“In the new parliament, there will always be a shortage of the PAP and our program”: Gagik Tsarukyan

The leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party, Gagik Tsarukyan, sent a message from the correctional facility in which he noted that the new National Assembly will always feel the shortage of the PAP and its program.

“In the new NA, there will always be a shortage of the PAP and our program (‘Armenia’s Proposal’). The reason is not a lack of competent and prepared figures, such deputies exist in every faction. The problem lies in the absence of alternative viewpoints, effective alternative solutions, other proposed programmatic approaches, and a cohesive force to carry them forward. Frankly, I had prepared my team precisely for a deep programmatic struggle, which unfortunately did not take place, and not through any fault of ours.

As you know, over the past 10–15 years I have not been involved in the micromanagement of any business or in day-to-day management processes (this was prohibited by law, and in truth it no longer interested me), and this allowed me to look at the Armenian economy, its development risks and its potential, from a macro perspective.
And now, cut off from many information flows and political-social micro-processes and micro-relations, I have the opportunity to look at the problems from a macro perspective. I don’t use the phrase ‘looking from the outside,’ because given my background, I, as Tsarukyan, cannot and never could look from the outside at the processes taking place in my country. If I could, if I had the capacity for a certain indifference toward my country, I would be in entirely different circumstances. That’s simply my character.

What I see now from this position

I see that Armenia stands before a high probability of upheaval. And this is not about some theoretical future, but a very real prospect for the coming months. Before we know it, we could find ourselves in an extremely difficult situation. The risks stemming from the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the Iran-US confrontation alone are enough to understand this.

I am deeply concerned about our country’s economic problems and the issue of the artificially imposed choice between the EU and the EAEU. Both the West and Russia are placing this sharp choice before us, but the problem is that we ourselves have driven ourselves to this harsh, artificial divide.

Add to this situation Azerbaijan’s demands and Turkish calls. This is no longer a matter of sitting on two chairs, as many naively believe. Two chairs, in any case, still allow for a choice. This is a situation in which any decision, any step, could lead to serious risks and serious pushback from the opposing side.

So what will we do now to keep our small Armenia from being drawn into major geopolitical upheavals? This is the most real, nationwide agenda for today. I don’t know how long this parliament will last, I hear various theories, but for as long as my political force exists, I, as its leader, together with the small team of my colleagues with whom we always discuss such matters, will keep pushing this line: Armenia must not suffer upheaval for geopolitical reasons.

There are methods, there are steps that can ease the tension so that we don’t end up ‘underfoot’ during clashes between the powerful. We are obligated to steer our country out of these ultimatum-driven formulas. This is no longer a matter of power-versus-opposition struggle. Everyone, without exception, will suffer the damage. This worries me greatly. There are solutions, perhaps not easy ones, perhaps difficult, perhaps requiring great effort, but they exist,” Tsarukyan’s statement said.