Narek Karapetyan: I could be arrested, all members of our party could be arrested

ArmInfo. "They could arrest me, they could arrest all the members of our party, but our society, our people, don't want him (Pashinyan) to remain prime minister. The people want new leadership. They want a leadership based on economics, one that will resolve the issue of long-term peace," Narek Karapetyan, a member of the political council of the opposition Strong Armenia party, said in an interview with American businessman and well-known blogger Mario Naufalo.

According to him, Armenia's new leadership must be capable of ensuring peace in the region, bringing prosperity, and creating new relations with other countries—and this is the main goal. Our society is ready for this, it's waiting for it.

"Now we see that this leader (Pashinyan) faces a choice. Either he will choose the path of complete autocracy, which cannot continue for long without the support of society and the people, since in that case, he will not be able to be a long-term leader in our country. Or he will allow us to participate in the elections, he himself will participate in the elections, and there will be a change of power," Karapetyan said. He emphasized that this could be a peaceful process because it's an institutional process. We need these institutions to be a prosperous state.

When asked by the interviewer which path Pashinyan would choose, Karapetyan expressed hope for the second: "I think he'll try the first option at first, but eventually he'll understand and choose the second."

Nevertheless, Karapetyan recalled that four archbishops were in prison today. "Look, this is the situation in Armenia. Imagine: in your country, the number of drug-related crimes has increased fivefold in eight years. What should be done? If you had a police force, what would you do? Would you send the police to investigate the drug problem? And do you know what he did? He sent the police to the church. The police went to the church," Karapetyan noted, agreeing with the interviewer that, instead of addressing the drug problem, the prime minister is focused on centralizing his power. "He's fighting priests, who are very modest, humble people." And I don't understand why he chose this path.

"In our country, politicians who harass the prime minister usually end up in jail. Polls show that they (the country's leadership) believe our party will win the elections. Therefore, we have information that they are planning to arrest some members of our party to prevent us from participating in the pre-election processes and in the free elections themselves. "Yes, we think that's exactly what will happen. We are prepared for it. They can't imprison our entire society, the majority of it. The majority of our people are against the prime minister's policies," Karapetyan said, noting that elections in Armenia are free. "We may be experiencing pre-election pressure; many local opposition leaders may be imprisoned, but the election cycle is fair, and has been so far."

At the same time, Karapetyan said that he had never discussed any deals with Nikol Pashinyan in the event that "Strong Armenia" comes to power. "The strength of a true politician is that they can see beyond their own personal interests. They can rise above revenge. If you want to have a country, a state with an institutional foundation so that future leaders don't end up in prison, you shouldn't do what he (Pashinyan) does. That's the strength of a true politician—not to do that, to create a genuine, long-term, stable democratic country with institutions that function regardless of leadership changes, and institutions that work regardless of who the prime minister is," Karapetyan emphasized, noting that the country needs to limit itself to two terms in office, because that's essential for democracy, for a stable democratic state.