Over the past twenty years we have changed three Presidents, over ten Prime Ministers and over hundred Ministers: the authorities became opposition, the opposition became authorities, but the society has not felt quality changes, continuing its free fall. 

President Serzh Sargsian crossed the Rubicon. In the recent few speeches he quite openly worded the problems, backing from which would mean political bankruptcy. “Already from May-June, our people should feel relief of its everyday problems. People should see that the unreachably high prices for food, especially for agricultural products, return to the usual level. This means that I expect new approaches to the solution of the problems”.  

For the first time, the current President publicly announced that this cannot be continued, and to say it using the republicans’ lexicon, he put forward an ultimatum: 

“We will enter a stage of emphasized changes and already now we should get ready for that… It is natural that in the process of changes there will be many people, who will try to solve personal issues, present lies as the truth, who will try to discredit the system… Mr. Prime Minister, my request is that no explanation should be accepted in case of failure of the programs. If a serious program has been failed, there should necessarily be consequences”. 

The problem is that in order to fulfill the President’s political orders, they need a team of people, who will think independently, make decisions, have faith in themselves, who will not only be good at fulfillment of orders, but also will participate in political decision-making process. And today, homo sapiens that are a result of flattery and bribe-taking synthesis are the ones to determine quality in that team. I believe that even the President does not know where in institutional terms to find people with new way of thinking, but he knows for sure how many people he needs to get rid of in order to carry out real reforms. 

In order for the President to success in reforms, it is necessary for a noticeable part of our citizens to believe his sincerity and understand the meaning of reforms. Galust Sahakyan’s or Sharmazanov’s news conferences, full of admiration for the President’s steps, not only fail to become a bridge between the President and the society, but also deprive everything of seriousness. 

The life made Ter-Petrosian and Serzh Sargsian renounce extremes. The political consensus is far more valuable than the ambitions of each of the sides. People want fast and visible changes. People have matured enough for that. Serzh Sargsian announced that he wants fast and visible changes as well. I wonder who hinders that. 

Petros Ghazaryan is the political commentator of “Kentron” TV Company. These views are his own.