Yesterday the Free Democrats Party’s congress was convened, which, along with others, the representatives of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) member Democratic Motherland Party led by their leader Petros Makeyan attended. Before the beginning of the congress, during a conversation with www.aravot.am, Mr. Makeyan said that abandoning the ANC by the leaders of the Free Democrats had not left any bad taste in his mouth and he continued to treat his former ANC colleagues “normally, very normally,” “We were colleagues, we are friends with many of them, there was an invitation, which we accepted with pleasure and have come.” According to Makeyan, it is hard for a newly-established political force to appear on the political scene and take its own place. However, Makeyan said that the Free Democrats, as a new force, had been just forming, but part of their members had political experience, “I think we should wish them to support the maturing of the Armenian political scene and to mature themselves.”
Gradually getting to the topic of the upcoming election, we asked whether, in his opinion, it would be easy for the Free Democrats, as a newly-established party, to participate in the May 6 election and whether they would cross the margin of entering the parliament of a new convocation, according to his prediction. “I know that it is hard for a newly-established force to participate in the first election, but as I understand it, they have both political and electoral experience and according to my information, they will participate in the election as a member of an alliance. I think they will overcome that challenge and wish them good luck in that.”
After the congress, we talked with Petros Makeyan about his impression, also reminding the fact that both in the resolution of the party and in Kokobelyan’s speech it had been mainly talked about the Western values, about the importance of Armenia’s integration in Europe and they hadn’t particularly talked about Russia. Makeyan firstly said in that regard that the party congress had been generally organized well, “Knowing members of the Pan-Armenian National Movement (PANM), I noticed their certain participation, but I also noticed mostly the youth’s participation in that party, which is good. As for the content, I think nothing new was said. Parties representing the liberal wing mainly talk about adherence to Western and human values and thinking of them as their priority, about establishing free and competitive market, which was also voiced at the Free Democrat’s congress. As it is characteristic of the Armenian political scene, they tried not to focus on the Russian orientation here either. The exception was only the anti-Russian speech made by Mikayel Hayrapetyan, the leader of the Conservative Party, to which Alexander Arzumanyan immediately responded, saying that not all of them shared his opinion. So, even if they see some threats in the country’s Russian orientation, they try not to talk about it and it was noticeable also in the case of the Free Democrats.”
Does the Democratic Motherland Party, as an independent party, see any grounds for cooperation with the Free Democrats? “In terms of cooperation, now there is generally indirect cooperation through the ANC in the context of switching to 100% proportional representation in the National Assembly. As for our party, we have no problem in cooperating with any force, even very unpleasant and illogical for us to establish constitutional order in the country and to get rid of this regime, this arbitrariness,” stated Makeyan. As for the rumors about the Free Democrats’ being an “American project” or a “third force,” the leader of the Democratic Motherland Party said that he thought “it is mainly the internal issue of one of the ANC parties, the PANM” and he didn’t think it was right to interfere in that resentment and comment on it, but he also added, “Armenia is a small country and unfortunately, in Armenia, there is an environment and an atmosphere has been created that they attribute something to every party or politician. I cannot say whether it corresponds to the reality in a particular case, because it is the reflection of the Armenian environment and I don’t want to make a subjective appraisal.”
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Naira MAMIKONYAN
