WHAT PRESIDENT’S SILENCE IS HIDING
Hakob Badalyan

Lragir, Armenia
Dec 4 2006

The Armenian government’s words and actions have never been as
inconsistent as presently. The wings of power, two of which are
definitely known – Robert Kocharyan and Serge Sargsyan – are avoiding
showing the controversies between them, maybe because they "have not
realized" yet that these exist. Meanwhile, their public appearances
show that there is a rather deep controversy. For instance, recently
the minister of defense has announced at the National Assembly that
82 percent of the public trust the army, and invited the members of
parliament (Victor Dallakyan) to show another government institution
"which has at least half of this rating" in terms of confidence. It may
sound as just another statement by Serge Sargsyan. However, since the
defense minister considers himself totally responsible for the army
and invokes this 82 percent of confidence as an achievement of the
organization he is in charge, this statement of his cannot be described
otherwise but a gauntlet to all the government institutions. Half of
82 is 41. This is an interesting index for several reasons. First, if
Serge Sargsyan says show another government institution with half as
much confidence as 82, he questions such government institutions like
the President of Armenia, the National Assembly, the Government. In
fact, the defense minister doubts their legitimacy, and thinks that
these institutions of statehood do not enjoy the trust of more than
41 percent of the public. Considering that the defense minister has
been a member of government for already 13 years and before that he
had been engaged in the establishment of the Armenian statehood with
another status, the defense minister should know that the President
is also a government institution, and it follows that the defense
minister acknowledged what he was saying. Moreover, it is beyond
doubt that he was absolutely sober at the moment of saying this.

However, more evidence comes that he was conscious of his words, which
makes the circumstance of 41, half of 82, more interesting. The point
is that officially Robert Kocharyan got as much votes in the first
round of the presidential election n 2003. And Serge Sargsyan is the
person who surely knows the real percentage of votes Robert Kocharyan
got. Robert Kocharyan also knows this, who removed Serge Sargsyan from
the headquarters of his election campaign and replaced him by the ARF
Dashnaktsutyun. Meanwhile, judging by official figures, 41 percent is
not bad for the first round of election, and it is strange why Robert
Kocharyan was dissatisfied not to trust his second round to Serge
Sargsyan. Perhaps, because Robert Kocharyan knows perfectly the rate
of trust for the government institutions. In other words, the defense
minister is not inventing anything but he is only reminding the past
things, perhaps because his motto is "the one who forgets the past has
no future". We only need to find out for whose future Serge Sargsyan
is recalling Robert Kocharyan’s past, his or Robert Kocharyan’s. With
regard to this, the situation would be much clearer if Robert Kocharyan
also said something. However, he would not speak. Although, on the
other hand, his silence tells much more and testifies that Serge
Sargsyan is, nevertheless, recalling the past of the president for
the sake of his own future. Serge Sargsyan seems to realize that
his interest and Robert Kocharyan’s interest are at the historical
watershed. The silence of the president is evidence to this. If Robert
Kocharyan approved the actions of the defense minister, he would
certainly hurry to announce it personally. His years of presidency
show that Robert Kocharyan would not allow the public think for even
a moment that any process in the economic or political spheres takes
place without the direct participation of the president, be it a horse
race or operation of heavy industry. And now the president’s silence
shows that the president does not mind the events underway. It is
strange, however, that he would not speak up this time, and at best
he conveys certain things through his speaker. Therefore, it seems
more likely that Robert Kocharyan’s silence is hiding his disagreement
with the actions of the defense minister in this particular case. The
point is that if the president stated that he disagreed with what
is underway, either he would have to dismiss the defense minister
or he would display unintentionally that he no longer controls the
actions of the leadership of this country. And in this case, he should
resign for the sake of the security of the state. Meanwhile, Robert
Kocharyan’s silence aggravates the danger threatening the state. What
if it is not established yet? Such countries are more vulnerable in
such situations. It is clear that in case of dismissing the defense
minister Robert Kocharyan would face up to several vacant offices
at once, on the other hand, however, the president would have a good
chance to employ about ten citizens of the Republic of Armenia.