The interlocutor of “Aravot” is the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Armenia and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Artsakh, Arman Melikyan.
-For several days now, the internal political life in Armenia has been tense. There is an opinion that the opposition has received positive signals from geopolitical centers, particularly from Russia, so it is demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Pashinyan more actively. In your opinion, what processes are happening in Armenia and around Armenia?
– I am sure that the envoys representing the current Armenian opposition regularly visit Moscow. And it’s natural, of course, that they would like to receive support from Kremlin. Nevertheless, I think they are meeting with representatives of the second or third echelon of real decision-makers in the Russian ruling elite. That is to say, our envoys are meeting mainly with their “postmen” – with the people who have to convey the thoughts and the requests of our current opposition to the decision-makers and receive their political “blessing”.
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Recently the only person from Armenia who had an opportunity to have a private conversation with Russian President Putin is Prime Minister Pashinyan. I have already had an opportunity to say that the opposition which has taken the streets of Armenia will be able to change the government when the Armenian law enforcement agencies stop supporting the current government. Moscow has a huge potential to influence these processes. That potential is not being used yet. I think that Armenia’s internal weakness is still in demand by the foreign actors.
– The opposition announced the public demand for the resignation of Nikol Pashinyan, stating a few points. What would you add to those points or what would you draw attention to? What had been left out? And why those questions are being ignored, if any?
– Formally, Pashinyan’s government is legitimate, as according to the official data of the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Armenia, the political party he leads won the last parliamentary elections. And the accusations of the opposition were already known at that time. That is to say, they were not significant for the majority of those who voted. It is a different matter that, in my opinion, the data by the state body that has previously committed or sponsored election fraud, is not credible – its leadership is the same. Namely, as the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Armenia served for the sake of the former ones who have taken the streets, can also serve the current authorities. No matter how much we talk about fair and transparent elections, people know very well who organized those elections in the past and who continues to organize them now, and how the official results were calculated.
– The third meeting of the Armenian and Turkish envoys took place. From the official information, the agenda of the negotiations is again unclear. And on May 2, the Secretary of the Security Council, Armen Grigoryan met with Azerbaijani President’s Assistant, Hikmet Hajiyev in Brussels. The agenda of the meeting was the peace agreement. However, as it turned out the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not aware of that. Why is the government rushing?
– Maybe the government is not rushing on its accord? In any case, the information of the official Yerevan on the talks with Ankara and Baku is incoherent, and it is impossible to get the whole picture based on that. It is noteworthy, that Ankara insists that it’s time for the bilateral meetings to be held successively in Turkey and Armenia, while Yerevan still prefers to meet in the third countries. Probably, the reason is that if such meetings are organized in Armenia today, they can cause serious internal grievances.
Nelly GRIGORYAN
