AZG Armenian Daily #101, 03/06/2005
Interview
CHAIRMAN OF WAC ARA ABRAHAMIAN SHARING WITH HIS THOUGHTS ON RUSSIA,
DEMOCRACY AND ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS
The interview we present below is composed of questions that the chairman of
World Armenian Congress Ara Abrahamian answered during a reception at
Russian consulate in Los Angeles on May 25. Most of 450 participants were
Armenians.
– What can you say about Khodorkovsky case?
– As you know, Khodorkovsky and his colleague were charged with fraud,
particularly tax-avoidance, with illegal appropriation of property and with
a number of other crimes. For me the vital point is whether the court was
just and whether Khodorkovsky was guilty of law violation. This is not the
only lawsuit of its kind. Lawsuits were once filed against Gusinsky and
Berezovsky. The important thing is that the authorities have understood that
the Khodorkovsky case has a negative impact on investments in Russia, and
President Putin took several steps to show that Russia’s line of protecting
private property and of market reforms is the same. For that purpose he
suggested a few changes that are called to restore the trust of overseas
investors in Russian authorities.
Putin repeatedly stated that the Khodorkovsky case will have no precedents,
that the right of private property will be respected and Russia has no
desire to turn off the road of market reforms.
– What’s the state of democracy in Russia?
– This issue is very much exposed to abuse. Many, especially liberals,
communists and national-bolsheviks find that the country is diving into
tyranny. Such moods are connected with the removal of direct elections of
governors and of the system of majority vote at the State Duma.
But the President opened the brackets in his letter. By taking away
governors’ elections, Putin offered a system that will at least make
regional authorities more democratic, insofar as representatives of parties
that won regional polls will be appointed governors and will form the
executive body. In fact, authorities turn to parliamentary system on
regional level.
Bitter tongues say that this is a preparation for the President to occupy
the post of prime minister after resignation. Regardless the purpose of
those changes, they evidence that the gap between people and authorities
getting narrower and that democracy is expanding. The parliament has got the
right of parliamentary examination — something we didn’t have in past. It
strengthens parliament’s positions against executive authorities and somehow
restores the levelers of control and counterweight in order to storm
bureaucracy and officialdom.
President Putin’s message was full of appeals for struggle against
bureaucracy, officialdom and squalor of tax collecting bodies. I think in
this regard, as Mark Twain would put it, rumors about democracy being killed
in Russia are obviously overstated.
– Will Fradkov’s government be sacked?
– This question is being widely discussed, in political circles as well.
Many see this government as not really productive. I think the last decision
up to the President. We may say that this government’s achievements are
extremely modest. But if the President does not dismiss the government now,
he will have to work with it till 2007 — year of election campaign to State
Duma.
Yet, I think that the President will sack this government but perhaps after
it carries out a number of non-democratic reforms in order to have prime
minister that will be his assignee.
– Will Putin remain in politics after 2008 and in what position?
– I myself would like to know the answer to this question. Putin is a rather
young and robust man with great experience of state governing and I have no
doubt that he will remain in Russian politics. Meanwhile, not in the role of
Gorbachev or Yeltsin but as a politician who will influence political
processes. Whether he will be a prime minister or a head of ruling party —
Putin and his team have to decide.
China’s experience shows that Den Syaopin, occupying no state position, was
one of the most influential figures of the country’s political life. So I
think that Putin will also remain as an influential figure in Russia’s
political system regardless the position he will occupy.
– What’s the condition of interethnic relations in Russia?
– Russia’s demography reveals negative dynamics for ethnic Russians as the
number of Muslims, refugees and immigrants increases.
There are problems in interethnic relations as we are trying to create a
democratic nation where each ethnic group, as our President says, will feel
well. Skinheads, chauvinistic and fascistic groups pose a serious threat.
There are also xenophobic moods towards natives of Caucasus and Jews.
But it should be noted that the central leadership is implementing rather
productive policy to eliminate those confrontations and conflicts. I
spearhead Armenians’ Union of Russia and the Board of Round Table. The last
organization includes in fact all heads of non-governmental and religious
organizations. We do everything possible to have constructive cooperation
with the authorities in order to suppress interethnic confrontations and
clashes.
to be continued