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OLD FOES END PERSONAL 'FEUD', REMAIN POLITICALLY DIVIDED
By Ruzanna Khachatrian and Ruzanna Stepanian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 9 2007
Armenia's long-standing political rivals appear to have resolved their
personal differences stemming from years of political rivalry in the
early 1990s after their rare meeting on Monday.
But Vazgen Manukian says he and ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosian are
still divided by their political views.
The two leaders of the 1988 movement for Armenia's unification with
Nagorno-Karabakh jointly headed the country's first post-Communist
government before Manukian fell out with Ter-Petrosian over policy
issues to step down as Armenia's defense minister in 1993.
Their political standoff aggravated after the tightly contested
presidential election in 1996 in the wake of which Ter-Petrosian sent
tanks to the streets of Yerevan to quell opposition protests against
the official vote outcome which showed him narrowly defeating Manukian,
the then main opposition candidate. The conduct of the disputed
election was then criticized as deeply flawed by Western observers
and Manukian still claims to be the rightful winner of the vote.
"There was a personal barrier in our relations. This barrier disappears
when you sit down at the table, but political positions do not change,"
Manukian, who leads the opposition National-Democratic Union (AZhM),
told RFE/RL on Tuesday. "After that meeting Ter-Petrosian still remains
committed to his political views and I remain committed to mine."
However, Manukian said that one of the results of the meeting was
that they agreed to cooperate in the future, if necessary, in such
matters as sharing information and opinions as "it will be easier to
do that having restored personal relations."
Manukian, who does not conceal his presidential ambitions and
intentions to run for president in next year's election, believes
that as Armenia's first president Ter-Petrosian will better serve
the opposition push for a power change as a factor of consolidation
rather than the main candidate.
"I can say from what I gathered from our yesterday's meeting that
Levon Ter-Petrosian does not yet appear to have decided whether he
will run for president or not," Manukian said.
Ex-foreign minister Alexander Arzumanian, who also attended the
Monday meeting, admits it is still early to speak about the results,
but places importance on the very fact of the meeting.
"It is very important today when Armenia's independence is in danger
that the two politicians who stood at the sources of this independence
appear together," Arzumanian told RFE/RL.
Arzumanian said he would support the opposition's consolidation
around the ex-president and expressed hope that both Ter-Petrosian
and Manukian would be "guided by the interests of Armenia" rather
than personal ambitions. "The logic of the struggle will lead to the
nomination of a single candidate," he added.
Ter-Petrosian is viewed by many opposition members affiliated with
his loyalist Armenian Pan-National Movement (HHSh) party as the
only candidate who can achieve regime change in Armenia. Despite
numerous statements by Ter-Petrosian's supporters about his impending
nomination as a presidential candidate, the 62-year-old ex-president
has not yet expressly stated his desire to enter the fray.
This view is not shared by Manukian and his supporters from the AZhM.
In particular, shortly after Ter-Petrosian's first public speech
in nearly a decade on September 21 where he referred to the Armenian
government as an "institutionalized mafia-style regime that has plunged
us into the ranks of third world counties", Manukian expressed his
dismay at the assessment made by the former leader who he believes
should have admitted his responsibility for serious political and
economic problems facing Armenia today.
"I am disappointed because Levon Ter-Petrosian faced the same
accusations, made in stronger or softer terms, during his presidency,"
Manukian told RFE/RL in late September.
Aram Sarkisian, the leader of the radical opposition Hanrapetutyun
party, however, thinks Levon Ter-Petrosian is the only person
who can wage a successful struggle against the current regime in
Armenia. He does not agree with the statements of AZhM members that
the opposition should rally primarily around Manukian. "We all need
Levon Ter-Petrosian's return so that we can finally enter the 21st
century and do away with this clan-based system," he told RFE/RL.
Sarkisian admitted that corrupt officials existed also during
Ter-Petrosian's eight-year presidency. "But having [a few] corrupt
officials and creating an organized corrupt system are two different
things," he charged.
Another opposition leader, Stepan Demirchian, who also had a meeting
with Ter-Petrosian recently, yet declines to talk about whom of the
two former leaders he would support. But he promised to present his
party's approaches in the near future.
