NowLebanon, Lebanon
March 28 2009

Pakradounian: If anyone expects us to dump Aoun, this will not happen

March 28, 2009

Tashnaq MP Hagop Pakradounian on Saturday said that Tashnaq’s
alliances were `known’ and `honest.’ `If someone is expecting us to
dump General Aoun this will not happen because Tashnaq does not stab
its allies in the back,’ he said.

Pakradounian clarified that Tashnaq would announce its candidates,
rather than alliances, during a press conference that it will hold on
Sunday.

In an interview with LBC on Saturday, Pakradounian reiterated that
Tashnaq would ally with bloc leader MP Michel Aoun and MP Michel Murr
noting that `there is nothing new in the alliances.’

Pakradounian said his party’s objective was to avoid battles in
Christian regions. `We hope the decision in the Beirut I district is
in the hands of the Christian forces, and to have direct relations and
negotiations with them,’ he said.

He said his party wanted a parliamentary bloc formed from the
representatives of the broad spectrum of Armenian society, and which
would be autonomous in its political decisions and positions. `I am
not talking about centrism because there is no neutrality in
politics,’ he said.

Pakradounian said his experience with Aoun was `civilized,’ noting
that Tashnaq would nominate one supporter only throughout Lebanon. He
said the Armenian party had sometimes taken distinct positions from
the March 8 alliance, adding that it had urged Aoun to keep the Greek
Orthodox seat on his electoral list vacant for Murr.

He affirmed that Tashnaq would not vote for Aoun’s second Greek
Orthodox MP in Metn. He also said that [former Kataeb president] Karim
Pakradouni had earlier proposed his nomination `in case we need him.’
However, amid these conditions, `we will not nominate him and he is
our friend.’

-NOW Staff