HOVANNISIAN BLASTS FEUDING PARTY MEMBERS
Emil Danielyan

Armenialiberty.org
Sept 21 2009

Armenia — Raffi Hovannisian, leader of the opposition Zharangutyun
party.

After nearly two weeks of silence, opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian
has condemned as "unacceptable" and pledged to intervene in a bitter
dispute between senior members of his Zharangutyun (Heritage) party.

But Hovannisian, who formally holds no positions in the party hierarchy
despite being its de facto top leader, did not explain his surprise
decision to resign from Armenia’s parliament, which appears to have
precipitated the damaging turmoil.

The resignation, revealed to the media on September 7, was followed
by the expulsion from the party ranks of three senior Zharangutyun
figures, including a parliament deputy and a member of the Central
Election Commission. The latter accused the party’s nominal chairman,
Armen Martirosian, of foul play and secret collaboration with the
Armenian authorities.

Martirosian and his allies, which dominate Zharangutyun’s
decision-making board, have rejected the accusations. They also claim
that the dissidents acted on orders issued by both the government
and the country’s largest opposition alliance led by former President
Levon Ter-Petrosian.

In a statement circulated on Monday, Hovannisian refrained from
taking sides in the row, seemingly blaming both factions for the
"mudslinging" and castigating unnamed individuals motivated by "petty
personal interests." "Of course, as the party’s founder, I bear a
share of the blame, but at issue today is collective responsibility
or rather, the way I see it, collective irresponsibility," he said.

"I think that as one of the leading forces, Zharangutyun will find
a way of sorting out this situation. But if it fails to do that
before the end of this month, I myself will solve the problem,"
warned Hovannisian.

Hovannisian did not elaborate, saying only that the party has come to
be an important "center of gravitation" in Armenia’s political life
that needs to be preserved. Incidentally, he is scheduled to hold a
news conference on October 1.

The popular politician also warned other opposition and pro-government
forces from attempting to exploit Zharangutyun’s troubles. "Let nobody
from our opposition partners and governing parties think that they
are sinless, that they have a monopoly [on truth,] that they are the
only alternative," he said.