It is not hard to notice how similar the presidential candidates’ programs are. The reason is but understandable: none of them has been led by a certain set of political positions (be it democratic and nationalistic), they have been led by the simple and understandable wish of turning all the issues that seem important for the country and trouble the public at the moment into points in their political programs.

No one is going to accuse them of inconsistency and ambiguity of their political course. Among other things this also testifies to the fact that good and nice sounding programs are not very decisive and that the arena of struggle are not the programs at all. Questions and reservations regarding the ability of candidates to realize their programs cannot be heard any more (who makes whose “team” and so on).

This tendency could already be traced in the last Parliamentary elections, but the current presidential campaign is unprecedented in terms of the variety of forms and as it could be assumed, in terms of the money being spent. This is a good example of how some attributes of Western democracy are dubbed and demonstrated and which (here we first of all mean the governmental candidate Serzh Sargsyan) are skillfully combined with a system of election bribes and violations that is perfected year by year.

Programs by the Criterion of Urgency

It would be very interesting to follow the course of the electoral campaign -routes of the main candidates, TV interviews and clips, open air speeches and different events combined with these (marches, concerts, and so on), billboards and slogans… But this presupposes voluminous research that is why I will confine myself to the analysis of some aspects of the candidates’ published programs. I am primarily interested in the topic of Armenians living outside Armenia. Here I will discuss the issues concerning a small part of Armenians living outside Armenia - Armenians living in Georgia. The next article will cover issues of general relations between  Armenia and the Diaspora.

What can be extracted from these programs is as follows: which issues in Armenia are perceived as primary today, how are they interrelated, how do they relate to the regional and global situation, and finally, how are they formulated? It is interesting to see which issue, problem or aim is expressed in what kind of language and under what coercion. From this perspective the language of the programs demonstrates big diversity and the most vivid expression is the “peaceful coexistence” of nationalistic and international organization discourses, sometimes within the same paragraph. It is no less typical that some issues are completely overlooked in the programs, and nothing is ever said regarding them.

Social issues are in the focus of presidential candidates’ programs. The fall of birthrate, the aging of the population, issues of the youth, the polarity between Yerevan and marzes, and the disproportional development of different territories of the country in general are being prioritized. In contrast to the assurances of the incumbent President Robert Kocharyan that the earthquake zone is already rebuilt, some candidates still highlight the necessity of complete liquidation of the consequences of the 1988 destructive earthquake. Environmental problems, the need to raise the fighting efficiency of the army and other points are frequently among the issues mentioned.

In this sense two priorities can be noticed: fight against corruption and decrease of poverty. Both are in the focus of concerned international organizations (for example, the World Bank) and in fact both the problems and the ways of their solution have been formulated by them. It could be stated that these issues have been noticed and pushed forward from the perspective of these very international organizations (it should be kept in mind that these organizations have decades of experience in the field of struggling against poverty in the Third World countries, and it should be stressed, that this experience has been quite unsuccessful, which has resulted a completely established discourse to formulate these issues). This last circumstance forces the candidates to define corruption as a purely internal reality, to overlook or ignore the fact that corruption is not only an internal problem (only a result of the fusion of business and the state governmental system) but also an unpreventable consequence of corruption within these very international organizations.

Another issue that the candidates deliberately keep silent about is the sale of numerous enterprises and structures that are of strategic significance to Armenia to Russian companies which has made Russian influence over Armenia ominously colossal.

On the other hand, the assurances of the candidates to limit emigration and to start an immigration movement, for example, should be considered a paradox, because everyone knows of the high level of unemployment in Armenia and of the vital importance of regular money transfers from abroad for the society. This is a manifestation of nationalistic thinking - Armenia is the motherland of Armenians, but this way of thinking does not take into consideration the global reality.

Perhaps the return of the first President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan is the reason why the issue of the still unregulated Karabakh conflict became urgent again. Ten years ago he resigned because of this issue and left the political arena. However, at the same time it is obvious that the presidential candidates do not have much to offer regarding the regulation of this critical conflict. However, this unsolvable regional knot also, among other issues, casts a shadow over the problems of Armenians living in Georgia.

One of the points in the election programs which is of pan-Armenian importance is the issue of the development of Armenia - Diaspora relations that have been discussed for years and years. Formally, the issue of Armenians in Georgia could be considered within this circle, but the notion of the Diaspora held in Armenia does not allow the inclusion of Armenians residing in Georgia into the Diaspora. Still, the issue of Armenians in Georgia is interesting from the above-mentioned viewpoint -what factors influence this issue and correspondingly what discourse presidential candidates use to speak about it.

