“With regard to the events of March 1, I don’t think that the Armenian National Congress (ANC) has changed its position, because they blame the government, and Gagik Tsarukyan is not the government,” Andranik Tevanyan, the director of the Politeconomy institute, commented on the statement made by Aram Manukyan, the secretary of the ANC parliamentary group, recently during a conversation with www.aravot.am. Let us remind that Aram Manukyan said that the events of March 1 “were a result of Robert Kocharyan’s madness, it happened at Kocharyan’s behest. No political force was involved there, what did a political force have to do with that?”
He assured that he was not aware of the list of figures who had gotten military uniform from the ammunition depot of the logistics department, Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia, on March 1, 2008, published by the ANC, in which Gagik Tsarukyan was also included, “Serzh Sargsyan is no. 1 person who benefitted from and was interested in the events of March 1.”
In response to our question whether the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) had participated, Andranik Tevanyan said, “Participate… I don’t have such facts. If there are such facts, you can make them public. Whether it participated or not is to be decided by other bodies.” We inquired whether the PAP wasn’t a part of the government, according to him, he said, “The PAP was a part of the government to a certain extent. It wasn’t the decider. The Presidential Palace, the executive power, makes decisions. Serzh Sargsyan was going to become the president and he was interested in that shock. Let me put it this way – he wouldn’t have become the president without that. Certainly, those people who were involved in that process are also responsible, but if we consider the three presidents, Serzh Sargsyan was interested in using force the most. Kocharyan was an outgoing president, certainly, he took certain actions for himself too, but Kocharyan was an outgoing one, he didn’t need that, Ter-Petrossian didn’t need that either. Ter-Petrossian would have benefitted, if, say, as a result of the events of March 1, there had been a civil war and he had come to power. Serzh Sargsyan was no. 1 person who benefitted from the events of March 1.”
In response to our question whether Robert Kocharyan had given the order or not, he said, “If you were there when he gave the order, I wasn’t, I don’t know. If people say today that the PAP also participated, frankly speaking, it is characteristic of Geghamyan, because accusing the PAP of the events of March 1… I don’t know what decision the ANC made that they said so. Saying is one thing, but it was mentioned in the newspapers defending the interests of the ANC that Gagik Tsarukyan had been against using force. Gagik Tsarukyan or others didn’t make decisions. The government made a decision, the real government. And the executive power… those are different people. People who were in power, it doesn’t mean that… the PAP is not in the coalition today showing its disagreement in different issues. To say today that the PAP participated, thus it is a shame, or it is wrong to cooperate, it means to endorse Serzh Sargsyan.”
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