In Garegin Chukaszyan’s opinion, Armenia doesn’t have enough resources to become North Korea www.aravot.am inquired of the members of Pre-Parliament, a civic initiative, what would come of the rallies of people who had rallied around Raffi Hovhannisyan, in their opinion, whether the government would use the same methods it had used during the national rallies organized by Levon Ter-Petrossian in 2008, whether it would fill prisons with prisoners of conscience against, whether it would not take chances, learning the lesson of March 1 and taking into account the fuss about the prisoners of conscience. One of them, famous architect Vigen Avetis who works in Italy now, said: “From my perspective, it was not a national struggle, it was Levon Ter-Petrossian’s personal vendetta against Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan, in which he involved the electorate. What did he do at first? He lit a fire, into which he threw very fresh and dear populist words – a gang rule etc. I.e. words that inflamed offended people. He inflamed them to take back his personal power, which had been constrained by Kocharyan. The latter would say: ‘I am, then Serzh,’ wouldn’t he? Levon Ter-Petrossian, on the other hand, would say: ‘Not you, I am.’ So it was a personal struggle, which should by no means be compared with what is going on today. Moreover, Raffi Hovhannisyan didn’t lead the people; this was the people’s demand, this was the people’s choice. So Raffi Hovhannisyan didn’t make as much efforts to achieve such results; he didn’t make as much contribution. So this was the people’s election; whether it was in Gyumri or other districts, it was a decisive victory, it was the people’s victory.” Garegin Chukaszyan didn’t agree with the architect’s opinion, however, answering our question, “The movement of 2008 was also the people’s uprising, and it was quite important for the future civic movements that were launched to start. It is another matter that the strategy of that movement was wrong; I don’t know why it went wrong, I just assert the result that we haven’t achieved any results, i.e. the game of chess didn’t end in a checkmate, it ended in disappointment. This testifies to a wrong tactic, a wrong strategy. We can comment on this now, but the result is clear to everyone that it didn’t end in a checkmate. We have a different situation now; in this case, we notice that Raffi Hovhannisyan offers a different strategic plan, which doesn’t end with the decision of the Constitutional Court, but suggests a period of transition, which is quite like the diarchy of 1988. So it is a different situation, a different strategy, and coming back to your question, i.e. whether the Establishment will use soft means or will switch from soft power to hard power, I think that our country just doesn’t have enough resources to become North Korea. And if they take such a step again, they will hasten a scenario that will not be pleasant for them.”
Nune AREVSHATYAN
