DID KIRO MANOYAN REVEAL A DEAL?
Lragir.am
25-06-2007 15:29:04
The ARF Dashnaktsutyun thinks the next president of Karabakh
must announce that the talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are
not effective, and demand involvement of Karabakh in the talks,
and Armenia must recognize the independence of Karabakh considering
the ineffective talks and the defiance of Azerbaijan. Kiro Manoyan,
who is in charge of the political affairs and Hay Dat of the ARF
Bureau, made this statement in a news conference on June 25. Kiro
Manoyan thinks the fact that Karabakh and Armenia will soon have new
presidents is an excellent opportunity for a change of the format.
However, the reporters asked for Kiro Manoyan’s thoughts about the
possible influence of the fact that according to the political
scientist Igor Muradyan the likely presidential candidate in
Nagorno-Karabakh supported by the government is a "drug user" on the
talks. The reporters wondered if in case Bako Sahakyan is elected the
United States may recall Elizabeth Jones’ statement about trafficking
in drugs. They also asked if Bako Sahakyan with such reputation can
represent the interests of Karabakh. One of the reporters even fears
that Bako Sahakyan is unable to fulfill this mission.
"Don’t be afraid, the foreign minister of Karabakh Georgy Petrosyan is
a Dashnak, he can represent the interests of Karabakh in any place,
at any time. The president need not necessarily participate in
the talks. It is important that the president holds the right line
and faces the right direction," Kiro Manoyan says. In answer to the
question if the ARF Dashnaktsutyun supports Bako Sahakyan because the
foreign minister is a Dashnak, Kiro Manoyan said he will not answer
internal questions.
Kiro Manoyan says, however, that the initiative to put up Bako Sahakyan
as a "common candidate" is Dashnaktsutyun’s, not Arkady Ghukasyan’s. "I
do not mean Bako. I mean the common candidate. The problem was to have
a common candidate. Independent from the personality The problem was to
have a common candidate because in Karabakh we cannot afford different
approaches. Kiro Manoyan says. Hence, for Dashnaktsutyun it was not
important who the common candidate would be. Kiro Manoyan disagrees,
however, saying that there were discussions on the personality but
he, for instance, cannot answer the question how Bako Sahakyan was
chosen. He only says the political parties of Karabakh negotiated
and endorsed Bako Sahakyan, and he is not aware why Bako Sahakyan
was chosen. By the way, Kiro Manoyan also stated that he does not
know if Bako Sahakyan uses drugs.