POLITICIAN CONSIDERS POSSIBLE THAT MOVEMENT LIKE GEORGIAN AND UKRAINIAN ONES STARTS IN ARMENIA
Noyan Tapan
May 18 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 18, NOYAN TAPAN. The innerpolitical developments taking
place in Armenia during the recent days revealed the situation existing
in the country. Politician Stepan Grigorian, the Chairman of the
Globalization and Regional Cooperation Analytical Center expressed such
an opinion in the interview to the Noyan Tapan correspondent. According
to him, the 2003 elections took place with serious violations, and
in the conditions of having no support by the society, the coalition
was mainly created to keep the power. According to Grigorian, the
coalition was formed by parties too different from each other: “The
Dashnaktsutiun is a classic revolutionary party, the Republican is
a classic corrumpants’ party, and the “Orinats Yerkir” (Country of
Law) is a populist party.” The foreign political orientation of the
parties is different as well: if, according to him, Dashnaktsutiun
is exclusively aimed to Russia, then Republican and “Orinats Yerkir”
accepts the necessity of the cooperation with Europe as well. According
to the politician, the coalition having no ideological warp was
to break down sooner of later. And if National Assembly Speaker,
“Orinats Yerkir” party Chairman Artur Baghdasarian got guarantees from
the West, he may take such a step. Grigorian considers such a variant
more possible. According to him, Western countries are anxious with
the low level of democracy in Armenia, and even more with the absence
of the political alternative. According to the politician, viewpoints
of the parliamentary opposition do not differ in any way from the
authorities’ viewpoints in issues of either Karabakh settlement or
foreign political orientation. “For this reason, such an idea might
be born in the West, but it’s implementation was not possible withot
Artur Baghdasarian’s personal qualities,” he mentioned. According to
the speaker, the OYK must refuse some ideas raised by it before, which
are connected with establishment of social justice as the European
integration means that a liberal democracy must be established in
the country. If breaking down of the coalition brings to general
innerpolitical crisis, it will depend on Artur Baghdasarian’s future
activities, from the issue if the OYK really becomes opposition
and is successive in the issue of integration to the EU and NATO,
leads a principal struggle against corruption. Much depends on the
issue with which political forces the OYK will cooperate at the
Parliament and out of the Parliament. If it unites with the ANM,
a part of the “Ardaroutiun” (Justice) faction, the “Zharangutiun”
(Heritage) party, then, according to the politician, it is possible
that a movement like the one in Georgia and Ukraine starts in Armenia,
taking into account, that Sahakashvili and Yushchenko were also members
of the rulling team. Grigorian does not exclude that Defence Minister
Serge Sargsian has some role in the affair of creation of the party,
but it is not important now. According to him, Artur Baghdasarian
has a great political experience. “As it is known, he was a member
of the ANM faction (“Hanrapetutiun” (Republic), when ANM was the
authorities. I think he oriented well during the power shift taken
place in the country in 97-98,” the politician mentioned. According to
him, then Baghdasarian found that idea based on which it was possible
to create a party, and there are many people now as well who believe
his promises connected with solution of social problems.