Expert: Robert Kocharyan attempts to build political capital on threshold of 2017 elections

Armenia's second president Robert Kocharyan by criticizing current authorities attempts to build political capital on the threshold of the parliamentary elections of 2017, Head of Armenian Institute for International and Security Issues Stepan Safaryan stated on June 2 commenting on the recent interview given by Kocharyan. 

According to him Kocharyan's all the arguments that corruption flourishes in the country and the authorities only give the appearance of fighting it do not stand up to criticism as it was during his tenure when these phenomenon became systematical. "At the same time Kocharyan forgets to tell what prevented him from fighting corruption, and why he noticed its negative consequences only after leaving the post.  Possibly he tries to create foundation for participating in parliamentary elections however I think that this step would be shortsighted as the Armenian society is rather not enthusiastic about such a perspective", the expert noted. 

Safaryan added that Kocharyan has also no right to criticize anyone on Karabakh settlement, as it was during his office when Artsakh stopped participating in the negotiations as a side. "Right after the four day war political situation was calm in the country but currently one gets an impression that Kocharyan and other politicians are trying to get dividends by indecent ways", the political scientist stressed. 

To note, in an interview with 2rd.am, Robert Kocharyan criticizes the domestic and military policy of the incumbent authorities. He stresses that Yerevan should have managed to stop the implementation of the Russian-Azerbaijani arms supply contract or it should have at least limited the range of the arms items or synchronized it with similar supplies to Armenia. "I do not know how effectively the authorities tried to do it and why they failed to prevent it, therefore I would refrain from assessments. At the same time, we proved to be unprepared in terms of military equipment, the purchase of which needed no intergovernmental agreements. For over two years the adversary's army caused a lot of trouble at nights, because it was equipped with all necessary devices," he says, adding that the Armenian side should have equipped the army with sufficient night vision devices and other necessary equipment. He stresses the need to immediately fill all the gaps and it is clear that measures are already being taken to that end. But this should be done at the institutional level, he says, noting that volunteers should not go to the front spontaneously but they should be sent to the military units with due regard for their military specialties.