National Assembly MP and politician Hmayak Hovhannisyan is certain that the anti-criminal movement started by the opposition can’t be serious based on the fact that it’s too personalized. He’s certain that if there are no systematic reforms, then the same thing will happen no matter who comes to power.
– In your opinion, is the opposition’s anti-criminal movement going to be effective, or is it simply yet another thing to show that the opposition is doing something? The oppositionist themselves have declared that the authorities should be involved in that because they have all the resources, while the opposition has nothing.
– If the society and political figures accuse the minister or any high-ranking state official of corruption and if that given person claims that he doesn’t see any problems with that because they don’t have evidence, what can we do? So, who is supposed to catch them in the act? Of course, police and the public prosecutors, but they’re not doing anything; they are not fighting against corruption. The state officials don’t understand that the citizens are not supposed to prove that they are corrupted. If the people don’t trust them and suspect them of being corrupted, then they must resign, after all, public prosecutors have never revealed any cases throughout the years. Everyone is talking about corruption, including the coalition, but no prosecutor or police officer has arrested this or that person for corruption. It’s like trying to find a black cat in a dark room. But the society has to turn the light on and perhaps the police and prosecutors will feel a sense of responsibility. True, there are countries where the police fight against corruption, but has any minister of Armenia been prosecuted in the past years? No.
– Can we say that the opposition is fighting against the prosecutors and police, so that they can get back to doing their job?
– My fight is against criminals because as of today, only criminals and people with intentions of committing crime are appointed as state officials. They’re untouchable and proof of that is the fact that there are people committing crimes who are trying to become state officials. For them, the National Assembly is a place for them to feel safe.
– You’re also an MP. Do you feel secure in some way?
– If you’re asking me, I have nothing to fear. I’m a political figure, but I don’t run a business. I’m one of the few political figures of Armenia that has power, but doesn’t have businesses. But I’m involved in politics because that’s what I do. But as soon as they get rid of a state official, they also start persecuting him, for example, Martin Hovhannisyan and Taron Sahakyan…they lost their properties and sued. Each member of the business-elite has his own opinion and they are trying to get rid of political figures like yours truly and are trying to take hold of the political field of Armenia and establish dictatorship. That’s why I joined the anti-criminal movement. But I must say that it’s chaotic. There are so many people involved, with different opinions, there are people claiming that it’s enough to remove Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan out of the political field and hang him in order to get rid of criminals, while others tend to differ. I also disagree. I don’t think that we should personalize the issue. I don’t think it has anything to do with the president or the defense minister. I say that if there are no systematic reforms, this will go on no matter who comes to power. Many political figures make promises for reforms, but everyone knows that they forget about those promises as soon as they come to power. So, I don’t really personalize the issue; it’s up to the society, which needs to be more active, make systematic reforms, stand up for its rights and make the corrupted officials be held responsible.
– Based on what you said, I can deduce that the anti-criminal movement will be a failure due to the fact that it’s personalized. Am I right?
– The fact that this movement is personalized is expressed as the desire of some political powers and figures, but partly because it’s easy to start a movement like that. It’s easier to get rid of people rather than the regime, which as we Armenians have seen, was very difficult. There were people who used to say that things would be better if former president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan stepped down. But the passing of time proved that it was easier to get rid of Levon than getting rid of the regime. However, there are political figures that like to choose the right path to take, but it’s really easy to personalize the issue and point figures at this or that person and hold him responsible.
– So, is the opposition eating the “bait” given by the authorities and was this the sole purpose of starting the movement?
– I can’t speak on behalf of all the oppositionists.
– But you’re one of them.
– Yes, I believe that there are deeper issues. Alexander Spendaryan had said once during an interview: it’s time for the good guys to come to power and get rid of the political figures. This is a problem because the person who said this wasn’t involved in the political field.
– Aren’t the accusations that the anti-criminal movement is centralized and only the Armenian Republican party is involved in that and it’s trying to find others but can’t accurate?
– The “Prosperous Armenia” party declares that it shouldn’t have any oligarch or criminal party members. I don’t know whether or not it will be like that, but there is some kind of preliminary accusation, you just can’t stand up and accuse. The people who come up to me and say Hmayak, your politics is nothing compared to the money I have, those people are my opponents. They can’t make decisions. They’re just people who are after the money. That should be left up to political figures like Hmayak Hovhannisyan. I’m not saying that they shouldn’t enter the National Assembly, but there should be proportion.
– Is there a plan for the movement? Do the organizers know what this will lead to and will it be effective?
– The most truthful advice that I can give to Robert Kocharyan and Serge Sargsyan is to lead the movement. If they do this, I am more than certain that the society will support them. The persons are not to blame, but rather the person who shouldn’t be the judge to solve problems for the oligarchs, so that the political figure doesn’t serve the oligarch, give money or disband the party or the faction just because the oligarchs say so, or move from the opposition to the authorities’ side. Things like this shouldn’t be allowed and the people are not to blame. I don’t think that our political figures are monsters; everyone has paved his own path and they love the country, it’s just that this is the way it is for the time being. Serge Sargsyan will become this huge figure, just like Vazgen Sargsyan was at the time. We have to change the situation. Vazgen did everything you can imagine so that he could get rid of that image of a big figure, but it didn’t work out. Now the same goes for Serge Sargsyan.