Satik Seyranyan’s guest in “Pressing” program doctor of political science, former chairman of the RA National Assembly Tigran Torosyan is

The main points of the interview are below.

• The authorities are in an unprecedentedly bad, unfavorable position shortly before the elections, and there are obvious manifestations of this. Panic is already evident from Nikol Pashinyan’s behavior. When a person is no longer able to stay within the limits set by his position, what is it that is not panic? In addition, the number of cases when citizens express their dissatisfaction with the work of the government has significantly increased. 

• Today, various public opinion polls show that since 2021 the rating of the government has dropped significantly. According to that, today the problem is not the government, the rating of the government is very low, the problem is how the opposition forces will work in order to have more than half of the votes in the Parliament.

• You should always give opportunities to the youth, but you should not cut the link between the generations. Next to the youth there should be people with experience.
• The opposition must do everything to prevent the authorities from reproducing, otherwise this continuous decline and disaster may have an obvious continuation after the elections… I am sure that the government is waiting for its reproduction to finish the disaster it has created. The task of the voter, the citizen, at this moment should be to free the country from this disaster, but also to submit demands to the opposition regarding what to do next.
• There are no full-fledged parties in Armenia that would meet the modern requirements of parties. There are parties created 10 days ago that have announced their participation in the elections. These are the spoiler or scattering or, as it is customary to say, vote dusting parties. 

• The ruling party, CP, will not exist if it is not in power. There was a party that endured and did not collapse after losing power. it is the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), and I think it would be right for it to participate in these elections. RPA is an exceptional party. there was both opposition and government. His experience is the experience of Armenia. It would be right to take responsibility and go to the elections, because the opposition that exists today clearly has less experience than the RPA. I have known many of them for more than 30 years. they are honest, patriotic, upright people. 

• A party is an idea-based, voluntary association of people. If the political forces of Armenia really want to bring about radical positive changes in the country, they should not only strive to come to power, but also move on to solving the internal organizational issues of their structures.

• The most shameful thing is that they have moved on to terrorizing people, including school children. Even schoolchildren are subjected to terror… How did they treat the school-age boy Davit Minasyan during the liturgy in St. Anna Church? No self-respecting person should enter a church with bodyguards. It is a sanctuary. It was a specific terror that was carried out on two brothers in St. Anne’s Church:

• By the authorities in 2021 administrative levers were also used, but still it was not possible to get more than 26%, they could not.

• In Armenia, there is a mythical idea about external influence on elections. That influence on the outcome of the elections cannot have an impact of even 1 percent. In this case, there are manifestations of support that can have a negative impact, for example, the support of Turkey and Azerbaijan to Nikol Pashinyan. The result of the election will be decided by the RA citizen. The opposition must actively work with people to explain and convince them to go to the polling station on June 7. 2021 the opposition forces could not convince people to go to the polling station, that’s why they lost. 

• The government that receives the support of the absolute majority of citizens is legitimate. 

• Unfortunately, the political component in the agenda of the opposition forces that applied for participation is incomplete. In particular, their position on Artsakh is worrying. We should not say that we should wait for Artsakh to be safe for the people of Artsakh to return, but we should work so that the return is safe. The opinion of the Armenian people and the Armenian government regarding the Artsakh issue are not the same, and that is gratifying. The overwhelming majority of our people is of the opinion that the issue of Artsakh is not closed. There is no need to approach the Artsakh problem with fear and caution:

• Regarding TRIPP, perhaps what constrains the opposition is that the US is interested in it. But you have to protect your interests so that they respect you and talk to you. If Armenia follows that path, not only geopolitical problems will arise, but Armenia will also lose its influence.

• Armenia must correct both the terrible and catastrophic mistakes made by these authorities and the mistakes that came before them.

