HRANT BAGRATYAN THINKS NDP LEADER IS A FRAUD

Lragir
Sept 4 2007
Armenia

Hrant Bagratyan, the ex-prime minister of Armenia, the leader of
the Azatutyun Party, stated September 4 at the Hayeli Club that
Kocharyan’s statement on Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s likelihood to return
Karabakh is clear fraud. Hrant Bagratyan told Shavarsh Kocharyan he
had even stated on A1+ TV about giving away Meghri as well.

"You were giving away Meghri on A1+, do you remember?" Hrant Bagratyan
asked Shavarsh Kocharyan.

"Who?" Shavarsh Kocharyan as well as the reporters asked.

"Mr. Kocharyan," Hrant Bagratyan answered the leader of the National
Democratic Party and the reporters.

"Which Kocharyan? Don’t you see the names are different, only surname
is the same?" asked Shavarsh Kocharyan with everyone around laughing.

"I do but at that time you didn’t speak up, you should have spoken up,"
Hrant Bagratyan said.

First Hrant Bagratyan voiced surprise that about ten have stated to
run in the presidential election but Shavarsh Kocharyan criticizes
only Levon Ter-Petrosyan. Besides, Hrant Bagratyan asked the leader
of the National Democratic Party where he had seen or heard Levon
Ter-Petrosyan return Karabakh. Shavarsh Kocharyan said he had seen
the interviews with Ayaz Mutalibov and Levon Ter-Petrosyan in the
Nesavisimaya Gazeta in 1992 where the president of Armenia says,
according to Shavarsh Kocharyan, the best resolution of the Karabakh
issue is autonomy within Azerbaijan.

"Is this something new for you?" Shavarsh Kocharyan asked Hrant
Bagratyan. The leader of the National Democratic Party also said
Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s article entitled "War or Peace" is also indirect
evidence to his approach that Karabakh should be returned.

Hrant Bagratyan said in reply the problem is not returning, and
rules out that Levon Ter-Petrosyan or the present government may
consider returning Karabakh, because everyone understands that
returning Karabakh might not be the end. "What is the situation like
regarding Karabakh? You should ask what Levon Ter-Petrosyan discussed
and what is being discussed today. In the first, in Ter-Petrosyan’s
document Lachin and Kelbadjar were not concerned, the basic issue
was Karabakh. The second document includes the corridor and the
referendum," Hrant Bagratyan says. He says the evolution shows the
process is not in our favor. "And Ter-Petrosyan or Robert Kocharyan
or anyone else have nothing to do with it. Because if the problem
persisted, it would gradually be so, if we don’t make a factor out
of the problem, if for instance, one million people lived in Karabakh.

In that case, the factor would be other," Hrant Bagratyan says. He
thinks this is the problem.