Aram Z. Sargsyan
Member of the political council of “Republic” Party
Background Information
1. Republic Party
2. The party was founded on 21 February, 2001 , but was officially registered in March, 2001. It counts
5000 people, and there are 37 territorial subdivisions.
3. It has three seats in the Parliament of the country, it is not represented in other state authority
structures.
Answers
1. Notwithstanding official declarations, the policy of the incumbent power of Armenia is diametrically
opposite to the NATO and EU values. For our party the integration of Armenia into the Euro-Atlantic structures
is a political priority.
2. The integration of Armenia into the European structures has been caused by the current context
of global developments and will become a serious stimulus for formation of guaranteed mechanisms of social
and political interrelations, economic development and protection of human rights in our country. In
our opinion, European orientation does not have an alternative and guarantees a stable development for
Armenia.
3. We believe that acceptance of the values of NATO and EU be important for implementation of our
internal reforms. In particular, this fact will considerably influence the process of Armenia’s integration
into Euro-Atlantic structures.
4. A serious impediment for integration of our country to the European structures is current state
of Russian – Armenian interrelations, which poses a serious threat to the sovereignty of Armenia. There
are also phenomena, such as lack of electoral institutes, oligarch-type of economy and political system,
things that are antipodes for a modern state.
5. “European standards” to our party and the society, first of all, mean the priority of human rights
and freedoms. In modern Armenia, such values are defied: elections are falsified, independent TV companies
are closed down, there are no independent courts, people are isolated because of their opinions, and
there is no competitive economy.
6. It is possible, if the Constitutional right to form the power is given back to citizens. In that
case, in the focus of the Armenian powers will be a citizen of RA.
7. Firstly, I would like to mention that our party does not see any alternative to close cooperation
and formation of a common system of security among countries of the South Caucasus. It has already been
mentioned that NATO and EU integration is a priority to the party. However, we do not think that this
goal contradicts to the settlement of the Armenian-Russian or the Armenian-Iranian partnership relations.
8. Yes, we think that it is not a third county, or army to be the assurance of security of Armenia,
but the correct foreign policy, as well as good-neighbor relations with the neighboring countries.
9. We think that the objective of the European structures is in formation of an area for establishing
a dialogue among the countries of the South Caucasus. Solutions to other problems should be found by
the political leaders and the people of Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
February 2, 2005
