GOVERNMENT DOES NOT HAVE MORAL RIGHT TO DISCUSS HAK STEPS
SIRANUSH PAPYAN

LRAGIR.AM
11:48:26 – 15/06/2009

Before the election, you noted that you are not much excited about the
Yerevan Mayor election and consider it a regular game of the government
and it is not worth of running in it. What do you think now, was it
worth running?

– If the point is only about the Yerevan Mayor election, of course
there was no sense in running for Mayor. We completely changed the
format by promoting Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s candidature. It became a
political election. Form this point of view there was some sense in
participating in it. Now I think that running in the Yerevan Mayor
election with this format was right.

– Did the Armenian National Congress hold a victory?

– This phenomenon is very common in many countries of the world;
when they say I won the election, you won by calculations. We held
a victory at this election from civil point of view, from the point
that we strengthened our tam, we voiced our plans, but we lost in
calculations. The government did its work in calculations for the
third time.

-Was this the reason why you refuted the mandates?

– The reason was again political but not calculative, because it was
just senseless to work within a body formed in result of such kind of
"non-elections".

– The government thinks that the HAK was wrong to refuse the mandates
because of the voters, which votes for the alliance.

– Let the government care for its frauds, its crimes, they do not
have any right to voice opinions about the HAK steps. What they do
is not political or human, moral, civil. They do not have any moral
right to speak about the HAK activities.

– Considering the Yerevan Mayor election, do you think the OYP and
the ARF Dashnaktsutyun became the victims of politics? Why did not
they pass the limit of seven percent?

– After the election, I stated that the government just deceived those
two parties. It had promised that they would pass the limit of seven
percent, but then the government was led by criminal rules where it
is very much normal to deceive and to betray, that is why I’m not
surprised that it deceived those two parties. At the latest really,
Levon Ter-Petrosyan proposed a test composed of 12 points, which
differs the pro-governmental from the non-government wings. And all
the parties have a great possibility to show honestly their stances. I
have to say that the test is very simple and it decided if you are
patriot, for example whether you want Nagorno-Karabakh be a side of
the negotiations or you don’t, whether you want the election be free
and hair or you don’t.

The government will refuse only 2 of the 12 points, extraordinary
elections and Serge Sargsyan’s resignation. The other may be used in
Serge Sargsyan’s plans.

– Raffi Hovhannisyan proposed the ARF Dashnaktsutyun and the HAK to
cooperate. Do you have any proposal or internal dialogues?

– We made the first proposal on cooperation; moreover, we cooperated
with the Heritage during this period. As to the ARF Dashnaktsutyun
Levon Ter-Petrosyan stated very clearly, that the political field is
very wide and there is no need to push each other. There is enough room
for everyone, especially when the point is about change of government
and elections. There is no problem from this point of view. Let them
state and we may work as a team. In other words, if the Dashnaktsutyun
agrees with the points proposed by Ter-Petrosyan, there is no need
to sign any joint communique. The Dashnaktsutyun has to prove with
its steps its participation in this program. They cannot be both in
the oppositional and governmental fields. If they want to be in this
program, let them for example allocate two hours of TV air to the HAK
on the Yerkir Media TV, let them participate in the HAK rallies. In
other words, they have to proves practically, and not only speak.

-HAK continues struggling by constitutional means. Will not it be a
long struggle? Will not it annoy people?

-We are ready fore a long struggle, we have no problem.

-What do you mean by saying long? Will it last until the following
presidential election?

-No, no, no, we are going to do everything possible for a quick
extraordinary presidential election. This is already a political
question; this is a program. But we do not want to deceive our people
and make them hope for very quick solutions, the struggle is not
ruled out to last for months and years. I don’t know but there are
two or better to say three factors which influence on it, the first
is the people’s factor, the second is the governmental unprecedented
mistakes and the third is the external challenges. All this promotes
the extraordinary presidential election.

-You assure that we will have an extraordinary presidential
election. What if you will not manage to ensure them?

-We voice our will, the will of the people. The presidential election
is needed as the air and the water. It is needed for the state for
the losses that we bear. I assure you that the emigration will enhance
after this outrageous election.

-They say that people are disappointed with both the government and the
opposition. What do you think will the emigration enhance even more?

-If there are people, who are disappointed with the opposition, is
because of the lack of active aggressive steps. People demand more
from the opposition and very often, they demands abrupt steps.

-If the election corresponded to the democratic measurements, what
place would the HAK get?

-Of course, the first. This was the most expensive election ever. The
Republican Party spent a lot of money for each ballot.

-Would you say the approximate amount of money?

-100 dollars for each vote, including the asphalt work the city
cleaning etc.