Today Raffi Hovhannisyan has found himself in almost the same position as Vazgen Manukyan in 1996, Karen Demirchyan in 1998, Stepan Demirchyan in 2003-2004, and Levon Ter-Petrossian in 2008. So Raffi like the above-mentioned persons is convinced that he won the presidential election, but the Central Election Commission (CEC) illegally found that his rival had won. Naturally, those who voted for Raffi Hovhannisyan and urge him to continue the struggle to the finish also think so. However, being similar to them, Raffi Hovhannisyan substantially differs from the above-mentioned persons in the same way as the cases of the above-mentioned persons substantially differed from each other. In 1996, Vazgen Manukyan attacked the building of the National Assembly assisted by his pre-election coalition and the people. Gates and heads were smashed in, but the opposition didn’t achieve any results, and they might have achieved results, if they had attacked the Presidential Palace instead of the National Assembly, because the opposition and the people were discontent with the presidential election. Whereas the given opposition coalition actually attacked not the National Assembly, but merely the CEC located in the building of the National Assembly and Bezirjyan, along with its part of the people. Certainly, the
opposition leader was Vazgen Manukyan, but Vazgen Manukyan didn’t have sole responsibility; members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), Hayrikyan and a lot of other people stood by him, and perhaps that fact was the reason why Vazgen would boldly state: “If I don’t return in twenty minutes, come after me.” It was the first protest against a presidential election in newly-independent Armenia. Some people were arrested, some other people were wanted for some time, and some others, including the opposition leader, remained untouched. The winning candidate in 1998, Karen Demirchyan, didn’t make any attempt to protest not only because he avoided bloodshed, but also because he had almost sole responsibility, and it was understood and apprehended by the people and everyone, and no one accused Karen Serobich of indecisiveness. The first person to be accused of indecisiveness was the next winning candidate, Demirchyan Junior, who would always stress that he was for constitutional struggle. Nonetheless, as opposed to Karen Serobich, Stepan Demirchyan made certain attempts, because, as opposed to Karen Serobich, he didn’t have sole responsibility; Aram Sargsyan and many others stood by him, but at the end of the day, those who stood by him were also for constitutional struggle, and the fire died out very soon. The memories of the events of 2008 are incomparably fresher, and the memories of those killed on March 1 are also absolutely fresh, and the wave of struggle was incomparably more powerful, and the protesters’ motto was not ‘constitutional struggle,’ but ‘reestablishment of constitutional order.’ Certainly, the struggle didn’t yield the expected results once again. Many people were arrested, some people were wanted, and some others, including the movement’s leader, remained untouched. The aforesaid testifies to the fact that there were many people who shared responsibility for the movement with Levon Ter-Petrossian. And the establishment of a new commission on the events of March 1 testifies to the fact that no one and nothing has been forgotten yet. There was no lack of speakers who stood by Raffi Hovhannisyan and made passionate speeches from the platform, but every one of those speakers thought they had to state and stress that the struggle’s tactic and strategy fully depended on Raffi Hovhannisyan’s decision and will. So full responsibility for the movement and the struggle was skillfully shifted on Raffi Hovhannisyan, and no matter how many times Raffi stated and stressed that this was not his personal struggle, this was everyone’s and the people’s struggle, nothing changed because of that, and his responsibility didn’t reduce. In a nutshell, the responsibility of a person who has taken full and almost sole responsibility is incomparably greater and incomparably harder, but, in any case, the people gathered in Freedom Square and particularly those standing on the platform and especially we, people who look on the events, demand the most of Raffi Hovhannisyan.
VOSKAN HAREVANTSI
