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MANVEL SARKISYAN: "ARMENIA IS FACING A LEGAL PRECEDENT BASED ON THE CRISIS OF LAWFULNESS"
David Strpanyan
Vestnik Kavkaza
April 23 2012
Russia
The head of the Armenian Center for National and Strategic Research
Manvel Manvel Sarkisyan, who is also a member of the 'brigade' for
the takedown of the illegally constructed boutiques in the Mashtots
Park, told 'VK' correspondent about the goals and the prospects of
the Armenian public movement against the "illegitimate" actions of
the government.
- Officials say that your 'brigade' is sponsored by some 'external
forces'. Whom are they implying?
- For some reason no one in Armenia can believe that people take
up some public activity of their own volition, they always try to
find out who's 'behind the scenes'. And this is the result of the
state policy of the last 20 years. All these years the Armenian
society was told that it can't do anything on its own. And when
people are rendered powerless, they can't believe that anyone else
can take C some public activity without any external help or secret
agenda. These alleged external players are: Russia, the West, KGB, CIA,
US Embassy or even freemasons. The only figures who are not suspected
in any destructive activities and who feel quite at home here are
our criminal authorities. All criminal and corrupt activities tied
closely to all the governments we had in these years are perceived
as something normal by our public.
But in reality, there are no external forces behind our movement,
it's all simple: young educated people just don't what yet another
act of lawlessness to happen.
- And these are the people who don't what to leave Armenia and are
going to create a jural state here?
- Yes. For example, their slogan: 'We are the masters of this land'.
It's nothing like the criminal 'it's our territory' or 'it's our
block'. And no one has ever before openly stood up to the criminals
who claim their right to the land that's not theirs.
- But why are the authorities so persistent in protecting these
boutiques? It would be easy for them to get rid of the boutiques
and therewith win some pre-election scores. Are they scared of the
movement, as it could turn into something larger?
-The oligarchic system of Armenia id based on usurped rights for
national property. The government in Armenia a illegitimate from the
very beginning, so there are actually no legal transactions. And
no people reclaim their rights for what's been stolen from them:
'We are the masters of this land'. But the bandits who are ruling our
country bow aren't afraid of any accusations, they are ready to say:
'yes, we are bandits and all we've stolen is no ours by right'.
So why the conflict between the activists and the police& Because
it is the first time that the activists demanded to stop protecting
government's illegal actions from the police. The policemen refused to
take up the responsibility of analyzing the legitimacy of their orders,
so the activists said that in this case they'll have to stand guard
forever - and not only in the Mashtots Park, but at each illegally
occupied lot of Armenian land. The police will have either to agree
with us or to ask reinforcements from the president.
The number of the 'brigades' members only grows, and the police knows
it. The police became a hostage of the situation, and they've lost
this one. The public doesn't believe the property they are protecting
is legal, people also don't see their actions as legal. The mayor
has to hide behind the policemen's backs, and the PM hides behind the
mayor. The President has vanished - as all the situation has nothing
to do with him. In the meantime the media reports that the boutiques'
construction were funded from the budget to compensate ex-mayor's
brother Gagik Beglaryan his previously lost 'property'
- And as these illegal 'privileges' of Beglaryan, which are an integral
part of the whole system of corrupt government, were violated, can
we expect the whole system to collapse?
- Yes, this crisis has no other possible outcome. The system
can't fulfill the society's main demand - the observance of the
constitution. The police has no other purpose than to serve mercenaries
for oligarchs. The mechanism that should guarantee the legality of the
whole system - the presidential office - isn't working properly. The
only way to resolve the crisis is to revise all illegal property. The
authorities would very much like to deal with the situation as they
did on March, 1, 2008, but they can't. If they could, they would have
done so long ago.
- So what solution could you propose?
