The people elected a person, but Armenia’s system and elections do not function — Arbak Khachatryan

First Informational’s interlocutor is analyst Arbak Khachatryan.

— Mr. Khachatryan, after the snap election held in Armenia, once the situation stabilizes somewhat, what foreign-policy priorities do you see? In which directions does Armenia have work to do?

— At this stage, Armenia still cannot do anything, because no apparatus works. There is no institution that can bring practical benefit. In general, there has not been one for 20 years; there have been personal, monetary motives. Nothing has changed now either. I ask the current generation: do you know what an engineer, a physicist, a chemist is… are there such minds, or only personal interests? The prime minister cannot work alone. It is good that he goes to Moscow and receives congratulations, but what does that have to do with state institutions?

How can a state work when it has neither a border nor a defense ministry? It must be able to restore all of that to do something. If you want to achieve a result, you must have the tools for it. During the war, when our children were going off, didn’t they know they would be bombed from the air and that an automatic rifle would be no use? That is, there were no means or tools to fight. The same applies to the state apparatus. We will be glad if the looting is stopped, but that is not the only issue.

What mechanism works in Armenia? The owners are the old ones, the old ones are behind the looting in the banking system—what institution works? The Foreign Ministry is completely incapacitated as well.

— How should the country’s foreign affairs department be formed: are career diplomats needed, or political appointments? Armen Grigoryan was appointed deputy foreign minister and may soon also be appointed minister. How do you assess that decision?

— I published an article titled “The 20th Ward.” Can you imagine? The forces because of whom Nikol Pashinyan came to power enter parliament, while the prime minister meets the remaining members of the ward to create a group to work with in a parliamentary country.

I said that, after the war, de Gaulle turned defeated France into a winner through a referendum. In that way, he created the Fifth Republic in the world. Must Armenia now take rotten institutions in order to think of something? Most of our lawyers have copied everything from different countries; they have nothing of their own. We say a Council of Justice, but nobody listened. Now we have applied and requested a discussion with the prime minister so that lawyers can present how this institution can be created.

They should have created the first think tank, one that would be taken into account in Russia, Europe, and neighboring countries. That think tank should be respected, and not for money or office. Not one looted penny benefited Armenia during the war. Virtual money and assistance from outside will burst and bring no benefit. For two years, people around the world have not worked, yet billions still arrive. The rotten banking system led the people toward destruction. People dream of money in order to survive.

The most important thing for me today is creating a think tank. Today, the majority of the people elected a person, but we cannot sustain a state through individual people. Loyalty is not the issue; the problem is the approach to the idea. For 30 years, our intellectuals were erased and eliminated; everyone depended on the owners of markets.

— Do you think the situation in the country will stabilize after the Constitutional Court’s decision?

— There is no force that outside powers will take into account. It is not enough just to talk in parliament and government. What forces are working abroad? Nothing in Armenia has any value anymore. The world faces financial collapse. Don’t you see that even developed countries cannot fight the pandemic? There is only one path to fighting all of this: the human idea, whose value is not tied to money. Europe will provide virtual money so that dependency continues; no other method exists.