THIS PERSON IS BECOMING DANGEROUS FOR NAGORNO KARABAKH
Haik Aramyan

Lragir, Armenia
Dec 26 2006

After holding a referendum successfully the public of Nagorno Karabakh
can focus on the problem of candidates of president. Life goes on,
and the political elite of Karabakh is growing active, for the country
is coming to the point of necessary changes for development.

However, it is already clear that not everyone welcomes progressive
changes in Karabakh. As it usually happens, most people consider
these changes dangerous for their personal interests. And though it
seems that there cannot be such people in what concerns the people of
Karabakh which has not been recognized by the international community
yet, life shows the opposite. There are a number of people who proceed
from their personal interests in evaluating history and the reality
in Nagorno Karabakh.

There have been a number of such cases recently, which aroused concern
among the Karabakh public. Certain NKR officials were said to have been
involved in games in connection with the problem of adoption of the
NKR Constitution. Apparently, NKR President Arkady Ghukasyan wanted
to put an end to these worries when he confirmed on December 10 the
day of the referendum his decision not to run a third term and even
promised to inform the public on his activities after leaving office.

It appeared that reason won, and the country could go on to tackle the
other problems of state building. But no. Someone has again decided to
question the willingness of Nagorno Karabakh to act in accordance with
the demand of history, and lead people towards his own wishes. And this
someone is not another social climber from President Ghukasyan’s team
but the businessman Ara Abrahamyan, who has been trying to convince
the Armenian people that he is the leader of the Armenians, and he
was born to bring them together under the flag of the World Congress
of Armenians.

Ara Abrahamyan disagrees that the people of Karabakh should elect a
new president. He decided that Ghukasyan is irreplaceable and must
remain president until the country is recognized. Ara Abrahamyan does
not care for the opinion of the NKR people. Moreover, he does not
care for Ghukasyan’s statement to take up another occupation. The
"father" of Armenians denies the course of history; for him history
is the fulfilment of his own dreams.

We could grin at the wish of another rich man and not pay attention
to it. Especially that this figure "generously donated" one million
dollars to Karabakh. Perhaps at some time someone would explain to him
that it is wrong to point it to people. Perhaps President Ghukasyan
could explain the benefactor how unappropriate this is towards people
who made so many sacrifices for the sake of freedom.

However, the problem is that people are growing suspicious that
Arkady Ghukasyan is not involved in the strange actions of the
Diasporan benefactors, who are friends of his. Ara Abrahamyan is
not the first. The society has not forgotten about another friend of
president’s, the gradiloquent speech of the American Armenian Vahe
Karapetyan during the recent telethon of Armenia Foundation when
he stated that he would support Ghukasyan to be elected for a third
term. This man thought his donation of half a million dollars would
make his wish more realistic. At that time, Arkady Ghukasyan standing
near Vahe Karapetyan did not react to his friend’s statement.

Ghukasyan could have explained, if not to Vahe Karapetyan but to
the entire Armenian nation that such notions as the fate of people
must not be played with. Karapetyan would conclude that his words
are impertinent. The fate of a friend may matter more for someone
than the fate of a nation, but history does not forgive helping a
friend at the expense of people. Ghukasyan did not explain, which
means he does not understand either. And if he does not understand,
he makes others think that he undertakes these political games rather
than his Diasporan friends.

The Armenian public has witnessed such "strange" behavior of the
members of Arkady Ghukasyan’s team, who tend to neglect public
statements and vigorously try to stop the history for their own
wishes. Then it became clear that they were fulfilling Ghukasyan’s
wishes rather than their own. But since Arkady Ghukasyan’s plans
are revealed one by one, he pretended that the ideas belonged to
these figures.

Meanwhile, in Ara Abrahamyan’s case Ghukasyan lay himself bare. He
should not have had Ara Abrahamyan utter his own text, since he had
mentioned separate principles to others in private talks. Ghukasyan’s
memory failed, or rather the desire to keep the office prevailed. In
Armenia, Karabakh and the Diaspora everyone knows Ghukasyan’s theses
that "he does not wish to run a third term but there is nobody worth
to replace him." Most people remember Ghukasyan’s words that only he
personally can get money from the Diasporan rich people. The statements
of Ghukasyan’s team that they do not give money to Karabakh but to
Ghukasyan are many.

This is quite different from the words of a statesman who is interested
is something else than his own fate. A person who lives abroad for
months on without giving an explanation to the NKR public.

He knows what he was busy doing there. And how could Ara Abrahamyan
know that by citing Ghukasyan he would place himself and the president
of Armenia in a funny situation? He did not calculate everything,
whereas he could have acted a little more diplomatically.

But diplomacy would hardly be helpful. Ghukasyan’s policy of solving
the problem of his own fate at the expense of people through someone
else is already victious. And in this case ruses will not be helpful.

All this would sound funny if it were not dangerous. Everything is
clear about separate Diasporan benefactors: they know why they give
the money, for people or for their "friends" who have high positions.

Thanks God, these benefactors are few compared with the real friends of
the people of Karabakh. Meanwhile, the people of NKR need to clarify
the problem of its own ingenious figures who have turned their office
and the external relations of NKR into a mechanism of solving their
own problems.

There is already a lot to discuss. First, the public of Karabakh
needs to find out for what services the Diasporan rich men give
the money to Ghukasyan and not to Karabakh. It is clear that if we
believe this thesis of Ghukasyan’s team, nobody would give him money
for "beatiful eyes". Consequently, it is necessary to find out how
Ghukasyan becomes preferable for his "friends". This is absolutely
realistic considering that the money raised by the Armenian Diaspora
in 2005 did not reach its destination, the region of Martakert. In
NKR they still wonder about 1.5 million dollars which did not appear
where it should appear legally.

The media have reported about the transfer of the property of NKR to
Swiss businessmen and gave facts on deals made by the NKR leadership
and rich foreigners. The uncertainty over the activities of the
foundation for maintenance of Goris-Lachin-Stepanakert motorway is
reported, where the visible work does not correspond to the reported
annual expenses (by the way, this project is also related to Vahe
Karapetyan who annually provides 150 thousand dollars for roadworks).

In other words, Ghukasyan does not tell a lie when he says that
the money (at least part of it) is given to him personally not to
Karabakh. And the fact that some rich Diasporans are fussing and
making deals with Ghukasyan openly may have reason. Not only Arkady
Ghukasyan fears leaving office. So they have made efforts to shut
the mouth of the people of Karabakh with "patriotic" speeches that
it is impossible to replace Ghukasyan. It is clear that Ghukasyan is
irreplaceable for them for some reason. But this is their problem.

And the problem of the NKR public and those who are responsible for
legality of Diaspora charity is to prevent anything in the back of
the state and the public. Ghukasyan, who is facing the problem of
leaving office, is becoming dangerous for the people. Not only the
public but also the relevant agencies should hurry to attend to
these problems. It is high time that the parliament, the National
Security Service and the NKR procuracy start official proceedings
with regard to the relations of the NKR government agencies and the
foreign financial sources. Today this is a matter of national security.

The institutions of NKR are established and able to defend the
interests of NKR.