KARABAKH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE BAKO SAHAKYAN’S ELECTION PLATFORM

BBC Monitoring research
16 Jul 07

Bako Sahakyan is said to be the frontrunner in a presidential election
in Nagornyy Karabakh region will hold on 19 July. Up until recently,
Sahakyan was the national security chief of the self-declared Nagornyy
Karabakh republic. Following a war for this disputed region in the
early 1990s, Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a cease-fire in 1994,
but the dispute remains unresolved after more than a decade of
negotiations and troops remain in a tense standoff. The following is
an excerpt from Sahakyan’s election platform published and distributed
in Nagornyy Karabakh ahead of the election; subheadings as published:

Bako Sahak Sahakyan was born on 30 August 1960 in Stepanakert. In 1977
he graduated from Stepanakert Armenian language secondary school No 1.

In 1978-80 he served in the Soviet Army. In 1981 he started to work
at the Stepanakert automated production shop No 9 as a machine man.

After a year he was transferred to the Stepanakert enterprise of
construction materials as a quarry worker. In 1983-87 Bako Sahakyan
worked as a restoration expert at the Stepanakert branch of the
scientific department of ancient monuments. In 1987-90 he worked at
the Nagornyy Karabakh regional procurement administration.

Since 1988 Bako Sahakyan has been known as one of the pioneers of the
Artsakh [Nagornyy Karabakh] movement. In 1990 he joined self-defence
forces of Nagornyy Karabakh. In 1992-93 he was deputy commander of
the NKR rear self-defence committee. In 1993-95 he held the post of
NKR defence army’s rear staff commander. In 1995-96 he was deputy NKR
defence army commander in charge of foreign relations. In 1996-97
he was deputy commander of the NKR defence army’s 10th highland
infantry division in charge of rear services. In 1997-99 he worked
as an assistant to the minister of interior and national security of
the Republic of Armenia. In 1999-2001 Bako Sahakyan was the interior
minister of the Nagornyy Karabakh republic. In 2001-07 he was head
of the NKR state department of national security and the director of
the NKR national security service.

Bako Sahakyan has been awarded many awards and medals, in particular,
Battle Cross 1st Class, the Sparapet Vazgen Sargsyan medal, and the
Russian Federation medal Peter the Great 1st Class and Order For
Services to Fatherland 1st Class. He is a member of the Academy of
Security, Defence and Law of the Russian Federation. Bako Sahakyan
graduated from Artsakh State University’s law department. He is
married, with two children.

His main slogan is "Together for the Sake of Artsakh".

The candidate’s vision of the Nagornyy Karabakh republic

Bako Sahakyan sees Artsakh [Nagornyy Karabakh] as an internationally
recognized sovereign, powerful state, with:

-functioning democracy;

-supremacy of freedom, law and justice;

-possibility to freely realize one’s abilities and skills;

-ideological pluralism and multiparty system;

-authorities that enjoy the trust and respect of citizens;

-competent, non corrupt and law-abiding state officials who respect
law;

-a rule of law, whereby anyone, irrespective of their social status,
can defend his/her rights in any state structure;

-freedom of thought, speech and conscience guaranteed;

-one’s life, family, motherhood and childhood safely secured;

-the elderly, veterans and families of diseased being treated with
special care;

-every child having a chance to get quality education;

-every citizen enjoying efficient medical services;

-the elderly getting decent pensions;

-people having secure jobs and decent salaries;

-stable development of economy and guaranteed freedom of economic
activities;

-ethnic minorities enjoying equal right with the majority;

-national language and cultural values are respected and protected;

-strong army ensures the security of the state.

I see Artsakh as a state that is of an absolute value to its citizens,
a country where a person lives by the Law of God and humanity.

Peace and the right path of development become important factors to
reach all of the abovementioned as well as to solve various problems
facing our country.

Demography

-Improve the demographic situation and boost birth rate;

-Increase the volume of mortgage loans for house building, as well
as improve housing conditions;

-Improve social and living conditions (roads, electricity, water
supply, gas, heating etc);

-Boost house building in regional centres and in rural areas within
the framework of a special state program;

-Review the programme on boosting birth rate and support large
families;

-State assistance to young families: protect the right to housing,
employment, education and affordable medical and social services;

-Review resettlement policy and impose strict control over mid-term
and long-term programmes.

State governance and local governance

-Ensure rule of law;

-Improve the efficiency of the state governance system, expand
structural reforms;

-Introduce a new system of reports on the work of state organs and
officials, ensure transparency and responsibility;

-Develop and implement a new personnel policy based on moral values,
professionalism;

-Strengthen struggle against corruption and bribery;

-Develop and protecting a democratic system, put into operation
effective mechanisms for guaranteeing and protecting human rights
and freedoms;

-Strengthen the role of civil society in ensuring internal political
solidarity and dialogue between the authorities and society;

-Create a system for studying and analysing public opinion;

-Improve the work of judicial and law-enforcement agencies, ensure
objectivity and justice;

-Strengthen the material and technical base of the police and security
agencies, improve social conditions of their personnel.

