I call upon the Civil community deputies to cooperate - Richard Kouyoumdjian

Q: Mr. Richard Kouyoumdjian, first of all congratulations, with the undisputed victory of the Lebanese Forces, can we consider that the project of the Cedar revolution is reviving

A: The Project of the Cedar Revolution never ended in the first place to return, it is always present, even if it went through stages of ups and downs,
Project of  the State emergence and rise, Preserving and protecting Lebanese Sovereignty, protecting our way of life, openness to the Arabic and international environment and community, Lebanon the prosperity, Lebanon that the Lebanese Army and National Armed forces take exclusive charge and control of the Lebanese safeguard and guards it borders, passages and national security, of the state vital key elements of the state and it’s institutions, this project always existed and continues to exist, this is the project of the Cedar Revolution, the project of liberating Lebanon from all dominations and hegemony and establishing the State, we have always committed to this project since  a long time ago, since 1975, since 1970, since the very first state Lebanon Lebanese republic became independent.

We believe in these principles and we continue and are dedicated to its realization, 
The Lebanese elections came to prove that this wave seeking independence, sovereignty and Democracy and state emergence, that this wave is still present and its victory confirms its strong presence, the victory of this wave actually reflects the decision and view of the Lebanese people, The Lebanese people expressed its wish and choice that it wants a normal country and wants to see that Lebanon breaks out of this isolation from the Arabic and international surrounding 

Q: The general prediction was that the Lebanese Forces would be able to win a significant number of seats but would later on be isolated inside the Christian areas
But we saw that the Lebanese forces penetrated and surpassed areas and religions, it has now deputies on the entire Lebanese square, from the capital Beirut, to mount Lebanon, to the North and South and the Mountain area, no more it has been regarded as an extreme forces of isolation, but a national project accepted by all Lebanese
How to you estimate and evaluate this victory

A: Of course, this elections proved that the Lebanese forces is represented on the entire Lebanese square, from the Naqooura to the Great River, from Beirut to the eastern borders, In the Bekaa Valley, we had candidates everywhere, we won in most places, but even in places where our candidate did not win, in places like Akkar, West Bekaa, Zahrani, the candidate received the highest number of Christian votes, In Akkar our candidate got 7000 votes, while the winner did not receive 5000 votes, but due to the electoral vote our candidate did not win, everywhere that was marked with Christian profile our characters won, we also won in a lot of places thanks to the Lebanese Muslim brothers voters, we also had interesting victories not only in Christian areas, for example, in Tripoli, The great Islamic city in the North, our Maronite candidate won, he got the highest number of Christian votes (3500) but also got between 1500 and  2000 votes from our Muslim brothers, that means we enjoy support from all Lebanese, from all religious groups and from all areas, not just Christians, 
We also allied with the strongest Respectful Muslim Druze party, the Socialist Progressive Party, and they supported us, 
We also enjoy huge support among the respectful Muslim Sunni religious group, despite the fact that The future movement boycotted the elections, we still enjoyed huge support among the Sunni Muslim brothers, even though Future movement not participating confused the Sunni voters, who got lost and indecisive, some did not participate, some did participate, but they were not united within a single clear united vision, 
In Northern Maten in Burj Hammoud some 600 Lebanese Armenians voted for the Lebanese Forces, this is an interesting development, we also had a lot of Lebanese Armenian electoral delegates inside the Lebanese forces electoral machine 
This means that the Lebanese forces enjoyed support from all Lebanese both Muslim and Christians religious groups, which conforms that the Lebanese Forces represents all Lebanese regardless of their religious group or area

Q: Besides the victory of the forces who believed in the Cedar revolution (Progressive Socialist, Phalange, Ahrar, Lebanese Forces, Future movement former veterans), the Lebanese Civil society revolution and independent candidates have won a significant number of seats, how would you describe the relations between Sovereignty endorsing political parties with the vision of the state with these new forces, do you see possibility of cooperation
 
A:Of course there was a new success for new powers, those who consider themselves forces of change, those who participated in the revolution of October 17 2019, 
Now I want to point out that the revolution of that era, there were participants from all Lebanese directions, not only these groups, 
We as Lebanese Forces participated in these movements in an unofficial way, of course, our children, our brothers and mothers and sisters, our friends, we all participated in this revolution that was against the ruling class, the corruption, the collapse, the economic crisis, to the mismanagement of the country, 
Now some people claimed that they are the only side, who represents this movement, No this is not accurate, they represent a part of this movement, and yes they enjoy support among a lot of Lebanese in all Lebanese areas, but they did not win on all districts but they did achieve a certain success, and we of course salute this democratically, we salute any outcome of the Democratic process, we salute and welcome these new forces, we welcome them and we have informed them of this, and we call upon them to cooperate
Our history as Lebanese forces when it comes to corruption is clean, we are a Zero corruption party, we are against corruption and modernizing the state institutions, we are in favor of the civil state principal, but all this requires a lot of work and cannot be achieved overnight, some of them are open to dialog with us, but unfortunately some of them refuses to speak with us, and with other parties as well, because they consider us a force of the traditional parties, and this is wrong, because these political parties are present, specially that we as Lebanese Forces have proven that we represent a lot of people, if a party is historically present you cannot come and simple say that you as a party are part of the establishment, maybe it is true that we are part of the political establishment, but we were not the ruling force, we were only a minority, we were not the absolute rulers so that you blame us, we participated because the Lebanese mechanism functions in a way that forces you to participate within this equation

