Nail of Blackmail: Serzh Sargsyan Preferred Victimizing Armenia
Instead of Himself
Interview with Arthur Sakunts, head of Helsinki Citizens' Assembly
Vanadzor Office
Armenia's membership to the Customs Union is on the agenda today. What
should the civil society be doing?
Today a challenge to independence is on our agenda. Serzh Sargsyan's
challenge of joining the Customs Union eventually puts forth political
demands. Now a goal is set which has a political importance and will
impart our disobedience with a political nature.
What implications does membership to the Customs Union have for the
development of Armenia?
I will tell you something interesting. Let's try to figure it out. It
is nevertheless clear what the CU is, judging by the quality of the
current government and governance of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
In the case of Armenia, considering the closed borders, the only
visible model is isolation. This is a situation similar to North Korea
where the regime feeds people on ideas on international imperialism
and enemies. The Armenian government will lead the country to
isolation, while isolation results in stagnation. As soon as
membership to the Customs Union is established, we will end up so very
soon. And in this case, while we were moving towards the solution of
problems with difficulty but at least there was a vector of
opportunities to resolve problems, now these opportunities disappear.
Moreover, regress replaces opportunities, and these problems become
deciding.
Will Europe change the format of cooperation?
Certainly Europe cannot be indifferent in any case, it is not
indifferent to Belarus, Kazakhstan. Unlike Belarus, however, which is
integrated with Russia, Armenia will also be called a member but it
will be an isolated territory rather than an integrated territory.
Without resolving our problems we will become Russia's lever in the
hands of the so-called Customs Union in its relationship with the EU.
The European countries will keep us in focus, under monitoring by way
of reports on the state of human rights. Certainly, without
opportunities for development there will be no development programs,
which means the minimum level of relations not to allow Armenia to be
used as a threat relating to Armenian-Turkish and Armenian-Azerbaijani
relations.
The rule in Europe is to help those who want to help themselves. And
if we do not want to help, Europe cannot withdraw us from this
situation dragging by the hair. This is not the way in politics. It
works with you patiently until you understand how you can resolve the
problems and it cannot fish for you all the time. In fact, Serzh
Sargsyan chose to have someone else to fish for him. And Putin said I
will fish for you. This is misery. Now Europe is in a difficult
situation because the expectations that were formed in at least seven
years were different.
This situation proves that the decision was subjective and stemmed
from individual interests. This means that a person is so detached
from the reality in Armenia that he made a decision that stems from
his own personal interest. It is nonsense to refer to the Karabakh
issue to explain membership to the Customs Union as a guarantee of
security. How can one be a guarantee of our security if one speaks the
language of threat? Serzh Sargsyan saved himself because Putin and the
Armenian elite in the face of Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan are
accomplices to the crime of March 1. In other words, the nail of the
blackmail which they cannot speak about openly was their link to the
crime and if this crime is revealed, Serzh Sargsyan and Robert
Kocharyan should be the first to be convicted for committing a state
crime. Serzh Sargsyan preferred to victimize the country instead of
him. Now is a critical moment. Common sense is that the issue is
serious, and Europe acknowledges its mistake because it should have
made an adequate evaluation on 1 March 2008. Europe's softness
resulted in such a situation because if a crime is not evaluated in
principle, the criminals get away with impunity and they are ready to
repeat the crime, which Serzh Sargsyan did during his meeting with
Putin. If Serzh Sargsyan thinks that he keeps fire under control by
kindling it, he is badly mistaken. This is very much similar to the
last years of the Soviet Union.
The government does not enjoy confidence, and Serzh Sargsyan is making
a mistake after another because he is anxious, he has run out of
opportunities and resources to cover up the crime. Meanwhile, Europe
may have a huge influence on revealing the crime. Problems have
occurred and there are opportunities for their solution, and one needs
a real battle of Sardarapat, not a Sardarapat Initiative or a
pre-parliament.
