Recently I interviewed one of our political (and, by the way, revolution) veterans, Vazgen Manukyan, and he, speaking of the options for resolving the situation, mentioned the following three possibilities: 1/Pashinyan’s movement will end, and it will have bad consequences as the authorities will not learn any lesson from these events, 2/the government will suppress the movement by force, and the consequences will again be bad, the country will stagnate for several years, and in addition, the authorities will again not learn any lesson. According to Vazgen Manukyan, there is also the third way: negotiations and compromises: the opposition suspends protests under certain conditions, maintaining all the capabilities of pressure and gaining some leverage.
Imagine how unusual this offer is to both parties. “We do not need negotiations, it is little left, we will defeat them soon”, revolutionaries will exclaim. (By the way, they do not clarify the essence of their demands: is it Prime Minister’s resignation, the nomination of a new Prime Minister by the Republicans, or the dissolution of the National Assembly?). “What negotiations are you talking about? We can put an end to this whenever we want to”, the authorities will exclaim. There will also be the question whether how Serzh and Nikol can negotiate with each other. But from the point of view of the state it is not about Nikol and Serzh, it is about the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia and the Deputy of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia: representatives of the executive and legislative authorities. If not them, who else should negotiate?
I understand that the authorities, and especially the revolutionaries, are striving for the so-called “zero-result game”. But it is not possible because Armenia is not of a dictatorial regime, whatever some oppositionists say, we have no resources to becoming a dictatorship. All the other versions of the game results are acceptable: they, the politicians, are sure that if they manifest a certain will, they will be able to find them. Perhaps President Armen Sargsyan can give a hint. After all, he is the arbiter, according to the Constitution.
Let me repeat, the alternative is the continuation of stagnation. At best, without violence.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