- People should understand that the problem should be resolved within
the strict boundaries of the law. The numbers of the activists are
growing. The situation is very grave, that is why we, the older
generation, joined the young activists. It is very unwise of the
authorities to protect illegal property with the police cordons. If
the public doesn't recognize the property right, no power in the world
can protect this property. Yes, the property right is fundamental,
but only the right for legally acquired property. Our main task now
is to make the society understand that they are the masters of their
state, of their land. The tragedy of the Armenian society is that it's
major part is ready to obey illegal power, to accept rigged election
results. But if one refuses to follow illegal orders - there's just
nothing that the power can actually do to such a person to convince
him otherwise. Today it's civil disobedience to the police, tomorrow
- to the courts. It is the beginning of the new era of our movement
for Constitution protection^ we stop asking and start demanding.
- Would you like to comment on the upcoming election?
- What's there to talk about? The power understood that you can
influence the elections' outcome in a more elegant manner than throwing
in piles of ballot papers, that's all. They say the elections will
be transparent - but the transparency will touch only some secondary
issues. Can you control the administrative pressure on voters before
the elections? No, but it is a very efficient means to make teachers,
military and other state employees to vote the way the power wants. SO
what transparency are we talking about? They just use secondary
aspects of the elections as showpieces of their 'transparency',
that's all. The elections remain illegitimate.
- So how could one vote if all 9 parties are so much alike?
- All the parties that take part in the elections should answer a
simple questions: do they think that Armenia has an efficient and
legitimate election mechanism? If no, than they should explain how are
they planning on getting their mandates. They never do that. If the
constitutional way of obtaining a parliamentary mandate is disabled,
than one gets the mandate in an unconstitutional way. And it is a
crime in any case. Sarksyan and his party can't say he won 100%,
so he lends 30-35% to other parties.
The election's outcome is defined by the criminal nature of our
administrative system. People are not only made to vote in a certain
way, so are even threatened into joining party lists, etc. They used
to promise some dividends for such 'services' before, but now they
only threaten. It's almost impossible to live and work in Armenia
without joining some criminal-political force, and that is why the
people leave our country. And only the civic society can change the
situation, without the help of the corrupt political parties.
David Strpanyan
Vestnik Kavkaza
April 23 2012
Russia
The head of the Armenian Center for National and Strategic Research
Manvel Manvel Sarkisyan, who is also a member of the 'brigade' for
the takedown of the illegally constructed boutiques in the Mashtots
Park, told 'VK' correspondent about the goals and the prospects of
the Armenian public movement against the "illegitimate" actions of
the government.
- Officials say that your 'brigade' is sponsored by some 'external
forces'. Whom are they implying?
- For some reason no one in Armenia can believe that people take
up some public activity of their own volition, they always try to
find out who's 'behind the scenes'. And this is the result of the
state policy of the last 20 years. All these years the Armenian
society was told that it can't do anything on its own. And when
people are rendered powerless, they can't believe that anyone else
can take C some public activity without any external help or secret
agenda. These alleged external players are: Russia, the West, KGB, CIA,
US Embassy or even freemasons. The only figures who are not suspected
in any destructive activities and who feel quite at home here are
our criminal authorities. All criminal and corrupt activities tied
closely to all the governments we had in these years are perceived
as something normal by our public.
But in reality, there are no external forces behind our movement,
it's all simple: young educated people just don't what yet another
act of lawlessness to happen.
- And these are the people who don't what to leave Armenia and are
going to create a jural state here?
- Yes. For example, their slogan: 'We are the masters of this land'.
It's nothing like the criminal 'it's our territory' or 'it's our
block'. And no one has ever before openly stood up to the criminals
who claim their right to the land that's not theirs.
- But why are the authorities so persistent in protecting these
boutiques? It would be easy for them to get rid of the boutiques
and therewith win some pre-election scores. Are they scared of the
movement, as it could turn into something larger?
