DIALOGUE TO BE CONDUCTED WITH SOCIETY
Lilit Poghosyan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on July 22, 2008
Armenia

President SERGE SARGSYAN yesterday convened his first press-conference
with the purpose of summing up the 100-day period of his tenure and
answering the questions arousing interest among the journalists

How does Mr. Sargsyan estimate the first 100 days of his Presidency?

"It is still early to speak about the results. What has been done
is the beginning of very hard and great work. We have started our
activities with the spheres which are essential and important for our
people and were specified as priorities in my pre-election program. I
am sure that our work will gain momentum, and we will be able to
speak about the results in a few years’ time. It is important for our
society to be satisfied with the results as well," the President said
in response to the question.

According to S. Sargsyan, the changes and re-appointments of human
resources in the staff of the Government are not yet over, but "the
main appointments have been made, and this is already a fact. I have
specified my requirements in relation to the state officials. Those
who comply with them will continue working, those who don’t will be
replaced by others."

What is the President’s attitude towards the process of the unification
of the 6 pro-opposition forces which are a gainst the pan-national
movement of the so-called "disorganizers" of the state system?

"I estimate it quite positively. In general, I think that we should
start a process of enlarging the parties and political factions. It
doesn’t matter how this will happens: whether we will achieve it
by way of extending one political party or consolidating several
political forces.

The important thing is for the political forces to be united for the
sake of a common idea and be consistent and constructive in their
efforts. I estimate the unification of all the constructive political
forces as positive. As regards the fact of being against the policy
of destroying, demolishing and disorganizing everything, I consider
it to be a positive initiative and would like it to be a success,"
S. Sargsyan stated.

Touching upon the "wide divergence of opinions" between Robert
Kocharyan and himself, particularly with regard to the issue of
inviting the Turkish President to Armenia for watching a football
match, the President noted, "I believe Robert Kocharyan’s statement
did not contain criticism at all. He just expressed his disagreement
on my step. We differed with each other on many other issues in the
past as well, but I preferred to express my opinion to him without
reducing it to the public domain. I respect Mr. Kocharyan’s decision
of making his opinion public, and I see nothing st range here.

As regards the ‘sharp controversies’, many people have, for many years,
constantly tried to find some controversies and disagreement between
Mr. Kocharyan and me. By the way, among them there were not only
representatives of the opposition but also people who held some posts
in the government but were not satisfied with their position. Perhaps,
they considered me a rival and constantly tried to separate us and
embroil us in a conflict with each another. They didn’t manage to do
that. And the same continues now. Those people were just unable to
understand that their efforts were futile. And generally, there’s no
need to look for a black cat in a dark room, especially when there’s
no cat hiding there."

As to the "rumors" that the country is actually governed by Robert
Kocharyan, S. Sargsyan mentioned, "It is just absurd. Governing a
country is not the same as running a business where it is possible to
appoint an Executive Director and reserve the right to ownership for
oneself and continue to be at the head of the business. I am happy
that ex-President Kocharyan has also touched upon the issue and gave
a similar answer. While making a decision, I certainly consult Robert
Kocharyan, as well as my colleagues, coalition partners and relevant
specialists. This is the style of my work, and I will go on working
in this way in future too. But the responsibility for my decisions
lies upon me."

What steps do the authorities undertake towards the implementation of
the CoE requirement of releasing the detainees who were arrested under
"political" articles?

"I work in that direction, and I work quite intensively. The proof is
that there are dozens of people who are currently in freedom. I have
said several times and repeat again that I positively estimate the
activities of the Prosecutor’s Office and the court for demonstrating
a mild attitude towards the people who didn’t commit grave crimes.

But on the other hand, I consider that we don’t have the right to
look upon those events through fingers; we don’t have the right not
to see the people who committed grave crimes, organized mass disorders
and destroyed the property belonging to others.

By being too mild in our attitude towards them, we’ll cause harm to
our country and people. Many people will be tempted into doing this
kind of things in future, considering that after each election (and in
general), it is possible to solve some problems by the use of force. We
should rule out this kind of manifestations," the President said.

Isn’t the dialogue with Ter-Petrosyan being delayed?

In response to this question, S. Sargsyan said, "What I mean is
a dialogue with the people, with society, i.e. a dialogue in the
state-society f ormat and not between the President of the Republic
and some individual. In general, this is an on-going process. I
am always in my office. I come to work at 9:00 in the morning and
finish my working day very late, so the topic of the dialogue includes
various issues."

As regards the issue whether we will manage to fulfill the requirements
of the PACE Resolutions # 1609 and 1620 by January or "fail the exam"
again, the President said that the matter did not consist in managing
or failing to do something. The thing is that we have undertaken some
commitments which are in harmony with the programs of the President
and the coalition, and we will step by step realize the plan of making
Armenia a democratic state.

One of the questions concerned the chronic anti-hygienic state in the
Northern Avenue, something that scares away not only the tourists but
also the ordinary citizens, leading the owners of the trade "centers"
to bankruptcy.

"I admit the remark. Even if it is conditioned by the activity of
the opposition, I am responsible for that. In normal countries people
would have applied to court long ago if they had suffered damages. I
want to emphasize once again that we haven’t yet learnt to exercise
our rights in such a way as not to violate the rights of others. What
is happening in the Northern Avenue is of course impermissible. I
respect the right=2 0 of the people to express their opinion, but
they mustn’t do it at the expense of others," S. Sargsyan noted,
promising to undertake steps in that direction.

Doesn’t the President feel tired after the Presidential elections
(which followed the Parliamentary elections) and the post-electoral
developments?

"Thank you for being attentive. Of course, there are days when I get
tired, but in general, I do not feel tired at all. A tired official
is the most dangerous person," the President noted in response to
the question and assured the participants that he does not retreat
difficulties and is ready for a long-term working "marathon" for
the sake of the realization of the programs advanced by him and his
coalition partners.