By Ruzanna Khachatrian and Ruzanna Stepanian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 9 2007
Armenia's long-standing political rivals appear to have resolved their
personal differences stemming from years of political rivalry in the
early 1990s after their rare meeting on Monday.
But Vazgen Manukian says he and ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosian are
still divided by their political views.
The two leaders of the 1988 movement for Armenia's unification with
Nagorno-Karabakh jointly headed the country's first post-Communist
government before Manukian fell out with Ter-Petrosian over policy
issues to step down as Armenia's defense minister in 1993.
Their political standoff aggravated after the tightly contested
presidential election in 1996 in the wake of which Ter-Petrosian sent
tanks to the streets of Yerevan to quell opposition protests against
the official vote outcome which showed him narrowly defeating Manukian,
the then main opposition candidate. The conduct of the disputed
election was then criticized as deeply flawed by Western observers
and Manukian still claims to be the rightful winner of the vote.
"There was a personal barrier in our relations. This barrier disappears
when you sit down at the table, but political positions do not change,"
Manukian, who leads the opposition National-Democratic Union (AZhM),
told RFE/RL on Tuesday. "After that meeting Ter-Petrosian still remains
committed to his political views and I remain committed to mine."
However, Manukian said that one of the results of the meeting was
that they agreed to cooperate in the future, if necessary, in such
matters as sharing information and opinions as "it will be easier to
do that having restored personal relations."
Manukian, who does not conceal his presidential ambitions and
intentions to run for president in next year's election, believes
that as Armenia's first president Ter-Petrosian will better serve
the opposition push for a power change as a factor of consolidation
rather than the main candidate.
"I can say from what I gathered from our yesterday's meeting that
Levon Ter-Petrosian does not yet appear to have decided whether he
will run for president or not," Manukian said.
Ex-foreign minister Alexander Arzumanian, who also attended the
Monday meeting, admits it is still early to speak about the results,
but places importance on the very fact of the meeting.
"It is very important today when Armenia's independence is in danger
that the two politicians who stood at the sources of this independence
appear together," Arzumanian told RFE/RL.
Arzumanian said he would support the opposition's consolidation
around the ex-president and expressed hope that both Ter-Petrosian
and Manukian would be "guided by the interests of Armenia" rather
than personal ambitions. "The logic of the struggle will lead to the
nomination of a single candidate," he added.
Ter-Petrosian is viewed by many opposition members affiliated with
his loyalist Armenian Pan-National Movement (HHSh) party as the
only candidate who can achieve regime change in Armenia. Despite
numerous statements by Ter-Petrosian's supporters about his impending
nomination as a presidential candidate, the 62-year-old ex-president
has not yet expressly stated his desire to enter the fray.
This view is not shared by Manukian and his supporters from the AZhM.
In particular, shortly after Ter-Petrosian's first public speech
in nearly a decade on September 21 where he referred to the Armenian
government as an "institutionalized mafia-style regime that has plunged
us into the ranks of third world counties", Manukian expressed his
dismay at the assessment made by the former leader who he believes
should have admitted his responsibility for serious political and
economic problems facing Armenia today.
"I am disappointed because Levon Ter-Petrosian faced the same
accusations, made in stronger or softer terms, during his presidency,"
Manukian told RFE/RL in late September.
Aram Sarkisian, the leader of the radical opposition Hanrapetutyun
party, however, thinks Levon Ter-Petrosian is the only person
who can wage a successful struggle against the current regime in
Armenia. He does not agree with the statements of AZhM members that
the opposition should rally primarily around Manukian. "We all need
Levon Ter-Petrosian's return so that we can finally enter the 21st
century and do away with this clan-based system," he told RFE/RL.
Sarkisian admitted that corrupt officials existed also during
Ter-Petrosian's eight-year presidency. "But having [a few] corrupt
officials and creating an organized corrupt system are two different
things," he charged.
Another opposition leader, Stepan Demirchian, who also had a meeting
with Ter-Petrosian recently, yet declines to talk about whom of the
two former leaders he would support. But he promised to present his
party's approaches in the near future.