Tweet
MISTAKES CAN'T BE CORRECTED THROUGH MISTAKES
SIRANUYSH PAPYAN
Lragir.am
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/interview22716.html
25/07/2011
Mr. Paskevichyan, the PACE co-rapporteur Axel Fischer welcomed the
dialogue of the ruling coalition and the Armenian National Congress.
However, the attitude of the society is not encouraging. It is not
clear what is happening. What are your thoughts on this process?
What Axel Fischer said is quite normal from the point of view of
Europeans. The former demands - release of political prisoners,
elimination of limitations of the freedom of assemblies, assurance
to review March 1 cases - could change the opinion of the Europeans.
However, Axel Fischer and the others shouldn't have rushed and
should've been more consistent than before. As to the moods of the
society, its embarrassment, some lack of confidence, I think it's
quite normal too because the dialogue is a new political practice in
our country. As any new thing, it is treated with some precaution.
Will the demand of snap elections be reviewed in the next rally? Some
representatives of the authorities reassert that the dialogue will not
dwell on snap elections because there is no such demand in the country.
What does it mean there's no demand for snap elections in the country?
Who measures and what is the measuring tool? The country is in a
deep crisis, deep apathy. Go a little farther than the city center
and talk to people to see if there is demand or not.
Are snap elections the best way to overcome crisis and apathy?
Elections are needed. Elections must be free. To overcome the crisis
and apathy, people must form a government which they trust. People
must have that opportunity, and frankly speaking, it doesn't matter
who they will elect. What matters is the quality of the government,
and the measurement of quality is the amount of confidence.
Mr. Paskevichyan, if the government is reproduced through snap
elections, or the ANC and the present government enter the parliament
with a certain correlation of votes, wouldn't it aggravate the apathy
in people? Don't you think the dialogue should be on future plans
and intentions, such as how to curb the crisis facing the country?
It is known that in the statement of the proposal of dialogue the
Congress pointed snap presidential elections as primary, meaning
that the president who receives the vote of confidence of people will
guarantee compliant parliamentary elections. However, the authorities
will be trying to avoid presidential elections and try to reach
"compromise" to hold snap parliamentary elections. Even in this case,
I think, it is the result of vivid imagination that the Armenian
National Congress will agree to a deal for 10-15 seats in parliament.
A sensible person can't draw such a conclusion from the content of
more than three years of political action.
However, there is a problem of confidence. They say neither the
government, nor the opposition enjoys confidence. The ANC does not
present a clear plan of recovery of the country from crisis.
If all the people together expressed confidence for the opposition
or the government, no dialogue or elections would be needed. The real
measurement of confidence is free elections. The one who gets the votes
of people enjoys confidence of people, trust in their programs and
mechanisms of solving problems. During the rose revolution in Georgia,
everyone realized the need for change but nobody imagined how it
would be. Today, a number of problems have been solved in this country.
Do you nevertheless believe in the outcome of the dialogue?
Frankly speaking, I have an inner satisfaction. This is a good process,
and I am sure that the dialogue will become a tradition through free
and fair elections. In other words, it will take place every day in
parliament, on TV in newspapers, in the upcoming elections.
Mr. Paskevichyan, if there is a dialogue but no snap elections are
held, won't it eventually cause disappointment?
Without an agreement on snap elections, the dialogue would stop
after a few meetings. The Congress did not enter the dialogue for
idle talks. And if the dialogue stops, the society will reach snap
elections through other means. Certainly, it would be a step back but
I don't think that the government would wish to face such a prospect.
Certainly, they will try to argue that the next scheduled elections
are drawing nearer, they will swear that the scheduled elections will
appeal to the society, but the Congress will demand snap elections
because snap elections are a guarantee rather than a caprice. The snap
elections will change the content of forming government, the approach
of people, the amount of responsibility. Snap elections mean correction
of mistakes, and mistakes can't be corrected through new mistakes.
Do you still to think that a new force will emerge only when the
Karabakh issue is solved?
In the long run, I do. The Karabakh conflict has a great influence on
the home political situation because it is issue N1. It is difficult
to imagine a new force which would present an unknown vision or
approach on the Karabakh settlement. The question may arise what the
change of government will bring about. The elected government will
stop manipulating the Karabakh issue, while ruling out manipulations
will encourage integration of Karabakh and Armenia. For the people
of Karabakh, it is one thing when people who monopolize the Karabakh
issue justifying it by their Karabakh origin rule in Armenia, and it is
another thing when the will of people rules. I mean that the demands of
Karabakh from Armenia will rightly increase, which will allow resolving
the issue not only at the level of the Minsk Group but also at other
levels where the issues of the people of Armenia will be resolved.
