripling
pensions up to the saving deposits, had been made by the opposition for
several years and still continue to be made. Every time the opposition
makes a promise, there are always believers. The slogan chosen by
Ter-Petrosyan for the 1996 election campaign was, I think, not like any
other. There have been other elections after 1996 in Armenia, thousands
of slogans have been put up everywhere and broadcasted on television,
however, but none of those slogans have expressed anything besides a
simple promise.
“Victory, stability, progress.” This was Ter-Petrosyan’s slogan for the
1996 election campaign. The words are set in the order of progression.
This was one of the few slogans that I had heard where the slogan
itself consists of two speeches, one promise and a warning that the
slogan prior to this one had expired. Basically, the slogan “Fight,
fight until the end” was no longer in need. That fight has led us to
victory and stability. Now it is time for progress. However, victory
and stability are high values. Nobody thought about what would happen
if we lost the Karabagh war, nobody thought about what would happen if
our country were to become unstable and pulled into civil conflicts,
just like the neighboring countries. The people loved Ter-Petrosyan,
but they did not like his principles. The people were demanding the
president to sacrifice some things for causing them pain and suffering,
but the president just “didn’t get the picture”. Let’s imagine the year
1996, when Ter-Petrosyan removed the Prime Minister from office and
turned him into a scapegoat, or take Vano Siradeghyan who, despite his
work done towards stabilizing the country and keeping it that way, was
not perceived by the people. Can you imagine what would happen in
September, what chaos would arouse within the framework of the
opposition, and how many votes would go to Ter-Petrosyan? Can you
imagine what would happen if the president removed the Prime Minister
from office? I can’t even imagine that. To be honest, I don’t imagine
the other two either because the first president of the Republic of
Armenia did not like to play with the people’s emotions. That is why
the people did not forgive him. “Victory, stability, progress.” This
was a serious slogan for the newly emerging country. All one needed to
do was to come to senses and think that if everything did not go the
way as planned, then the progress would be interrupted and the others
would come. And they did.