The Artsakh Republicans will cooperate with RPA
On May 17, in Karabakh, the Initiative group spread out a statement about the establishment of a new center-right political party (The Republican Party of Artsakh) creation. The co-chairs of the initiative group are: Coordinator of the “Helsinki Initiative-92” in Karabakh, Head of “Social Justice” political party, Doctor of Philosophic Sciences Karen Ohanjanyan, PhD and Chairman of “Vita” NGO Arevik Petrosyan, Head of “Armenia Home” party Ararat Petrosyan and Chairman of “Ahead Artsakh” NGO Arthur Hayrapetyan.
The statement specifically reads, “Parliamentary elections held in NKR confirm the competitive views, and have become a visible result for the development of democracy in our country. At the same time, the last parliamentary elections, the election campaigns by the political organizations showed that the political organizations do not have a will and potential to adequately assess the social – economic and political situation of our republic and develop specific mechanisms to bring our country to a new and high level of development. In addition, none of political organizations passed to the parliament is unable to mobilize the people to solve the problems arising from the current demands and moving the country to the platform of international relations, which later will bring the country to recognition and the establishment of stable security level of our country.”
“Aravot” asked the “Helsinki Initiative-92” committee coordinator Karen Ohanjanyan about why they decided to establish a party after the parliamentary elections. It turned out that the majority of the Initiative Group members had planned to establish a political organization on the threshold of the parliamentary elections, noted our interlocutor. “But it was apparent that we could not be established within a short period of time as a trust-enjoying political force, neither by organizational, nor by resources, I mean the human resources, that could change the existing political layout prior to the elections in the country. Therefore, we made a consensus decision to postpone the establishment of the party after the parliamentary elections, especially when the political rearrangements in the world are taking place after the elections. This is an entirely democratic process, and it has nothing to do with any other circumstance but the politically active people, including the desire of the leaders of the political forces and NGOs, as well as former members of the National Assembly to establish a new political organization.”
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As to why a necessity arose to establish a new political party with new ideology, in this regard Ohanjanyan notes, “Despite some positive changes in the activities of our state institutions in recent years, it is no secret to everyone that nowadays our nation is facing serious socio-economic problems that give rise to mistrust for today and tomorrow. The existence of socio-economic problems, the lack of freedoms in practice and human rights, the decrease of the level of participation of NKR state structures in regional and international political processes, particularly in the Karabakh peace process, the significant weakening of the physical security systems of NKR population, the incomplete development of democratic institutions, as well as the necessity of control of civil institutions over the activities of the executive power and in the decision-making process led us to the idea of establishing a new political force, which in the future should adequately estimate internal and external challenges, and which should make the values predetermined by our people in harmony with the reality and create a free state with the society recognized by the international community. ”
And what is the difference of the Republican Party of Artsakh from the other political parties, whose activities were often criticized and continue to be criticized by K. Ohanjanyan? we asked him. “First of all, the Republican Party of Artsakh is not politically biased. It is established from the bottom, unlike the majority currently operating political parties that are established from the top. Our political party is free from oligarchic influences, it is a party of ordinary citizens of NKR rather than a group of biased represented by political forces and civil society representatives. We would try to maintain this face in the future. In addition, unlike other political parties, we are working on the party program, which, in addition to announced objectives, should also predetermine the mechanisms of moving the country out from the heavy crisis, as well as the establishment of a state machine for the harmonious development of our state, for which the man and his dignified life in our free land should be the cornerstone.”
In the statement spread out on Sunday, the member of the Initiative group had noted that none of the political organizations passed to the Parliament of Nagorno-Karabakh is unable to mobilize people and solve their demands. We asked K. Ohanjanyan about how the new party is going to implement it. “I have already said that our program, apart from declarative objectives, should include the mechanisms for the establishment of active mechanisms for living a dignified life on our land. Now, a group of experts from various spheres is working on the program, whose recommendations should obtain expertise assessments as inside our country, so as by the foreign specialists. After that, we will organize a broad public debate on the draft of our program, and afterward, the program will be submitted to the Party Congress for approval. Our party will cooperate with all political organizations to mobilize the efforts to move the country out from this heavy crisis, for the development and prosperity of our country.”
To the question of “Aravot” as to why the name “Republican” was selected, and whether they are not afraid that their party will be associated with the Republican Party of Armenia, and whether a cooperation with the Armenian political forces are possible, K. Ohanjanyan noted, “A lot of people are interested in this question. First of all, I must say that we have nothing to do with the Republican Party of Armenia, and the name “Republican” is not the brand of the Republican Party of Armenia, but a concept of political ideology, which underlies the democratic and universal values. As for our future correlations with the Armenian political organizations, we, first of all, will cooperate with the political forces that are close to us by their program approaches. We will cooperate also with the Republican Party of Armenia. We would try solving problems in Nagorno-Karabakh that are pan-Armenian, therefore, we should promote for the Nagorno-Karabakh become a symbol of rebirth of the Armenian people.”
What are the plans of the Republican Party of Artsakh regarding the Karabakh conflict settlement prospects, as well as regarding the international recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh? What type of work should be conducted with the public sector in this direction? What are the visions of the newly established party? “The party is still in the phase of establishment, but we have a clear view about how the Karabakh conflict should be settled down. It is obvious that the future of NKR should be decided by NKR people and the NKR representatives should be introduced to any format, which are involved in the settlement of the conflict. But, above all, we need to establish a democratic and prosperous state, whose lack of recognition by the international community, as Bonaparte used to say, would mean not to see the sun, the bright and sunny day,” stated Karen Ohanjanyan.
EMMA GABRIELYAN
“Aravot” Daily
20.05.2015