• Nikol Pashinyan scares citizens with war, blackmails them. People who fear war, however, should remember what happened in the last 8 years and what happened before that. We have found ourselves in such a situation that today Artsakh and significant areas of Armenia are under the occupation of Azerbaijan. Is this peace? When one side refuses to defend itself, to resist, the other side no longer needs to fight. It is no coincidence that Aliyev said: we will not enter Yerevan with tanks, but with passenger cars… Let people look at the facts: where are the Azerbaijanis today, and where were they before 2018? So these are disaster, war, losses, bringers of genocide, ethnic cleansing. He brought war, disaster, genocide and ethnic cleansing. He did not and cannot bring peace. Garegin Nzhdeh did not say: go to war, he said: be ready for war, have a strong will and a strong army. We have been peaceful when we resisted the enemy, when we defended our home and land. At that time, father and son Aliyev did not get along, they had cut ties. Just 2 years before they came to power, Ilham Aliyev complained that behind closed doors he was being forced to recognize the independence of Artsakh. There can be real peace only after these are gone, when the other person understands: If he commits an encroachment, he will receive a well-deserved response:

• In these elections, either the opposition will win or the opposition will lose. In other words, the government can remain in power only if the opposition does not do the relevant work until June 7.

• Is the problem of Azerbaijani refugees new and Azerbaijan did not know that there are Azerbaijani refugees? The number of Armenians who became refugees from Azerbaijan is about 400,000, from Baku, Kirovabad, Sumgait, Shahumyan, Getashen… these are the figures of the United Nations and which are not talked about today. If you are a competent government, you will demand from the international courts that the problem be considered fully and impartially. At that time, it will be clear that Azerbaijan is obliged to compensate the Armenian refugees, and this should not include the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, who must return to Artsakh and fully exercise their right to self-determination.

• Azerbaijan used to talk about one million refugees, but it was quickly revealed in international courts that their number is 8,600. Azerbaijan was just embarrassed… On any issue we have strong arguments to show that we have counter-arguments on any issue raised by Azerbaijan. 

• It is not necessary for Azerbaijan to recognize the territorial integrity of Armenia, who is Azerbaijan to recognize or not to recognize, it just needs to respect the UN Charter, which states that UN member states are obliged to recognize and respect each other’s territorial integrity.

• A state is a state, an unrecognized state is also a state, such as Artsakh.

• International law will return to its place, because humanity cannot throw away regulatory norms, considering the relations and conflicts of so many states. I specifically want to say that the people of Artsakh will return to Artsakh and achieve the recognition of their self-determination, only on one condition, in case of appropriate professional work. 

• Have we seen the leader of any country stick his country’s imagined borders to his chest… Of course not. It does so because it is unable to protect its country’s borders. A head of state who respects himself, his people and his country can never show such behavior:

• The situation is hopeless for the authorities, if the opposition political forces work fully in the remaining period, work properly with the people, explain to the people, prepare their representatives in the commissions… In this case, at least a few opposition forces can gather more votes than the government.

• Putin strongly warned not to make a mistake and take drastic steps, otherwise the consequences will be severe. 

• Anyone saying the nonsense that “Armenia should join the European Union” should be asked: what must Armenia do to become a member of the EU, what conditions must it meet, and how many years will it take? Ukraine and Georgia are a few steps ahead of Armenia in this sense and are not yet able to become EU members. Even if we think that joining the EU will be useful for Armenia, Armenia is far from it:

• Armenia does not have the right to enter between states with geopolitical conflicts in order to commit hooliganism and steal something. It will inevitably be followed by punishment. it can’t be like that, it doesn’t happen like that:

• The European political summit taking place in Armenia on May 4 has no significance. It’s a well-wishing, no-leverage gathering. It is not right to overemphasize this meeting. Armenian citizens should not care if European officials came and stayed in Yerevan for, let’s say, two days. Unfortunately, today’s European officials have very low knowledge and often say things that are laughed at within their own countries.

• People working in the state apparatus, do not betray your principles, do not leave, stay and work without violating your principles as a citizen of the Republic of Armenia. Don’t settle, don’t give up and don’t become a tool. When a person goes to the voting booth, he is free and alone. It is a lie that the election is controlled at the polls. This is spread by the authorities in order to scare and oppress. Vote according to your principles. Money is important, but not everything.

Details in the video.

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