Myasnik Malkhasyan, a member of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) and a former prisoner of conscious, reminds
* Aren’t you anxious about this unclear situation on the political stage, the indecision of political parties only 3 months before the election? Doesn’t this situation testify to the fact that Serzh Sargsyan will really be elected without any alternative, as all members of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) state?
* Why should I be anxious? Let those who are anxious talk about it.
Read also
* So it doesn’t matter for you what political situation there will be, under what conditions and what kind of election will take place, does it?
* No, naturally, I care about what situation there will be. Every Armenian is anxious, is concerned about the situation in the country. This may make the government anxious. They say silence before the storm. It is the case now.
* Recently different representatives of the ANC have promised a storm? Are there any internal rumblings, developments in the ANC?
* No, I said it was silence before the storm, I didn’t say I promised a storm.
* Do you know something? Are there developments, which the public is not aware of?
* Let us wait and see. Not much time is left. Everything will be clear in just a few months, both the people and we will know.
* There are no official comments on the latest Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) political council meeting, but there are speculations that Gagik Tsarukyan said that there would be negotiations with oppositionists to consolidate forces, he also said that when the time came, he would meet the first president too. Since the ANC has been longing for the more opposition attitude of the PAP, are you excited about these statements?
* I don’t have any particular reason to be excited. Every member of the ANC is more concerned about the situation in our country, the fact that the emigration rises every day, the country empties. Those are the problems, external challenges that our country faces, that concern us. There is nothing to be excited about there. Certainly, it would be better, if all opposition forces united, there was an alternative, there was an election and we didn’t envy the neighboring country.
The Armenian should see himself as a participant in the development of the country, have a right to vote, not leave the fatherland. Otherwise, what is there to be excited about? One sees unfairness at every turn. My friends and I were kept in prison for a year and a half. The task is to achieve that the Armenian has a full right to live in his country.
There is nothing to be excited about. What is there to be excited about, for anyone to be excited about? The functionaries who allow themselves everything, can beat up and kill a man in broad daylight, take away a person’s property and remain unpunished – these things should be eliminated. Every one of us should try to restore with our activities, otherwise, what can we do with such intrigues, should we fish in troubled waters?
* In this context, how do you assess the latest steps of the President when he gathers representatives of different fields and makes strong assessments, gets angry, gives instructions. Do you think those are real steps?
* In states like ours, if the President wants the country to become democratic, to have justice in the country, to eliminate corruption, it will be done very quickly. As in Georgia. You can draw your own conclusion – words don’t match deeds. We have heard such promises very often, even when we were in prison, they would say that the wall of misunderstanding had to be demolished and we thought that they wanted to take certain steps. But it has turned out that those are words that are said from time to time.
* Smbat Ayvazyan stated once again in an interview given to our newspaper the other day that the election would not change anything, everyone had to realize the seriousness of the situation and sit at a round table and negotiate, in order to fix the situation.
* He says a very good thing, he says the right thing that they should sit, negotiate and give the people a right to vote. Otherwise, it is not right to stick to one’s guns. They should sit down concerned about the future of the country, come to an agreement and no one should think that if he is in power today, he should decide everything, the
other force will come tomorrow and it will decide. All this should be ended, in order that there is no more March 1 and we think of the country’s development. Otherwise, we have been struggling for 20 years, when will these people live? They should understand and realize, but will they realize?
* Whom do you address your question to – only to the government or to the opposition too?
* Certainly, to the government. Why to the opposition? The opposition wants, there is no harm in it, but if the government doesn’t want, it will not happen. The government should want something to change. Certainly, if there is a national uprising, the opposition’s wish will come true, but we see that it happened in 2007 and it has died away.
* You haven’t assessed the statement of RPA members that Serzh Sargsyan had no alternative and all the other candidates would struggle for the second place.
* Come on, now about what Galust Sahakyan or Sharmazanov said… what else should they have said, can they say anything else? If they say anything else, they will lose their trough. Do they have an idea, an opinion of their own to express that we can assess? And not only they, but also anyone who is in power is like that, if he doesn’t think so, he is pushed to the sidelines. They may think otherwise, but they have to speak like that.
Interviewed NELLY GRIGORYAN
