Karapet Gagik Tsarukyan on Upcoming Turmoil: "We Won’t Blink, We Will End Up in a Complicated Situation"

Leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party, Gagik Tsarukyan, has issued a statement concerning the political, economic, and geopolitical challenges facing Armenia, warning that the country is facing serious risks of turmoil.

According to him, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Iran-US confrontation, the imposed choice between the EU and the EAEU, as well as Azerbaijani demands and Turkish pressures may confront Armenia with a complicated situation in the coming months.

“The lack of Prosperous Armenia and our program (Proposal for Armenia) will always be felt in the new National Assembly. The reason is not the scarcity of educated and prepared figures; such MPs exist in all factions. The problem is the lack of different perspectives, alternative effective solutions, programmatic approaches, and a complete political force to carry them,” he stated.

“In general, I had prepared my team for a profound programmatic struggle, which, unfortunately, did not happen, and certainly not due to our fault. As you know, over the last 10-15 years, I have not been involved in any micro-management of business, nor the ongoing management processes (both because the law did not allow, and because it no longer interested me), allowing me to view the economy of Armenia, its developmental risks, and potential from a macro perspective. Even now, being cut off from many informational streams, political-public microprocesses, and microrelations, I have the opportunity to look at issues from a macro perspective.”

“I do not use the phrase 'to look from the side’ because, due to my biography, as Tsarukyan, I am unable to and have never been able to view the processes occurring in my country from the outside. If I could, if I had the ability to be somewhat indifferent to my country, I would be in completely different circumstances. That is simply my nature.”

“What I see now—through that lens—is that Armenia is standing on the brink of significant turmoil. This is not a theoretical scenario but a very real one, concerning the coming months. We won't blink, we will find ourselves in a very complicated situation. The risks posed by the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Iran-US confrontation are enough to understand this.”

“I am extremely concerned about our country's economic problems and the artificially imposed choice regarding whether to join the EU or the EAEU. Such a sharp choice is being forced upon us by both the West and Russia, but the problem is that we have brought ourselves to such a rigid, artificial division.”

“Add to this the Azerbaijani demands and Turkish pressures. This is no longer a question of sitting on two chairs, as many naively believe. Sitting on two chairs gives some choice, but this is a situation where every decision, every step can lead to serious risks and serious backlash from the other side.”

“So what are we going to do to ensure that our small Armenia does not enter large geopolitical upheavals? That is the most pressing agenda today.”

“I do not know how much this parliament will work; I hear various hypotheses, but as long as my political force exists, I—as the leader—and my narrow team of partners, with whom I always discuss such issues, we will pursue this line: Armenia should not enter turmoil driven by geopolitical motivations. There are ways, there are actions to reduce tensions, to avoid being ‘trampled’ during clashes of the powerful.”

“We are obliged to extract our country from these ultimatum-based equations. This is no longer a matter of government-opposition struggle. The damages will affect everyone, without exception. This greatly concerns me. There are solutions; perhaps they are not easy, perhaps they are complicated, perhaps they require considerable effort, but they exist,”