I have numerously said that the February 19 election will be crucial for the future of Armenia. I have said that neither the opposition powers supporting the authorities nor those supporting Ter-Petrosyan will agree with their loss even if they lose in good and legally organized election. Sine 1996 the opposition relates to elections as means of “a revolution” within the law, and the authorities explained that the reason that laws were being violated was the fact that there had to be stability and security in the country. Now we have to stress that Armenia is not a legal state. The corruption system in he government of Armenia has changed all the fields of our life, any references to the law are useless as the law-enforcement bodies are occupied by certain powers and the law is applied in a selective manner. Hardly the disputable problems arisen from the presidential election in this situation can find a solution satisfying the parties in the Armenian judicial system. In this situation a method of solution can be pressure by the police on Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s supporters, as a result of which either there may be change of authorities or the authorities may succeed in pressing down the most active political powers and activists supporting Ter-Petrosyan. Both these patterns are unacceptable and bad for Armenia. In a word, at first glance it seems that the main problem of this situation after the election cannot be solved by legal means, power application may result in worsening the relations and trust between the society and government, which can bring to very bad results, inclusively a risk of civil war and collapse of the state system. I have to emphasize that now both the authorities and the opposition are equally responsible for providing security in the country and not injecting intolerance and enmity in the society. Maybe the conflicting political powers don’t agree with my point, but I believe the only solution out of this situation is direct dialogue to accomplish the following:
a) set as a primary post-election objective the need to fight the corruption grown in the government since independence and build a state structure, which is independent from the business, is democratic, transparent and accountable,
b) the opposition’s role should be defined clearly in this process. I think that it will be good to give some supervisory positions in the law-enforcement bodies, justice system and in the field of budget expenses to the opposition. Such appointments can de made in other fields too.
Only such approach can create trust between the different poles of the society, as well as trust among the citizens toward to most active political powers and the state. The existing situation is also a result of the fact that for many years there has not been open and team dialogues between the largest political powers in the country. People are separated from each other according to their political stance and described as insiders and outsiders. We are artificially dividing the society into small groups which are full of enmity toward each other and they remember the law only when they need it. We should make a line to separate enmity and intolerance from the ideas, which are mutually acceptable for building a state of our dream. I believe that if there is a political dialogue, we can also find a solution for the Karabakh conflict. All other versions cannot bring to positive results. If the parties want to negotiate and entrust me to prepare an agenda and organize direct meeting of the parties, I am ready to do my best to find common ideas of mutual understanding and trust.
22.02.2008
Yerevan
