LEADER OF UNION CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT RESIGNS AND LEAVES BIG POLITICS

ARMINFO News Agency
September 20, 2006 Wednesday

Leader of the Union Constitutional Right (UCR) party, Hrant
Khachatryan, is among those few politicians who are able to keep
their word. H. Khachatryan fulfilled his promise and declared about
his resignation from the post of UCR Chairman and about his leave
from big politics at a press conference, Wednesday.

Qualifying the recent events inside the party as an internal coup
through a plot, H. Khachatryan said his leave from the big politics
will not be a big loss for Armenia as there are no irreplaceable
people. "My leave from the big politics is not a self-sacrifice. It
will allow me to return to my favorite radiophysics." At the same time,
H. Khachatryan has no intention to refuse from his deputy mandate until
it expires in order to protect the interests of the party and the party
body, Iravunk newspaper, although he is not longer a member of the UCR.

At the same time, he said he will not run for the parliament during
the upcoming elections. He will not return to big politics even if his
ultimatum to stop the membership of UCR Vice Chairman Hayk Babukhanyan
is fulfilled. H. Khachatryan said he has no serious disagreements
with H. Babukhanyan and the financial misappropriations by the
latter played no key role in their relations. At the same time,
H. Khachatryan complained that he has no access to the documents,
video and audio records of the 17th Congress of UCR. He added that
his leave will not be approved by the members of UCR Board, that is
why he did not informed them of his intention.

However, H. Khachatryan demanded the members of and leadership of the
party to do their best to preserve the party and the office. He thinks
that the party has been practically split up and it needs neither
good nor bad leader. He also demanded that a new editorial council of
"Iravunk" newspaper is elected and the journalists are not dismissed
for their political views. He demanded the editor Hovhanness Galajyan
not to settle organizational issues for lack of such abilities. He
insisted that Vigen Hakopyan, one of the editors of the newspaper,
is appointed the editor-in-chief.

As regards the conflict of "Iravunk" and Defense Minister Serge
Sargsyan, H. Khachatryan said he was among the first to criticize the
acts of the minister in public. "So, the H. Babukhanyan’s statement
that I fulfilled the order of Serge Sargsyan demanding the stoppage
of his membership because he is the head of Iravunk editorial council
is just senseless," he said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress