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It is high time for real democracy
http://karabakh-open.info/en/subjecten/4184-en941
Monday, 15 April 2013 16:14
The recognition of the NKR independence by the US state of Maine and
the recent steps of this kind by some other states suggest some
progress in the recognition process, yet Karabakh has a long way to
pass in this direction both on the international arena and in its
domestic life.
If in the first case everything depends not only on Karabakh, in the
latter case all is surely in the hands of our authorities and the
public. We should admit that what we have in Artsakh now is not
sufficient to be called a normal country, and in spite of the
existence of various democratic institutions the democracy level in
Karabakh, putting it mildly, is dissatisfactory. This apparent
democracy is far from the real.
The previous presidential elections showed that democracy could
develop in our country as well. As there was an alternative candidate
one-third of the electors voted against the current President. It
seemed everything would slot into place, yet the authorities began
repeating their predecessors' mistakes of 2004 when the opposition
candidate was elected Mayor of Stepanakert. Immediately after the
authorities initiated a policy of suppressing the public opinion
showing in different ways that the elected Mayor is not such a good
one. And one of these ways was the retrenchment of subsidies from
which Stepanakert citizens suffered greatly.
The same is repeated today. Several months after the presidential
elections it became clear that the authorities could not put up with
the standpoint of the one-third of electors and again, quite
successfully, they try to annihilate the public opinion. The reason is
the hard social conditions the Karabakhians live in, under the fear of
losing their jobs that is the only way of making their living people
have to retreat in their positions they expressed only a few months
ago in the presidential elections. This time during Vitali
Balasanyan's meetings in the NKR regions people again faced the danger
of losing their jobs. Almost no one participated in the meetings. In
the town of Martouni the authorities' policy has also been performed
successfully, nobody participated in the deputy's meeting though in
this town Vitali Balasanyan exceeded the current President in the
number of votes during the latest presidential elections. One should
be too simple-minded to believe that nobody wanted to participate in
the meeting, whereas the Mayor of Martouni denied any pressure by the
local authorities and any announcement on dismissal. No employee of
the Mayor's office except the Mayor himself participated in the
meeting, the latter explained the absence of the employees by their
busyness at the office while these employees would certainly partake
in any other meeting with the President, the Prime Minister, deputies
of the leading parties, etc.
Of course, it would be wrong to assign the blame to the authorities
only, yet not the citizens who often appear under `pressures' in this
or that way but the authorities themselves trumpet democracy all over
the country.
How could there be any democracy in a country where citizens are
threatened with dismissal for their participation in the alternative
candidate's or the opposition deputy's meeting, where the people who
elected the alternative presidential candidate are pursued, is it a
manifestation of democracy to pin a label of the nation's enemy to the
person who made a speech in the mass meeting in Armenia and expressed
his attitude against the authorities?
What about the excitement about the Freedom House's qualification of
Karabakh as a partly free country after two years of being ranked
among the non-free countries?
Today we have been filled with enthusiasm about this chain of the US
staes' recognition of the NKR but we must acknowledge that this
recognition is far more binding for us and we should not act democracy
but should have enough strength and courage to be really democratic as
the power of our country and the prosperous life of Artsakh people
having suffered so many losses depend on it.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
http://karabakh-open.info/en/subjecten/4184-en941
Monday, 15 April 2013 16:14
The recognition of the NKR independence by the US state of Maine and
the recent steps of this kind by some other states suggest some
progress in the recognition process, yet Karabakh has a long way to
pass in this direction both on the international arena and in its
domestic life.
If in the first case everything depends not only on Karabakh, in the
latter case all is surely in the hands of our authorities and the
public. We should admit that what we have in Artsakh now is not
sufficient to be called a normal country, and in spite of the
existence of various democratic institutions the democracy level in
Karabakh, putting it mildly, is dissatisfactory. This apparent
democracy is far from the real.
The previous presidential elections showed that democracy could
develop in our country as well. As there was an alternative candidate
one-third of the electors voted against the current President. It
seemed everything would slot into place, yet the authorities began
repeating their predecessors' mistakes of 2004 when the opposition
candidate was elected Mayor of Stepanakert. Immediately after the
authorities initiated a policy of suppressing the public opinion
showing in different ways that the elected Mayor is not such a good
one. And one of these ways was the retrenchment of subsidies from
which Stepanakert citizens suffered greatly.
The same is repeated today. Several months after the presidential
elections it became clear that the authorities could not put up with
the standpoint of the one-third of electors and again, quite
successfully, they try to annihilate the public opinion. The reason is
the hard social conditions the Karabakhians live in, under the fear of
losing their jobs that is the only way of making their living people
have to retreat in their positions they expressed only a few months
ago in the presidential elections. This time during Vitali
Balasanyan's meetings in the NKR regions people again faced the danger
of losing their jobs. Almost no one participated in the meetings. In
the town of Martouni the authorities' policy has also been performed
successfully, nobody participated in the deputy's meeting though in
this town Vitali Balasanyan exceeded the current President in the
number of votes during the latest presidential elections. One should
be too simple-minded to believe that nobody wanted to participate in
the meeting, whereas the Mayor of Martouni denied any pressure by the
local authorities and any announcement on dismissal. No employee of
the Mayor's office except the Mayor himself participated in the
meeting, the latter explained the absence of the employees by their
busyness at the office while these employees would certainly partake
in any other meeting with the President, the Prime Minister, deputies
of the leading parties, etc.
Of course, it would be wrong to assign the blame to the authorities
only, yet not the citizens who often appear under `pressures' in this
or that way but the authorities themselves trumpet democracy all over
the country.
How could there be any democracy in a country where citizens are
threatened with dismissal for their participation in the alternative
candidate's or the opposition deputy's meeting, where the people who
elected the alternative presidential candidate are pursued, is it a
manifestation of democracy to pin a label of the nation's enemy to the
person who made a speech in the mass meeting in Armenia and expressed
his attitude against the authorities?
What about the excitement about the Freedom House's qualification of
Karabakh as a partly free country after two years of being ranked
among the non-free countries?
Today we have been filled with enthusiasm about this chain of the US
staes' recognition of the NKR but we must acknowledge that this
recognition is far more binding for us and we should not act democracy
but should have enough strength and courage to be really democratic as
the power of our country and the prosperous life of Artsakh people
having suffered so many losses depend on it.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress