MOVEMENT OR CONGRESS?
Armen Tsatouryan
Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on July 30, 2008
Armenia
Towards the Western-style Renovation
Instead of consolidating the opposition, the recent attempts aimed
at establishing the Armenian National Congress – an idea advanced by
L. Ter-Petrosyan on May 2, during the conference of the "pan-national
movement", has began serving as a specific kind of "litmus test"
revealing the internal controversies.
Obviously, L. Ter-Petrosyan’s long-range political calculations aiming
to prevent the splitting of the opposition prior to the February 19
elections are already on the brink of a total failure. Actually,
apart from the Armenian Pan-National Movement, "Republic" party
and a number of other minor political factions, the proposal of
establishing the Armenian National Congress does not receive approval
by the pro-opposition forces.
And although some of them refuse to confess this fact in a public
manner and satisfy themselves by some uncertain hints while the others
are waiting for the congress to clarify its program and regulations,
all this cannot disguise the subject matter of the question.
Evidently, the more or less influential pro-opposition forces
supporting Ter-Petrosyan see an undisguised intention of making their
own goals serve the long-term programs of the Armenian Pan-National
Movement and its leader.
Those forces have already mad e sure that the results of the political
struggle that started with the February 19 presidential elections are
final and unshakeable. So, they have to think about the next stage
of the political developments from now on.
And the problem they are facing now is the imperative of clarifying
the issue of the "legal successor" of the opposition rather than
the political discords with the Armenian Pan-National Movement and
its leader.
Of course, the political forces and activists supporting
L. Ter-Petrosyan pursue divergent views in political-ideological issues
as well, and they can even be said to be on mutually exclusive poles.
Anyway, we believe that the subject matter of the question does not
consist in the ideological discords but rather, in the desire to be
granted freedom of hands in the course of the political arrangements.
This first of all concerns "Heritage" party which has such an
outstanding political leader as Raffi Hovhannisyan, an activist whose
political ambitions have been known for a long time. During the next
presidential elections, the leader of "Heritage" will finally have the
opportunity to overcome the obstacle of 10-year citizenship and propose
his candidacy. And his political party is offered to join the Armenian
National Congress which undoubtedly will be ruled by Mr. Ter-Petrosyan.
Naturally, "Heritage" will not form part of the congress unless this
multi-party20structure clarifies its decision-making procedures.
Therefore, in a statement released after the council session convened
on July 25, the representatives of the party say:
"Welcoming the initiative of establishing the Armenian National
Congress,
Attaching value to the struggle inside the pro-opposition forces for
the sake of civil and political rights and democracy,
"Heritage" decides:
To discuss all the possible forms of cooperation and partnership
with the Armenian National Congress after the adoption of its
program-related and procedural documents."
That’s to say, "Heritage" politely turns down the proposal of becoming
one the founding members of the Armenian National Congress and at the
same time, allows for a possibility of not becoming a member at all.
To prevent the establishment of the Armenian National Congress
from developing into a process of splitting the "Pan-National
Movement", L. Ter-Petrosyan cannot but do the following: to "adopt"
R. Hovhannisyan politically, declaring him as his "legal successor".
But how can he take such a risk, when among his co-thinkers and
the political forces supporting him there are other candidates for
such legal successors, e.g. David Shahnazaryan, Stepan Demirtchyan
and others.
The latter too, is pessimistic about the prospect of changing the
"pan-national movement" into an "Armenian National C ongress". Head
of the People’s Party does not even conceal the fact that he favors
the idea of the "pan-national movement" more.
Besides, as Stepan Demirtchyan notes, "the important thing is the
clear-cut formulation of the realistic goals and objectives, practical
work and, of course, decency in mutual relations. After all, it is
possible to cooperate without creating some formal formats."
It turns out that Stepan Demirtchyan considers the proposal of
establishing an Armenian National Congress as nothing more than a
"formal format" or just a change of name.
After receiving such a "slap", the closest circles of L. Ter-Petrosyan
will no longer "create problems". There, everything will be accounted
for Stepan Demirtchyan’s insufficient knowledge in philosophy, as
this person never manages to grasp the in-depth relationship between
form and content.
Of course, they will not be mistaken in gnosiological sense,
but the whole problem is that S. Demirtchyan himself has serious
hesitations. Being cautious from birth and having a certain respect
for the authorities, this activist too, thinks about the future of
his party. Set up by Karen Demirtchyan, the People’s Party of Armenia
(PPA) is now facing the risk of becoming the ‘adjunct body’ of the
Armenian Pan-National Movement – the ideological rival of the founder,
because by the estab lishment of the Armenian National Congress,
the argument on the necessity of supporting Ter-Petrosyan in the
force-majeure of the presidential elections becomes void.
Considering the polite refusal of "Heritage" party and the serious
hesitations of the PPA leader, Ter-Petrosyan has recently started
making a fuss and organizing meetings with some minor parties.
However, it turns out that the idea of establishing a congress has
started to produce a boomerang effect on the "movement" which is
weakening as it is, so the Armenian Pan-National Movement and its
leader may take more decisive steps in the near future. According to
available information, the press supporting the Armenian Pan-National
Movement has been instructed to start a harsh criticism of those
pro-opposition figures who deny the idea of creating the Armenian
National Congress.
Thus, it turns out that the proposal on setting up a congress splits
rather than consolidates the opposition. The reason is that such
proposal, from the point of view of domestic policy, first of all
solves the strategic problems faced by the Armenian Pan-National
Movement – the main supporter of Levon Ter-Petrosyan.
That is, having achieved the partial "rehabilitation" of the party
leader as a result of the February 19 elections, the Armenian
Pan-National Movement is now facing the urgent need of changing its
name with the purpose of strengthening its20positions on the political
arena and achieving success in the next parliamentary elections. In
this way, the movement will introduce itself to the public as a
new political force which has been "renovated in the Western style"
but continues to be ruled by the old leader.