During his November 15 interview to the Russian Regnum the head of Unity Club Smbat Karakhanyan has made several interesting “revelations,” which surprisingly didn’t have any effect or response in Armenian political field. And the opinions of Karakhanyan are interesting because his personality has become quite important for the Armenian National Congress. During almost all the ANC rallies the latter refers to the statements and viewpoints of Karakhanyan, his activity, by trying to create an impression that he has a big popularity in the Russian “establishment” and by that he can affect with his so-call role the Russian politics in relation to Armenia and that he can direct the Russian authorities in relation to the Armenian leadership. That being said, the silence of the Armenian political circles and especially opposition regarding the last statements of Karakhanyan, is mildly said astounding. And this was done in the background of the fact that the “Russian curator” of the ANC Karakhanyan spoke about the possible successor of Ter-Petrosyan and assured that the ANC is a totally pro-Russian organization.
Concerning the rumors that during the next presidential election the ANC leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan may not wish to run for presidency S. Karakhanyan said, “It is not about ordinary elections now. Theoretically everybody who is with Ter-Petrosyan can substitute him during elections. But we, the Unity, believe that he should form a youth platform, recruit new young professionals in the ANC who are not connected with the existing system. The ANC has great opportunities to come to power. Recently they spoke of Levon Zurabyan’s candidacy. He is respected and he clearly understands the existing and future situations. Based on Ter-Petrosyan’s speeches and L.Zurabyan’s visits to Moscow, we may assume that the ANC is totally a pro-Russian organization”. In consideration of Karakhanyan’s importance in the ANC we don’t understand why the Congress does not comment on his announcements. Yesterday somebody said jokingly that maybe he is respected so much in the ANC that his ideas are not discussed. However, our conversation with the leader of the Republic party being a part of the ANC proves the vice versa as Aram Sargsyan said, “I don’t want to comment on S.Karakhanyan’s announcements. Everyone has an opinion, and I don’t know any politician named Smbat Karakhanyan, I don’t know him, thus I can’t say anything about him,” said A.Sargsyan. In answer to our statement that anyway people in the ANC know Karakhanyan very well and his statements are accepted as the truth he said, “Smbat Karakhanyan, Poghos Poghosyan, Matevos Matevosyan – all these people can have different opinions about the ANC, but I don’t have to comment on their opinions. Who is he? Is he a party? Is he a member of the ANC or what? I don’t have anything to say.” The leader of the PPA Stepan Demirchyan gave a very laconic answer to our petition to comment on Karakhanyan’s role and announcements and said, “I don’t know”.
The secretary of another ANC member party SDHK Lyudmila Sargsyan said that she had not only read S. Karakhanyan’s interview but knows her too. “S.Karakhanyan works in Moscow and he may make such announcement but still it doesn’t mean that the ANC is pro-Russian. The ANC is neither pro-Russian nor pro-American. The thing is that we simply see Russia’s role in the region and understand what Russia’s role is in the process of Karabakh conflict settlement. Accordingly, it is natural that we are trying to develop adequate relations with Russia. Yes, our party is pro-Russian, but being a pro-Russian political power we first of all respect the interests of our own country. But if Russia abuses the interests of Armenia, we will revise our policy.” L.Sargsyan believes that if S.Karakhanyan did not have concrete information and was not directly connected with the Russian authorities, he would not make such “irresponsible” announcement. “It is clear that he is informed about the opinion of the Russian authorities, and I don’t exclude the possibility that the Russian authorities are interested in letting this information out through Karakhanyan,” said L.Sargsyan.
In consideration of the contradicting opinions of the ANC party leaders concerning the possible connection of the Unity club of Moscow with the Russian authorities, we asked the head of the New Times party Aram Karapetyan to comment as he always says that he has close ties with the Russian political elite. “I don’t personally know Karakhanyan but I have heard about him and have read his works and I think he is doing a useful job, he doesn’t do bad things. I think that some of his ideas are close to the reality like the ideas of any politician. I think Karakhanyan’s interviews and materials are important for the Armenian opposition to show in Russia. But it is hard to say that the ANC is a pro-Russian organization because it involves many people and organizations and I would not make such statement. It is also hard to imagine that about Ter-Petrosyan either. I think L.Ter-Petrosyan cannot be pro-Russian. He can show that he is pro-Russian. From the point of view of tactics he may show that, but it is hard to imagine him really being pro-Russian. In his speeches he has always advocated for the pro-western policy. I wonder if the ANC or S.Karakhanyan are for the agreement of the soviet. There are issues like this that can show whether you have the same basis or you may look toward the direction of Europe and NATO.” In answer to the question why the Russian authorities are looking for a substitute for Ter-Petrosyan the leader of the New Times said, “I don’t know but if it is true, the reasons may theoretically be his age and the geopolitical orientation. If they are looking for such man in Russia, it means that they don’t believe Ter-Petrosyan is that much pro-Russian notwithstanding whatever he says. This is the logical conclusion. But I think they have neither looked for such man nor found.”