ANGRY MANUKIAN RULES OUT SUPPORT FOR TER-PETROSIAN
By Astghik Bedevian
Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
Feb 13 2008
Opposition candidate Vazgen Manukian angrily rejected calls to bow
out of the presidential race in favor of his longtime rival, former
President Levon Ter-Petrosian, during a rare campaign trip outside
Yerevan on Wednesday.
Campaigning in the central Aragatsotn region, Manukian was repeatedly
asked by voters unhappy with the government why he has not joined other
opposition leaders in supporting Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian’s main
challenger. The leader of the National Democratic Union (AZhM), a once
influential opposition party, was visibly annoyed by such questions.
"Do you really not understand whom to elect?" he told a small crowd in
the town of Talin. "You have seen each [of the presidential candidates]
for the past 20 years. Don’t we know who sold out, who swindled you,
who was broken up. Should we start explaining that again?"
"If you can’t unite, what can the people do?" one pro-opposition
woman said, interrupting him. "You only discredit each other, saying
everything about each other. This is wrong. These poor people don’t
deserve that."
"There are two candidates whom I will never support," responded
Manukian. "One is Serzh Sarkisian, the other is Levon Ter-Petrosian.
We can join forces with everyone else."
Manukian said a government headed by Ter-Petrosian would "the same
as the existing one" and urged locals to remember the ex-president’s
controversial track record in power. "Have you forgotten everything?"
he asked. "I don’t understand. You may have forgotten, but I haven’t.
"I don’t want an Armenia of Serzh Sarkisian. I don’t want an Armenia
of Levon Ter-Petrosian. We can build a much better Armenia. Why don’t
we follow that path?"
An elderly man objected that Ter-Petrosian’s endorsement by other
prominent oppositionists would increase chances of regime change in
the country. "Don’t vote for me," angrily retorted Manukian. "Vote
for them and you’ll get the Armenia you want."
"I’m sorry, my dear Vazgen, but you are wrong," said the man.
Manukian similarly seethed with rage in the nearby large village of
Parpi when he was asked the same question by the pro-Ter-Petrosian
head of the local chapter of the influential Yerkrapah Union of
Nagorno-Karabakh war veterans. The AZhM leader countered that
Yerkrapah and its late leader, Vazgen Manukian, played a decisive
role in forcing Ter-Petrosian to resign in 1998 over his conciliatory
views on the Karabakh conflict’s resolution.
"Have you changed your view on Karabakh? No," he told the war
veteran. "Has [Ter-Petrosian] changed his view? No, he has made
that clear."
"You silently complied with whatever Vazgen Sarkisian said," continued
Manukian. "He said ‘topple Levon’ and you toppled him. Now Vazgen
Sarkisian’s brother, Levon, Manvel [Grigorian] are saying ‘topple
them and bring back Levon.’ If you do that, what kind of Yerkrapahs
(country defenders) will you be? You will not defend the country? You
will defend yourself."
The bitter remarks undescore the long-running feud between Manukian
and Ter-Petrosian. The two former scholars became the top leaders
of the 1988 movement for Armenia’s unification with Karabakh before
jointly heading the country’s first post-Communist government in
1990. Manukian subsequently quit the government and challenged the
incumbent Ter-Petrosian in the hotly disputed presidential election
of 1996.
Ter-Petrosian sent troops to the streets of Yerevan at the time to
quell violent opposition protests against the official vote results
which showed him narrowly defeating Manukian. The latter still claims
to be the rightful winner of the vote and holds the ex-president
responsible for Armenia’s post-Soviet culture of election fraud.
Speaking to RFE/RL in Talin, Manukian criticized another prominent
opposition leader, Raffi Hovannisian, for throwing his weight behind
Ter-Petrosian. "I don’t think that such alliances set a good example
for future generations in the political spectrum," he said, arguing
that Ter-Petrosian and Hovannisian have "huge differences" on Karabakh
and other major issues.