Samvel Nikoyan: A new era of all-embracing reforms in the public and political life of Armenia has come after the session of the RPA Council

Mr.
Nikoyan, the President of Armenia, the leader of the Republican Party of
Armenia has recently made a statement at the session of the RPA Council, the
key target of which was the leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party Gagik
Tsarukyan.  The keynote of his speech was
Tsarukyan’s political inability and illiteracy. He
also
used
harsh
epithets. Don’t you think that all this is the evidence of Gagik
Tsarukyan’s significance at the political field rather than his inability?

The point is
that for many years the RPA and its leader Serzh Sargsyan used to close their
eyes to Tsarukyan’s activity because of several reasons, in particular, in
order not to worsen the situation and artificially not to consider his actions
and statements significant. But when it becomes clear that all this is taken inadequately
as all-permissiveness and some people stop soberly taking the reality and get
pretty brazen, the time comes to call a spade a spade and to show the true
facts of the matter. Unfortunately, Tsarukyan’s surrounding has made a fetish
of his political image and he has tried to fit into that image. But the time
has come to remind him of his true essence. Serzh Sargsyan’s speech at the RPA
Council was addressed not only to Tsarukyan. I am confident that after that a
new page will open in the political life of the country, new values will be
implemented and many negative phenomena will be eradicated. Money, impudence
and force have become dominating in the political life of our country for the
last few years. I am confident that after the session of the RPA Council the
political field of Armenia will be guided by other principles.

Wouldn’t it be better to continue the previous
policy and to attach no significance to Tsarukyan’s steps? Otherwise, the
situation in the political field may aggravate and the confrontation between
the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) and the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA)
will most likely enter the acute phase.      

Despite our tolerance, the confrontation has already taken place, and it has
not been initiated by us. So, it was not our steps that aggravated the
situation in the country. There is simply a point of time when excessive
tolerance may harm rather than help. 

Mr.
Nikoyan, you have mentioned that money, impudence and force have become
dominating in the political life of our country over the past few years. The
Armenian President himself has said in his speech that the rumors about
Tsarukyan’s tax evasion and other crimes have remained unchecked for many
years. The question is that why the country’s authorities have shut their eyes
to all that outrage for many years?  

You are right. Even the President of Armenia has confessed that he was too slow
in his steps. I think the fight against the negative phenomena should have been
launched earlier, because the slower your steps are, the stronger roots these
phenomena strike in the public and political life and the more complicated the
fight becomes. But there is always hope that the situation may be improved by
explanations, conversations and persuasions rather than radical methods. This
requires time. And only after you realize that all these methods are exhausted
but the situation is not improved, you have to resort to tougher measures. That
very moment has come.

Mr. Nikoyan, the fight against “darkness” has started
from Tsarukyan for some reasons. However, according to the same unconfirmed
rumors the President mentioned when accusing the PAP leader of tax evasion, the
ruling party also has such dishonest businessmen. The RPA also has
parliamentarians who, like Tsarukyan, are constantly absent from the
Parliament’s sessions. So, why should only Tsarukyan be deprived of his
mandate? Don’t you think that the “purge” of the political field should start
from the ruling Republican Party in order to exemplify the situation and only
after that it should pass to others?     

I have already said that the session of the RPA Council marked the beginning of
a new era in the Armenian reality, a new era of global reforms, which imply a
comprehensive fight against all negative phenomena in the country no matter who
or what is behind them. Neither the party membership nor the social group will
play any role in that fight.

How do you predict the political developments following the session of the
RPA Council?

I admit that following the session of our party’s
Council the political life in the country will become somewhat tense. But it is
the best of a bad bunch. It is better to face some tension in the domestic
political situation than to delay the fight against the negative phenomena that
have taken roots in our life. I am sure the situation will be stabilized in the
near future. As regards the early elections promised by Tsarukyan and his teammates, there can be no early elections at all, especially presidential ones. The Constitution of Armenia provides for only two cases for holding early presidential elections. The first case concerns resignation of the President,
and the second one concerns the President’s inability to rule the country for
health reasons. We have neither of the cases.