Willy-nilly, the MPs, political parties, and non-governmental circles talk about the predecessor’s, Tigran Sargsyan’s, government activities during the discussions on government program and budget performance. Since the president and the parliamentary majority have not been changed in Armenia, the new government is in a difficult situation in this respect. On the one hand, to be accountable for, let’s say, selling of the Vorotan HPP, or merely the “bank” use of half of the Russian loan, would be politically absurd.
On the other hand, to say that such actions, to put it mildly, were wrong, also from the prospective of the “RPA team”, as I understand, is not appropriate. I would hand such cases over to law enforcement without public debates and rhetorical tricks. In fact, taking the situation into account, I would not beat my breast saying, look, how just I am. And if relevant agencies had detected a criminal, I would say that they are not my, but the law enforcements’ conclusions – dura lex sed lex. But since I am not familiar with the “party ethic” nuances, I may show a wrong way.
One thing is clear, abstract and “in the air” talks, “giving political assessment to Tigran Sargsyan’s government activities” are absolutely useless, and can very quickly turn into a traditionally empty logomachy between the “current” and “former” ones. Such logomachies have happened a lot of in 1998, and sometimes have happened even after that. The recent similar debate was provoked last year by Tigran Sargsyan himself, speaking of the “construction balloon” in early 2000’s. If the former prime minister has not “frustrated” the second president with his judgments (right or wrong, it does not matter), then perhaps the “non- government” propaganda against him would not be aggravated so much, and the Quartet would not be so active in the fight for the prime minister’s resignation.
Generally, in this respect, the state culture, in my opinion, should be composed of two complementary elements, a/ not to put all the difficulties on your predecessors, not to complain of “heavy legacy” (which is done by the current government in its honor), b/ if it is obvious that a crime was committed in the past, then file a criminal case without any hesitation, and punish the culprits, no matter who they are.
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We should not live under the conditions of discrediting the former ones, and concealing the crimes.
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
