Head of the Armenian Republican party Andranik Markaryan doesn’t think that he will have less power by replacing the board president with Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan. However, there are people who think that from now on, the “person in charge” will be Serge Sargsyan and Andranik Markaryan will simply go along with everything.
“I’m not going to have less power because the party charter clearly defines the rights and responsibilities that the board president and head of the party have. The board president coordinates the board’s work while being the deputy head of the party,” said Andranik Markaryan during an interview with journalists.
Journalists asked Markaryan about his opinion on the recent debates concerning the Defense Minister, claiming that he can’t be a party member because the defense minister ranking is not political and that it is prohibited based on the RA “law about parties”.
“That’s not right.. Being a minister is a political ranking and not a military one. According to the Armenian Constitution, the government is formed based on the political parties and it’s obvious that all ministers have a political ranking. They’re free to be politically orientated or choose which party they would like to be members of in order to be nominated as government officials later on,” said Markaryan.
It turned out that President Robert Kocharyan is acquainted with the Republican party’s future plans. A. Markaryan assured that the Republican party and the president have been allies since 1998 and Kocharyan had to know about that.
– Mr. Markaryan, Robert Kocharyan didn’t take part in the CIS summit in Moscow because he was sick. What’s your opinion on that?
– I’m sorry that he was sick. I can only wish him health.
– Will the Republican party nominate a candidate for the 2008 Armenian presidential elections?
– It depends on the parliamentary elections. It’s too early to talk about that, but the party will nominate a candidate for sure.
– Which party do you consider a competitor?
– All parties are competing. I can’t separate one from the other and say that the given party is the only competitor. All pro-government and oppositional parties are going to compete against each other.
– Since nearly all great Armenian political figures have become members of the Republican party, is it possible to see Robert Kocharyan become a member too? Has there been any discussion?
– We have never faced this kind of issue and there hasn’t been a discussion. I wouldn’t say that all great political figures of Armenia are Republican.
– Do you think that we will see heated-up politics in the fall?
– To be honest with you, if the climate continues like this, we may see poor harvest in the fall. However, nothing will happen in Armenia’s political field.
– The number of Republicans is growing as Armenia approaches the parliamentary elections. Aren’t you worried that the party will be forced to “minimize” that number before the elections?
– During my term as prime minister, I had the chance to have 100-200,000 members, but I only kept 25-27,000. Today, we have 30,000 members. We always bring in the new. I can say that there is a balance of the old and the new.
– Don’t you think that Serge Sargsyan will become the actual leader of the Republican party after the convention?
– No, I don’t think so because the party has a charter and customs. Nobody has the right to do whatever he wants and be a dictator for the thousands of party members who have been Republicans for years. Let’s not make predictions about the tie between Serge Sargsyan, Andranik Markaryan and the Republican party.
– Aren’t you worried over the fact that most of the Republicans today have different outlooks and may leave the party just like the “Republic” and “Rule of Law” party members did?
– No, if you recall, twelve members left the party back in 2000 and they were from the Land Defenders Union, but that didn’t have an impact. If some people decide to leave the party in the future, we have enough experience to pick up the pieces and move on.
– Each time the former authorities talk about the Karabakh conflict, they say that they wasted all these years but didn’t achieve anything.
– We haven’t wasted our time. There hasn’t been a war during these years, Karabakh’s economy is growing, the country is secure, Armenia is progressing and integrating into the international community… I don’t see regress. Yes, the Republicans have always been in favor of settling the conflict by the phased version because we must know when and how the settlement will be. I know what’s going on and I think we are on the right path. If we were to take the wrong path, then the Azeri would agree with the proposals of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen. The conflict negotiations process is in a deadlock thanks to the Azeri and we have to be straightforward with our demands.
– Kiro Manoyan, who is a member of the coalitional ARF party, has announced that if Robert Kocharyan signs any document returning the liberated territories of Karabakh, then the ARF will “pressure the president”. What will the Republican party do?
– I agree with Kiro, but we can never leave the phased version aside and say we are compromising. If we are making compromises, then we are dealing with a number of issues, which must lead us somewhere, including the referendum, the Armenia-Karabakh border and most importantly, the issue concerning the future status of Karabakh. Karabakh’s status must be determined before conducting a referendum and then the issue concerning peacekeeping forces and territories. If we exclude all these issues and only focus on the return of territories, then it’s obvious that we will all be against it. Besides, the president will never take that step. Throughout the past eight years, he has done everything to make sure the conflict is settled based on the phased plan. Currently, we are dealing with the Karabakh status and Azerbaijan doesn’t accept the proposal made by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen. This benefits Armenia. The fact that Azerbaijan doesn’t even want to continue the negotiations means that we can solve our issues on our own.