Pashinian raged at Karapetian on Friday as he recalled the latter’s claims that he will allow a mass influx of Azerbaijanis into Armenia in case of winning the upcoming parliamentary elections.
“You are also a brainless spy because you don’t understand what you are doing,” he said during a campaign trip to the western Armavir province. “You are trying to make the issue of the return of 300,000 Azerbaijanis a political agenda in Armenia. And I say: brainless spies should not get votes.”
Karapetian’s nephew and right-hand man Narek responded by accusing Pashinian and his political team of serving Turkey.
“The Turkish mustache is visible behind each of them,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service as he and other leading members of Karapetian’s Strong Armenia bloc campaigned in the Gegharkunik province.
Samvel Karapetian mainly lived in Russia until being arrested and indicted in Armenia last June. He is unable to physically attend his bloc’s campaign meetings because of remaining under house arrest on what he sees as politically motivated charges.
“Together we will put an end to evil. Change is coming, victory is coming, a strong Armenia is coming,” the 60-year-old tycoon said in a video message to Gegharkunik residents released during a Strong Armenia rally held later in the day.
Pashinian traded insults Kocharian after declaring on Thursday that the 71-year-old ex-president must “serve time” because of his role in a 2008 post-election unrest in Yerevan. Kocharian called him a “moron” hours later. The premier was quick to respond in kind.
Three opposition groups led by Kocharian, Karapetian and another wealthy businessman, Gagik Tsarukian, are widely seen as the ruling Civil Contract party’s main election challengers. During the ongoing election campaign, they have claimed that Pashinian, if reelected, will bow to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s repeated demands for Yerevan to ensure the return of Azerbaijanis who lived in Soviet Armenia until the late 1980s.
Pashinian attacked Tsarukian on the campaign trail on Tuesday by insulting and pledging to jail the opposition leader’s fugitive son.