SERGE SARGSYAN-TER-PETROSYAN STRUGGLE WILL TAKE PLACE ON DIFFERENT PLANES
Lragir, Armenia
Oct 25 2007
In Armenia it is early to talk about the likelihood of revolution in
Armenia, although recently more and more opinions have been voiced
on this along with the political activity of Levon Ter-Petrosyan. On
October 25 the political scientist Alexander Iskandaryan hosted at
the Hayeli Club spoke about the absence of preconditions for a fruit
or flower revolution in our country. The reporters asked him if he
still thinks there are no preconditions for a revolution in Armenia
after the first president returned.
"When I told that, I said I don’t think a fruit or flower revolution is
something that is organized from the outside. It was not the case in
Georgia, in Ukraine, in Kyrgyzstan. Saakashvili, Burdjanadze, Jvania,
Yushchenko, Bakiev, none of them had been sent from Washington or
Brussels. And the situation there occurred inside the country and
ripened. I thought the situation in Armenia is not favorable for such
developments. From the inside of Armenia, not from the outside. I
thought whatever happens from the outside, the reasons of the political
life in Armenia come from the inside," Alexander Iskandaryan says. He
thinks despite the activity of Levon Ter-Petrosyan, it is early to
talk about a revolution in Armenia.
Iskandaryan thinks at the moment Ter-Petrosyan has lesser chance to
win the election than Serge Sargsyan. However, Alexander Iskadaryan
adds that he would prefer not making any evaluation because the
developments may be rather interesting. He says, for instance, when
Ter-Petrosyan had not returned to politics yet, he would say the
presidential election in Armenia would be uninteresting, and Serge
Sargsyan would encounter no competition, and the election would
be a mere technical process. "After Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s address
the situation changed. It changed in a rather interesting way,"
Alexander Iskandaryan says. Interestingly, he says if Serge Sargsyan
and Levon Ter-Petrosyan run in the race, they will be competing on
two different tracks.
"Mr. Sargsyan will take the track for the organization of the election,
Levon Ter-Petrosyan will act publicly. This plane is that of ideology,
it deals with public, and we all know that he knows how to deal with
the public, we all remember 1988-1991," Alexander Iskandaryan says. He
says if the government manipulates television, which Iskandaryan
thinks is highly probable, the struggle will shift to the street,
to rallies. "This is the sphere where Levon Ter-Petrosyan feels quite
comfortable because he is an experienced public activist. Meanwhile,
Mr. Sargsyan is not, I think," Alexander Iskandaryan thinks, adding
that the struggle will involve not only two ideologies, two activists
but also two methods.
Alexander Iskandaryan says there is no need to exaggerate the
meaning of ideological struggle. According to him, the problem is
two approaches toward the voters. One is the government’s approach
based on development, both internally and externally, and it should be
carried on. The other is Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s approach that the past
ten years were years of loss and regress which led to the failure of
the internal and external policies. Everything depends on which of
these two "pictures" the society will believe.