Armenia Robert Kocharian renewed the offensive against the power

Former President Robert Kocharian has launched a new salvo of criticism of the Armenian authorities, underlining its unpopularity in Armenia, an unpopularity that could increase according to him that then he would be willing to make concessions “disproportionate “Azerbaijan.

In an interview with RFE / RL (Azatutyun.am) on September 4, R. Kocharian also once again accused President Serzh Sargsyan, where he was mentored before getting angry with him, poor governance and mismanagement of the economy.

Reflecting on the events that engulfed Yerevan at the heart of the summer, with the hostage taking of a police station in the Erebuni district of the Armenian capital, the former president said that a majority of Armenians supported claimant armed commando group of the radical opposition, one of the main demands was the resignation of President Sargsyan.

“I was in the first place heckled by the public reaction to events,” said the former president, adding: “Despite the losses [incurred by the police] the same day [of the attack] the armed group was perceived by a majority of people in society, such as rebels challenging the regime. “ “It says a lot about the feelings and mood of the population, perception of authorities and the pressure on the collective consciousness by political, economic and social chronic” added R. Kocharyan who sees “a clear warning to the political system of the country. “

In order to avoid even more serious disorders that could destabilize the country, R. Kocharian believes that the Sarkisian administration should take the path of “radical reforms” capable of demonstrating to the Armenians it is possible to effectively change things by towards a “legitimate electoral process” rather than violence.

Thousands of people demonstrated in Yerevan in solidarity with members of the commando during the hostage crisis that lasted two weeks and has made 3 dead among the police and the demonstrators. Protesters ranks have significantly thinning since the surrender of the commandos, the “Enraged Sasun” on July 31.

But R. Kocharian is unlikely to rebuild political virginity on the occasion of these events. Its dual mandate left a bad memory in the population of Yerevan, who has not forgotten that ended in blood and repression; these are services that brutally suppressed campaign events contested in the street the electoral victory of his former companion weapon and drive, Serzh Sargsyan, whom he had handed over through the polls in February 2008.

While Sarkisian was not inaugurated president, eleven people were killed during protests that will result in a wave of arrests in opposition circles, paralyzing political life in Armenia and tarnishing the country’s image with European institutions in particular.

He himself did not seem anxious to set up this “legitimate electoral process,” he looks forward to contribute to the pacification and stabilization of the political landscape, and was more than one occasion, there including for the election of his “colt”, S. Sargsyan, accused of rigging the vote.

As for its economic management, it is not exemplary, as was also quick to point out his successor, who blamed the country’s economic difficulties on the liabilities of a management scope to end arm by real estate speculation of the Kocharyan years; these critics had veiled the rupture between the current president and R. Kocharian, who retorted that Armenia registered a double digit growth during his presidency and that his former protégé could only blame himself even for the difficulties experienced by the country.

Critics increasingly insistent directed by R. Kocharian recent years to the current authorities of the country have fueled speculation about his political ambitions.

But Sarkisian in him somehow cut the grass under foot by forcing the founder and leader until recently the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), Gagik Tsaroukian, to leave the political scene, where he was supposed to be a springboard presidential ambitions more or less declared R. Kocharian. However, the latter informed by the voice of one of its spokesmen in May, he still had not forged a decision on its assets return to the political scene.

He had at the same time denied the rumors that he would be linked with the new opposition party created by former foreign minister and defector from BHK, Vartan Oskanian. V.Oskanian had pointedly refuses to condemn the commando of armed action claiming the radical group founder Parliament; rather, he called on the government to show clemency towards them and to engage on the path of concessions “policy”.

The founder Parliament for its part, is known for his radical positions and for its rejection of any Armenian concessions to Azerbaijan in the Karabakh conflict. The nationalist group that had seized the Erebuni police station had accused President Sargsyan to prepare more or less short term withdrawal of Armenian forces from districts surrounding Karabakh.

R. Kocharian, as Sarkisian, is a representative of the “Karabakh clan” which some blame for taking control of the country. Himself President of Nagorno-Karabakh before Premier L. Ter-Petrosyan he will push for the resignation because of capitulation in Karabakh and whom he succeeded in 1998, R. Kocharian Sarkisian among his closest collaborators at the head of the armed forces of Karabakh. A journey that could identify them, the one as the other, such as the hard-line face in Baku.

However, R. Kocharian did not hesitate to endorse the criticism of Sarkisian by the radical opposition, suggesting he would be willing to make concessions in Baku.

“The provision in this sense displayed by the Armenian side is emphasized disproportionately, even though Azerbaijan does not even bother to sketch some concessions on issues that are vital for us,” said R. Kocharian adding: “This infuriates the opinion in Armenia and Karabakh, elicits negative expectations negotiations [peace] and the risk of spreading defeatism.”

R. Kocharian insisted that after the renewed tension around Karabakh in early April, the Armenian side should instead harden its position on the resolution of the conflict, for example by requiring ad hoc changes in the so-called Madrid Principles , structure of the US peace plan presented by the mediators, Russian and French OSCE Minsk Group, in 2007, when he was still president and allegedly regularly rehabilitated since.

This plan provides for the release of all the territories surrounding Karabakh under Armenian control since 1994, in return for a referendum on the future status of Karabakh.

To date, it appears that no date has been fixed for holding such a vote. R.Kotcharian has hinted that the Armenian side should withdraw from any of these territories to return them to Azerbaijan as the conflicting parties and the mediators have not set a specific date for the referendum .