Ashot Sargsyan Աշոտ Սարգսյան

In the nineties, there were no incidents like the one that happened in April 2003 [Presidential elections, which were held in two rounds and where Robert Kocharyan won], when hundreds of people were simply crushed, arrested, beaten, imprisoned, etc. Such things did not happen. It was just a peaceful demonstration, I participated in that demonstration and I know, and it was written about. It has never happened, not even close to what happened on March 1, 2008 [Presidential elections in which Serzh Sargsyan won, the opposition claimed that the results were falsified. During one of the peaceful demonstrations, protesters were shot, eight protesters and two policemen were killed]. In the nineties, even the most reprehensible things were hundreds of kilometers far from it. What happened in 2008 was unimaginable. In the same 1996, the demonstration led by Vazgen Manukyan attacked and occupied the Parliament building, beat up the Parliament Speaker and Deputy Speaker, and kidnapped him. They were stopped by bringing in troops, but even after that no one received a gunshot wound.

Civil society has been devalued. It has been devalued because public apathy is deepening, unfortunately. That interest in the fate of one's own country, with which the fate of every person is connected today, tomorrow, the next day, that apathy is constantly deepening, I take the year of 1998 as a starting point. It is constantly deepening. As long as it is not possible to get election results in accordance with the real public opinion, which happened several times, that apathy would naturally deepen. Some of the non-governmental organizations - they are the basis of civil society, - and some of the political parties, - and if I tell you this, you’ll ask for facts, but I just know it, I don't have the facts - started to work with the help of various dubious funds, various grants, various aids and took orders from their donors. An ordinary person, who could trust them, did not have that trust in them, and what they say has no weight. Those were phenomena that deepened and continue to deepen during these 20-25 years.

From the point of view of human rights, I would consider the nineties to be the best years of independent Armenia. During war, any country in general adopts war laws, many democratic rights and freedoms are restricted. It is normal. They even write it in the constitutions. We were at war, but our war was not a declared war, and we did not have to make such restrictions. And the opposition took advantage of it. During the war years, every Friday, in 1993 or 1994, a rally was scheduled, which marched from Liberty Square to the Presidential Palace and demanded the resignation of the president. Such a thing simply cannot be done in a warring country. In general, it is forbidden in a warring country, but because we were not in a declared war, we were in an actual war, nothing was restricted by any law or decree.

The Karabakh movement of the previous years, starting from February 1988, had a great influence on the perceptions of the society. It had a great impact. If it wasn't for that and the Soviet Union collapsed, as it did, and if we found ourselves in an independent state, the ideas and our society’s mindset would be completely different. The two to two and a half years of the movement, 1988-90, were a very intense, very effective political school, if not for the entire population, which I would not be exaggerating if I said so, at least for several hundred thousand people, the more thinking part of that society that oriented the whole of it. The rallies were unique. In addition to the issues of the day, an article would be published, someone would say something, it would be discussed. We initiated something, did something, took action, etc. There were also political lectures on various topics, but somehow related to these issues. And that’s where the political thought of the society was formed, something that the Armenian society never had. And a new basis of national dignity was formed, a new foundation of national dignity was laid, the conviction of our ability to win, to overcome, to achieve something was formed, which we did not have until then. We had always suffered from the complex of Armenian Genocide, of always living pitifully. That complex was greatly shattered in those years, even before the victory of the Karabakh war. The foundations were already there. It was thanks to those foundations that we were able to achieve victories. The years 1991-1994 were just as difficult as it was on the front. It was very difficult in the rear, for those who just lived an ordinary life. The deficit of everything, because after the Soviet Union, when we came to power, there was very little. I remember stores, hardware stores, with only three big hammers displayed at its large window, nothing else. Not to mention grocery stores. In the last years of the Soviet Union, many things, I think six or seven basic necessities were sold with coupons, and their availability was not always the case. And in that state, in that state of the country, we plunged into the war. That war was imposed on us. If something could be acquired or owned to meet social needs, 90 percent of it was turned into funds for the front. In other words, it was a very difficult situation socially, but in a moral sense, in terms of people's enthusiasm, in the whole society, I clearly remember that these were on a very high level. When the electricity was provided by the hour, there were intermittent blackouts for two to three years until 1995, and electricity was provided for two to three hours a day. It was difficult, very difficult, but I remember that it was this hardship that forced people to do something. One might, for example, go out to the balcony and start playing the accordion, start singing, or do something. It wasn’t out of happiness, I just don't know. In any case, the so-called term of “cold and dark years” was first used long after the war, in 1997, 1998, 1999. There was no such thing then.