As many memories and quotes about Vano Siradeghyan have been published in recent days, I also remember Vazgen Sargsyan’s assessment, which I heard personally: “Do you think Vano can evaluate people and phenomena correctly only through his intuition? You are wrong: He just thinks a lot. He thinks about the problems for a long time and then makes the right decision.” It seems to me that this is one of the most important features of a political figure.
I do not want to idealize that figure, whom, of course, I am grateful to for founding the Aravot newspaper. Let the historians talk about the pros and cons of his work in the future.
But in this context, there is an issue that is relevant today. There were independent people standing next to Levon Ter-Petrossian, each of whom, regardless of the first president as an individual, represented a separate value. Vazgen Sargsyan, Vano Siradeghyan, Babken Ararktsyan, Hrant Bagratyan, David Shahnazaryan, Eduard Yegoryan, Ashot Manucharyan and many others – they are not fairies at all, but I can not imagine that any of them would not say at first what he thought, or, on the contrary, he would say what he did not think to please the “boss.” This, of course, led to contradictions, conflicts, and divisions. But let us consider whether it is preferable for the state when there are people next to the leader of the country who do not represent an independent value, but simply act as a background for the ambitions of that leader. At the very least, I prefer to see bright, thoughtful, and enterprising people in leadership positions rather than gray courtiers.
Siradeghyan had been a writer until 1988 and, like many others, had entered the fray with pure, honest considerations. What happened after 1990, when the PANM came to power, is a separate and very long conversation, and since many of the current people are still with us (God bless everyone), and many are even involved in modern politics, I think that conversation is still premature.
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…The only thing that remained unclear to me why after the 2018 revolution, this government, which seems to oppose the “former” in everything, continued the political line of Kocharyan and Sargsyan in the Vano issue (I think no one doubts that regardless of the legal details, the issue was political). Otherwise, he would have at least spent his last years in the homeland…
Aram Abrahamyan
