Armenia is on the verge of serious structural changes

Interview of Tigran Khzmalyan, representative of Sardarapat Oppositional Political Movement Initiative Group, well-known film director, with ArmInfo News Agency

• by David Stepanyan

• Wednesday, August 15, 12:27

Armenia will hold presidential election in February. Can one say today that the election results are predetermined given that a certain part of the society gave the votes to the “old” power system?

What is scheduled for February 2013 is not election but farce like the past "elections" to the parliament. The elections cannot be an instrument to change power as they will be organized in line with the same agreements between clans and inside clans. This game is organized in order to bear no relation to the key participant of elections - the people.  Mechanisms of rigging, frightening and pressure are so perfect that there is no expression of public will in the country. However, the authorities have, actually, no resources, as nearly half of the budget is borrowings from abroad. Consequently, the Armenian government is nothing but a group managed by the external forces and depending on the will of creditors. As a result, we have got an absurd situation in the country where the government depends on anyone except the people. So, the country is on the verge of serious structural changes in the public life. One should not forget that many components forming the political life in Armenia, including the foreign ones, have changed recently. The Armenian leadership can no longer keep the balance with one leg in the West and the other in Russia. I think that there is an alternative to such long-term maneuvering. Armenia needs neither Russian nor Western orientation. We need one - Armenian - orientation. Only Armenocentrism, not nationalism, based on national values and interests can save Armenia.

During the presidential election in the NKR on July 19, Vitaly Balasanyan, an oppositional candidate, obtained almost one/third of votes. How was it possible in Karabakh and still impossible in Armenia given that the political system of Karabakh is the mirror reflection of the political system of Armenia?

The reason is that there was simply no candidate alternative to the authorities in Armenia.  Over the last years it seemed to us that there is such an alternative in Armenia in the person of the Armenian National Congress and its leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan. Unfortunately, people ready to revolution were sent home for many times. And it has become clear that these were false alternatives. All this was the failure of the opposition and not the public. That “opposition” was necessary to the authorities and now that “opposition” makes deals with various political forces. The lack of many-thousand rallies of the ANC is explained by the fact that the public has realized the goals of that opposition. 

Te movement led by the Armenian National Congress in 2008 has luckily been finally exhausted, as the ideas of the ANC leaders would not change the system and the pyramid of power. This is a bitter paradox. The opposition's victory that was so much probable in 2008 would not have brought any system changes to Armenia. It would have changed something in the style and manner of the politicians, but not in the people's lives.  A liberal revolution took place in Armenia after the Karabakh week. A group of authoritarian leaders has come to power. All the three presidents represent this group, and it is not accidental that they logically complete one another and they all were members of the Armenian Pan National Movement. The main result of their activity is the extremely ineffective governance of Armenia, the disastrous inadequacy, inability to assess the ongoing processes in the country with the help of the "elite" they are surrounded by. I think that no one in Armenia seriously thinks that saving bank accounts of 40 oligarchic families is a national task. The authorities of Armenia are grabbing bubbles that are bursting. The authorities just steal our time permanently seeking not only billions of dollars, as Mass Media report, but also national development ways. Choosing between Russia and USA on the 20th anniversary of independence is just silly.

In its fight against the system, Sardarapat Movement places the key stake on the youth. Do you think the youth, who have knocked the authorities in the fight for Mashtots Park in Yerevan, are capable to make structural changes without any political parties and to become new elite in Armenia?

New elite comprising, first of all, the youth opposing the incumbent authorities, is due to come to power in Armenia. This elite has not yet perceived itself as such, but its best part demonstratively avoids what is called 'political party' in Armenia. Degradation of parties is observed in the country and outside it, since it is a global tendency. In the case of Armenia, this crisis is especially felt for it is concentrated on a very small territory. That is why in Armenia a new generation able to settle new and old tasks is coming to the public life, policy, economy and culture quite quickly. As a result, the civil society is again assuming the responsibility for the country guided by the instinct of self-preservation. The change of the power system includes many components, and the most important component is the willingness of the society itself for changes. 

Do you already see that willingness?

Today this willingness is displayed better than ever. Over the past few weeks the environmental activists held protest actions in Khosrov

reserve, opposition has been formed in Karabakh, the initiative group "We Are the Owners of This City" has appeared in Gyumri, resistance is growing in Syunik, the movement for the support of the young activists arrested because of clashes with the police is activating its efforts; so do the movement "Vahe Avetyan" and the movement of soldiers' mothers. All this is direct evidence of the total erosion of the old power system. Sardarapat Movement always supports these movements. This allows the Police to accuse Sardarapat of directing them. All these accusations are ridiculous and only show that the authorities have not got a clear idea of the public situation. We give high priority to the skills of resistance our youth are acquiring while involved in various social groups. As a result, the youth stop being afraid of the power and the regime.

So, sooner or later, the authorities will be changed because Armenia has a big reserve of strength, which makes it really unique. Armenia has a unique geopolitical stability unlike any other countries surrounding it. The reason is not only the mono-nationality, but also the lack of confessional and religious difference able to split the country. Hence, the variety of churches, Christianity, I don't mean the sects that look rather ugly, I mean Catholics and Protestants, do not threaten the national unity.