Armenia: Challenges and responses
Serj Sargsian

Yerkir/arm

Defense Minister and Secretary of Armenian President’s National Security
Council
Dear readers,

Between January 31 and February 5, 2005, you had an opportunity to
address your questions on the Yerkir’s website to SERJ SARGSIAN,
Defense Minister and Secretary of Armenian President’s National
Security Council. Below are the answers to your questions. See the
full version of the interview in Armenian.

Thank you for your active participation: Spartak Seyranian,
editor-in-chief of “Yerkir” Weekly.

Partev Kolanjian, USA – Mr. Minister, could the Karabakh war resume?

Serj Sargsian – A risk of resuming the war should never be ruled
out, and generally a defense minister should never rule out such
a risk. But I think that the risk of war would be more realistic
should the Azerbaijani army be more capable than the Armenian army,
and also if the Azeris think that the international community will
consider their step as positive.

Suren Soghomonyan – As the Chairman of The National Security Council,
what is your attitude to the centralization of one-third of population
in Yerevan. What practical solutions could you suggest?

Serj Sargsian – I am concerned over the current situation and I
think it does not contribute to the country’s security and normal
development. Under the present situation it is hard to suggest
practical solutions for redistributing the population of the country.

I don’t want to comment on the previous mistakes of Soviet
Armeniaâ~@~Ys Leadership which resulted to concentration of more then
the third of our population in the Capital. But, I also think that
the world urbanization trends have played their role in this. Now
distributing our population within the country evenly should be
our goal.

It should be noted also that due to social and economic development
in most countries the world urbanization trends are decreasing, and
since we are determined to develop our country, we hope that this
process will take place here too, so eventually the population will
be distributed adequately for the good of our nation.

Gevork – Do you think the Diaspora would eventually participate,
to the defense of Armenia? This question is naturally leading to the
issue of dual citizenship, what are your thoughts on this?

Serj Sargsian – I have always supported the idea of dual citizenship. A
country that has a Diaspora should have such an institution. I am
for the dual citizenship but I am also for the equality of rights
and obligations for all citizens. I believe that any Armenian has
the right to become a citizen of the Republic of Armenia by equally
sharing the rights and obligations its citizenship.

This is important: the parity principle of rights and obligations
stemming from the Constitution should be maintained in all cases. These
issues can be regulated by a law on dual citizenship. However, I must
say that this issue does not depend only on us. It also depends on
countries where our compatriots live. There are countries which do
not allow dual citizenship. As a statesman, I am interested in this
issue and would do everything to find a solution.

See the full version of the interview in Armenian.

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