My Emotions from Recent Days Are Suffocating Me: Tevan Poghosyan

Tevan Poghosyan wrote on his Facebook page: My emotions from the past three days are suffocating me. I catch myself thinking that I must say something, but what...

I recalled that I had a speech in the Armenian National Assembly on September 9, 2015. I found the text on one of the websites, and I would like to present it in its entirety. The topic was about constitutional amendments, but every single sentence can be read as if addressing today. Right here, today. Here are my perceptions. Unfortunately, they are from today as well. Only one thing needs to be revisited: unfortunately, I only believe in Arsen Babayan at the moment.

The text of my four-year-old speech is as follows:
“To avoid different manipulations, I want to say that I am expressing my personal opinion as an MP, Tevan Poghosyan. Today, I want to talk about our values, and how we appreciate them through our actions.

Let me start from March-April 2012, when the electoral programs of the parties were published. Were they real visions that political forces sought votes with? Were those the programs we value, which were supposed to determine our political actions for the next five years?

Even when superficially observing today's information flows, we can register that electoral programs do not represent any value for us. I don't see any point in nitpicking, but one thing I can assert: if you consider the 2012 elections to be genuine, then addressing my Republican colleagues, I should ask: why is today’s political agenda not reflected there? Did your party obtain public votes to implement constitutional reforms? Clearly, no.

To avoid being subjective, I direct the same question to my opposition colleagues. If the 2012 elections were real, then, if I'm not mistaken, you sought votes to implement constitutional reforms, aiming for a parliamentary country with a proportional electoral system. Are you doing that now? Clearly not.

The outcome looks as follows: People vote for something, and then they end up doing the exact opposite. Now, are our elections choices for the people, or are they like a lottery—let's vote, perhaps they will suddenly regret it and do what they promised? What does this resemble?

And amid all this noise, the essence may be getting lost, perhaps the most important thing—the people's faith in the second point of the Constitution, which states that in the Republic of Armenia, power belongs to the people. Poor people.

Now regarding the draft constitutional amendments: Honestly, at this moment, I do not have the answer to whether I am for or against it. I am only speaking about the document. I know exactly what I am for, and what I am against. I support and will act within my limited possibilities so that one day Armenia becomes a country like Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, the Czech Republic. I do not know whether it is coincidence or not, but these are parliamentary governance countries.

I am against my country becoming a state like Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan. It might be a coincidence, but these are also presidential or semi-presidential countries.

I dream of a Norwegian Armenia. I do not dream for myself. I have no hope. Today we are quite busy with this; one half is concocting ways to be re-elected, the other half is fighting against it. And all this with such fervor, as if we are immortal and we will live another thousand years and we will still have time to deal with the remaining details later. I dream of such an Armenia for my son and four daughters. I dream for all our wonderful children. May it be God’s will, that in ten years I do not have to dream of the same thing for my grandchildren. But if it continues like this, it seems that will indeed be the case.

I also want to make an observation unrelated to the discussions: by following the constitutional discussions that have taken place so far, I have clarified an important fact for myself: I believe in Mr. Vardan Poghosyan. I see in him the future of Enlightened Armenia, which must primarily be built on professionalism, literacy, and our European or rather realistic value system.

Mr. Poghosyan, I believe in the role of one person, I believe that you will do what you have believed in all these years until the end. They will tell me what one person can do; I will say a lot.

I am glad that the government has decided to present itself through your character; this will change a lot in the government’s handwriting and behavior, which we have always not accepted.

One more question: the political force leading the constitution claims that it must transition from the so-called ‘winner takes everything’ system to a more balanced system. Not bad, but years of experience suggest to me that this, at least, does not come from a belief in its importance. Do today’s laws prevent us from applying this approach from this very day? It would be honest both to increase trust and to serve as proof of the value, regardless of whether the constitutional changes pass or not, do the same now.

Give one of the powers of the opposition to the deputy chairs of the National Assembly, vote in favor of all those proposals by the opposition directed at the creation of temporary commissions to investigate urgent issues. Teach us about the positive nature of these investigative commissions today, rather than undermine everything from the positions of power.

From tomorrow onwards, also broadcast all committee meetings. This list can indeed be continued. Today’s laws can allow many things. Make these steps before the referendum to prove that you truly value the proposed changes and consider them as actions of your own free will.

You know what I mourn about? I see that the amended text of the constitution moves towards my ‘Norwegian Armenia’ dream. I believe in this constitution; I do not believe in the political force representing it and its so quick value transformation. You may ask, what does it matter who represents it? I will say it does matter. It definitely does. Prove me wrong. I have no complexes to stand behind the process, but I do not want to be deceived like our citizens who participated in the last parliamentary elections.

Unfortunately, for now, I only believe in Vardan Poghosyan.

That’s it. Thank you.”