RUSSIAN-ARMENIAN TYCOON IN KOCHARIAN U-TURN
By Shakeh Avoyan
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
May 17 2006
Ara Abrahamian, the politically active Russian-Armenian tycoon,
appeared on Wednesday to have reconsidered his critical attitude
towards Armenia’s leadership after holding what he described as a
“very good” meeting with President Robert Kocharian.
Abrahamian, who publicly criticized the authorities in Yerevan just
hours before the meeting on Tuesday, said Kocharian promised to
support his World Armenian Congress (WAC) and take into consideration
his views on political and economic developments in Armenia.
“He listened to us very attentively and promised to help,” he told a
news conference. “We addressed those differences which we have had,
to varying degrees, with the [Armenian] Foreign Ministry and the
government in general and found mechanisms for working together. It
is time to work together.”
A statement on the meeting released by the Armenian president’s office,
said Kocharian “welcomed the fact that the Congress’s initiatives are
becoming more Armenia-oriented and acquiring a truly pan-Armenian
quality.” Kocharian has previously voiced skepticism about WAC’s
ambitious plans to serve as an umbrella structure for all major
Diaspora organizations around the world.
Addressing a WAC gathering in Yerevan on Tuesday, Abrahamian complained
that the Moscow-based organization, which was set up in 2003 with
the Russian government’s apparent backing, has failed to fulfill its
mission not least because of the Kocharian administration’s lukewarm
attitude towards its activities. He also decried “glaring shortcomings”
Armenia’s political and economic systems.