NowLebanon, Lebanon
March 29 2009

Tor Sarkissian ready to give Tashnaq `everything’ if it changes
electoral stance

March 29, 2009

Future Movement MP Serge Torsarkissian told the Free Lebanon radio
station on Sunday that the Armenian party Tashnaq was offered
parliamentary seats and not money, as some claimed.

`We cannot reach a solution with Tashnaq because it wants
everything. If it had the ability, it would attempt to seize Maronite
and other seats,’ he noted.

He said that Armenian parliamentary seats were owned by the people,
adding, `We do not offer gifts and Tashnaq should make a final
decision [in reference to the party’s alliances for the upcoming
parliamentary elections] and we are ready to give them everything.’

`What do they mean by an Armenian bloc?’ he asked. Some claimed they
want a rotating presidency for the Armenian bloc, he noted, while
Change and Reform bloc MP Hagop Pakradounian abandoned such a rotating
seat during the national dialogue sessions.

`We do not reject the formation of an Armenian bloc, but it will be
dangerous for Lebanon if it only includes members of Tashnaq,
especially with the presence of several major groups,’ he added.

`I can ask Tashnaq to be non-aligned: whether to vote equally for
candidates in the Metn district or not to intervene in the electoral
battle,’ the Future MP concluded.

-NOW Staff