When we realized that participating with the alliance of the Lebanese President, Amal and Hizbullah does not lead to any result, we pulled out from the government, 
Since 2005 when we returned to the political scene, we did not participate in all the governments, most of the time we participated with one or two ministers, maximum 4 ministers one time, out of 30 ministers, we were a minority in these governments, they cannot blame us and no one can exclude anyone in Lebanon, we must all accept each other, and those forces who consider themselves forces of changes, they should get a little bit modest, to coordinate with us, to accept the hand that we have extended to them, we have extended our hand with an open heart to cooperate, specially that Lebanon is ahead of serious challenges, which obliges us to coordinate, unfortunately, during electing the speaker of the parliament, his deputy, and the office council of the parliament, they did not cooperate with us, which led to the defeat of the majority, because today as you know, the balance has shifted inside the parliament, today Hizbullah, Free patriotic movement, Amal movement, this group has lost the majority, Hizbullah can no longer claim that he has the majority inside the parliament, but in return, the new majority is not united, it is divided, and it is composed of three categories, the first category is the forces of sovereignty, the second is independent figures, and the third is the forces that consider themselves forces of change
Unfortunately, these three forces are not uniting, to wage its political battles, we call upon them to unite so we achieve results, to manage to achieve change, unfortunately, during the last merit, we failed to unite and get results, I hope that during the next merit, which is to decide the next prime minister, we cooperate and reach an outcome, to appoint a prime minister with the qualities we see fit to lead the country to salvation, and the next merit in October is the election of a new president, all these requires us to unite, we are prepared and ready for cooperation, not the ball is in their field 

Q: The Free Patriotic movement is losing ground and allies within the Christian political spectrum, while the Lebanese forces is gaining ground, some try to create an atmosphere of fear, doubt and confusion, trying to suggest that the Lebanese forces is an extreme force and a project of conflict and even civil war, how would you respond

A: On the contrary, since the year 1990, we handed over our weapons, and we engaged in the political process, unfortunately, the Taef agreement was not implemented, and during the Syrian occupation we were persecuted, our leader Dr, Samir Gaegae and a lot of  Lebanese Forces were imprisoned, or persecuted, I had to flee the country to avoid being imprisoned in either a Lebanese or Syrian prison because of my political views, no we since 1990 are committed to the democratic peaceful political activity, in 2005 when the Syrian Army left Lebanon, Dr. Samir Gaegae was released from prison and the Lebanese forces ban was lifted, we believe in the democratic peaceful political work and we never engaged in any military activity, or engaged in any security breach, on the contrary, we firmly believe and support the legitimate national armed forces, Lebanese Army and Internal Security Forces and see them as the exclusive rightful side in charge of internal and national security, and protecting the state and its establishments, of course in the year 1975, we were fighting in self-defense against the foreign occupations, whether Syrian or Palestinian, we were defending our existence, this was self-defense, we were fighting for our freedom, our beliefs, our families, this is something natural, we always demanded the implementation of the international resolutions, Decisions 425 which led to the Israeli army withdrawal from Lebanon, until this day we demand the implementation of resolution 1559, which calls and demands for the disarmament of all militias and that any external force leaves Lebanon, we demand the implementation of resolution 1701, which ensures that the Lebanese army spreads over South Lebanon in cooperation with the Unifil (United Nations peace keeping forces), resolution 1680, which demands that the Lebanese borders, especially in the eastern borders with Syria, are well monitored and under control, No we are abided by the Lebanese and international laws, and the resolutions of the united nations security council, therefore we are a peaceful law abiding political party, our political struggle is exclusively political, it is right that we are demanding that Hizbullah disarms and ends its external relations and his external military activities and wars that he is participating in, but our methods and style are strictly political and Democratic, it depends only on the Lebanese state
Now if someone assaults us, it is natural that we will defend ourselves, like the year 1975, then it is a legal right for us to self-defense, if someone attacks Lebanon or violates our dignity, but today this is not our aim, today our aim is the emergence of the state

Q; A huge community of Lebanese has been created in Armenia, not only Lebanese Armenians but also Lebanese from all religious groups, what message would you like to pass to us, and of course to people like me, we who Lebanon never left our memory and Sentiment

A; I call upon Lebanese in the diaspora, and to Lebanese in Armenia, do not remove Lebanon from your heart, to stay committed to Lebanon, today Lebanon needs your help, if you have families and friends in Lebanon, help them in any way you can, in any way possible, whether financial aid, or through medical (medicine..), Lebanon today is undergoing a crisis, Insha ALLAH hopefully it ends soon, and it will of course end soon

Keep Lebanon in your heart and mind, if you want to go have a vacation, come to Lebanon, Lebanon now needs your help, I a sure you have never abandoned Lebanon
Every country undergoes a tough period, Armenia has been under Soviet occupation for 70 years, but it got liberated and returned to the international community, there is still hope for Lebanon to rise once again
We all together will rebuild Lebanon

Interview by Peter Manoukian