Journalists asked Ruben Vardanyan: How do you assess Arayik Harutyunyan’s resignation? Was it expected, appropriate, or late? Also, people saw a contradiction in Ruben Vardanyan’s statements; he said about Arayik Harutyunyan that it is easy to work with him, you should trust him, and he is principled, then he announced that Arayik Harutyunyan never became a leader, so how do you interpret this contradiction. Ruben Vardanyan answered: “I have known Arayik Harutyunyan since 2008; we have come a long way together. I supported him in 2020 because I was sure that he would be the right President to build the economy of Artsakh; in a non-military situation, I am sure that he could have done something great for Artsakh with his experience like when he was the Prime Minister during Bako Sahakyan’s time.
That was my opinion as far as I knew from the outside, seeing how the decisions were made. That was then. I was appointed Minister of State on November 4. I did not resign; I was removed from the case. It was the President’s decision, and I did not criticize. I respected the President’s decision as a soldier. During the siege, Arayik Harutyunyan needed to behave differently as a Leader and Commander-in-chief. Whoever does not park should go out and not disturb.
After six months, I said that this situation, whether to leave or not, these fluctuations led to big problems, and people expected more confidence from the leader and more systemic steps. As for going, I respect Araik Harutyunyan’s decision; it was difficult, but he made it. It is unacceptable when they try to discredit that decision because they negate the path of Artsakh state building.
The president may resign, and the National Assembly will elect a new president. Let’s treat the Artsakh State with respect. The situation in Artsakh is terrible; let’s let everything go constitutionally, in an acceptable manner; we will have a new president and a new minister of state. We, the Armenians, should be more thoughtful and wiser; we should contribute to preserving Artsakh instead of causing more damage to Artsakh by rumors.
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Ruben Vardanyan replied: How will you implement a change of power? Will you nominate yourself as a candidate for the prime minister, or will Mane Tandilyan be your candidate? Ruben Vardanyan replied that he should leave it after September 18. “Let’s understand that not only the promises regarding Artsakh have not been fulfilled, but many other things have not been done. We haven’t had the constitutional change the prime minister promised; he criticized Serzh Sargsyan a lot for sewing a super suit for himself. Today’s prime minister liked that super-prime ministerial suit of Serzh Sargsyan more; it strengthened the super-prime minister’s levers, even though he gave his word, now none does talk about it, that the government is one-sided and very dangerous.” He said that they should have serious discussions on these and other issues.
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
