The topic of “Face to Face” series of talk show of Aravot online is discussed between publicist Gurgen Yeghiazaryan and MP Tevan Poghosyan.
Aram Abrahamyan – Were the elections held in Ukraine legitimate? Is Petro Poroshenko a legitimate president or not?
Gurgen Yeghiazaryan – Of course, not. How can a president be legitimate when the whole east of the country is in a war? Today, there is a civil war in Ukraine. Under these circumstances, how can there be talks about the elections? A large segment has not participated in the elections, consequently, they have already separated this segment de jure.
Tevan Poghosyan – I believe that, yes, Petro Poroshenko is a legitimate president, because if we imagine theoretically that these people have complained, sat in the kitchen and had not participated, however, around 60 percent of the overall Ukrainian population participated. The Ukrainians themselves decide the legitimacy. When there are elections held in Karabakh, the whole world does not recognize it, saying that they are not legitimate and so on, but the legitimacy generates from the people’s participation. There is participation by the majority, where people recognize that the elections were legitimate, and Petro Poroshenko’s vote is fair. The people who were in the campaign with him, recognize the election results, and even Yanukovich welcomed that the Ukrainian people have made their choice in these difficult circumstances. So, it seems to me that the legitimacy should be recognized.
Read also
A. A. – If there are 35.5 million electorates in Ukraine, and 6,700,000 in Lugansk and Donetsk regions and in Crimea, then the majority, however, has made its choice.
G. E. – The matter is not the arithmetic. I remember that in a number of countries, there are no talks about elections during the civil war, but since we are living in a different reality… Prior to the Crimea’s accession to Russia, let me say that we were living on a unipolar earth, when there was one state, other states were coming, and 100 places were empty. This time, Russia did not allow recurrence of the same what happened in Yugoslavia. In 90’s, Russia was much more measureable and kneeling country; Boris Nikolayevich was accepting anything that was told to him. What happened in Yugoslavia, the massacres, killing, and slaughter that continues to this day, the criminal unions that are acting until now, so to speak, after the introduction of democracy, divided Yugoslavia into parts and created Kosovo. Kosovo was adopted by Europe and by the rest of the countries, and first by the United States, but, for some reasons, no one accepts Karabakh under the same circumstances. The first precedent was Karabakh for us, Kosovo is another problem, we are a very small country, today we do not have a role at all, and our voice was not heard… Crimea’s voice was heard, because powerful Russia was standing in the back. The same story as that of Kosovo occurred in the Crimea. First of all, it was a manifestation of people’s good will, which is accepted by all international norms.
A. A. – Karabakh, Crimea, Kosovo, the right to self-determination etc.
T. P. – There is an adopted international norm in the world regarding the self-determination of nations, naturally, we understand that being recognized or not by other countries would always remain a political issue. We must be guided by our interests. Karabakh has exercised its right to self-determination in full compliance with all respective legal acts, the then functioning laws, by building today’s Artsakh Republic, by proving every day that it is going to exist. I am confident that the world will surely recognize Artsakh. The time issue is a bit political, and here, we must be able to really invest all our zeal to achieve recognition a day early, sooner or later. If we look at Kosovo, often it is useful for Armenia as a precedent. Crimea will always belong to people who are living there, and if they find that their problem is better solved with Russia, it naturally will be admitted by the world over the time. If they feel that Ukraine is offering better conditions, I would not be surprised that there will be another referendum tomorrow, and the Crimea would be able to solve its problem.
Prepared by ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
“Face to Face” talk show series are released by the Open Society Foundations- Armenia. The views and analyzes found in this broadcast express the opinions of the participants, and are not approved by the Open Society Foundations-Armenia, or its Board. This broadcast is made available thanks to comprehensive financial support by the Open Society Foundations-Armenia, under the mass media support program, grant No 18624.
