Oh, what a mess
I wonder who's watching me now
                          Rockwell – Somebody’s Watching Me

Faced as he is with the unenviable necessity to mend a gutted nation, President Serzh Sargsyan nonetheless has opportunity a true statesman should welcome as destiny reserved only for those of office with enough moral muscle to embrace challenge too imposing for any but the legitimately powerful.

History may remember Robert Kocharyan for the “double digit” growth that the past president wore like a medal that, flipped over, would hold the names of plenty more than the one making the claim – and most of whom personally benefited from their part in making the economy strong. Foreign and local oligarchs helped rebuild the Armenia that Kocharyan takes credit for, and they did so for reasons that are more self-serving than self-sacrifice.

The past president benefited too, from the altruistic. Kirk Krikorian built the roads that now haul the money to and from Russia. Some – Tufenkian, Cafesjian, Hovnanian and others – through investing in businesses that also serve the greater good, have created a culture of something that might be called “social profitmaking”. Their examples have led to the newly institutionalized concept of corporate responsibility now being demonstrated by HSBC, VivaCell and a few but growing number of others. All honorable, including whatever role the last president played to assist their goodwill.

But praise for Robert Kocharyan’s leadership should also recognize that his is a reflected glory.

Serzh Sargsyan has an opportunity for singular greatness, delivered on the blood of 10 and the bruises of hundreds of his ward. Lead Armenia out of its present sorry mess and he surely would lighten the yoke of shame for his part in creating the present instability. Even if he bought the election, as evidence suggest, he also has the chance to pay for it in honorable service.

Thursday’s resolution by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) provides President Sargsyan with a guidebook for immediate recreation of an inglorious public perception.

The PACE resolution has 14 paragraphs and 14 sub paragraphs, but the essence of concern can be distilled into three major actions that would spring Armenia and President Sargsyan from their tragically-earned suspicions of a nation and a leader incapable of democratic prudence.

1.Release those arrested on charges that can’t demonstrably and constitutionally be proven as crimes committed on or around March 1.
2.Revoke the new law prohibiting public gatherings.
3.Review the circumstances leading to and including the March 1 violence through an independent investigation.

Latest news: Late Friday it was learned that, prominent oppositionist Suren Surenyants, imprisoned since March 5 for alleged cries relating to civic unrest, has been released. It is not known whether his release from prison is in reply to the PACE resolution. ArmeniaNow will follow this and other developments related to international demands and the new government’s response.

Missing from the PACE wish list, is the critical truth that the esteemed body itself bears partial responsibility for all that has happened since February 19 because neither the Council of Europe nor OSCE exercised its opportunity to disavow Armenia’s presidential election, allowing instead a report that mixed faint praise with faint rebuke, concluding little that matched the reality faced by the electorate here.

Failure by international organizations to share the responsibility should not stop President Sargsyan from fulfilling his.

Release. Revoke. Review. Do those things Mr. President, and it will prove your trustworthiness, and serve you far better than what you’re getting from the pr firm you pay $65,000 a month for image-making. (The same company, it may be worth noting, represented Benazir Bhutto.)

Listen to what former Minister of Justice and head of Armenia’s delegation to PACE David Harutyunyan said in Strasbourg.

“This should be done not to let the Armenian delegation retain its voting rights at the PACE or get somebody here to report progress in Armenia. We should realize that we are doing this for ourselves.”

President Sargsyan has an immediate and well-defined opportunity that doesn’t need the traditional “100 days” to prove whether “Forward Armenia!”, his slogan, is anything more than expensive and meaningless public relations.

If this is about international face-saving, it is more about mending the heart of a people in need of a signal that love of nation can overcome personal ambition. What a great chance to be a hero.