“The country bumpkins” took over the country: Whose PR is the billion-dollar investment for?

First Informational’s interviewee is expert Arbak Khachatryan (Russia, Moscow).

— The Tashir group of companies, together with the Investors Club of Armenia, plans to invest 1 billion dollars in Armenia’s energy sector soon. How do you assess this politically?

— Naturally, if they invest, they will do so in energy: it is, as they say, both “trouble-free” and profitable. Half the people are fleeing Armenia, emigration has reached enormous proportions, and unemployment has created a terrible situation. Under these circumstances, I do not think investment in energy will interest citizens very much.

Leaving important problems aside, they go around opening shopping centres in Armenia. All of Armenia has become a shopping centre, while most of the people seek work in Russia and work in construction.

As for the question itself, in my opinion this is simply an internal game to pull the wool over people’s eyes and retain power, nothing more. Armenia has no economy. Instead of considering which sectors to invest in to develop the economy a little and raise people’s living standards, they invest a billion in energy and open a shopping centre.

— What problem within the ruling establishment could that billion-dollar investment resolve ahead of 2018?

— Armenia has reached a situation where every move is seen as a means of retaining power. From the very beginning of their presidency and time in office, they pursued a policy under which only they benefit while the people remain hungry, emigrate, and look for work abroad. People borrow from banks but cannot pay the interest; they spend a month’s salary on electricity, while wealthy people abroad invest in energy. How can I now believe this is for the people rather than to retain power? It does not much matter who becomes prime minister in 2018 if the system is unchanged. The entire system must change, or there will be little difference. And the investment will clearly serve someone’s PR.

— Still, part of society is interested in who will be prime minister. Experts also do not rule out a struggle within the ruling establishment in that context.

— I have nothing against people from Karabakh, but after living among Muslims for so many years they acquired characteristics typical of countries with authoritarian regimes. I now see the same thing in Armenia: there are tendencies for the president to continue holding the highest office. Perhaps the office’s name will change, but the point is for him to remain in office continuously, contrary to every democratic norm and rule. There is little to say about this: they will discuss it among themselves, decide, and distribute positions.

At one time I could have bought very important properties in Armenia, but I did not take even one shop. Then people arrived and plundered everything, even the country’s natural raw materials and underground resources. Where did so many “country bumpkins” flooding into the country come from? You cannot understand what they turned the country into: they took over the entire city and drove out people like us. Now they have begun fighting one another to get one more piece.

— Do you think the situation will reach the point where they turn against one another?

— There are many secrets in this matter, and it is not just about them. Many geopolitical factors will determine that decision. Karen Karapetyan is simply a manager and will do precisely a manager’s work, but I do not know whether he will take responsibility for all the crimes committed and never solved: October 27, March 1, and other crimes. These are unresolved crimes through which this system grew stronger. Let me go further: they grew stronger even after the April war. Now an ugly chess game is being played that is impossible to explain. The people are already psychologically enslaved: they will adapt to whatever is decided. But I repeat that many geopolitical factors may change in the region, even concerning Karabakh. That will undoubtedly affect domestic life too.

How did a president who came from Karabakh without a penny acquire shares in Russia and establish a business worth millions, having been president of a country whose people are starving? We would have been ashamed even to think of building a house in Victory Park. I am not saying we would build one; I am saying we would be ashamed even to think of it, because the people live in such conditions. They hold nothing sacred: today they use the Genocide and Karabakh issues to keep the people enslaved. After all this, do you want me to be interested in who invests how much?

Recently I came to one of Armenia’s districts to see my father. A young man from the village came to collect the electricity payment, and the second thing he said was that it belonged to Tashir. That statement alone leaves no room for comment. We are “proud” that the owner of a shopping centre in Armenia has privatized something else too.

— Do you think that “politicized” billion-dollar investment is more for Karen Karapetyan or Serzh Sargsyan? At first Karen Karapetyan was quite enthusiastic about that club, but today he was not even at the event where the investment was announced.

— Karen Karapetyan became the person who enabled the RPA and Serzh Sargsyan to collect votes during the election. Then they began drawing him into their dirty internal games: he has links to the mafia and criminals, as though everyone else were saints who only associated with saints. I truly do not know whom the great powers and foreign oligarchs are betting on, but I am sure there is compromising material on anyone that they can bring out at any moment to “ruin” them.

Ask anyone of our nation, whatever their profession, and they think about how to make money. When money dominates, it becomes criminal money and changes a person’s psychology.

— Do you think those in power have already made a decision for 2018?

— I do not think so, but I repeat that it does not depend on the authorities alone. If Turkey and Russia grow closer, you cannot say what will happen to the Karabakh issue. The Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railway opened right under Armenia’s nose. Is anyone discussing what position Armenia is being put in and what dangers are possible?

Under these conditions, it is very difficult to say whether they have decided, or how many pennies their decision will be worth tomorrow or the day after. The country’s president is now surrounded by shopping-centre managers. I do not know what they will all decide together tomorrow.