Regarding Artsakh, Pashinyan’s statements contain a dangerous message. Ghukasyan

I think that it is a mistake with very big and serious consequences to involve Artsakh in the internal political processes of Armenia and manipulate it within the framework of the pre-election campaign. Artsakh is a topic that should be treated very delicately, considering our opponents, and in any case, one should try to avoid any speculations about it. Arman Ghukasyan, a political scientist and chairman of the “For Social Justice” party, said this in a conversation with VERELQ, referring to the developments of the last few days.

To remind, during these four days of the campaign, the topic of Artsakh is mentioned many times by one of the active actors of the Armenian political field, the representatives of the “My Step” alliance, which is considered the favorite in these elections. First, a deputy candidate Sasun Mikayelyan declared that “the victory of the Velvet Revolution was more important than the Artsakh liberation war”, then Nikol Pashinyandeclared that the son of Artsakh and no president served in Artsakh and in the Armed Forces in general. It is clear that Stepanakert could not respond to these statements and answers were given regarding the accusations against Artsakh. However, the Acting Prime Minister today urged President Bako Sahakyan in an almost threatening tone to sober up the representatives of his government and the press spokesperson and send them to work, not to make comments. He also announced that he will discuss all this with Bako Sahakyan after the elections.

According to Arman Ghukasyan, Nikol Pashinyan’s sharp statements were not very appropriate, because, first of all, we have never separated Artsakh and Armenia from each other, and besides, there were reactions only regarding the issues and accusations that were directly related to Artsakh.

“Such statements contain a dangerous message. Maybe Mr. Pashinyan expressed his thoughts incorrectly, but if he said what he wanted to say, then I, as a citizen of the Republic of Armenia and also a leader of a political force, consider them incorrect, because those statements can leave such an impression that the current government of the Republic of Armenia urges Artsakh to deal exclusively with their affairs”, our interlocutor noted, also emphasizing that it is wrong to accuse people for expressing their own opinion or interpreting the statements of others. In the end, he stressed, how could not only Artsakh citizens who participated in Artsakh? to the freedom struggle, but the society of Armenia did not respond to the statement made by Sasun Mikayelyan.

Referring to the course of the campaign, Ghukasyan noted that four days have already passed since its start, but he does not see a classic campaign process. Instead, there is one person, Nikol Pashinyan and others, and it is not about an equal electoral battle, but just a fight for second place. Ghukasyan pointed out that yes, the force led by Pashinyan will take the majority in the National Assembly and there is no doubt about that, but it is difficult to remember a country where the forces that applied for participation in the elections fought for the second place.

“This is an interesting precedent, but also following the current developments, it becomes clearer for our political force that the decision made by the party not to participate in the extraordinary parliamentary elections was very correct and justified, because the political force should not go just to take the second place in the election. Any political force must fight to take power. “Only that option is acceptable for us,” he added.

Lia Khojoyan