– In one of your recent interviews you have mentioned that you support the idea of the return of the former President of Armenian Robert Kocharyan to active and big politics. No matter how string your arguments are don’t you think that the society hasn’t forgotten the events of October 27 and March 1 occurred during his tenure?
– It is simply forbidden to forget about those events. And as long as it’s not fully investigated and revealed and all the culprits are not punished the doubts of the society cannot be redressed regarding the inequity of the investigation of the case. In the meantime it is a pity that the tragic events become playing cards for many politicians. Back in the day Robert Kocharyan was the President of the country and Serzh Sargsyan was the minister of National Security and Gagik Jhangiryan was the military prosecutor. Now we have a totally different situation. Kocharyan is a former president, Sargsyan is the current president and Jhangiryan is the coordinator of the legal team of the ANC. A question is originated. Why do we know as much as we knew during the tenure of Kocharyan regarding the tragic events? If back in the day Jhangiryan wasn’t able to open the parentheses then who hinders him to do so now? If Sargsyan wasn’t going to publicize anything against Kocharyan then why doesn’t he do so if the motive of Kocharyan’s return is evident? And if the other wings don’t have anything to say or claim then it doesn’t bring them honor to hide behind the skirts of journalists and try to express something with their lips. One thing is clear for sure. If during these years all the players of politics have been in Armenia but nothing was revealed then it is assumable that the actual culprits of the tragic events are currently outside the country or are some external forces. As of March 1 events I should first of all recall my December 12 speech of 2008, during which I noted that no matter how hard Sargsyan is trying to insulate himself from the second president by doing it with the help of others these arguments are not very convincing. During the same speech I have also suggested understanding whether the incumbent president is able to insulate from the former president. Is it possible to imagine that the law-enforcers would fire at the people with the order of the outgoing president and that Sargsyan wouldn’t have any involvement in this process? Why should they have maintained Sargsyan’s power at the expense of blood if the latter wasn’t to guarantee their safety and security and perhaps even more than that? Let me cite a paragraph from my speech, “If they think that on March 1 Robert Kocharyan had illegally imprisoned certain people then who would hinder Sargsyan to release these people after his inauguration on April 9. After the elections of February 19 in order to cease the unlicensed rallies lasting for 10 days certain force was applied during the tenure of Kocharyan. If the incumbent president was against that he would at least not forbid the oppositionists to walk in the Liberty Square not to mention organizing rallies? Moreover, whoever would blame the incumbent government of the events of March 1 Sargsyan would support them by offering high posts and medals.”
– Only the former chief of police Hayk Harutyunyan was fired.
– Yes, Hayk Harutyunyan, who is currently he head of the Penitentiary Department of the Ministry of Justice of Armenia. So only the ones, who are not well aware of the whole system, may think that this is a toppling from the post. So this is a quite familiar and desirable post for Hayk Harutyunyan.
– I was just curious if you still are loyal to your viewpoints expressed years ago.
– Moreover, I insist that and I am even ready to sign under it. As evidence to my words I’d like to remind you of my November 11 article of 2008, in which I mentioned that Sargsyan is the weakest president of the third republic and that he’s even weaker compared to himself. Back in the day he had more influence as a minister than as a president. Let me cite another paragraph from my article, “When a president with a linguist’s major speaks to his teammates in the language of compromises they no matter what will express their complaints behind certain walls. So there was the circulation of certain names – Vardan Oskanyan, Samvel Babayan, Prosperous Armenia, ARF, part of RPA, by claiming that they wish the return of Kocharyan to politics. I should say that this is impossible without the wish and will of Sargsyan. And now even if Kocharyan doesn’t do anything and Sargsyan on the other hand works all day his positions will still be weaker compared to Kocharyan. The reason is that the number of Kocharyan’s loyalists and fans are increasing in the team of Sargsyan.”
– In your opinion, to what extent can the geopolitical standpoints of political forces and regional development affect the results of the upcoming elections?
– The close cooperation with Russia can hardly be considered mutually beneficial because we majorly suffer because of our vassal status. And when the pragmatic opposition of Armenia realized that without Russia they cannot go anywhere they accepted the route of the north. In the meantime our neighbor Georgia was recently offered to apply for an EU candidacy and quite recently they have opened the doors of NATO in front of it. It is no secret that Russia and the US have come to an agreement to apply sanctions against Iran. Besides that, Russia is drastically changing its political course to the west and recently in the Lisbon summit of NATO Russia expressed its willingness to cooperate in the sector of collective security. In this background the fact that Sargsyan didn’t leave for Lisbon was in fact a desperate demarche. So the question now is. Where are we and where are we going? Our relations have becoming quite tense with our northern neighbor that is moving to becoming a NATO and EU member. The border with Turkey is not only remaining closed but the relations have even become more critical from both of the sides. The environment of work with Azerbaijan is gradually getting tenser. Almost every day there are casualties on the border. The only neighbor that we don’t have a problem with is Iran. Unfortunately Iran has problems with the rest of the world. So it may create indirect problems for us. So we are gradually being isolated from the world. And if we add to this our internal political issues, then only desperate optimists can say that this is a positive policy. So we should adjust our orientations correctly and match them with the civilized world demands and the active development of the region.