ALEXANDER ISKANDARIAN: SITUATION FORMED IN ARMENIA IS EXPRESSED BY “WEAK POWER AND WEAK OPPOSITION” FORMULA
YEREVAN, MAY 17, NOYAN TAPAN. “No revolution must take place in
Armenia, we may theoretically suppose a coup and there is a difference
of principle between a revolution and a coup and the coup is an
easier variant,” Alexander Iskandarian, Director of Caucasian Media
Institute, declared at the May 17 press conference at the Pakagits
(Bracket) club. According to him, the reasons brought as an argument
for carrying out a revolution, namely, referendum on constitutional
amendments and local self-governance elections, are insufficient for
“untwisting” a revolutionary situation. Besides, a strong political
force and the support of even if a part of economic elite is necessary
for carrying out of a revolution. “I see neither this nor that yet,”
A.Iskandarian declared. In his opinion, the situation formed in Armenia
is expressed by the “weak power and weak opposition” formula. “This
construction leads to a firmly unstable situation we have in Armenia
today.” The speaker criticized both the Armenian authorities and
opposition. According to him, the political coalition is “an institute
intended for making a career” and the coalition’s central force, the
Republican Party of Armenia, has no ideology and will exist until it
holds the power, after which it will collapse. As for the opposition,
Iskandarian mentioned that we have no united opposition in Armenia,
there are only some opposition groups united by the main idea –
necessity in power shift. The opposition considers the latter not
the result of the processes taking place in the country but their
cause. “This is a wrong conception: the power is the result of
everything taking place in Armenia.” In Iskandarian’s opinion, the
political system formed in Armenia is the classical Latin American
system, when, in difference to Turkmenistan and Tadzhikistan, a power
shift, nevertheless, is taking place here but, unlike countries with
European political culture, such as Baltic states, power shift is
taking place illegally in Armenia and the opposition doesn’t accept
election results. “The Latin American variant is not the worst one
that may be imagined in the post-Soviet totalitarian variant. This
is the way such countries as Chile and South Korea passed through,
and today these countries may be considered European in the respect
of political culture,” he declared.