KARABAKH LEADER REPORTEDLY TO RUN FOR THIRD TENURE

Haykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan,
10 Jan 2007 p 1

"Arkasha and the mess he made"

Trustworthy sources have said that NKR [Nagornyy Karabakh republic]
President Arkadiy Gukasian has decided to run for president for a
third time. Although the NKR constitution adopted on 10 December [2006]
gives him such a legitimate opportunity, in this case the point is that
Gukasian himself stated many times that he was not going to run for
president for a third time as this contradicted the NKR’s interests.

However, it has become clear today that the incumbent president of
Karabakh does not understand very well the interests of the country he
rules and is not so much of an honest man. One should confess that the
incumbent NKR president and his retinue understand the discomfort of
the current situation very well. For this reason, some people across
the Armenian diaspora are twittering that the NKR’s interests require
Gukasian to stay on the post of NKR president for a third term.

Vahe Karapetian, a rich Armenian living in the USA, started this
campaign when he said during the 2006 telethon that he will do
everything possible for Gukasian to remain on the post of NKR
president. The president of the Pan-Armenian Congress, Ara Abraamian,
went on with the campaign by saying that in conditions where the
Karabakh conflict has not been settled, it is simply necessary for
Gukasian to remain on the post of president. Andranik Migranian,
Russian political expert close to Abraamian, recently said on Karabakh
Public TV that they should ask Gukasian to take the post of president
for a third time as his departure may negatively affect the Karabakh
[peace] talks.

According to our source, such statements were made at the desire of
the NKR authorities and personally Gukasian. Nobody asked Gukasian
to state that he was not going to put forward his candidacy for a
third time. At present, it turns out that he regrets making such a
statement. This is the best option, and the worst is that Gukasian
deliberately made such a statement for the NKR constitution to be
adopted without any fuss.

Anyway, it is also clear that Gukasian could not have made the
decision to run for president on his own. Undoubtedly, [Armenian]
Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisian, who has gained a devoted partner in
the shape of Gukasian, has played a big part in this. The activeness
of the Russian Abraamian-Migranian pair makes us think that some
Russian circles also played a big part in this decision [being made].

Here, very much important is the process in which owing to the
efforts of known forces, the Karabakh resolution issue has turned from
progressive fighting into clan fighting and Armenia and Karabakh will
get the image of mafia – mojahedin states.
From: Baghdasarian