-The oligarchic system of Armenia id based on usurped rights for
national property. The government in Armenia a illegitimate from the
very beginning, so there are actually no legal transactions. And
no people reclaim their rights for what's been stolen from them:
'We are the masters of this land'. But the bandits who are ruling our
country bow aren't afraid of any accusations, they are ready to say:
'yes, we are bandits and all we've stolen is no ours by right'.
So why the conflict between the activists and the police& Because
it is the first time that the activists demanded to stop protecting
government's illegal actions from the police. The policemen refused to
take up the responsibility of analyzing the legitimacy of their orders,
so the activists said that in this case they'll have to stand guard
forever - and not only in the Mashtots Park, but at each illegally
occupied lot of Armenian land. The police will have either to agree
with us or to ask reinforcements from the president.
The number of the 'brigades' members only grows, and the police knows
it. The police became a hostage of the situation, and they've lost
this one. The public doesn't believe the property they are protecting
is legal, people also don't see their actions as legal. The mayor
has to hide behind the policemen's backs, and the PM hides behind the
mayor. The President has vanished - as all the situation has nothing
to do with him. In the meantime the media reports that the boutiques'
construction were funded from the budget to compensate ex-mayor's
brother Gagik Beglaryan his previously lost 'property'
- And as these illegal 'privileges' of Beglaryan, which are an integral
part of the whole system of corrupt government, were violated, can
we expect the whole system to collapse?
- Yes, this crisis has no other possible outcome. The system
can't fulfill the society's main demand - the observance of the
constitution. The police has no other purpose than to serve mercenaries
for oligarchs. The mechanism that should guarantee the legality of the
whole system - the presidential office - isn't working properly. The
only way to resolve the crisis is to revise all illegal property. The
authorities would very much like to deal with the situation as they
did on March, 1, 2008, but they can't. If they could, they would have
done so long ago.
- So what solution could you propose?
- People should understand that the problem should be resolved within
the strict boundaries of the law. The numbers of the activists are
growing. The situation is very grave, that is why we, the older
generation, joined the young activists. It is very unwise of the
authorities to protect illegal property with the police cordons. If
the public doesn't recognize the property right, no power in the world
can protect this property. Yes, the property right is fundamental,
but only the right for legally acquired property. Our main task now
is to make the society understand that they are the masters of their
state, of their land. The tragedy of the Armenian society is that it's
major part is ready to obey illegal power, to accept rigged election
results. But if one refuses to follow illegal orders - there's just
nothing that the power can actually do to such a person to convince
him otherwise. Today it's civil disobedience to the police, tomorrow
- to the courts. It is the beginning of the new era of our movement
for Constitution protection^ we stop asking and start demanding.
- Would you like to comment on the upcoming election?
- What's there to talk about? The power understood that you can
influence the elections' outcome in a more elegant manner than throwing
in piles of ballot papers, that's all. They say the elections will
be transparent - but the transparency will touch only some secondary
issues. Can you control the administrative pressure on voters before
the elections? No, but it is a very efficient means to make teachers,
military and other state employees to vote the way the power wants. SO
what transparency are we talking about? They just use secondary
aspects of the elections as showpieces of their 'transparency',
that's all. The elections remain illegitimate.
- So how could one vote if all 9 parties are so much alike?
- All the parties that take part in the elections should answer a
simple questions: do they think that Armenia has an efficient and
legitimate election mechanism? If no, than they should explain how are
they planning on getting their mandates. They never do that. If the
constitutional way of obtaining a parliamentary mandate is disabled,
than one gets the mandate in an unconstitutional way. And it is a
crime in any case. Sarksyan and his party can't say he won 100%,
so he lends 30-35% to other parties.
The election's outcome is defined by the criminal nature of our
administrative system. People are not only made to vote in a certain
way, so are even threatened into joining party lists, etc. They used
to promise some dividends for such 'services' before, but now they
only threaten. It's almost impossible to live and work in Armenia
without joining some criminal-political force, and that is why the
people leave our country. And only the civic society can change the
situation, without the help of the corrupt political parties.