Irrespective of Election Results, Iranian Policy Towards Armenia Will Not Change (EXCLUSIVE)

• 05.19.2017, 11:18
•  Region,  World

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"Armedia" IAA presents an exclusive interview with an expert on Iranian studies Armen Israyelyan about May 19 presidential elections in Iran.

- How do these elections differ from the previous ones?

- The peculiarity of 2017 presidential elections is the fact that they take place after the agreement signed between Iran and 5+1 group; the one, which was among other issues on the Iranian agenda and had its direct impact on the internal and foreign policy of the country.

Consequently after the nuclear agreement, the expectations of the society in Iran are extremely big, as for years Iran was under the pressure of economic sanctions. Thus, it is quite understandable, that the pivotal issue among the campaign topics refers to the nuclear agreement and its positive and negative impact on Iran’s internal and foreign policy.

Naturally, the acting reformist president Hasan Rouhani presents the nuclear agreement as an important achievement, while his opponents, conservative candidates Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Ebrahim Raisi question it productivity.

The peculiarity of these elections was also the fact that the campaign was actively covered by social media and the candidates presented their advantages in different ways, at the same time underlining an opponent’s drawbacks.

- What were the social moods on the eve of elections? Do pre-election campaign and debates have an impact on the orientation of voters?

- On the eve, when one of the main opponents of the acting president, Tehran mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf gave up the race in favor of Ebrahim Rayisii, some clarification of the situation was among the voters, who were prone to give their vote to conservatives, learned clearly that the conservatives were united around Ebrahim Raisii.

What refers to debates, then I think that all the three debates conducted had no essential impact on voters’ orientation.

According to one of the latest social surveys, to the question, in case there are only two candidates, Hasan Rouhani and Ebrahim Raisi, to whom they will give their vote, 48% of voters were for the acting president, while 39% for conservative candidate Ebrahim Raisi.

- Dիդ the candidates refer to the Armenian community or to the issues referring to Armenian in the election campaign?

During the campaign, the candidates referred to the foreign policy issues in the context of the nuclear agreement.  In addition, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei urged the candidates not to give way to the demands of the United States to give more and stand firm against Israel.

What refers to the Armenian community, the acting president Hasan Rouhani referred to the rights of religious minorities (among them also to Armenians) and ethnic groups during the second debate. In their turn the Armenians in Iran are free in their choice and have no orientations towards any of the candidates.

Referring to the prospect of the relations with Armenia, we can state, that in case of the victory of any of the candidates, the foreign policy priorities of Iran towards Armenian will not change.