We can measure the efficiency of the president’s meetings with political party leaders based on the recent two meetings. If the recent initiative of inviting 64 political parties to discuss the Armenian-Turkish relations had not took place, no one would know that there were 64 parties in Armenia, and people would remember the recent two important events only. Such meetings cannot be serious and efficient because when writing the principles of Madrid and even the protocol on developing Armenian-Turkish relations no one managed to ask the political parties. It won’t be serious to believe that Serzh Sargsyan really cares about the opinions of Armenian politicians, even though a lot of people have spoken about it in media.
During the meeting the president spoke an idea, which is due to attention: “I think the process should be transparent and open to the public, because the tension that exists between the two nations is not situational and is not artificial, and this tension is not a war of authorities… This tension is a result of a historical event, the darkest page of our history, i.e. the Genocide committed in the Ottoman Turkey.” According to Serzh Sargsyan, in order to develop relations the two countries need not only the political will of the leaders, but the will of the societies as well. “Otherwise the settlement will appear in a deadlock and the hostility and conflicts between the two nations will grow,” said Serzh Sargsyan. As we understood from his speech, he cares about the society’s opinion.
However I don’t believe so. The most important and the cheapest thing in our country is the society’s opinion. In order to respect the opinion of the society one should respect the society itself first. The marred elections and the results are a fact showing that the society is not respected. The approach of the authorities to the society reminds about the approach of Europeans to their slaves in the 17-18th centuries: they were changing their clothes in the presence of their slaves or doing things which usually people are not doing in the presence of others.
It is clear that by referring to the public opinion or gathering abut fifty people in a hall and meeting them the president wants to legitimize the decision he is going to take concerning the relations between Armenia and Turkey. Even this event shows that there is no clear vision on what will happen later if the border is opened or what they are going to do aftermath. Such meetings when the presidents counts the opinions of people with tired faces or almost forgotten by the society shows that the president is not confident. Now let’s discuss the issue of the society, which opinion they say is important. It is a long time that the Armenian and Turkish societies don’t feel hostility against each other. Yes, we, the Armenians, are waiting for the moment when the Turks will confess and accept the fact that in the beginning of the 20th century there was genocide not only in Ottoman Turkey but in the entire territory of Turkey and about two million Armenians were killed. The factor of Orhan Pamouk was very important too, when thousands of Turks collected signatures stating that they are ready apologize to Armenians. Let’s remember the reaction of the Turkish progressive society after the murder of Hrand Dink, the economic cooperation of the ordinary citizens of the two countries, and the advantage Antalya has for Armenians. These facts come to prove that there is no enmity between the two societies any more. Such enmity did not exist even during the meeting of the Turkish president Gull and Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan in his office in Yerevan. Maybe we are mistaken, but the impression is that the conflict of interests that the president speaks about in facts exists between the authorities of the two countries but not the societies. In other words, it seems to be between people who have certain political and economic interests. Let’s remember Zoryan’s story entitled “At the well”, during which our soldiers and the German soldiers get thirsty during the war, thus they announce a ceasefire for a short time and they drink water at the same well, and they even become friends. Shortly they are ordered to fight and the situation changes and they have to kill each other. It means that ordinary citizens don’t want to hate each other, even they don’t want to commit actions as a result of such enmity. It doesn’t concern the top authorities.
Such enmity the society now has toward the inner policy of the government, and the foreign policy as well. The president of the country who alleges the opinion of the society is important to him has a part and is guilty in this situation of widespread impudence and impunity targeted at moral annihilation of the society (only the elections are enough to claim it’s true). Furthermore, the report of the parliamentary ad hoc looking into the events of March 1 shows that the opinion of the society has been and is still ignored too. In other words, the society does not need in such sweet words. Such sweet words would be better for and appreciated by those party leaders, who spent five hours from their free schedule and had the opportunity to see the president from several meters or at least be shown on TV in the same room with the president.