“Our beloved and unloved establishments are temporary”

Stated President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan during meetings with the Armenian-American community. “Liking” and “disliking” persons answered “Aravot’s” questions.

In the framework of his visits to the US and France and the festivals dedicated to the independence of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan has had a few meetings with our compatriots from the Diaspora. In his speeches Serzh Sargsyan particularly said, “Crises are temporary, our beloved and unloved establishments are temporary, but our motherland is timeless and eternal.” The Armenian political forces’ representatives’ ideas about the Armenian President’s meetings and speeches completely differ from each other. The opposition claims that those visits are pointless and the establishment claims that certainly, the president of the country should have visited our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora.
According to member of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) Smbat Ayvazyan, our president went to an obscure NGO that decorates 35 people, he went, received – perhaps it was the reason why he went, he likes to travel, perhaps these are the last trips.” I asked Mr. Ayvazyan, he had meetings with the Diaspora, made statement, didn’t he? Has he listened to those? “No, I haven’t”, was the answer.
Smbat Ayvazyan doesn’t share the notions that Robert Kocharyan will return, “I don’t see any possibility of that, Robert Kocharyan’s return is impossible, it is a theater of the absurd, Evans was supposed to pay a visit six months ago, journalists wrote Evans had come to lobby Rob in the US, where does Evans work to lobby anyway or did Evans know what would happen in six months? That is absurd. And most importantly Serzh and Rob are the same person in terms of clinging to the throne, in terms of continuing to rule.”
Deputy chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), National Assembly member Razmik Zohrabyan highly assesses the President’s visit and does not share Smbat Ayvazyan’s assessments at all, but the representatives of the opposition and the establishment agree on one thing that Robert Kocharyan’s return is impossible. Razmik Zohrabyan said that he didn’t want to talk on that subject seriously, but he thought relevant to express the common position, “We should not compare with Russia. We found out that in Russia they had agreed in advance who would be the president and who would be the prime Minister for how many years, and here is the result of that agreement and the policy toward our country will be the same; nothing will change. As to scenarios of some analysts, I should say that if something like that should have happened, it would have happened as early as in 2008 – it didn’t happen and one should not draw parallels with what has happened in Russia, I am not worried and I don’t understand why this caused such a stir in the press.” Razmik Zohrabyan said that the Armenian President’s visit to the US and then to France had nothing to do with the Russian conference, and it was planned long before that conference, “Take one thing into account that the US, the Russian Federation and France are the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and it is quite natural that our president has something to talk about with the leaders of those countries.” We told Razmik Zohrabyan about Smbat Ayvazyan’s notion that the Armenian president went to hand out and receive medals and inquired what the latter thought about this. In response, RPA deputy chairman said, “In recent years Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has become the leader-symbol of all Armenians, because he is the first who not only calls for unity and peace, but also realizes those. For example, during one of the speeches of our president in America many people stated that if Armenia or Artsakh are threatened they are ready to appear on front lines within a few hours and fight for the Motherland. If you heard President’s speeches, our compatriots’ questions and saw the reception, you, certainly see his activities, then you noticed that they always end in calling for concord and every step taken is toward strengthening that unity. I am convinced that the opposition sees that quite well, it just doesn’t want to admit it. As to the medals I should say that I am convinced that if medals had not been given and gratitude had not been voiced, the same opposition that talks about it with a smile would have said ‘they celebrated the Independence Day and didn’t bestow a single medal on anyone. Now when the medals and orders are given they say the opposite.”