“All is as it was – the same participation of oligarchs, the same political imitations, the same controversies in the coalition. Actually, there is nothing, I mean, there is no new situation, in case of which one could participate in the election not for a seat, but for changing the situation. The situation in Armenia doesn’t allow waging ideological struggle and turning the parliamentary election into a real means, tool or stage of change,” Aram Karapetyan, the leader of the New Times Party (NTP), said to Aravot as early as two months ago, March 8, 10 days after which the New Times Party made a political decision not to participate in the National Assembly election in any way, “It is meaningless to participate in that performance planned by the government.”
Today, in response to Aravot’s question whether he felt inner happiness and malicious joy “I warned you,” Mr. Karapetyan said that 20 years before, when he had been a young man, perhaps, he would have felt malicious joy, but now “I see the situation that gradually becomes more unmanageable, incomprehensive, paradoxical, what shall I be happy about, that our people are not viable, aren’t smart enough, since they cast 80% of their votes for the coalition after so much repression…?”
In response to our question whether by saying 80% for the coalition, he meant that he hadn’t believed the “opposition” games of the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), Mr. Karapetyan said, “In classic politics, the force that is in the coalition is in the coalition, the one that is not in the coalition is out of the coalition, but I don’t know a precedent in politics, when one was everywhere at the same time.”
According to Mr. Karapetyan, the PAP will make a pause for some time, later on it will make a decision to enter the coalition or not.
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Aram Karapeyan expressed an opinion during a press conference that took place today that this government was completely in the interest of the international community, since it went for normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations. We inquired whether the New Times Party was against normalization. Mr. Karapetyan responded, “We are absolutely against the way they want to normalize. Relations should be normalized, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be settled, but at what cost? It is like sitting at home, doing nothing and selling the house and goods in it for living. They tell us ‘let’s sell everything in order that you may live better,’ but it is not in the genetics of Armenians. I am against that, I am for our government, which always picks the easy path, to find a way of geopolitical crack. Serzh Sargsyan, as a man, fears such big projects, games, he says ‘let’s mind our own business and see what comes out.’ But the situation dictates another thing, we need a crack. They do so because of the absence of strategic thinking.”
Melanya BARSEGHYAN
