– Why didn’t president Serzh Sargsyan meet the demands of the opposition to release the political prisoners, investigate the events of March 1, open the Liberty Square for opposition protests? And why does he do it now?
– I should once again remind that back a year and a half ago the president declared amnesty. This was the biggest step to loosen the political tension. Quite many people were released. Only several were left. And in this regard the coalition and the other parties have requested the president to release them.
– But their requests were sent to the president only after the latter ordered the minister of justice to submit recommendations. And he meant recommendations on the release of political prisoners.
– Yes, but Sargsyan didn’t say that they needed to be released. He told the minister to submit suggestions regarding the prisoners. Indeed, the request from the parties followed that process. This is a process of changes not only for the human rights but also the economy sector. The situation was quite tense in the country after March 1, 2008 and we couldn’t immediately get to these changes to avoid shocks. But as there is certain process in the political and economic sectors and the European structures got their own questions in this regard we need to prepare for the upcoming elections in a more democratic and transparent manner. Among the problems the Europeans would point out these people in prison. So it was within the general context to meet these demands.
– Last fall you stated that in order for the government to hold democratic and fair elections they need to release the prisoners. Was the step of the president prepared for the campaign? Was it aimed at reducing the tension in the country closer to elections?
– The main idea why we are taking these steps is aimed at reforms and positive changes. That is our ideology. RPA is a conservative party. And conservative parties normally prefer evolutional reforms to abrupt changes and revolution in order to avoid turbulence in the country. Revolutions cause economic shakes and even cause annihilation of statehood. This means that our party is willing to accept certain compromises indeed not at the expense of its values in order to maintain the balance and stability in Armenia. We want to avoid revolution. The only revolution that the conservative party would agree to is via constitutional methods. Government can be changed only via elections. Based on these reasons we are going forward to changes.
– Does this mean that the government had a fear that revolution may take place? Is that the reason for compromises?
– It was not a fear but simply a possibility that it may happen. Why would be let the state to suffer, which has gone through a lot to become a statehood. And we are willing to accept reforms ourselves. At this moment it seems that the situation allows us to conduct fast reforms. And as you see the opposition in the person of Levon Ter-Petrosyan appreciates the steps on part of the government. And it is better to accept certain compromises internally rather than externally. We hear threats from Azerbaijan every day.
– Both the government and opposition sound confident that within a month the political prisoners will be released. But the government has sentenced them based on the Criminal Code and up until now they would claim that the latter are political prisoners. Why do they now agree that they deserve freedom and that the opposition hasn’t perpetrated any crime?
– Every criminal can be granted amnesty depending on the sentence and the time spent in jail. I cannot say for sure whether the president will grant amnesty because it is his right. So it may become possible. But I think if the majority of them were released and only minority is left it is much easier to release them.
– In that case, what is the expectation of the government from the ANC to make them accept such compromises?
– In the past we have mentioned that we are willing to move forward in the direction of development of a civil society. And we are trying to strengthen civil society. If there is a civil society in the country then there is social justice too and the economic issues become easier to solve. This is our ultimate goal. We are doing that because if in our country we don’t respect the citizen and if we don’t protect our citizens then the latter may get frustrated and leave this country. During war a lot of people would run away. There were years when people were leaving Armenia.
– The official statistics shows that many people are leaving Armenia.
– I don’t know this statistics but I should say that there should be high respect to the personality of the human being. And those rights should stretch from liberties to the right to work. We should reach the point that Armenians wouldn’t leave the country but would vice versa return to their fatherland.
– You signify the freedom of speech but so far many law suits were filed by Robert Kocharyan and Armenian oligarchs against a number of opposition newspapers. And the courts have made verdicts of penalties in the amount of millions of AMD. And the law adopted a year ago by the parliamentary coalition contributed to implementation of these charges.
– I am being cursed a lot by the media too. I don’t treat those accusations very seriously and thoroughly. The journalists often write offensive articles about me.
– But do the monetary penalties compensate the offense of the officials, who sue these papers? Wouldn’t it be better if they demanded retraction to the published articles? However, they mostly demand the maximum fines. And the history shows that the courts mostly suffice these demands, which approaches these newspapers to bankruptcy.
– I agree that this law should often be amended. I agree with you that the retraction would be enough not to demand financial compensation in the maximum amount. But this financial compensation is acceptable in European states as well.
– As of the dialog with the ANC you have mentioned that it is done for the sake of establishment of a civil society to reach the social, legal equity in the country. Prime minister Tigran Sargsyan has numerously stated that the main obstacles for the economic development are monopolies and oligopolies. He even asks for the help of the media to overcome these challenges. Perhaps the government cannot do it itself and requires the support of the opposition in this process?
– I don’t want to delve in that but the prime minister didn’t mention persons when speaking of oligopolies. But in fact we have oligarchs and not all of them work in the legal field. There are barriers. I believe that the civil society will resolve these issues. In such cases everybody should make their profits transparent. That is the reason why the parliament is currently discussing the law on civil servant.
– Do you find it possible that as a result of the dialog with the ANC the Prosperous Armenia may participate in the parliamentary elections and presidential elections 2013 on its own despite the signed declaration? It will mean that they are not endorsing Serzh Sargsyan.
– In our family we currently live in a normal and a quiet situation. There are no contradictions and we are sure that we will easily find angles of cooperation. The coalition is a big family. But the main strategy is to unite to withstand the challenges. I think those challenges will make us be united.