PROSECUTOR’S BROTHER MOVES TO BECOME YEREVAN DISTRICT CHIEF
By Astghik Bedevian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 4 2006
Prosecutor-General Aghvan Hovsepian has moved to retain his de facto
control of Yerevan’s western Ajapnyak district by having his younger
brother stand in the local mayoral election slated for October 29.
Ruben Hovsepian’s participation and likely victory in the poll should
also avert a new clash between two mutually antagonistic clans that
hold sway in the area.
Artsrun Khachatrian, Ajapnyak’s incumbent mayor who has governed
the district for the last six years, represents one of those
clans. Khachatrian is a prominent member of a broader faction led by
the influential prosecutor. It mainly consists of prominent natives
of the Aparan district in central Armenia.
The rival camp is headed by senior lawmaker Galust Sahakian and
his brother-in-law Ashot Aghababian. Both men are senior members of
the governing Republican Party (HHK) and longtime associates of its
official leader, Prime Minister Andranik Markarian. Sahakian’s son
Arman was narrowly defeated by Khachatrian in 2003 and planned to
again try to unseat the latter in the upcoming election. The previous
local polls were marred by violence and accusations of vote rigging,
and many observers expected more trouble this time around.
However, Arman Sahakian was effectively forced to pull out of the
race after the HHK’s governing board refused to back his candidacy in
August at the apparent behest of Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian. The
unexpected move fueled speculation about a deal cut by Sarkisian
and Hovsepian.
Samvel Yeranian, chairman of the Ajapnyak election commission, told
RFE/RL that Khachatrian is not among four men who have applied for
registration as election candidates before Wednesday’s deadline. It
turned out that all of them, including Hovsepian’s brother, are
members of the prosecutor’s Nig-Aparan organization. One of the
hopefuls, Gagik Sargsian, is at the same time affiliated with the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), the HHK’s junior
coalition partner that has an uneasy rapport with Hovsepian.
In a newspaper interview published on Wednesday, Khachatrian
claimed that he was not pressurized into quitting the race. "I
made that decision [not to contest the vote] for the sake of the
people of Ajapnyak because I don’t want the community to turn into
a battlefield," he told the "Haykakan Zhamanak" daily.
The Sahakians, for their part, have said they draw comfort from the
fact that Khachatrian will no longer run the area increasingly seen
as Hovsepian’s stronghold. Ajapnyak is home to several businesses
that are reportedly owned by the prosecutor.
Hovsepian underscored his far-reaching political ambitions last month
as he presided over the founding conference of a coalition of so-called
"compatriots’ unions" that unite prominent natives of various regions
of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Nig-Aparan is expected to play a
leading role in the grouping.
Nig-Aparan is also the driving force behind a recently formed
political party which intends to make a strong showing in next year’s
parliamentary elections. Leaders of the party, called Association for
Armenia, have not ruled out the possibility of forming an electoral
alliance with the HHK.