Armenian defence minister unruffled by speaker’s resignation

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
12 May 06

[Presenter] Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan does not regard
the Orinats Yerkir [Law-Governed Country] Party’s decision to quit the
ruling coalition as an extraordinary situation. Sarkisyan said that
all talk about a conflict was an exaggeration and existing
disagreements simply came to a logical end.

[Sarkisyan] I do not think that some extraordinary situation has come
about here. I advise you not to look for any underlying reasons. The
[ruling] coalition, which consisted of three political parties, was
set up in 2003 and now one of them has decided to quit because of
disagreements with the two others.

[Correspondent] Can we say that Sarkisyan gained a victory over
[parliament speaker Artur] Bagdasaryan and sidelined him from the
presidential election? [Sarkisyan] I think it would be good if you
put this question to Bagdasaryan because I do not think that there
have been conflict between us or that we have been fighting over
something.