– PPA, which is currently one of the key oppositional forces, is quite passive and doesn’t come up with any of its initiatives. The impression is that the PPA is willing o participate in all the meetings it is invited. Why doesn’t PPA take the lead?
– A quite interesting situation has been created in Armenia recently. The impression is that if anybody takes the lead or says one thing earlier than anybody else, he/she wins. If somebody says he organizes a meeting it doesn’t mean that he’s the leader. And even if you come up with great ideas they don’t mention it any more. They only mention the name of the person, who’s originally organized the meetings (means Paruyr Hayrikyan – L.S.). That’s why there cannot be any issue of leadership here. At this moment these meetings or consultations mean a lot because we being an experienced political party have gone through a long road together with many other parties. We perfectly realize who is who and what they have done in past. And now it’s quite easy to figure out whether you are going to be able to continue the road with the people you perfectly know. But in Armenia certain processes take place and quite rapidly. It seems the situation is passive but in fact there is nothing like that. Very active processes take place both in Armenia and outside its borders, which in the eyes of many people are not quite visible. Yes, of course, we realize that we are a key oppositional force and have gained considerably more votes than others. We are quite realistic about our capacity and don’t ream of extra ambitions. We are not in euphoria. We want to be very practical and realistic about what’s going on in our country. We are trying to establish an oppositional pole in Armenia, which will be able to provide the victory of its candidate during the presidential elections 2008.
– It’s quite obvious that several oppositional forces are going to be formed (political forces gathered around Vazgen Manukyan, P. Hayrikyan’s initiative, which is going to nominate a joint candidate, supporters of Levon Ter-Petrosyan). The opposition once again will not be able to run with a joint candidate. As PPA chairman Stepan Demirchyan has announced that he doesn’t have any ambitions to run for presidency, has PPA yet figured out which pole it’s going to support?
– There has not been a clear statement about Demirchyan’s refusal of nomination. Of course each politician has certain ambitions. However these ambitions must be directed to concrete goals. And the goal is to change the created situation. In this regard it may be necessary to yield your candidature to someone else, who’d be able to unite other forces. We are ready to make a compromise like that in case if it’s necessary. Our general goal is to change the current situation. As of which pole we are going to support I cannot answer that because the media may interpret in a marred way. Demirchyan cooperates with all the oppositional forces. Many oppositional parties haven’t yet decided which pole they wish to belong to.
– Under what circumstances will the PPA participate in the elections on its own?
– We haven’t discussed this issue that. But one thing we can state for sure. The parties, which claim they are going to nominate their own candidate and participate in the elections on their own or give promises and think they can do much are subject to failure. People shouldn’t believe them. When running on their own politicians re trying to solve their individual issues which can also be considered as selfish behavior. I don’t know. It’s impossible to recover legality in this country on your own. This is also a way to confuse the society, the people. That’s why we think that it’s senseless to run alone. There is the experience and demand of uniting now. Because of that demand in 1999 we have established the “Unity” alliance. Because of that same reason we have established the “Justice” alliance in 2003. Now there is even more necessity for that.
– By judging form the positive attitude of Stepan Demirchyan about Levon Ter-Petrosyan after the meting with him can we assume that Demirchyan is going to protect Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s candidature?
– Politics is so much more complicated than many of us think. Using the word “if” in politics is not a very correct thing to do. We cannot be so incorrect even to ourselves. Ter-Petrosyan hasn’t yet made any statement about his nomination and we don’t know his standpoint. Besides he hasn’t even spoken publicly about the processes taking place in Armenia. Demirchyan has only mentioned that he welcomes Ter-Petrosyan’s activeness. He meant his visits to marzes. Besides that Demirchyan said what’s irrefutable. The experience which the first President of Armenia has, is very valuable for all countries and the use of his potential would be very useful regardless of his nomination. The rest of the answer of your question will be clear only after Ter-Petrosyan officially announces about hi nomination.
– Why doesn’t PPA take part in Ter-Petrosyan’s marz visits?
– Why should we?
– Other parties, which don’t mind his nomination, are taking part in his marz visits. And you as mentioned signify his potential.
– Will PPA’s participation increase that potential? As much as I know they pay visits with narrow group of people. I don’t understand why we should participate especially when it’s not even official campaign period. When we go to marzes we don’t invite anybody. We wouldn’t even invite our alliance partners in past. I don’t even know what the purpose of these visits is. One thing I can guess is that Ter-Petrosyan wishes to see everything with his own eyes as he hasn’t been out talking to people for awhile. His only information came from his loyalists. I think these visits are only aimed t satisfying their personal needs and curiosity. When saying “their” I mean also the ANM but not the PPA.