I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
           David Bowie -- Changes


President Robert Kocharyan inherited turmoil. Ten years later he leaves turmoil behind him when he turns over the Presidential Office keys to Sergh Sargsyan Wednesday.

When, in 1998, Kocharyan took over, Levon Ter-Petrosyan left him a republic divided on the issue of Karabakh and badly in need of resolving the issue for the sake of internal security and regional stability.

As Kocharyan leaves, peace in Karabakh looks farther away than at any point since his famously failed “Key West Talks” in 2001. Seven years have passed since optimism was as bright as the tropical sun under which he and Aliyev I met. US Secretary of State Colin Powell was his host.

Now, Powell’s successor Condoleezza Rice (herself about to move on) says meaningful Karabakh talks look “doubtful”.

The president from Karabakh who turns over power to another president from Karabakh, failed to serve his own hometown (Stepanakert), much less the Homeland, in reaching a settlement. He had 10 years to do it and couldn’t.

What did Armenia achieve in the decade of Robert Kocharyan?

Six consecutive years of double-digit economic growth.

Despite the dramatic and regrettable conditions still endured across this country, it is undeniable that life here has gotten better – more comfortable, anyway – for many if not most.

Streets that once were as empty as bowling lanes waiting for the next roller are now bumper to bumper with stylish vehicles unimaginable when Kocharyan was but a 43 year old presidential newbie.

Where dark and dank soviet-style commissaries stood selling sub-standard products to a public scraping by, glistening supermarkets now stand offering not just staples, but indulgences. (Smoked eel at one of Mashtots Boulevard’s newest groceries, goes for about $60 p/kilo.)

Streets are properly paved and even exterior highways are glassy smooth compared to the rutted conditions of a decade ago.

It is more convenient for the hopeless to escape now. And so they have while this president has built a homeland for the privileged – where those with money can afford the high life erected by displacing the desperate. Nobody here believes the official count that there are 3 million living in this country. Two million, maybe.

That so many left cannot be blamed on this outgoing president. That they didn’t return is another matter. He built it, but they didn’t come.

Others did. From the United States, from Iran, from the Middle East – those who forever longed to be in the “Motherland”, but were just waiting until she provided the conveniences and comfort they required.

Six consecutive years of double-digit GDP growth is something any president should be proud of.

But allow a closer look.

According to reliable economists, 27 percent of that growth is due to construction. Another 14 percent, according to a United Nation’s report, is due to remittances – including money sent from abroad by those who’ve left and are now supporting families here.

Those figures mean that nearly half (41 percent) of this booming economy is based on non-sustainable sources. And those are the sort of money-flow that are most vulnerable when there is no guarantee of security, as there is now concerning Karabakh, and the tenuous conditions created by March 1.

And, as it concerns construction, it must stop at some point. And that point is likely to occur during the Sargsyan years – a phenomenon that The Serzhinator has surely considered.

Rightly noting his contribution to remarkable development, the legacy of Robert Kocharyan is that his administration has had a crippling effect on human rights that we can only hope will be repaired by his successor.

Do not forget Poghos Pogoshyan. A Kocharyan bodyguard beat the man to death in a jazz café toilet and walked away unpunished.

Do not forget the residents of Buzand Street. They were cheated out of their homes by compensation that was not only insufficient but insulting, to make way for development that benefited Kocharyan-friendly oligarchs. And when more than 100 cases alleging state wrongdoing were brought to court, not a single one was found in favor of the residents.

Do not forget that the Kocharyan administration shut down the only oppositional television station (A1+) and is still trying to silence the independent channel GALA, in Gyumri.

Do not forget that one of his last acts of legislation was to restrict the right of public assembly, leading to innocent citizens being plucked off the street and into police custody simply because they had political viewpoints that differed from the president’s.

What have the past 10 years achieved? A lot.

Or not much. Depending on who you are. Or who you know.