A former Armenian presidential adviser on national security, Ashot Manucharyan, has condemned the political situation in Armenia.
’What we consider as politics is not politics at all, it iseconomic activity. The vast majority of parties in Armenia are trying to redistribute the national income to their own advantage,’ Manucharyan told journalists in Yerevan yesterday.
Manucharyanwas national security adviser to Armenia’s first president,Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who is now a figurehead for opposition to the incumbent leadership.
Manucharyan praised the commitment and bravery of young people in trying to change the political landscape, but said that they needed help.
Describing foreign policy as a continuation of domestic policy, Manucharyan said that since money wasthe predominant value in domestic policy, it was also reflected in foreign policy. ’Armenia has no foreign policy; it merely reacts to the political initiatives of others,’ he said.
According to the report of Armenia Today, he said that it was not Armenia that initiated theprocess of normalizing relationswith Turkey. ’Whoever initiates the process retains control over itand it’s not Armenia that’s controlling the Armenian-Turkish process.’
’I think Armeniagot involved in this process, because sometimes it’s impossible to avoid getting involved, as avoidance poses a great risk. For example, in 1992 the United States suggested that Armenia take part in the Minsk Group process. At that time, at least for the system of national security it was obvious that the Minsk Group and the Minsk process bore no relation to the resolution of the Karabakh conflict. This is a US tool with which they want to control and regulate processes in the region. But Armenia cannot say “no” to the United States. On the other hand, Armenia had no right to turn the Minsk Group process into its process for settlement ofthe Karabakh conflict,’Manucharyan said.
On Russia, the former security adviser said, ’Relations between Armenia and Russia are deteriorating as a result of mistakes by Russia as well as Armenia.’
He cited the violent dispersal of protests against fraud in the 2008 presidential elections, in which at least 10 protesters were killed,as a crude error by Russia. He recalled that days before the dispersal on 1 March, the Armenian president had been in Moscow. ’Young people practically faced a firing squad on 1 March. Almost one year later, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev came here and the square where the young people were shot was named in Moscow’s honour.’
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