Problems of Javakhq Armenians

Part of the current problems of Javakhq Armenians is a consequence of the circumstances that have come forth recently:

a/ the withdrawal of the Russian military station from Akhalkalaki, which caused unemployment for many Armenians,

b/ a continuous aggravation of Russian and Georgian relations  which deprived Javakhq Armenians of the possibility of going to Russia and doing seasonal works.  To them this is the same as to deprive part of the RA population of the regular financial aid they receive from their relatives working abroad.

c/ lack of knowledge of the Georgian language which is, of course, Soviet legacy (at that time the main spoken language was Russian). Now the universal lack of knowledge of Georgian by Armenians in Georgia or its insufficient knowledge deprives them of the possibility of working in state institutions.

There are also complaints among Armenians in Georgia against the Georgian government. For example, there is an opinion that the government is leading a policy aimed at the change of the demography situation in the territories populated by Armenians to the detriment of Armenians, contributing to the emigration of Armenians and creating conditions for the repopulation of these territories by Georgians.

As for the expectations of Armenians in Georgia from Armenia, the situation here is not quite clear. Javakhq Armenians living in Armenia have a political party The Powerful Motherland which during the last Parliamentary elections supported the Republican Party that now forms the majority in the National Assembly. Due to it a number of the members of The Powerful Motherland, who became MPs, as they themselves announced, had submitted issues important for Georgia Armenians for discussion in the Parliament even though the Parliamentary majority does not approve of this.

Georgia Armenians in the Context of Regional Procedures

Now we see that the presidential candidate of the Republican Party, Prime Minister S. Sargsyan, does not mention Georgia Armenians in his program at all. The same can be said about the first president of the republic who seems to be a more promising oppositional candidate. They are satisfied with general assertions on the necessity of ameliorating the relations between Armenia and Georgia. 

However, the issue has not been left in oblivion and in the programs of two out of nine candidates it is mentioned in separate sections as the issue of Javakhq.

Let me quote the whole passage on Georgia Armenians from the program of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation candidate Vahan Hovhannisyan: “The establishment of good-neighborly relations with Georgia will create good opportunities for Armenia to solve a number of urgent problems. The relations between Armenia and Georgia are important to ensure security, to maintain stability in the region, to deepen the European integration processes of the South Caucasus states. They are significant also from the viewpoint of mutually beneficial and bilateral cooperation and the protection of the rights of Javakhq Armenians. Taking into account the unique conditions of  Javakhq and the international experience in such issues Armenia should make efforts to sign bilateral agreements with the neighboring Georgia in order to support Armenians traditionally living in Javakhq and its adjoining territories in all the spheres of economic, social, political and cultural life.”

Stressing that the problems of Georgia Armenians should always be in the center of the RA’s attention, The National Democratic Union Chairman, presidential candidate Vazgen Manukyan mentions in his electoral program: “Taking into consideration international legal norms, through negotiations with Georgia, it is necessary to try and find a solution to the issue of giving the Armenian language a regional status, to deepen RA and Javakhq relations in the scientific, educational and cultural spheres within the framework of an interstate treaty to be singed with Georgia.”

I find it difficult to discuss the question of the probability of “the regional status of the Armenian language.” Even the existence of suchlike international experience does not yet give any grounds to have such expectations in this case either. But I would like to stress that willy-nilly the problems of Georgia Armenians have to do not only with the relations between Armenia and Georgia, but with the regional situation in the South Caucasus which completely changes the content of these issues.

Obviously it is only the governmental candidate Serzh Sargsyan that is principally avoiding the topic of the unfavorable position of Armenia in the region. Baku - Tbilisi - Ceyhan oil pipeline, Baku - Tbilisi - Erzerum gas pipeline, and finally the envisaged Kars - Akhalkalaki - Baku railroad are big regional projects which Armenia has been left out of, finding itself in dangerous isolation. In this sense it is characteristic that the presidential candidates speak not only of the development of relations with Russia, Iran and Georgia, of making efforts to regulate relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan, but also of enlarging the possible circle of cooperation to include Arabic countries, China and India.

Moreover, one is certain to see an emphasized link among Armenia - Georgia relations and regional security and stability, the relations of the two countries and the European integration processes of the South Caucasus states. And it becomes absolutely apparent what an ambiguous context the issue of Georgia Armenians is in.

The expected amelioration of Russian - Georgian relations which would have given Javakhq Armenians an opportunity for working abroad is far from coming true.

The road reconstruction which makes the communication of Armenian populated territories easier with both the center of Georgia and Armenia can improve the social conditions of Armenians in Georgia as well as contribute to such an alteration of the demographic situation in the territory they are complaining against today.

The construction of the Kars - Akhalkalaki railroad may also be beneficial to Georgia Armenians but, as it is seen, it even more deepens the regional isolation of Armenia…

Thus, it is not accidental that even pre-election populism in this case does not allow the presidential candidates to offer simple solutions to the issue of Javakhq Armenians. Perhaps because of the mere lack of such solutions. We will see, on the other hand, how eloquent some of the candidates are in their suggestions regarding the improvement of relations between Armenia and the Diaspora.

Translated by Kristine Soghikyan