Vartan Oskanyan: Maybe the RPA does not want to have any alternative in general

Interview with former minister of foreign affairs of Armenia, incumbent MP and member of Prosperous Armenia party

– Mr. Oskanyan, what is the current status of the case against the Civilitas foundation? Is there any news?

– Today the case had to be discussed in the cassation court, but it has been delayed. We are demanding to drop the case because there are no grounds for that case. The first instance court has rejected our claim, the cassation court will probably do the same, and we will apply to the Supreme Court. The goal of all this process for us is to show that all what is being done against us is out of the law. Currently I don’t know anything about the status of the case as it is four months that the security service is investigating the case, and the tax services are checking up the activities as well. It is very strange because even in the largest companies of Armenia such inspections are not that long. Accordingly, we believe there are reasons for institution of legal proceedings.

– There have been publications in the media writing that the issue of you being nominated for presidency by the PA party is out of the party’s agenda and the reason is the fact that the case against the Civilitas has been frozen. What do you think about this information?

– First, let me say that I don’t want to say anything concerning the presidential election; neither I want to make any comment about it. Also, the Prosperous Armenia has not discussed the issue of the presidential election, thus all the conclusions and rumors are baseless.

– Do you personally intend to run for president?

– For now I don’t really have anything to say about it.

– Mr. Oskanyan, the PA does not say anything about the candidate they are going to endorse during the presidential election. Meanwhile, rumors say there are several potential candidates, and one of them is Gagik Tsarukyan. What do you think about his candidacy?

– I said that the PA will say it later; I have nothing to add.

– According to your opinion, why does the PA think that the PA-ANC tandem is strange in case when the ANC is doing its best to attract the PA to its side?

– The party, especially during this vacation period, doesn’t discuss and adopt a stance in regard of each policy and statement in the country. The party will decide the expediency of cooperation with other political parties based on concrete issues.

– Prior to parliamentary elections the PAP became a part of the joint campaign and then refused to join the ruling coalition and an impression was created that the PAP plays as opposition. But after that, all the policies and steps of the party, such as nomination of a PAP member Samvel Balasanyan for Gyumri mayor, make us assume that the RPA and PAP cooperation covertly exists. Another example is that the PAP didn’t participate in the opposition initiative to persecute the culprits of Harsnakar case. All this gives us grounds to claim that the two countries are still partners. What is your opinion about the RPA-PAP behavior?

– You have brought a very good example about the joint campaign. This is the best evidence that the PAP is willing to cooperate with other parties with there is a common goal. On those days the priority was to provide free and fair elections. Of course, because of different reasons this wish didn’t come true but I think that the cooperation took place. If you remember during the elections the Prosperous Armenia party clearly had the objective to create political checks and balance in the political field of Armenia. We wanted to ensure that no political party makes an absolute majority. It didn’t happen either. But today, by having quite a weighty role in the NA the PAP will try to cooperate with other parties to create this balance.

– If the PAP wishes to create checks and balance to the government why doesn’t it cooperate with the opposition?

– We shouldn’t judge because of select policies. The parliamentary life is ahead and I think with its standpoints the PAP will try to prove its involvement and intention of counter-balance. The opportunity of cooperation depends on the issues that might be derived. In the NA we will work in three directions. First we will be working with the stakeholders. We will be listening to their issues and will try to resolve these issues. Second, we will come up with legislative initiatives in order to implement actual reforms in the country, provide economic development and to make Armenia a competitive state in the region. Third, the PAP will have an active involvement in the government and parliamentary majority initiatives. This is the only way of being an alternative to the government.

– But the ruling party says that if you are against the incumbent government the alternative to that is the PAP. Doesn’t this mean that it is a government project to make PAP an alternative party?

– Absolutely not. Perhaps currently RPA doesn’t wish to have any alternative competitor because today it is the government and it wishes to stay in the government.

– Mr. Oskanyan, your name continues to be linked to Robert Kocharyan. Some think that you are the representative of Kocharyan in the NA.

– I have worked with Robert Kocharyan for ten years as a foreign affairs minister. I have always had great relations with him. Kocharyan today is not involved in politics and hasn’t expressed it intention about the political future. I have my decision. I will be fully involved in politics.

– During the presidential elections there are many assumptions that Kocharyan might be nominated as a PAP nominee. Do you find his return to politics plausible?

– As Kocharyan hasn’t personally said anything about his intentions I wouldn’t like to comment on that. I would comment if Kocharyan had expressed his views and plans.

– Do you continue meeting with Kocharyan?

-Yes, whenever there is the occasion I do.

– Mr. Oskanyan, your name is being linked to the March 1 events. Do you consider yourself responsible for the March 1 tragic events?

– I have numerously said my opinion about this. I think I was the only person on March 1 that had the courage to temper the situation and offer a dialogue.

– The PAP was for the replacement of the Prime Minister. What is your personal opinion about him?

– I have numerously said that the current government has been the most inefficient one in our modern history. The economic line adopted by the government hasn’t given any positive results. There are essential differences between the philosophy of the PAP and the current government.

– It is no secret that foreign powers also have their impact on the formation of domestic politics. What is your opinion about Vladimir Putin’s Eurasian Union and do you think Armenia should join it or not?

– It is strange that at this stage we are speaking about being for or against the Eurasian Union. It is untimely to speak about the membership to the structure, which is still in an embryonic stage. We should wait and see what the developments are and what the Eurasian Union is going to look like at the final stage. But if we face a dilemma at some point then we should definitely stem from the national and strategic interests of Armenia. Before making any decision we should weigh the pros and cons. But in order to do that, we need an ideological backbone of foreign policy, which is currently absent from Armenia. And it’s going to be very difficult for the current government to make a decision, what stance should be adopted in regard of integration processes. Today we cannot say what the ideological direction of the country is.

– On the Internet that was news that you have recently participated in a conference initiated by the PAP, which was dedicated to the Eurasian Union. During the event you made a speech. We would like to know what you gave touched upon during your speech.

– I have not spoken about the Eurasian Union. I have spoken about the internal political situation in Armenia. There were participants from Baltic states and Georgia. It means that perhaps the conference was under the theme of Eurasian Union but was actually more inclusive.

– What is your opinion about the extradition of Azeri murderer Rafil Safarov and the developments that followed the process?

– Here the matter should be viewed on two platforms. Of course, the actions of Hungary were hideous in a moral and legal sense. They didn’t have the right to do anything like that because legally they have violated the European Convention because they perfectly knew that the murderer would be released once extradited to Azerbaijan. But they still did the extradition and thus violated the Convention. But for me this is not the problem. Tomorrow even worse things might happen to us in regard of the NKR conflict. Shall we sit back and blame others for that? Let’s see what the actual reason was and why were not able to prevent this. The reason is that our state bodies – the ministry of foreign affairs, foreign intelligence were not able to work adequately. So they made mistakes. We knew 10-15 days ago that these developments were imminent. The Armenian community has raised their concerns about this. They have even applied to the Armenian foreign affairs ministry. Surprisingly, they were all ignored. This is impermissible. And now we get convinced that if we were able to make the current noise ten days ago while the process was pending, we would have been able to preclude the aftermath.

– Shall we consider this our failure or you think we still might be able to use this factor as a playing card against Azerbaijan during negotiations and we might be able to gain some dividends?

– First, we should have done everything to prevent this extradition. I also think that this fact can be used as a playing card to gain diplomatic dividends. But the question is where our diplomatic corps will be able to orient rightly under the current circumstances and use this situation on our behalf in light of the fact that they failed the prevent of extradition.