“Some people will probably lose their jobs as a result of this announcement because this topic has become a matter of discussion recently, but I think that we have to think about the reputation of our country,” said President of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh Arkadi Ghukasyan during a press conference and announced that he’s not getting ready to run for president the third time.
“Recently, there have been many statements about me wanting to run for president of Karabakh for the third time. In particular, there are rumors flying around that the Constitution is being approved for that reason. I wouldn’t pay attention to those rumors if it weren’t for two principles: the reputation of Nagorno Karabakh as a country with democratic values and the significant role that the Constitution plays in Karabakh. As a citizen of Karabakh and president, there is nothing more important for me than the international recognition of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh and the structuring of the new legal state. During my term as president and before that as minister of foreign affairs, I have strived and will always do everything I can to make these processes faster by taking advantage of my power, opportunities, knowledge and experience. As you can see, it’s very hard for Armenians to establish democracy and all the hardships we have faced in order to form a civil society. It’s no secret that I’m happy to see that Karabakh has taken the challenges given to us thanks to the people, who have supported the president all this time. I have always said this and think that there couldn’t have been an alternative. One of the main preconditions for building a legal state is the Constitution and all the political parties of Karabakh are of the same opinion. During my pre-election campaign, I promised to help form the Constitution of Karabakh and pass it. Unfortunately, some objective issues concerning the Karabakh conflict didn’t allow me to have the Constitution pass ahead of time. I must say that Karabakh’s enemies are doing everything they can to not have Karabakh pass a Constitution. However, I feel obligated to fulfill my promise made to the people and pass the Constitution. The only thing I lament is that there are some people who misunderstand my intentions and actions on purpose. I assure you that I have never thought about running for president for the third time. Even if I had that right, that doesn’t mean that I will take advantage of that right. For me, moral standards are the same as legal norms. As president and a human being, I have done everything I could to continue the process of democratization in Karabakh. It hasn’t always been easy. So, what was the reason for putting everything on a scale and being prepared if people have to start doubting the values we talk about and throw down the reputation of Nagorno Karabakh?” said Arkadi Ghukasyan. The president of Karabakh then said that he’s not at all “worried” over not being part of the Karabakh authorities and that power has never ended in itself for him. “If I wanted to run for president again, then I could have taken a shorter route and passed a law allowing me to do that in the parliament. In fact, Karabakh parliament MPs have talked to me about this several times during the previous and present parliamentary sessions. But I have always been against it because that kind of approach goes against my principles. Nobody has the right to doubt that the democratization process will stop in Karabakh. This is another reason why we need to pass the Constitution in order to prevent anything like that to happen. I am certain that Nagorno Karabakh will once again show the world that it has a high democracy level and will use its opportunity to be a civilized power, something which not many recognized post-Soviet countries have been able to achieve. On this occasion, I consider it very important to have free and fair presidential elections in Karabakh next year,” said Arkadi Ghukasyan.
At the end of the conference, Ghukasyan hoped that there would no longer be any rumors, which may hurt the reputation of Nagorno Karabakh and change the society’s opinion about the actual goals for passing the Constitution of Karabakh. “What will the president do after the 2007 presidential elections?” In response to this question, Ghukasyan said that he has no comment, “but we’ll think about it together.”