The Politics of Independence and Transition

Demokratizatsiya: You have played a major role in the Karabakh movement, the establishment of the new Republic of Armenia, and the establishment of its institutions and new political culture. What led you to be involved in the movement? What changed the Karabakh movement from a request for the annexation of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast to Armenia to a national revival movement that aspired for democracy and independence? Sahakyan: The moving force of the Karabakh movement that emerged in February 1988 came from among the middle-level intellectuals within the literary, scientific, and teaching professions, and to a lesser extent also from the industrial or engineering fields. The political credo of this generation born after World War II was stamped by the duality of the times. On the one hand, this generation was raised under the influence of the Khrushchevian critique of Stalinist despotism, the hopes raised by the “thawing” of the cold war, and the antigovernment actions and ideals proclaimed by the dissident movement; on the other hand, their attitudes were warped under the pressure of the conformist dispositions of Brezhnev’s years of “stagnation.” The political line being pursued beginning in 1985 under perestroika definitely moved the pendulum of the intellectual and spiritual duality of our generation in the direction of law and justice. We endlessly devoured the life-giving air of freedom. In the workplace and in cafes, at intimate gatherings and at home we discussed Gorbachev’s bold political actions. We discussed movies, theatrical productions, literary works, speeches, political works, and articles of new faces, the news on tele-