Interview with Arthur Sakunts, head of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor Office
Along with civil actions, the number of beaten civil activists and those being apprehended every day is increasing; Armenia’s membership to the Customs Union is on the agenda today. Do you think this is an attempt to dispirit, eliminate the civil society?
-What is happening today in Armenia in terms of security of civil activists is no news, since if we cast a look back into the history, we shall see that any activism directed at illegal actions or decisions of the government was constantly expressed and periodically repeated. Once there was a civil activism targeted at the illegal actions of the authorities, the latter counterattacked and not by dialoguing or accepting criticism and changing its conduct, but immediately responded through violence.
There is only one difference related to the events of this summer. As a general rule, if previously violence had been applied during pre-election and post-election periods, when the protests were basically targeted at violations of electoral right, now election as such does not exist. I must make one important correction: we mean mass activism and violence, since violence against citizens is always applied at personal level, when there are no mass speeches or actions of protest.
This time the difference is that there will be no elections in the near future, it seemed there would hardly be any protests, but the public action directed at the rise of transportation fees was unprecedented in terms of its prevalence, since it was multi-centered, it was organized and the authorities did not know how to act. Later the protest actions continued, the Government had fears especially before this autumn’s political stage that protest could be widely spread and the only way against the unexpected phenomenon for them was application of force, which we witnessed, the illegal apprehensions by the Police, violence, beatings, their criminal intimidating groups were again put to act, which pursued one goal, to silence any protest action targeted at their illegalities, since a group of whole issues simultaneously came to the fore.
Thus, apart from violence, the Government no longer has any idea, program or a recommendation to present to the public, the only remaining resource to maintain power is intimidation, which was evidently expressed during the beating of Haykak Arshamyan and Suren Saghatelyan.
Armenia’s membership to the Customs Union is on the agenda today. What should the civil society be doing?
Today a challenge to independence is on our agenda. Serzh Sargsyan’s challenge of joining the Customs Union eventually puts forth political demands. Now a goal is set which has a political importance and will naturally impart our disobedience with a political nature.
What implications does membership to the Customs Union have for the development of Armenia?
-I will tell you something interesting. Let’s try to figure it out. It is nevertheless clear what the CU is, judging by the quality of the current government and governance of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. In the case of Armenia, considering the closed borders, the only visible model is isolation. This is a situation similar to North Korea where the regime feeds people on ideas on international imperialism and enemies. The Armenian government will lead the country to isolation, while isolation results in stagnation. As soon as membership to the Customs Union is established, we will end up so very soon. And in this case, while we were moving towards the solution of problems with difficulty but at least there was a vector of opportunities to resolve problems, now these opportunities disappear. Moreover, regress replaces opportunities, and these problems become decisive.
Will Europe change the format of cooperation?
– Certainly Europe cannot be indifferent in any case, it is not indifferent to Belarus, Kazakhstan. Unlike Belarus, however, which is integrated with Russia, Armenia will also be called a member but it will be an isolated territory rather than an integrated territory. Without resolving our problems we will become Russia’s lever in the hands of the so-called Customs Union in its relationship with the EU. The European countries will keep us in focus, under monitoring by way of reports on the state of human rights. Certainly, without opportunities for development there will be no development programs, which means the minimum level of relations not to allow Armenia to be used as a threat relating to Armenian-Turkish and Armenian-Azerbaijani relations.
The rule in Europe is to help those who want to help themselves. And if we do not want to help, Europe cannot withdraw us from this situation dragging by the hair. This is not the way in politics. It works with you patiently until you understand how you can resolve the problems and it cannot fish for you all the time. In fact, Serzh Sargsyan chose to have someone else to fish for him. And Putin said I will fish for you. This is misery. Now Europe is in a difficult situation because the expectations that were formed in at least seven years were different.
This situation proves that the decision was subjective and stemmed from individual interests. This means that a person is so detached from the reality in Armenia that he made a decision that stems from his own personal interest. It is nonsense to refer to the Karabakh issue to explain membership to the Customs Union as a guarantee of security. How can one be a guarantee of our security if one speaks the language of threat? Serzh Sargsyan saved himself because Putin and the Armenian elite in the face of Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan are accomplices to the crime of March 1. In other words, the nail of the blackmail which they cannot speak about openly was their link to the crime and if this crime is revealed, Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan should be the first to be convicted for committing a state crime. Serzh Sargsyan preferred to victimize the country instead of him.
Now is a critical moment. Common sense is that the issue is serious, and Europe acknowledges its mistake because it should have made an adequate evaluation on 1 March 2008. Europe’s softness resulted in such a situation because if a crime is not evaluated in principle, the criminals get away with impunity and they are ready to repeat the crime, which Serzh Sargsyan did during his meeting with Putin. If Serzh Sargsyan thinks that he keeps fire under control by kindling it, he is badly mistaken. This is very much similar to the last years of the Soviet Union.
The government does not enjoy confidence, and Serzh Sargsyan is making a mistake one after another because he is anxious, he has run out of his opportunities and resources to cover up the crime. Meanwhile, Europe may have a huge influence on revealing the crime. Problems have occurred and there are opportunities for their solution, and one needs a real battle of Sardarapat, not a Sardarapat Initiative or a pre-parliament.
Source: http://www.lragir.am/index/arm/0/interview/view/88099