RIA Novosti, Russia
April 12 2005
ARMENIAN PRESIDENT: NO REVOLUTION HERE
YEREVAN, April 12 (RIA Novosti, Gamlet Matevosyan) – There are no
prerequisites for a revolution in Armenia, regardless of what its
color is, President Robert Kocharyan told Yerevan State University
students yesterday.
According to Kocharyan, in order for a state to go through a
revolution, certain conditions like those in Georgia, Ukraine and
Kyrgyzstan must exist.
“First, all of them took place during election periods, which implies
a certain ‘electrifying’ of society. Second, in all the three
countries the weak authorities could not decide the current issues.
For instance, in Georgia there were delays in the payment of pensions
and wages and salaries and problems in energy supply, in Kyrgyzstan
the budget for 2004 amounted to $300 million with the republic’s
inhabitants numbering 5 million, while Armenia with its
3-million-strong population has a budget of about $800 million. The
situation in Ukraine is somewhat different. In spite of the economic
growth, the country was divided in its east and west,” Kocharyan
said.
He called the change of generations, which took place in the course
of the revolutions, the third factor. As a result, younger and more
dynamic leaders replaced the old, former Soviet officials in power.
This occurred in Armenia in 1991 with the advent of Levon
Ter-Petrosyan, and in 1998 with Kocharyan’s own ascent to power, he
said.
Kocharyan said that oppositionists, who earlier held high posts in
their governments, came to power in all three of the republics.
“All the above-said factors have nothing in common with the situation
in Armenia where no one doubts the authorities’ resolve, the change
of generations has already taken place, there have been no
oppositionists dismissed from their posts and the next elections will
be held in Armenia in two years,” Kocharyan assured the students.
The president also noted that the Armenian opposition must not allow
itself to feel inadequate by the fact that the attempt at changing
power in Armenia, as distinct from the above-said countries, was
unsuccessful.
“This is not because of the fact that our opposition is too bad but
because the situation in Armenia is better, and state authorities are
more effective,” Kocharyan said.