Many years ago, one of the MPs asked the President of the Republic of Armenia at a closed meeting of the Supreme Council a question whether he didn’t think that establishing too close relations with Russia and pinning hopes on that country concerning every issue contradicts one of the fundamental principles of the Karabakh Movement, which was briefly defined in the following way – “the third force is ruled out.” In reality, it took the MP longer – roughly two minutes – to ask the question. He didn’t know one of the fundamental principles of journalism – not to define one’s question so that it requires a yes-or-no answer. President Ter-Petrossian certainly took advantage of that mistake and answered “no” to the long question-speech. (By the way, I would suggest that one give one-syllable answers to “questions” that begin with “don’t you think” phrase during all press-conferences, interviews or, say, parliamentary Q&As – perhaps, it will make people define real questions.)
And what did that slogan of the Karabakh Committee, which drew up the ideological program of the modern Armenian state, voiced many times at the first, partially also the second congress of the Pan-Armenian National Movement mean? It will be interesting to find it out from our political veterans, but, in my opinion, its meaning is the following – as of the last decade of the previous century, when an opportunity was offered to build an Armenian state, we inherited problems with Azerbaijan and Turkey and we have to solve those problems without involving the third force. From today’s perspective, it can be seen as a manifestation of revolutionary romanticism – we don’t have enough power to solve those problems on our own. On the other hand, this thesis has met and still meets with our society’s resistance, since the majority of people living in Armenia are convinced that we can live only under the Russian’s protection.
However, everything, even Russophilia, should be within certain limits. A few days ago, I wrote about rumors, according to which, Putin had to solve the issue of the mayor of Gyumri. Now, it is the Prime Minister’s turn. As if folks in Moscow dream of replacing the current “pro-Western” Prime Minister with “one of theirs,” namely Karen Karapetyan, the representative of Gazprom, and it will also solve all problems existing between the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) and the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) “in the process.” Admittedly, Tigran Sargsyan’s Cabinet hasn’t stood out, to put it mildly, for its flight of thought in the past 4 years. However, according to our distorted logic, this Cabinet should be changed not because it has been working badly, but because the Kremlin wants it. Certainly, the source of such news has a certain drive.
Will a time come when we will rule out the third force concerning, at least, this kind of issues?
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Aram ABRAHAMYAN
