When Karen Karapetyan agreed to replace me, he probably didn't think that this movement was against all of us: Serzh Sargsyan

For me, it no longer made sense to remain in power, because the purpose of staying in power was entirely different. This was stated by the third President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, in an interview with film director Mher Mkrtchyan, in response to the interlocutor's comment that the arrest of Nikol Pashinyan in April 2018 would have led to the quelling of the movement.

“In any case, I was involved in the decision, and yes, it would be more correct to say that in that case, Karen Karapetyan's positions would be more stable,” he said.

I could have suggested to hold new parliamentary elections, in response to the question of having other solutions on the agenda aside from resignation, Sargsyan stated, and then added: “I could also have not resigned; those are solutions, right? But I didn't go for any of them, as it seemed impossible for me to fulfill the mission I should have in the position of Prime Minister.”

“Why did you not initially suggest Karen Karapetyan's candidacy, but rather opted for a third term, perhaps you thought that Russia's influence would increase in that case?” Sargsyan responded: “There can be many discussions, naturally, major events have occurred that have had serious repercussions for Armenia, of course, I also mean the Republic of Artsakh. But those discussions do not correspond to reality. When I suggested Karen Karapetyan in 2016 to take the post of Prime Minister, I told him that if he performs well in that position, he should, in my opinion, become my successor, without specifying a term. There were good results; in 2017, those results were much more visible. In 2017, elections took place, we succeeded, and continued to work. In 2018, my presidential term was ending, and it was necessary to make a decision. Our first conversation took place at the end of 2017 or at the beginning of autumn; it was a very simple, candid conversation. We were walking in the governmental summer residence, and I told Karen Karapetyan: 'The time to make a decision is now; my presidential powers will soon end; are you ready to take on the responsibilities of Prime Minister?' He asked me: 'What do you think?' I said: 'I am convinced that if the main negotiators change, the co-chairs may try to propose other options. We have worked for 10 years, and the positions of the co-chairs have not differed from ours; we have been the constructive side, while Azerbaijan has been the destructive one; it is a result of our policy.' I said: 'I think that if it does not offend you, we’ll work this way for a limited period – me as Prime Minister and you as Deputy Prime Minister, dealing with economic issues, with minimal interference from my end, and I will try to bring the issues I mentioned onto such tracks that we won't have major problems later.' He agreed that this would be the right approach,” Serzh Sargsyan recounted.

Regarding what Nikol Pashinyan and Karen Karapetyan discussed after the resignation and why Karapetyan did not exercise his powers, Sargsyan stated that various theories and discussions about shadow meetings and agreements are gossip, and he has no information about such a meeting. “I am aware of one meeting that took place in Yerevan, during the questioning at the temporary detention facility, and I do not find it appropriate to publicly disclose what Karen Karapetyan told me; I am confident that at some point, he will speak about it. As for why Karen Karapetyan did not assume those powers, I believe it’s for the same reasoning I had, and that meeting took place on my resignation day, when I had, in my opinion, the final text of my resignation, without explaining what the expression means: 'Nikol was right, I was wrong,' I naturally showed my resignation text to Karen Karapetyan; I asked him if he was ready to assume the responsibilities, and he said yes, which I highly appreciated. He looked at the resignation text and asked to remove one sentence and one paragraph; I had written: 'The movement in the street is against me, I am fulfilling your demand,' after which there was this sentence: 'I welcome the agreement reached between Nikol Pashinyan and Karen Karapetyan to engage in dialogue.' Then I continued: 'Karen Karapetyan is a good leader; he is one of you, dear protesters and dear non-protesters; he embodies experience and the future; help him.' And since he was supposed to replace me and did not want this to be in my resignation text, I removed that sentence and paragraph. After that, we went to a consultation, from which Karen Karapetyan went to that meeting. Maybe I am mistaken, but perhaps he thought that my good words about him among the people might form a negative attitude towards him, as there was such an attitude towards me. But that is merely my assumption. Because, to be straightforward, it did not matter to me whether these sentences remained or not; it was simply a form of goodwill towards Karen Karapetyan. And I do not believe the gossip; I have known Karen Karapetyan for a long time, and during our joint work, he has shown himself to be a decent person, and a decent person could not do such things. Since the day of his appointment, certain circles have been trying to create an atmosphere of misunderstanding between us, and that continues even now. After my interview, where I stated that I had transferred power to Karen Karapetyan, many began to comment that I was 'putting this power on Karen Karapetyan's shoulders.' No, not at all! It was very clear and understandable to me; it was one thing if Karen Karapetyan was elected in the parliament immediately after my resignation; there might not have been such a change of power in Armenia, although I doubt that. But it is another matter when you resign due to pressure from the street and transfer power to another person, meaning to Karen Karapetyan. And he also had the same problems, the same concerns that I had. In other words, what action was supposed to bring calm to the streets? And it has become evident that this street movement was, as they say, not only against me but against our entire authority. Remember, after that, he stated: 'If I do not become Prime Minister, then Armenia will have no Prime Minister.' When Karen Karapetyan agreed to replace me, he probably did not think that this entire movement was against all of us,” Serzh Sargsyan stated.