Hayots Ashkharh, Yerevan,
Feb 2 2007

Opposition is not alternative today
ARMENIAN AIDE SAYS OPPOSITION’S ELECTION CHANCES SLIM

by Harutyun Gevorkyan

An interview with the [Armenian] president’s adviser on security
issues, Garnik

Isagulyan.

[Correspondent] Opposition leaders have been saying that the
forthcoming parliamentary election will be held in a very tense
domestic political situation. Are there grounds for such anxiety?

[Isagulyan] There is nothing unusual in the domestic political
situation in Armenia and all pre-election processes have been
developing in a natural and peaceful way. I am sure that the election
campaigns of political forces that will run in the election will pass
off calmly as well. As for an outcome, it will be more correct to
speak about it in post-election time.

[Correspondent] Mr Isagulyan, what is hidden behind the slogan "the
election will be rigged"?

[Isagulyan] I have got an impression that what the opposition leaders
say today was earlier said by somebody else. Unfortunately, the
entire opposition camp is in agony. They always point at some
mistakes and shortcomings without any grounds. But they do not try to
suggest any way out from the "difficult" situation of the country. If
they say that Armenia has found itself outside international
cooperation programmes, they almost always mean ceding the NKR
[Nagornyy Karabakh republic] and adding Meghri [southern Armenia] to
that [territory] for having good relations with Azerbaijan and
Turkey. This is political will of the opposition.

But it is not a political position when a political force is ready to
cede what it has in order not to be forgotten and for having at least
one pipeline running via our territory. All this is a component of
the slogan "the election will be rigged". The opposition simply
understands that it does not have chances to get sufficient votes
from the people to come to the power. This is a good reason for a
hullabaloo. I think that they should refrain from misinforming
society and foreign forces at least at the pre-election stage.

[Correspondent] A board member of the Armenian Pan-National Movement
[APNM], Aram Manukyan, has said that he is against velvet and
coloured revolutions, but they [presumably the party] will be
involved in the same kind of events which have taken place in Ukraine
and Georgia.

[Isagulyan] The opposition realizes very well that our state has been
established and all the power and law-enforcement structures fulfil
their duties in full. There is no a revolutionary situation in our
country. There is need of revolution neither from below nor

from above. If the opposition has in fact expected for 15-20 per cent
support of the people, it would not be in a situation of this kind.
They understand that they have lost the entire resource of confidence
and they have nothing more than pin hopes on coloured revolutions.

I said long ago that the entire opposition camp is led by the APNM as
major intellectual potential of the opposition is accumulated in this
party. As for the APNM itself, the party sees that the election will
not be rigged and so there is no way for them to come to power.

[Correspondent] To what degree are foreign forces concerned about the
possibility of a coloured revolution in Armenia?

[Isagulyan] Foreign forces always prefer to create a situation in
other countries when they can influence authorities. But I think that
they do not make such calculations regarding Armenia. There is a
balance of foreign forces’ influence in our country and any attempt
of interference from their side will not succeed. Foreign forces
establish their relations with any state taking the reality into
account. It is difficult to rely on the opposition’s view that 80 per
cent of the people are displeased with the authorities. It is not
ruled out that many people could be displeased with the authorities
but they do not consider the opposition an alternative.