Kocharyan: 'There Are Three Responses to an Attack'

I am in the struggle, yes, we will lead the struggle, but whether this will be tomorrow morning, three hours from now, or a week later, we cannot say; that time is not far off, but it must come after a proper assessment of the situation. This was stated by the second President of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, during a meeting with citizens on September 15.

"We are now trying to assess the situation, and we are doing it quickly. If that thesis is correct, that our people have awakened from a stupor, if the reaction to fear has become fighting rather than pretending that we are dead, that we don’t exist to avoid being hit again, then you are correct; we must begin and start with another tempo, with different slogans and really go all the way. But I need to have that assessment," he declared and added.

"My image, my past from Karabakh, the image of a leader who won in war has frightened a large part of our people that will come with dignity, will try to fight for national values, and bring another war upon us. This was the main factor that distorted the entire sociology.”

According to Robert Kocharyan, fear is the strongest instinct in cases of aggression or attack, and there are three ways to respond to an attack: "The first is to fight for your life, the second is to flee, and the third is to submit or pretend that you are dead. Now this is more of a biology issue, rather than a psychological one, and this influenced the collective behavior of our people. The second circumstance was about revanchists, Karabakh-Armenian, old-new. This factor had been fed for many years and left a certain mark. These were the two factors. Now look, we were starting the 'Resistance' movement, and with this analysis, the decision was to try to neutralize that fear, for example, by keeping my image out of the front line and avoiding the artificial reanimation of the old-new thesis. To neutralize these two factors, I have participated in marches as a citizen of Armenia, but I did not assume the role of leader. We must say that we have managed quite well in this regard."