Tuesday, December 24 2019 15:31

ArmInfo. "Having lost" Artsakh, the "former" authorities will forever bury the idea of their own return to power, although, in my opinion, they should have done  this a long time ago. Director of the Armenian Institute of  International Relations and Security Stepan Safaryan expressed a  similar opinion to ArmInfo.  

"These people realized that the power in Artsakh remains their last  hope for a return. In this light, I regard the recent calls of Robert  Kocharyan for the actual riot of Artsakh against Armenia as a threat  to national security. Such calls are the preparation of the "former"  authorities for their last battle for power in Artsakh and they are  very dangerous, "he said.

Commenting on the voicing of hopes by the same Kocharyan and  Republicans for holding early parliamentary elections in Armenia, the  policy analyst described them as futile. According to him, there are  no grounds for holding early elections today. And all the efforts of  the "former" authorities in this direction have already crashed, the  "hot autumn" did not work, and today there is a threat looming over  their interests in Artsakh.

Safaryan, in this light, refers to Kocharyan's statements about the  pressure of Nikol Pashinyan on Artsakh's presidential candidates in  order to get "his" president, with irony. According to his estimates,  Kocharyan himself did everything at the time, to become an acceptable  candidate of the NKR Supreme Council acceptable to the ANM instead of  Arthur Mkrtchyan, after which he was appointed prime minister by the   order of the Armenian president.  

"Thus, Kocharyan blindly and dutifully followed the orders of Levon  Ter-Petrosyan. He thereby proved that Artsakh is not an independent  state, that he is a appointee of the Armenian president in Artsakh,  whom the latter can move whenever and wherever. In this light, it  seems to me, that Kocharyan's better not to speak out on such topics  at all, "Safaryan summed up.

In 2020, parliamentary and presidential elections will be held in the  Republic of Artsakh. Current President of the Republic, Bako  Sahakyan, could run for another two terms, in 2020 and 2025. However,  he stated that he would not run. Former Minister of Defense, Artsakh  hero Samvel Babayan, as well as former secretary of the Security  Council Vitali Balasanyan announced their intention to participate in  them. The candidate of the current government is considered former  Prime Minister of the Republic, leader of the Free Homeland party  Arayik Harutyunyan, as well as Speaker of the Parliament Ashot  Ghoulyan. Thus, the only candidate not affiliated with the current  authorities is Artsakh Foreign Minister Masis Mayilyan.