Bako Sahakyan ends final term of presidency in Artsakh: Achievements and omissions as seen by politicians

The incumbent president of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) is ending his second and final consecutive term on Thursday.

Bako Sahakyan, who led the country for 13 years, will hand over the post to Arayik Harutyunyan, a former prime minister who won a majority of votes in last month's presidential runoff.

For comments on the outgoing president's achievements and omissions, Tert.am has interviewed politicians from the second Armenian republic, who largely appreciated Sahakyan's dedication to office and contribution to the country's accomplishment and stability.

"I evaluate the years of Sahakyan's presidency in the positive light, as [the period of his tenure ensured] the maintenance of the country's stability, which is extremely important," said Vahram Balayan, a former deputy speaker of the Nagorno-Karabakh National Assembly (ARF-D).

The politician highlighted particularly Sahakyan's efforts in army-building and national security strengthening in the face of the permanent threats of war. He also appreciated the tremendous input into the country's economic progress.  "Despite the global economic recession in the initial period of his tenure, we did nonetheless manage to overcome all that, securing even a double-digit economic growth. Those years saw a  progress of  9%-11% in our economy. That, naturally, helped resolve a range of social problems," he said, emphasizing also the budgetary growth from AMD 122 million to AMD 30.5 billion (AMD 480 = USD 1)

Balayan also praised the urban development activities over the period, particularly in capital Stepanakert, which he said has now become "a European-style city". He also attached importance to the infrastructure improvement (water and natural gas supply, etc.) in the rural communities.

The politician did not circumvent also Sahakyan's relationship with the authorities of Armenia.

"Here too, we see Bako Sahakyan pursue very flexible, delicate and reasonable policies, maintaining, to the best of his abilities, the warm relationship between the two Armenian states. What matters here is the understanding of the steadily developing relations, and our president understood that perfectly well. That's what he used to often speak about in private conversations - and in public speeches in general. So his success is definitely notable also here," he said.

Addressing the outgoing president's shortcomings, Balayan shared his concerns over constitutional discrepancies. "The constitutions of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh have to be identical or closely related, as we need to maximum approximate our legislations. With Armenia being governed by a parliamentary and Artsakh - by a presidential regime, we are, in a way, distanced from each other," he noted.

Tigran Abrahamyan, a former presidential advisor, described the past 13 years of Sahakyan's tenure as a period of sustainable development that saw progress in virtually all the areas - from state strengthening to a rapid economic growth, from army-building to major infrastructure projects.

"Gross domestic product appears to be the key indicator characterizing the country's socio-economic state. In 2007, it was about AMD 70.8 billion - against the above AMD 342 billion which we had in 2019. While in 2007, the per capita GDP reached an estimated USD 1,490, that record was AMD 4,803 as early as last year. In 2007, we had a state budget of AMD 30.8 million. In 2020, as you know, it amounted to AMD 121 billion," he said.

Abrahamyan also praised the demographic programs, which he said increased  the country's population by about 10,000.

The politician said he finds Sahakyan's role invaluable also in the strengthening of the triunity involving Artsakh, Armenia and the Diaspora. "Being the leader of an unrecognized republic has never prevented him from enjoying the respect and trust of different public figures abroad, and building relations that have served - and will keep on serving - the entire Armenian nation," he said. 

Hayk Khanumyan, a former opposition lawmaker who heads the National Renaissance party, criticized Sahakyan's activity over the past period, describing him as a "weak president". "The first years of his tenure coincided with the global economic recession, with Yerevan essentially increasing the interstate credits to Artsakh, thereby enabling Bako Sahakyan to step up the corrupt mechanism in collaboration with Prime Minister Arayik Harutyunyan. While under conditions of an economic crisis, the two states were cutting down expenditures, Bako Sahakyan was exaggerating the effectively functioning state administration, increasing the number of administrative buildings and the gorgeous cars, most of which were by the way imported - and sold to the government - by a company owned by Bako Sahakyan's nephew," he said.