ARAM KARAPETIAN: AUTHORITIES MUST BE CHANGED FOR HOLDING FREE AND JUST ELECTIONS

Noyan Tapan
Apr 05 2006

YEREVAN, APRIL 5, NOYAN TAPAN. If there are no radical changes in
Armenia till 2007, elections will be a farce, and any person or
party participating in them will support the authorities: today’s
authorities of the country must be changed for holding free and
just elections in Armenia. Aram Karapetian, the Chairman of the
“Nor Zhamanakner” (New Times) party made such a statement, making
a speech for participants of the April 4 open-air conference of the
party. According to Karapetian, country President Robert Kocharian’s
and Defence Minister Serge Sargsian’s “night” consultations are not
aimed to solution of the Karabakh issue: “Those are aimed to one thing:
for 18 people who have robbed the country, never stand in front of the
Armenian court.” According to the speaker, the authorities want to
protect themselves at any price. For reaching this goal, Karapetian
stated, the authorities are ready to agree with the variant of
giving the liberated territories of Karabakh and holding a referendum
concerning the status of Karabakh only in 10-20 years. Aram Karapetian
expressed confidence that nothing will change in the country till 2007
parliamentary elections. According to him, “all those opposing parties,
which will make an attempt to reach agreements for having presence at
the Parliament, will cheat the people.” It is also useless to wait
for a “coloured” revolution as the authorities will be mobilized at
the elections and make an attempt to fight on whole front. “Our year
is 2006,” Aram Karapetian stated. According to him, the outer world
will put pressures on the authorities of Armenia, connected with Iran,
Karabakh, gas tariff and other problems, and “when the outer forces
start to shake the authorities,” one must be ready for acting inside.

According to Aram Karapetian, he is ready to invest financial resources
necessary for those actions. “We don’t spare to use our own money
for activizing the people. Our goal will be to activize the people,
to take them to Yerevan, then, Baghramian street and resignation,”
the Chairman of the “Nor Zhamanakner” party stated. As for the other
opposing forces, according to Karapetian, they may join actions of
the “Nor Zhamankner” party if they want, joint with their resources:
“If they don’t, we’ll do as much as we can.” The foreign political
direction of the party is clear: future Armenia must be the closest
ally of Russia,” Aram Karapetian stated. According to him, Armenia must
be able to make use of the market of Russia, and it’s necessary for
this that roads coming through Georgia open. Otherwise, according to
the speaker, a very bad situation is expected in Georgia. “Today the
Georgian state stands at the edge of degradation, and if we are not
ready for that, a great disaster is expected there for the Armenian
inhabitation,” Karapetian stated.