THE FIRST AND LAST RESIGNATION
HAKOB BADALYAN
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/comments25020.html
Published: 13:29:21 - 03/02/2012
In the history of independent Armenia, February 3 is the day of the
first and for the time being the last resignation of president. In the
evening of February 3, 1998 Levon Ter-Petrosyan made a speech on TV,
informing people that he stepped down at the demand of the forces
that are well-known to everyone.
There are different approaches and opinions on his resignation,
from extremely positive to extremely negative. A lot of people think
that Ter-Petrosyan~Rs resignation was a perfect expression of the
democracy and tolerance of the president, he did not hold on to power
desperately. Others think that if he was a really democratic president,
he should have left at the demand of the public in 1996, and not at the
demand of the notorious forces in 1998, and in 1998 he paid the price
for the falsifications and violence used to hold on to power in 1996.
Some people consider Ter-Petrosyan~Rs resignation as an ultimate
expression of responsibility, and others consider it as lack of
responsibility.
Ter-Petrosyan~Rs resignation is said to be related to the Karabakh
issue, while others think it was a mere reason for those forces known
to everyone to force him to resign.
Upon departure Ter-Petrosyan threatened that the party of peace leaves
and is substituted by the party of war. 14 years have passed since
his resignation but no war started, and the status quo was conserved,
a criminal and oligarchic system has been institutionalized in Armenia
the seeds of which were planted in the election stage of 1995-1996
when the so-called warlords and local strongmen took on key roles in
politics and gained wealth.
Moreover, this circumstance gave rise to a situation when the
application of the constitutional powers of the president would
incur instability.
It is strange that the application of the powers of the president might
destabilize the state, isn~Rt it? Hence, the state is build wrongly,
it is based on a mistake.
The establishment of constitutional order in Armenia is the primary
problem. Levon Ter-Petrosyan who resigned instead of using his
constitutional powers in 1998 is the leader of one of the forces
struggling for the establishment of constitutional order in Armenia,
demanding the resignation of a person who had demanded his resignation
in 1998 together with the ~Sforces known~T to everyone.
In the meantime, the resignation of 1998 was the first and the last
in the history of independent Armenia, perhaps because in Armenia
resignation is less and less viewed as an essential mechanism of
change of the situation because there is a precedent to indicate that
the situation does not improve.
Moreover, the precedent indicates that in the institutionalized
criminal and oligarchic militarized system the public should demand
that the presidents change the system rather than resign, though the
best way is that the society does it itself.
From: Baghdasarian
HAKOB BADALYAN
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/comments25020.html
Published: 13:29:21 - 03/02/2012
In the history of independent Armenia, February 3 is the day of the
first and for the time being the last resignation of president. In the
evening of February 3, 1998 Levon Ter-Petrosyan made a speech on TV,
informing people that he stepped down at the demand of the forces
that are well-known to everyone.
There are different approaches and opinions on his resignation,
from extremely positive to extremely negative. A lot of people think
that Ter-Petrosyan~Rs resignation was a perfect expression of the
democracy and tolerance of the president, he did not hold on to power
desperately. Others think that if he was a really democratic president,
he should have left at the demand of the public in 1996, and not at the
demand of the notorious forces in 1998, and in 1998 he paid the price
for the falsifications and violence used to hold on to power in 1996.
Some people consider Ter-Petrosyan~Rs resignation as an ultimate
expression of responsibility, and others consider it as lack of
responsibility.
Ter-Petrosyan~Rs resignation is said to be related to the Karabakh
issue, while others think it was a mere reason for those forces known
to everyone to force him to resign.
Upon departure Ter-Petrosyan threatened that the party of peace leaves
and is substituted by the party of war. 14 years have passed since
his resignation but no war started, and the status quo was conserved,
a criminal and oligarchic system has been institutionalized in Armenia
the seeds of which were planted in the election stage of 1995-1996
when the so-called warlords and local strongmen took on key roles in
politics and gained wealth.
Moreover, this circumstance gave rise to a situation when the
application of the constitutional powers of the president would
incur instability.
It is strange that the application of the powers of the president might
destabilize the state, isn~Rt it? Hence, the state is build wrongly,
it is based on a mistake.
The establishment of constitutional order in Armenia is the primary
problem. Levon Ter-Petrosyan who resigned instead of using his
constitutional powers in 1998 is the leader of one of the forces
struggling for the establishment of constitutional order in Armenia,
demanding the resignation of a person who had demanded his resignation
in 1998 together with the ~Sforces known~T to everyone.
In the meantime, the resignation of 1998 was the first and the last
in the history of independent Armenia, perhaps because in Armenia
resignation is less and less viewed as an essential mechanism of
change of the situation because there is a precedent to indicate that
the situation does not improve.
Moreover, the precedent indicates that in the institutionalized
criminal and oligarchic militarized system the public should demand
that the presidents change the system rather than resign, though the
best way is that the society does it itself.
From: Baghdasarian