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Ex-Karabakh Strongman Ready for Active Political Involvement in Armenia


By Ruzanna Stepanian
A party to be formed by a controversial Karabakh general is set to take an active part in Armenia’s internal political processes after its registration next month.

Founder and leader Samvel Babayan says the constituent assembly of his “Dashink” party will take place on November 10 after which they will formulate their position on major political issues, including the upcoming constitutional referendum in Armenia.

“Our program is still under discussion. After it is approved by the constituent assembly, we will declare our position on the constitutional amendments point by point,” Babayan told RFE/RL on Friday.

Nagorno-Karabakh’s ex-defense minister thinks that the authorities have already secured the adoption of the amendments. Besides, he believes the November 27 referendum will not be a fair one.

“I don’t think it will be a fair referendum, as a large part of the society is still unaware of the essence of the amendments,” he said.

Besides, Babayan does not see an organized opposition that will be able to defend the ‘No’ votes in places.

At the same time, Babayan boasted of having already achieved results through his supporters participating in Armenia’s recent local elections.

“We participated in the local elections and now have some of our supporters as members of local councils, village heads and mayors. Simply we don’t yet announce how many of them we have and who they are,” Babayan said. “It will become clear to everyone when the time is right for that, when our party is established and they become its members.”

Babayan also said that he has no intention to form any political force in Nagorno-Karabakh where he was the most powerful figure until 2000 when he was imprisoned on charges of plotting to assassinate NKR President Arkady Ghukasian. Babayan was released from jail in September 2004.
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