There have never been “Kinder surprises” among the prime ministers of Armenia, although two of them later became the country’s president, the head of state. An essential aspect of constitutional amendments is that from now on, the prime minister, the head of the government, becomes the head of the country, and the highly predictable process of passing automatically to the president’s chair from prime minister’s chair comes to an end.
Now for the Prime Minister to remain on his post has other requirements to accomplish. Among other virtues, he must also be able to perform security guaranteeing functions as well. Although Serzh Sargsyan praised Karen Karapetyan a lot, we have already come to realize that the virtues expected of the incumbent Prime Minister are mostly on the surface. Bolder ones call him an ordinary official, even provincial. It’s hard to disagree, for when a person hangs his suit top on a chair, which has the meaning of starting off working, but actually does not do anything significant within a year so you can mention about it, then you start thinking that he is not the “Kinder surprise” that the President was praising.
Karen Karapetyan, observing the poor state of the country from the prime minister’s office, stated that he had no magic wand to resolve the situation at once. The figure brought to Armenia in the prospect of becoming the head of the state should not have said anything like that. But it was also designed by the rules of the big game. It was not hard for Karen Karapetyan who had a reputation of best manager to make changes in Armenia, especially that he was not constrained by the bonds of the Armenian oligarchy. But he remained in the borders drawn around him, as it was stipulated in the agreements during the “long conversation”. According to those, one could speak endlessly about eradicating corruption, monopolies, make fun of the backwardness of regions, community leaders’ superstitions, everything was allowed except making steps.
On one occasion we were excited to note that Karen Karapetyan was meeting with political figures more often than his predecessors, and made a conclusion that perhaps they were preparing him for a more complex and responsible position. It would be the same position, but with much more significance. But with his latest press conference, Karen Karapetyan answered many questions, including the most important question: “go and find a security guarantor for you, I’m not that person”.
Edik ANDREASYAN
