WE DID NOT PREVENT THE ESCAPE

Lragir.am
18/01/10

Interview with Ashot Bleyan

How was 2009 in your opinion?

I consider the last 20 years of our third republic lost. We did
not manage to solve our main problems related to the development by
ourselves-the establishment of a new community with Turkey, Azerbaijan
and Georgia. We did not manage to consider the rights of a modern
Armenian citizen supreme. And all these issues which are not solved
pass from year to year and in 2010 we again face them. If we assess the
last year from three points-political election, freedom of expression
and implementation of the choice of work, we see that people cannot
be elected parliamentary members if the government does not want. A
man will be deprived of freedom if the government wants it. A man
cannot do the work they like. William Saroyan said a person has to
keep this piece of land saved by miracle like the light of their eye
(he meant saved from the Soviet Union), but people see their rescue
in escape. During 20 years, we did not manage to prevent this escape.

Did none of the governments tried to solve this issue?

No just they did not manage. This means they did not treat this piece
of land as the light of their eye. They not only did not take care
of it, but they pose it to danger, they did not respect their citizens.

Let us bring only one example, the Byurakan observatory was a brand
created by the Armenian geniuses during the Soviet years which today
seems a cemetery. Its annual budget is equal to a salary of a professor
of a foreign country.

Where was the error?

The error was that the birth of the third republic was not attached
importance as well as the misevaluation of the significance of
political independence. If we observe 2009 from this point, we may
assess it as one of the most unsuccessful years because the economic
crisis deepened the lack of perspectives, the speed of immigration
increased, political prisoners were not freed and we embraced the year
2010 with the stamp of the 2009. I call the presence of political
prisoners since 1995-96 as the stamp of the third republic. In
2009 some hope appeared, the establishment of Armenian and Turkish
interstate relations as well as possibilities for the settlement of
the Karabakh issue. But nothing is moved now. I registered a thing
that many years ago William Saroyan said "We adopt the Christianity
only superficially, in depth we are still the same pagans".

During our interview in 2009, you seemed excited with the steps aimed
at the normalization of the Armenian and Turkish relations. I am not
seeing the same moods today. Why?

This issue is on the agenda of each government and each government
is obliged not only to have it on the agenda but to solve it too. If
they do not, they fail their government. The government of the first
president did not solve these issues either. And if the current
government has these issues on its agenda, they need to solve them
not to fail.

Will the issues you noted be solved in 2010?

Unfortunately, the solution to these problems started again not being
considered as home issues and everything is left on foreign forces.

These forces are to be so well with each other to force us to live
in peace with our neighbors.

What was the reason of passive participation of citizens in the
by-election at the Constituency No.10?

There will always be found some explanation. But the point is not the
explanation. Obviously, Nikol could be elected only with the help of
the active participation of electors. Will the citizens be active to
solve this issue, or they will pass it to their children. Once again
it was registered that complaining is not a solution to a problem.

What do we have to do?

Citizens must take responsibility for their own lives. I want to
deal with a sane citizen because in the absence of a certain number
of citizens, the crowd does not turn into a society conscious of its
responsibilities and having a collective responsibility. Obligations
charged to the citizen are not limited to criticism of government
or opposition they start with this and are reborn in the case –
a consistent struggle for the rights of their own and others, which
is the moral foundation of any society, and creativity. This is not a
curse but a blessing. Everything else is twaddle. And the most pious
man for me, Blaise Pascal said ‘In order to communicate with God,
we must cease to twaddle".

Interview By Siranuysh Papyan