The theme of “Aravot” online on the air is discussed by Susanna Muradyan, Board member of “Heritage” party, and Lernik Alexanyan, NA MP (RPA).
Aram Abrahamyan – At the beginning, I would like to tell you a story. In the summer of 1994, the opposition: the National Democratic Party and Ashot Manucharyan, were organizing rallies and were demanding the immediate resignation of the president, because, in their opinion, the country was wrecking. We, the journalists, were persistently asking, “Well, when will the change of power happen?” Ashot Manucharyan, who had a good sense of humor, once answered, “The change of power will take place on September 17 at 17:30 p.m.? Now, I want to ask the same question, “When will the change of power happen?”
Susana Muradyan. – I, of course, am not Nostradamus to tell by days and hours when the change of power will happen, but the imperative for the regime change is already in the air, it is a requirement of great masses. So, being a Board member of the “Heritage” party, being too often in the regions, especially the recent visits to the marzes, I personally understood that it should not be delayed, because it already directly threatens the security of the Republic of Armenia.
A. A. – Is the imperative for the change of power available or not?
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Lernik Alexanyan – Change of regime never happens an end in itself, it is having subjective and objective reasons. The objective is that really, there should be dissatisfaction, the government system must be broke, the subjective is an opportune moment for it, and the appropriate force that can govern better than the government. This is how I understand the demand for change of power. Today, when we are talking about regime change and associate it with a person, this is what I do not admit. The regime change is never conditioned by one person. They require systemic changes and mechanisms and clear programs, and the person demanding regime change needs to know precisely what he wants, why he is for regime change and how it should be. I absolutely do not share you opinion that the country is destroyed, wrecked, so on. Of course, there are challenges, of course, there are a lot of mistakes, of course, there is corruption and so on. Why was the rally a failure, in my estimation? Because there was no formulated scenario and goals.
A. A. – Is it driven by a person or not?
S. M. – No, systemic changes are necessary, but the government pyramid headed by Serzh Sargsyan should leave, because we have become an uncompetitive country in the region. Let’s compare the poverty in Georgia to Armenia and Azerbaijan, let’s compare the economic growth in Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, let’s compare the migration in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. What percent does it make based on the percentage of the population? According to official statistics, 40 percent of approaching poverty, the number of very poor among poor has been doubled, the number of extremely poor has been also doubled, in other words, Serzh Sargsyan’s promise of years ago that 5 years later we are going to live two times better, and it turned the opposite 360 degrees, we began living worse. Average wages, minimum wages, retirement fee, minimum consumer basket. Our highest pension-receiving pensioner is unable to run after the minimum basket because of unjustified inflation, and as a country that does not respect it, we did not adopt law of indexation, in other words, reimbursement to socially vulnerable groups in case of justified or unjustified inflation.
The discussion in full
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.