14:09 11/09/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/interview/view/30864
Instead of Himself
Interview with Arthur Sakunts, head of Helsinki Citizens' Assembly
Vanadzor Office
Armenia's membership to the Customs Union is on the agenda today. What
should the civil society be doing?
Today a challenge to independence is on our agenda. Serzh Sargsyan's
challenge of joining the Customs Union eventually puts forth political
demands. Now a goal is set which has a political importance and will
impart our disobedience with a political nature.
What implications does membership to the Customs Union have for the
development of Armenia?
I will tell you something interesting. Let's try to figure it out. It
is nevertheless clear what the CU is, judging by the quality of the
current government and governance of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
In the case of Armenia, considering the closed borders, the only
visible model is isolation. This is a situation similar to North Korea
where the regime feeds people on ideas on international imperialism
and enemies. The Armenian government will lead the country to
isolation, while isolation results in stagnation. As soon as
membership to the Customs Union is established, we will end up so very
soon. And in this case, while we were moving towards the solution of
problems with difficulty but at least there was a vector of
opportunities to resolve problems, now these opportunities disappear.
Moreover, regress replaces opportunities, and these problems become
deciding.
Will Europe change the format of cooperation?
Certainly Europe cannot be indifferent in any case, it is not
indifferent to Belarus, Kazakhstan. Unlike Belarus, however, which is
integrated with Russia, Armenia will also be called a member but it
will be an isolated territory rather than an integrated territory.
Without resolving our problems we will become Russia's lever in the
hands of the so-called Customs Union in its relationship with the EU.
The European countries will keep us in focus, under monitoring by way
of reports on the state of human rights. Certainly, without
opportunities for development there will be no development programs,
which means the minimum level of relations not to allow Armenia to be
used as a threat relating to Armenian-Turkish and Armenian-Azerbaijani
relations.
The rule in Europe is to help those who want to help themselves. And
if we do not want to help, Europe cannot withdraw us from this
situation dragging by the hair. This is not the way in politics. It
works with you patiently until you understand how you can resolve the
problems and it cannot fish for you all the time. In fact, Serzh
Sargsyan chose to have someone else to fish for him. And Putin said I
will fish for you. This is misery. Now Europe is in a difficult
situation because the expectations that were formed in at least seven
years were different.
This situation proves that the decision was subjective and stemmed
from individual interests. This means that a person is so detached
from the reality in Armenia that he made a decision that stems from
his own personal interest. It is nonsense to refer to the Karabakh
issue to explain membership to the Customs Union as a guarantee of
security. How can one be a guarantee of our security if one speaks the
language of threat? Serzh Sargsyan saved himself because Putin and the
Armenian elite in the face of Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan are
accomplices to the crime of March 1. In other words, the nail of the
blackmail which they cannot speak about openly was their link to the
crime and if this crime is revealed, Serzh Sargsyan and Robert
Kocharyan should be the first to be convicted for committing a state
crime. Serzh Sargsyan preferred to victimize the country instead of
him. Now is a critical moment. Common sense is that the issue is
serious, and Europe acknowledges its mistake because it should have
made an adequate evaluation on 1 March 2008. Europe's softness
resulted in such a situation because if a crime is not evaluated in
principle, the criminals get away with impunity and they are ready to
repeat the crime, which Serzh Sargsyan did during his meeting with
Putin. If Serzh Sargsyan thinks that he keeps fire under control by
kindling it, he is badly mistaken. This is very much similar to the
last years of the Soviet Union.
The government does not enjoy confidence, and Serzh Sargsyan is making
a mistake after another because he is anxious, he has run out of
opportunities and resources to cover up the crime. Meanwhile, Europe
may have a huge influence on revealing the crime. Problems have
occurred and there are opportunities for their solution, and one needs
a real battle of Sardarapat, not a Sardarapat Initiative or a
pre-parliament.
14:09 11/09/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/interview/view/30864