SIRANUYSH PAPYAN
Lragir.am
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/interview22716.html
25/07/2011
Mr. Paskevichyan, the PACE co-rapporteur Axel Fischer welcomed the
dialogue of the ruling coalition and the Armenian National Congress.
However, the attitude of the society is not encouraging. It is not
clear what is happening. What are your thoughts on this process?
What Axel Fischer said is quite normal from the point of view of
Europeans. The former demands - release of political prisoners,
elimination of limitations of the freedom of assemblies, assurance
to review March 1 cases - could change the opinion of the Europeans.
However, Axel Fischer and the others shouldn't have rushed and
should've been more consistent than before. As to the moods of the
society, its embarrassment, some lack of confidence, I think it's
quite normal too because the dialogue is a new political practice in
our country. As any new thing, it is treated with some precaution.
Will the demand of snap elections be reviewed in the next rally? Some
representatives of the authorities reassert that the dialogue will not
dwell on snap elections because there is no such demand in the country.
What does it mean there's no demand for snap elections in the country?
Who measures and what is the measuring tool? The country is in a
deep crisis, deep apathy. Go a little farther than the city center
and talk to people to see if there is demand or not.
Are snap elections the best way to overcome crisis and apathy?
Elections are needed. Elections must be free. To overcome the crisis
and apathy, people must form a government which they trust. People
must have that opportunity, and frankly speaking, it doesn't matter
who they will elect. What matters is the quality of the government,
and the measurement of quality is the amount of confidence.
Mr. Paskevichyan, if the government is reproduced through snap
elections, or the ANC and the present government enter the parliament
with a certain correlation of votes, wouldn't it aggravate the apathy
in people? Don't you think the dialogue should be on future plans
and intentions, such as how to curb the crisis facing the country?
It is known that in the statement of the proposal of dialogue the
Congress pointed snap presidential elections as primary, meaning
that the president who receives the vote of confidence of people will
guarantee compliant parliamentary elections. However, the authorities
will be trying to avoid presidential elections and try to reach
"compromise" to hold snap parliamentary elections. Even in this case,
I think, it is the result of vivid imagination that the Armenian
National Congress will agree to a deal for 10-15 seats in parliament.
A sensible person can't draw such a conclusion from the content of
more than three years of political action.
However, there is a problem of confidence. They say neither the
government, nor the opposition enjoys confidence. The ANC does not
present a clear plan of recovery of the country from crisis.
If all the people together expressed confidence for the opposition
or the government, no dialogue or elections would be needed. The real
measurement of confidence is free elections. The one who gets the votes
of people enjoys confidence of people, trust in their programs and
mechanisms of solving problems. During the rose revolution in Georgia,
everyone realized the need for change but nobody imagined how it
would be. Today, a number of problems have been solved in this country.
Do you nevertheless believe in the outcome of the dialogue?
Frankly speaking, I have an inner satisfaction. This is a good process,
and I am sure that the dialogue will become a tradition through free
and fair elections. In other words, it will take place every day in
parliament, on TV in newspapers, in the upcoming elections.
Mr. Paskevichyan, if there is a dialogue but no snap elections are
held, won't it eventually cause disappointment?
Without an agreement on snap elections, the dialogue would stop
after a few meetings. The Congress did not enter the dialogue for
idle talks. And if the dialogue stops, the society will reach snap
elections through other means. Certainly, it would be a step back but
I don't think that the government would wish to face such a prospect.
Certainly, they will try to argue that the next scheduled elections
are drawing nearer, they will swear that the scheduled elections will
appeal to the society, but the Congress will demand snap elections
because snap elections are a guarantee rather than a caprice. The snap
elections will change the content of forming government, the approach
of people, the amount of responsibility. Snap elections mean correction
of mistakes, and mistakes can't be corrected through new mistakes.
Do you still to think that a new force will emerge only when the
Karabakh issue is solved?
In the long run, I do. The Karabakh conflict has a great influence on
the home political situation because it is issue N1. It is difficult
to imagine a new force which would present an unknown vision or
approach on the Karabakh settlement. The question may arise what the
change of government will bring about. The elected government will
stop manipulating the Karabakh issue, while ruling out manipulations
will encourage integration of Karabakh and Armenia. For the people
of Karabakh, it is one thing when people who monopolize the Karabakh
issue justifying it by their Karabakh origin rule in Armenia, and it is
another thing when the will of people rules. I mean that the demands of
Karabakh from Armenia will rightly increase, which will allow resolving
the issue not only at the level of the Minsk Group but also at other
levels where the issues of the people of Armenia will be resolved.