Tuesday, June 1 2021 14:04

ArmInfo.The second president of Armenia, Robert Kocharian, in an interview with RBC, told why he decided to compete with Nikol Pashinyan in the elections, why the  powers of the prime minister need to be curtailed, and what resulted  in the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

 "Armenia should reform the system of  power by limiting the powers of the prime minister. The model of a  parliamentary republic is unsuccessful for Armenia. No president of  Armenia has had as many powers as the prime minister of Armenia. This  is simply unacceptable (the RA Constitution was amended in 2015,  under the third president, Serzh Sargsyan ed. note) ", - said Robert  Kocharian.

"Talking about a parliamentary republic is simply rash. It was, I  think, a wrong step. I believe that it is necessary to take at least  a step or half a step back," said the politician, who announced his  participation in the early parliamentary elections scheduled for June  20, at the head of the "Armenia" bloc created in early May, which  included the "Dashnaktsutyun" and "Reviving Armenia" parties.

According to Kocharian, the prime minister should not have as much  powers as he does now, because this power is not balanced by almost  anything. "All checks and balances, which should simply be in the  system of state power, have been violated. The new order should be  changed carefully. Carefully, but some steps in this direction need  to be taken - it is simply necessary. At least cut the prime  minister's personal power. The law enforcement agencies should not be  personally subordinate to the prime minister of the country. This is  simply an outrage. It should have not been done in any way, "the  second president of the Republic of Armenia is convinced.

Kocharian recalled that during his rule the Constitution was also  changed, then, in particular, citizens were allowed to have dual  citizenship, the procedure for obtaining citizenship was facilitated,  which allowed many Armenians living abroad to obtain it. "The  Constitution retains the restrictions on the availability of dual  citizenship for those holding high state posts. Thus, only those who  have been a citizen of only the Republic of Armenia for the last four  years can become a lawmaker or a member of the government.   Commenting on the possibility of abolishing strict requirements,  Kocharian noted that restrictions should only be in the field of  power structures, in the field of security. "But in terms of  participation in some other departments, I think these restrictions  are simply not needed, they are meaningless, they only hinder our  development. That is, we cut off some potential that can work for the  country," Kocharian said. In his opinion, the Minister of Economy can  be a citizen of another country with deep knowledge, with a good  image and connections.

Kocharian also condemned the actions of the government led by  Pashinyan during the 44-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh. "The most tragic  is the war and the unexpected and very shameful defeat for me. Now  the country is experiencing a post-war syndrome associated with heavy  losses, both territorial and human.  It is necessary to somehow go  through all this, survive, not break down, try to find a new formula  of revival and existence ", said the politician.

At the same time, he explained that the post-war syndrome for the  Armenian society is expressed in the fact that society was confident  in domination in the military, that the country was reliably  protected, that Karabakh was reliably protected.

"The entire period of the war, all these 44 days, they were fooling  people with shameless propaganda that we were almost advancing, that  we were improving our positions. And suddenly, once - and it turned  out to be a completely different situation. It is quite difficult to  digest all this. that we are unshakable, and suddenly the result is  completely opposite, the stress is very strong. Stressful situation  both in personal terms and collective perception of what happened for  any citizen of Armenia. It must go through, go through, and find the  right communication formula. Post-war syndromes are always very  difficult , last for a very long time, and we need to help the  society get over it as quickly as possible, "Kocharian said.  At the  same time, he is convinced that the war broke out because Azerbaijan  felt the weakness of the Armenian leadership. Kocharian is convinced  that the Armenian authorities' purposeful collapse of the army, the  denigration of the heroes of the first Karabakh war, incomprehensible  reforms in the Armed Forces, as well as the legalization of  Azerbaijani aggression, the division of Armenian society into "blacks  and whites" and much more contributed to the loss of the Armenian  side.

From the point of view of the foreign policy factor, the aggression  against Artsakh, in Kocharian's opinion, was promoted, among other  things, by the increased role of Turkey in the region. "Turkey has  given confidence to Azerbaijan, which is increasingly expanding its  regional influence," the politician said.  At the same time, he is  convinced that the latest conflict in the zone of the Karabakh  conflict to some extent undermined Russia's authority in the region,  since its ally lost in this war. "Everyone understands that some  accents have shifted, Turkey continues to declare increasing  opportunities, but it is also obvious that Russia is the only one who  can curb Ankara," the politician said, adding that only the elections  will show the real attitude of the Armenian society to the Russian  ally. He also stressed that he does not harbor any hopes with the  CSTO, with which Armenia has spoiled relations as much as possible,  in a sense, discredited it.