Interview with Gagik Tsarukyan - the leader of “Prosperous Armenia” Party. Source–"Iravunk de facto" weekly.

-Mr. Tsarukyan, during the last four-days a draft of making several amendments in the "Law of Referendum" was entitled to a stormy discussion in National Assembly. In the opinion of the opposition the authorities just want to use this draft for making the population responsible for Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution. What would you say in this regard?

-The recommended amendments assume the authorities to have an authorization for conducting a consulting referendum around the issues which have a public and state significance. And I simply don’t consider it accurate to speculate with Nagorno-Karabakh issue in the draft implication. After all, referendums are very important instruments of democracy and I don’t understand the reasons of opposing to them. As for Nagorno-Karabakh issue, I must mention again, that the final solution of this issue must have unreserved assistance of the people of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. And I am sure that it will be that way. Therefore, nobody avoids the responsibility, because the issue of Artsakh is an issue of all of us and each of us.

-Mr. Tsarukyan, Thomas Hummarberg the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights during the press conference held in Yerevan brought up rather rough evaluations and even did not deny the fact that if the issue of imprisoned people wont' be solved till January, then the Armenian delegation will face serious problems in Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights. The latter can disable the delegation’s right to vote. How do you evaluate Hammarberg’s latest statements?

-We must realize that by becoming a member of the Council of Europe our state inherited the European system of values. And that is our choice. We have accepted this institution’s rules of play and we must be led by that system of values. You can be certain, that the political power, coalition of Armenia have the required political will to undertake the obligations of our state towards that institution. As for the issue of the possibility of using sanctions against Armenia in January, I hope that those sanctions will not be carried out. We just need some time for the solution of several problems. Let us not get involved in the operations of the legal field and not forejudge. As a matter of fact Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights considered the creation of a group of evidence experts as a positive and serious step. I also think that this is a positive step towards the investigation and detection of matters taken place on March 1.

-Mr. Tsarukyan, how will you comment the well known Maindorf Declaration signed between Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents under the patronage of the Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev?

-I consider the signing of this declaration important according to the following points: first of all, upon this declaration the parties agreed that the conflict of Nagorno-Karabakh must be resolved only by means of negotiation process denying any military resolution of the problem. Second of all, it was once again confirmed that the resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be achieved within the frames of the Minsk group mandate of member-countries and Azerbaijan’s efforts of moving the conflict on another instance are unacceptable. Third, this declaration just cleared all the doubts of some political powers considering Turkey being a mediator in the negotiation process around Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Taking into account all this principles, I truly consider the signing of this declaration in Moscow, after 14 years from the ceasefire declaration in 1994, as very important between these three states

-However, don’t you think that the exclusion of Nagorno-Karabakh from the negotiation process will make the final documents worthless?

-Of course, we must come to the condition of Nagorno-Karabakh becoming one of the parties in the negotiation process and it is well-known that the powers of Nagorno-Karabakh must also sign the final document of peace resolution. Lately the French co-chairman Bernard Fassier announced that he doesn't agree with the idea that Nagorno-Karabakh is not participating in the negotiation process in any way. The fact that the co-chairs go to Stepanakert and negotiate with the authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh every time they visit the region means that Nagorno-Karabakh does not stay out of the negotiation process. As a matter of fact, Mathew Bryza didn’t deny the fact either that in some part of the negotiation process Nagorno-Karabakh can become a participant of the negotiation process. As for the final document one thing is certain - there is not going to be any document signed without a preliminary approval of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. You can be sure about that.

-"Prosperous Armenia" political party has some limitations around the tax/duty bundle given into consideration to the National Assembly. The party members mention that this draft has an adverse effect on the medium and small businesses. What limitations do you have on the draft?

-Yes, "Prosperous Armenia" political party has its reasoned limitations on this draft, because this draft defines such type of taxation regime and conditions for the spheres of small and medium businesses involving lots of employees which will bring to a visible increase of taxation load, which will in turn, in essence, hinder the activity of those taxpayers who are affected by this type of tax. This will just hit the small and medium businesses and that's the reason why this draft is unacceptable for us. This draft needs some dispensations and the deputies of our political party are now discussing that matter with the representatives of the government. I think that in case of a compromise we will be able to come to a mutually accepted variant.