“The West has appointed Turkey a ‘watcher’ in the region. We saw a vivid example of this in Georgia when the West supported Georgia in every way, and now Turkey has become the most influential country in Georgia. In this sense, Armenia must realize that in the long-term strategy it must link its security future with Russia,” said former Vice Speaker of the National Assembly Eduard Sharmazanov in a conversation with Aravot Daily referring to regional meetings and challenges threatening Armenia.
According to him, for that, three important issues need to be solved – “removal of the anti-national, capitulated, and incompetent government.” He does not know how, but he thinks that all the tools in order to do that should be utilized, military-political relations with Russia should be deepened while raising the level of security, and the educational system from preschool to university should be reviewed, clearly emphasizing what kind of citizen and state of Armenia we want to have- a state that has only symbols, or a free and independent state of the 21st century? Upon the observation that the government announced having a peaceful state within its plans, Eduard Sharmazanov countered, “It is not peace, it is a four-legged situation and begging for Aliyev-Pashinyan, Erdogan-Pashinyan relations.”
According to Sharmazanov, Nikol Pashinyan begs for meetings with the leaders of the Turkish states, in response to which he receives new demands, for example, amending the Armenian Constitution. According to Eduard Sharmazanov, it is probably a matter of changing the preamble of the Constitution, where part of the recognition of the genocide was transferred from the declaration of independence. In any case, Eduard Sharmazanov will not be surprised that if the current government stays in power, and if Aliyev or Erdogan demand that Armenia change its name to Ermenistan, “these people will be silent again.”
“The person who declared that Artsakh is Armenia and that’s it which led to the war is now afraid to announce today that Shushi and Hadrut are occupied. Today, the Republic of Armenia does not really exist. There is a territory of Eastern Armenia inhabited by Armenians, but the state institutions do not function, nothing depends on the Republic of Armenia today. All of society is waiting. What will Erdogan-Putin decide? What does Aliyev say? What does the United States or France say?” he said. In this context, Eduard Sharmazanov does not consider the internal political agenda of the Republic of Armenia in terms of what the government is doing appropriate compared to the ongoing processes. He refrained from commenting on the activities of the political minority, the opposition. One thing is for sure: despite all its mistakes and shortcomings, he thinks that this opposition is more effective and radical than the previous one, which gave the green light to the capitulating regime in the issue of snap elections. By and large, he considers the problem national and not only the government or the opposition. “Armenia is either turning into a Turkish vilayet on all fours, or there is hope to build a new, national Armenia.”
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The former NA Vice Speaker considered that the fundamental difference with the government is that the RA government expects peace from those who kill us with bigotry. Referring to the activation of the OSCE Minsk Group, Sharmazanov said, “Armenia must do something to expect something from the OSCE Minsk Group, the United States, China, or our ally.”
Nelly Grigoryan
