In an interview with Tert.am, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan touched upon his statement in 2014 that he would never be nominated as head of state.
-Mr. President, in your well-known speech you stated that in case of switching to a parliamentary government you would not aspire to the post of Prime Minister and added that one person should not rule the country over 2 times. This statement is periodically publicly cited by the political opposition. The question is: will you become Prime Minister of Armenia in April?
-First, I think it is high time to abandon the primitive tactics of quarreling through quotes out of context, and it is the time to listen to the political speech, to understand it and to discuss it at that level. Political speech is clear, but not primitive. When a politician wants to make a political statement about him not holding a certain position, he says that I will not, as I have clearly stated that I will not be the President of the Republic of Armenia. But when the statement contains a political context and speaks about ambitions and ideas, then it is in another dimension. It is not difficult to differentiate.
As for ambitions. Yes, I do not even aspire to the post of Prime Minister. But I have never considered myself a person to be guided by prejudice or fossilized thinking. I cannot ignore the reality and consider that I have no responsibility for the smooth course of our country in the future. Today, on the one hand, we have positive foreign policy results, which give us a great deal of strength, we have reached such a level of internal stability which already positively predetermines the dynamics of economic indicators, but on the other hand we cannot ignore the threats which, unfortunately, have only increased during the constitutional amendments. We went through the war in April, saw the actions of people ready to solve issues with arms in the capital, today we see forces that, without taking into consideration the possible consequences, are ready to raise problems on the street, regardless of whether these issues are within the framework of political science and logic or not.
It is no secret for anyone that the topic is being discussed for months in various formats among the Republican Party that has the authority to form a political responsibility and a government as a result of parliamentary elections, and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation coalition, although these discussions have not yet reached party-institutional platforms. Many colleagues have already spoken to me too.
I do not know when these discussions will be over. But if we finally decide that my candidacy will be nominated, then it will be my additional commitment, in parallel with the full implementation of the constitutional powers, to devote more time to convey the experience of our country to young political leaders. This is a problem that is very important today. We all have to do contribute to the development of new political leaders, regardless of their party affiliation, and their current political position.