Local governments

-Develop and implement a program directed at the further development
of local governments and widen the sphere of its responsibilities;

-Put in place special mechanisms of governance in the capital
Stepanakert;

-Prioritize optimal ways of developing rural areas based on the
peculiarities of a particular territory and its potential.

[Passage omitted: on social benefits]

Public health

-Ensure free medical services and care for socially vulnerable
citizens;

-Ensure full first medical aid in rural areas;

-Introduce a system of family doctors;

-Gradually increase the salaries of the medical personnel;

-Increase the affordability and quality of healthcare services by
exporting appropriate equipment and technologies;

-Construct a new block of the republican hospital and equip it with
modern equipment;

-Increase the efficiency of using budgetary resources in healthcare
system;

-Introduce a system of health insurance;

-Stimulate the introduction and development of private medical
services;

-Organize trainings for medical personnel.

Education

-Increase the quality and role of education, as a key factor of state
development and national security;

-Strengthen national ideology based on national and universal values;

-Annually increase in salaries in the sphere of education;

-Organize trainings for teachers and increasing their professionalism;

-Provide all schoolchildren with textbooks free of charge;

-Improve conditions in school buildings, renewing technical basis in
schools (libraries, electronic equipment, etc);

-Increase quality of specialized secondary and higher education;

-Stimulate development of pre-school education;

-Boost vocational technical training;

-Compensate tuition fees for the children of martyred soldiers studying
in universities.

[Passage omitted: on science, culture and sports]

Economy

-Ensure stable economic development;

-Create new jobs;

-Attract investment, continuously improve business and investment
atmosphere;

-Increase export volumes and gradually decrease dependence on
imported goods;

-Elaborate programmes for territorial economic development, stimulate
the development of industrial enterprises in the districts;

-Create favourable conditions for the development of information
technologies;

-Make credit resources affordable for small and medium-sized
businesses, improve crediting procedures;

-Support people in setting up businesses;

-Ameliorate competitive environment ensuring equal opportunities and
ban the creation of artificial monopolies;

-Support the sphere of tourism and services;

-Assist the formation of the equity market;

-Stimulate the development of an insurance system and credit
organizations;

-Promote maximum integration between the economies of Armenia and
Nagornyy Karabakh

-Expand cooperation with the diaspora and foreign businessmen.

Tax and budget policy

-Make tax legislation more simple and stable;

-Improve the collection of the state’s financial resources;

-Ensure a just and proportional distribution of the tax burden,
improve taxation mechanisms of profitable spheres;

-Reduce the rate of punishments (fines, penalty fees, etc.) for
violating the tax legislation;

-Develop viable mechanisms for decreasing the volume of overdue loans;

-Increase the efficiency of tax administration, decrease the number
of shadow deals;

-Introduce an effective system of encouragement to reduce corruption
risks;

-Increase the efficiency and transparency of budget expenditures;

[passage omitted: on industry and agriculture]

Infrastructure

-Develop local hydro-energy potential, construction of small
hydroelectric plants with state and private investment;

-Improve water resource management and water supply, assist in the
installation of small capacity local water supply stations;

-Make efforts to secure water supply to population and solve water
supply problems in the capital Stepanakert;

-Restoration, effective operation and development of the irrigation
system;

-Expand the gas supply network in rural areas;

-Direct investments to road construction, improve communications
between remote villages and regional centres;

-Implement programmes in road maintenance, restoration and
construction, amelioration of roads in rural areas;

-Improve the system of state governance, legal and other technical
requirements in the sphere of construction, prevent illegal and low
quality construction activities;

-Widen the coverage zone for TV and radio programmes, ensure
qualitative broadcast of different TV channels as well as provide
qualitative Internet service in regional centres and villages.

Army

-Strengthen the combat value of the army on a constant basis;

-Ensure the recruitment of highly professional officer staff;

-Solve social problems of the officers, including housing problems;

-Improve the social and living conditions of army personnel;

-Increase the material and technical equipment of the army.

Foreign policy

-Strengthen the NKR’s security and sovereignty, restoration of its
territorial integrity;

-Restore the fully-fledged negotiation format on the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict settlement;

-Settle all problems with Azerbaijan at the negotiating table,
including the issue of protecting the rights of citizens of Armenian
origin deported from former the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic;

-Create favourable conditions in international arena for developing
economy, improving living standards, carrying out democratic reforms,
protecting human rights and ensuring the rule of law in the NKR;

-Inform international community about developments in the NKR,
neutralize anti- Karabakh propaganda, and form a positive image of
the NKR abroad;

-Stimulate the participation of the NKR in international integration
processes;

-Continue efforts directed at the international recognition of the NKR
and intensify cooperation with regional and international structures.

Artsakh-Armenia-Diaspora

-Expand and develop Artsakh-Armenia-diaspora ties;

-Support pan-Armenian undertakings (conferences, meetings, sports
competitions, cultural exchange, festivals, business conferences etc.);

-Implement joint investment programmes;

-Expand and develop a pan-Armenian information network.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress