TER-PETROSYAN: ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT IS FACING A BIG DILEMMA
POLITICS | 21.07.14 | 13:03
Opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan
criticized the Armenian government for doing little to solve the
current pressing issues facing the country, while focusing on what
he described as a premature constitutional reform.
In an interview with ilur.am, Ter-Petrosyan refrained from commenting
on the current situation around Nagorno-Karabakh, saying that it
is the government that has the full information and needs to make
explanations in this regard. “But corresponding government bodies
do not provide any clear explanation to the public, which makes the
situation even more worrisome.”
He described the response of Armenian forces to Azeri ceasefire
violations as “quite restrained and inadequate”. He said that it
could be explained by the following circumstance: the Armenian side
is cautious to retaliate, considering that it could lead, if not
to a large-scale war, then to a more dangerous exacerbation of the
situation. And this, according to Ter-Petrosyan, makes Azerbaijan
even more impudent. “Therefore, Armenian authorities are facing a
big dilemma to solve which requires immense efforts and exclusive
political resourcefulness,” he said.
“Azerbaijan’s aggressive actions are to some extent connected, on the
one hand, with the distrust that the West shows towards Armenia in
the wake of the aborted process on Armenia’s European association,
on the other hand with the still uncertain status of Armenia within
the framework of the Eurasian Union,” said Ter-Petrosyan.
The opposition leader said that in his opinion the delay in Armenia’s
membership in the Russian-led union is not connected with “technical
matters” that the Armenian side says have long been solved, nor with
economic considerations. The answer to this question, therefore,
should be sought in the political sphere.
“It is clear that a sharp demand was set to Armenia by the founding
members of the Eurasian Union – to install customs checkpoints on
the entire perimeter of the Armenia-Karabakh border. The Armenian
government is now facing the dilemma of whether to meet this demand
or not… If it fails to meet the demand, Armenia, which has already
spoiled its relations with the West, will find itself in full political
and economic vacuum. And if it meets the demand, it will create a
panicky psychological state of being abandoned in Karabakh, which
is fraught with serious tensions in the relations between Armenia
and Karabakh.”
“In short, it is not Russia, Kazakhstan or Belarus that cause the
delay in [Armenia’s] Eurasian Union membership, but Armenia itself,
as now it has not yet found a key to solving the problem of the issue
of placing customs checkpoints at the Armenia-Karabakh border.”
Ter-Petrosyan said that if held, a possible new meeting between
the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan (following French President
Francois Hollande’s initiative) would be a positive development. “Even
if the Hollande-Aliyev-Sargsyan meeting fails to bring any serious
progress in the Karabakh settlement, considering the current
Armenian-Azerbaijani border tensions, the result could as well as
considered as satisfactory.”
The opposition leader criticized the authorities for failing to
address these issues, while instead pursuing ‘untimely’ Constitutional
reforms. “Instead of putting out a fire that has broke out in Armenia
and Karabakh, the regime is preoccupied with destroying the foundations
of the Armenian statehood, a hostile act like that would not occur
even to Azerbaijan.”
“Even though all serious political forces have pronounced categorically
against the initiative of constitutional changes, Serzh Sargsyan sees
the position of the Prosperous Armenia Party as the main obstacle
on his way to achieving the goal. If until recently he tried to
overcome this obstacle by a carrot, that is, to win the party over
by some promises, then now, according to the information we have,
by employing the entire law-enforcement machine, he is going to use
the stick against the PAP, that is, threats and blackmail, and the
other opposition forces and the entire society cannot tolerate it,”
said Ter-Petrosyan.
“The issue of constitutional reforms is, therefore, a sort of watershed
between the dictatorial regime and healthy forces of the society, a
problem on whose solution the future of Armenia and Karabakh depends,”
said the opposition leader. “If Serzh Sargsyan continues to persists in
his attempt to eternalize his power by means of constitutional reforms,
then under serious political processes that will unfold in autumn, he,
no doubt, will become the digger of his own ‘bandit state’ system’s
grave. In a certain sense political forces should be thankful to
Serzh Sargsyan for providing them with a consolidating weapon like
the uniting idea of struggle against constitutional changes. Any
dictator, no matter how strong he is, losing the sense of reality
in the course of time, eventually makes a fatal mistake. In the case
with Serzh, this fatal mistake is certain to be the failed initiative
of constitutional changes.”
http://armenianow.com/news/politics/56230/armenia_levon_terpetrosyan_interview_politics