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Recently Citizens Proposed Agenda
Interview with Karen Harutiunyan, IT specialist and civic activist
Karen, elections ended without producing anything positive. What were
your expectations and did they come true?
It was crisp and clear that the elections would be falsified, and the
regime would not let Yerevan go because the opposition forces could
not force it to. The post-electoral wave of protest was not strong
enough and faded away soon due to lack of content. People had
expectations from the elections so they would be disappointed, which
deepens the lack of confidence in the political forces and themselves.
Since many people link every change to elections, they confine
themselves to lack of expectations for 4-5 years, and it will repeat
in the next election period.
Is the opposition to blame for these developments?
The opposition forces are always blaming others, mainly the ruling
regime, people and one another, avoiding responsibility and admitting
their fault. The regime is to blame indeed, and it dictates the unfair
rules of the game but they know about it before, not after the
elections, and nevertheless admit the rules and eventually start
blaming people around. In fact, by shouting about falsifications in
the pre-election period they justify their inevitable defeat.
This is also people's fault because they are not conscious and do not
fight but authorize the political forces to act on their behalf. The
latter are reluctant or unable to do it. People let the political
parties mislead them, cheat them and do not hold them responsible. One
of the biggest issues of Armenia is the lack of responsibility of the
government, opposition and people. Otherwise they do what they want.
What should the role of political parties and the civil society be in
the upcoming few years?
Elections are over, and the political parties are embarrassed, they
have nothing to do.
The political forces have problems with admitting criticism, therefore
they often are not adequate to the situation and cut themselves from
the public. Political parties pursue the interests of their parties,
which is normal if the state is constitutional. Otherwise, they have
to cooperate with the illegal regime and follow its rules, what we
witness today.
The political parties are stagnant, they need to understand the
challenges, confront them and find ways out. Otherwise, they will have
to mark time until the next election to activate and repeat the cycle,
so it is better for them to dissolve themselves because they lose
their classical meaning without a constitutional state.
The political sector is more promising. Recently the citizens have a
key role and proposed the agenda of the political field. They do not
have partisan interests, even during the elections, and in the
post-electoral period they had a greater role in control, revelation
of violations, establishment of a new political culture.
A lot of people understood that change should not be linked to
elections and post-electoral developments and are looking for other
ways. The system is not only the regime, and in order to remove it the
lower level underpinning the regime should be taken into consideration
as well.
What is the reason why no changes occur in Armenia? Is the reason bad
politicians, public, wrong strategies or are there other reasons?
The reasons are deep, one of them is the set of values underlying the
distorted political culture. It affects the politicians, the public,
the choice of strategy.
Another reason is the low level of legal consciousness of the public
although, on the other hand, it is also the consequence of false
values and political manipulation. Sense of freedom and responsibility
are also important.
15:05 25/05/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/interview/view/29973
Interview with Karen Harutiunyan, IT specialist and civic activist
Karen, elections ended without producing anything positive. What were
your expectations and did they come true?
It was crisp and clear that the elections would be falsified, and the
regime would not let Yerevan go because the opposition forces could
not force it to. The post-electoral wave of protest was not strong
enough and faded away soon due to lack of content. People had
expectations from the elections so they would be disappointed, which
deepens the lack of confidence in the political forces and themselves.
Since many people link every change to elections, they confine
themselves to lack of expectations for 4-5 years, and it will repeat
in the next election period.
Is the opposition to blame for these developments?
The opposition forces are always blaming others, mainly the ruling
regime, people and one another, avoiding responsibility and admitting
their fault. The regime is to blame indeed, and it dictates the unfair
rules of the game but they know about it before, not after the
elections, and nevertheless admit the rules and eventually start
blaming people around. In fact, by shouting about falsifications in
the pre-election period they justify their inevitable defeat.
This is also people's fault because they are not conscious and do not
fight but authorize the political forces to act on their behalf. The
latter are reluctant or unable to do it. People let the political
parties mislead them, cheat them and do not hold them responsible. One
of the biggest issues of Armenia is the lack of responsibility of the
government, opposition and people. Otherwise they do what they want.
What should the role of political parties and the civil society be in
the upcoming few years?
Elections are over, and the political parties are embarrassed, they
have nothing to do.
The political forces have problems with admitting criticism, therefore
they often are not adequate to the situation and cut themselves from
the public. Political parties pursue the interests of their parties,
which is normal if the state is constitutional. Otherwise, they have
to cooperate with the illegal regime and follow its rules, what we
witness today.
The political parties are stagnant, they need to understand the
challenges, confront them and find ways out. Otherwise, they will have
to mark time until the next election to activate and repeat the cycle,
so it is better for them to dissolve themselves because they lose
their classical meaning without a constitutional state.
The political sector is more promising. Recently the citizens have a
key role and proposed the agenda of the political field. They do not
have partisan interests, even during the elections, and in the
post-electoral period they had a greater role in control, revelation
of violations, establishment of a new political culture.
A lot of people understood that change should not be linked to
elections and post-electoral developments and are looking for other
ways. The system is not only the regime, and in order to remove it the
lower level underpinning the regime should be taken into consideration
as well.
What is the reason why no changes occur in Armenia? Is the reason bad
politicians, public, wrong strategies or are there other reasons?
The reasons are deep, one of them is the set of values underlying the
distorted political culture. It affects the politicians, the public,
the choice of strategy.
Another reason is the low level of legal consciousness of the public
although, on the other hand, it is also the consequence of false
values and political manipulation. Sense of freedom and responsibility
are also important.
15:05 25/05/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/interview/view/29973