“Zhamanak” comments on shock rumors that former President Robert Kocharian may run for parliament on the ruling Republican Party’s ticket. In this regard, the paper recalls Kocharian’s February 2011 claims that he personally strengthened the HHK and helped to ensure its electoral victories during his 1998-2008 rule.
“Haykakan Zhamanak” asks parliament speaker Samvel Nikoyan to comment on speculation that Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian could replace him after the parliamentary elections. Nikoyan dismisses it as an attempt to spoil his relationship with Sarkisian. He also scoffs at claims that he is a member of the prime minister’s political team. “We are all [HHK] party members and our leader is the president of the republic,” says Nikoyan.
Interviewed by “Hraparak,” Orinats Yerkir Party leader Artur Baghdasarian defends his decision not to support former President Levon Ter-Petrosian in the 2008 presidential election. “They say that I joined Serzh Sarkisian for a government post,” he says. “But Ter-Petrosian was talking to us in a language of blackmail and slander. Nobody in the Republic of Armenia can talk to me like that.” Baghdasarian argues that if Orinats Yerkir cared much about government jobs it would not have left Kocharian’s coalition government in 2006. “The truth is obvious. We had a disagreement with the former president and pulled out of the coalition in a dignified way,” he says.
Ashot Manucharian, a veteran politician, tells “Aravot” that Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) leader Gagik Tsarukian and other millionaire businessmen are not the country’s leading oligarchs.” “The largest and most criminal oligarchs are state officials who have made fortunes,” he says. “The problem is that a person aspiring to be an oligarch wants to become a state official in order to accumulate wealth. He is an equally strong guardian of this system.”
(Aghasi Yenokian)
“Haykakan Zhamanak” asks parliament speaker Samvel Nikoyan to comment on speculation that Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian could replace him after the parliamentary elections. Nikoyan dismisses it as an attempt to spoil his relationship with Sarkisian. He also scoffs at claims that he is a member of the prime minister’s political team. “We are all [HHK] party members and our leader is the president of the republic,” says Nikoyan.
Interviewed by “Hraparak,” Orinats Yerkir Party leader Artur Baghdasarian defends his decision not to support former President Levon Ter-Petrosian in the 2008 presidential election. “They say that I joined Serzh Sarkisian for a government post,” he says. “But Ter-Petrosian was talking to us in a language of blackmail and slander. Nobody in the Republic of Armenia can talk to me like that.” Baghdasarian argues that if Orinats Yerkir cared much about government jobs it would not have left Kocharian’s coalition government in 2006. “The truth is obvious. We had a disagreement with the former president and pulled out of the coalition in a dignified way,” he says.
Ashot Manucharian, a veteran politician, tells “Aravot” that Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) leader Gagik Tsarukian and other millionaire businessmen are not the country’s leading oligarchs.” “The largest and most criminal oligarchs are state officials who have made fortunes,” he says. “The problem is that a person aspiring to be an oligarch wants to become a state official in order to accumulate wealth. He is an equally strong guardian of this system.”
(Aghasi Yenokian)