– The law says something different; it says that the armed forces must be non-partisan and neutral. That’s exactly the way it is. My election didn’t change the Republican party. There is no difference because I have been working with the Republican party and was the second on the Republican party list during the last parliamentary elections; the only thing that has changed is the fact that this collaboration is formal now. I don’t see any problems here. The positions of all the ministers, as well as the position of defense minister are political positions. I didn’t do anything illegal.
– Rumor has it that before joining the Republican party, many parties wanted you to join them.
– To be honest with you, I haven’t heard anything like that. Besides that, I wouldn’t accept any other offers because I have been working with this party for a long time and I feel much closer to this party.
– Several years ago defense minister Vagharshak Harutyunyan was fired for getting involved in politics. What’s the difference between you and him?
– You can see the difference when you take a look at our structure; they are army officers. Our legislation answers all those questions clearly and I don’t have to go into details.
– What do you expect from the visit of Matthew Bryza and the proposal of Lelush?
– This is a process that started a long time ago. There have been many similar visits throughout the past eight years. I don’t have any new expectations.
– You spoke about competitors in your speech. Whom do you mean by that?
– Frankly, I don’t see any competitors in Armenia. I have more serious competitors and I must worry about them. We’ll see how the competition goes. I think that currently we have begun a process which will be fruitful only after the next 3-4 months. We’ll see.
– Is it possible to see surprises in Armenia’s political field soon?
– I am not preparing any surprises for anyone. We are going to work for ourselves, we are going to work for our party, for our people, and if there are any surprises, we will try not to get surprised.
– Do you think that “Prosperous Armenia” party and the Republican party may have a clash of interests in the future?
-There are no reasons for that and I don’t understand why people think so. We have our own plan and we will work accordingly. We don’t care about what others do.
– Don’t you think Armenian politics today is much like that of 1998? I mean how the Republicans advocated the defense minister for so long until he finally became a strong, political figure.
– First, the situations can’t be compared. Second, Armenian defense ministers have never had any other status. I have always been a political figure working for the people. I don’t think that any other political figure has made more contracts and spoken to more journalists than me.
– You didn’t mention the Republican party’s allies.
– It is too soon to talk about partners. Besides that, the Republicans already have their partners; they have consolidated their power and made a coalition. As for the others, time will show whether they are allies or not.
– Mr. Sargsyan, who is going to be the most oppositional party for the Republicans?
– Parties cannot be oppositional for parties; they can be oppositional for the authorities. If you mean competitors, I don’t know, only time will show.
– Can we consider you as an official leader of the Republican party and are you going to open a branch in Karabakh?
– No. I can be considered as one of the leaders of that party. As for Karabakh, I don’t think there is a reason to do that.
– Do you think that two powerful politicians such as Andranik Margaryan and you may both “survive” in the same party?
– Armenian society needs to have strong political parties in order to make the right choices. I think that we have formed the base of that party.
– There are rumors saying that President Robert Kocharyan is doing well and his health was not the reason why he refused to take part in the non-official CIS countries’ summit. What do you have to say about that? Don’t you think that you may end up the same way Vazgen Sargsyan did?
– There is no need to talk nonsense… As for Robert Kocharyan’s visit, the people spreading those rumors aren’t speaking the truth because the president was actually sick. I can assure that.
– Don’t you think that the president had to express his opinion about the current processes?
– I think that the president will respond after the end of his short vacation.
– Do you think it’s possible to see the collaboration between the Republican and “Prosperous Armenia” parties?
– Why not?-anything is possible.
– Recently, one Armenian newspaper wrote that you violated the president-minister subordination.
– I think that either the reporter or the person that brought them that article was drunk. I haven’t violated the subordination during the past 18 years and I am not going to either. There is a good formula: if you want people to obey you, you should obey too. Please tell those people that
– An Armenian political figure often compares you to one of the great political figures who prepares cases for everyone. What do you think about that?
– I don’t like comparing myself with great people because they are the ones that go down in history and it’s not good to be compared to them. I don’t like to be compared to anyone for that matter.