A REAL BUFFOONERY
KIMA YEGHIAZARYAN
Hayots Ashkhar Daily
08 Nov 08
Armenia
14 years later
As we know, in the `frameworks’ of his one-year fierce struggle against
the criminal administration, L. Ter-Petrosyan has been endlessly
verbalizing statements about grandiose ideas such as democracy, human
rights, freedom of speech, freedom of citizens, observation of
constitutional norms, rule of law and so on and so forth.
Obviously, the leader failed to recall the way he worked just 14 years
ago when he was the leader of the country. So, let’s refresh his memory.
AUGUST 4, 1994
In a discussion held with the representatives of the country’s law
enforcement agencies, L. Ter-Petrosyan began his speech like this,
`In different countries, depending on the level of the peoples’
culture, the pre-electoral campaign may have different manifestations,
but the essence remains the same. The essence consists in compromising
others and labeling false and libelous statements on the rival in an
attempt to produce a short-term impact. Populism, i.e. the practice of
using primitive manners for presenting the real situation to the people
and offering omnipotent `prescriptions for salvation’ does anyway
create some breeding ground in some circles of the public. And this is
what arouses enthusiasm among many of our friends.’
With this lecture concerning the manifestations of pre-electoral
manifestations LTP began his speech.
As to what `level of culture’ LTP and his companions have been
demonstrating since the fall of 2007 is known to all of us.
Compromising the rivals endlessly- this is the goal the activists have
been pursuing so far. All the speeches delivered by LTP (from September
21, 2007 till October 17, 2008) were omnipotent prescriptions of
exactly the same type. And the use of just one phrase ` a `state of
chieftains’ became the primitive way of presenting the truth to the
people.
However, let’s quote the next part from the ex-Presidents speech,
`¦ The slogans and methods of these rallies are also very interesting.
The principal method consists in shouting curses. And the marches held
on the Theatrical Square are 99 percent full of them. No such speeches
were delivered during the demonstrations held in 1988-1990. 99 percent
of those speeches are curse. Their major part consists of accusations `
serious accusations. It is none of our business. This is something to
be tackled by the law enforcement agencies.’
Let’s first of all note that at that time LTP characterized the area as
the Opera Square. And today, he only uses the term Freedom Square, and
the revolutionaries `tear themselves to pieces’ whenever the hear
someone call the place otherwise.
During the marches, the square occupied by LTP till March the 1st was
just bursting with hatred; as regards the platforms, one could hear and
see `seven-storey’ curses, mud and abuses flooding from there.
And the accusations (concerning the `October 27 tragedy’) were also
published in LTP pre-election program. And what about calling the
people scum? Isn’t that an abuse? Let alone a number of other similar
abusive phrases such as a `group of chieftains’, `criminal
administration’, `Mongol-Tatars’, `nomads’, `hangman Saddam’, `obscene
regime’ etc.
No less attractive is the following part of the speech delivered in
1994, `There is one program ` to overthrow these authorities, and make
the people sitting on the opera platform the leaders of the country.
Only those people and nobody else.
But there is one thing they didn’t take into consideration: if all
those statements were made by people who didn’t have the opportunity of
saving the nation, the people might have believed them. But there were
at least two people among them who possessed highest competences in the
state after the President. If they were going to work miracles, they
could have done that.
If they were going to struggle against the authorities, they could have
conducted their struggle from inside, without quitting the arena,
because it would have been much more effective. And obviously, the
accusations and facts which they are allegedly presenting now are quite
well-known; it’s not something they learnt today.
And what about now? What was the program that helped LTP pave his way
to politics after 14 years of silence? Today too, he continues the
tactics and strategy of overthrowing the authorities and dismantling
the state system. The `continuous’ struggle pursues one goal: to make
the members of his own gang the leaders of the people. Those
individuals who, in the course of the 7-8 years of his tenure, had the
opportunity to save the nation and work miracles. However, apart from
demolishing and plundering the state, they had no other program of
`salvation’. And now they want the people to believe them?
Let’s go on. `Destabilization, internal instabilities ¦ the main reason
Karabakh held victory was the internal instabilities that emerged
spontaneously or from time to time? If we want to lose not only
Karabakh but also other territories, there’s no shorter way for
achieving that. And I believe the people realize this hazard very well.
And no proofs are needed. What happened in Azerbaijan and Georgia is
the fairest example of that. If we are not going to learn lessons from
the bitter experience of our direct neighbors, we will not deserve to
continue surviving as a nation¦
Here is the other hazard. I am sure there will be no instabilities. But
in Azerbaijan, this may create illusions that Armenia is becoming
destabilized and push the country to renounce the peace process and try
to take advantage of Armenia’s internal weakness¦
The third hazard is that the demonstrations may, at some moment, become
ungovernable. Anyway, with their unbalanced nature, the organizers
themselves will be unable to keep the situation under control,’ L.
Ter-Petrosyan announced to the law enforcers, enumerating the hazards
one by one.
In 1994, he was confident that there would be no instabilities. And at
the end of February 2008, he kept the aggressive crowd on the square
for such a long time that the destabilized situation matured into
violence. And now he makes nonsensical statements on the `slaughter’
committed by the authorities. Whereas he himself `lost control’ of the
`peaceful demonstrators’, not deigning to leave his house and calm down
the fierce crowd that had gathered near the statue of Myasnikyan.
And taking advantage of Armenia’s internal weakness, it launched attack
on the Armenian front lines. And after all that happened they were
still assuming airs that the President didn’t have the right to impose
a state of emergency. Oh, that Armenian Pan-National Movement! It
doesn’t really have the right to live.
And now, let’s pass on to the final part of the ex-President’s speech:
`Today, the organizers of these demonstrations are the only
revolutionary force in Armenia; but as has already been mentioned, they
have no chance to reach their goal through parliamentarism. There is no
other force in Armenia. But this is just a falsehood. This is
buffoonery. And our people will properly estimate and perceive that¦
The activeness of the opposition is accounted for by the fact that the
things are not so bad as far as the affairs of the state or authorities
are concerned.’
Summing up the above mentioned, we can arrive at the conclusion that
LTP’s speech delivered in 1994 and his present-day posture are a fair
manifestation of buffoonery.