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EX-LEADER KOCHARYAN'S MEETING WITH PUTIN FUELS TALK ABOUT HIS RETURN TO MAJOR-LEAGUE POLITICS
By Naira Hayrumyan
ArmeniaNow
24.12.10
The two ex-presidents have met again (2008 archive photo)
A report that former Armenian president Robert Kocharyan met with
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday (December
20) has given rise to press speculation that the former president is
plotting a political comeback.
The Kocharyan-Putin meeting was confirmed by the head of the
ex-president's office Victor Soghomonyan.
Since his retirement in 2008, the second president of Armenia has led a
mostly non-public life, rarely attending public events. Still, during
this period reports have been coming about Kocharyan's high-level
meetings at home and abroad. In March 2009 he made a trip to France
where he met with former French President Jacques Chirac, in January
this year he visited Iran where he was received by President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad. He also met with newly appointed U.S. co-chair of the
OSCE Minsk Group Robert Bradtke in Yerevan last spring. Since his
resignation as president Kocharyan has given only one major interview,
in which he criticized the government's economic policy and also
voiced harsh criticism over the initiatives of the current president
on Armenian-Turkish normalization.
Experts see the Kocharyan-Putin meeting as signaling the start of
Armenia's 2012 parliamentary election campaign. At least two major
parties, Prosperous Armenia and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutyun), are believed to be Kocharyan's support bases in
Armenian politics.
Head of the parliamentary faction of the ruling Republican Party of
Armenia Galust Sahakyan takes Kocharyan's meeting with the Russian
prime minister in its stride.
"The meeting of the ex-presidents of the two countries is likely to
have been initiated by Putin and was of a protocol character rather
than was conditioned by the need to solve any major political issues,"
Sahakyan told reporters on Thursday.
According to the senior Republican Party member, Kocharyan has
no serious influence on political processes in Armenia and has an
"inert position". However, he said, it does not mean that he is not
interested in the fate of Armenia.
Meanwhile, the leader of the Prosperous Armenia party, tycoon Gagik
Tsarukyan has not yet said whose candidacy he will support in the 2013
presidential election. His party is one of the two junior partners
of the Republicans in the current governing coalition.
In its turn, Dashnaktsutyun, which quit the coalition in May 2009
over what it considered the current administration's conciliatory
position in the Armenia-Turkey rapprochement, has slammed the current
authorities for "failed foreign and domestic policies" and aims to
achieve a leadership change, i.e. "the change of the president,
the government and the National Assembly", as was stated by the
party's senior representative Armen Rustamyan. Speaking about the
change of power, Dashnaktsutyun has in mind the next parliamentary
and presidential elections.
Meanwhile, ex-prime minister Hrant Bagratyan, who is currently a
leading member of the extra-parliamentary opposition Armenian National
Congress, does not believe that there are any serious differences
between Prosperous Armenia and the Republicans.
"Tsarukyan or Kocharyan cannot go against the authorities. These
games are just for increasing their share in power and not to lose
what they have," says Bagratyan.
From: A. Papazian
By Naira Hayrumyan
ArmeniaNow
24.12.10
The two ex-presidents have met again (2008 archive photo)
A report that former Armenian president Robert Kocharyan met with
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday (December
20) has given rise to press speculation that the former president is
plotting a political comeback.
The Kocharyan-Putin meeting was confirmed by the head of the
ex-president's office Victor Soghomonyan.
Since his retirement in 2008, the second president of Armenia has led a
mostly non-public life, rarely attending public events. Still, during
this period reports have been coming about Kocharyan's high-level
meetings at home and abroad. In March 2009 he made a trip to France
where he met with former French President Jacques Chirac, in January
this year he visited Iran where he was received by President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad. He also met with newly appointed U.S. co-chair of the
OSCE Minsk Group Robert Bradtke in Yerevan last spring. Since his
resignation as president Kocharyan has given only one major interview,
in which he criticized the government's economic policy and also
voiced harsh criticism over the initiatives of the current president
on Armenian-Turkish normalization.
Experts see the Kocharyan-Putin meeting as signaling the start of
Armenia's 2012 parliamentary election campaign. At least two major
parties, Prosperous Armenia and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutyun), are believed to be Kocharyan's support bases in
Armenian politics.
Head of the parliamentary faction of the ruling Republican Party of
Armenia Galust Sahakyan takes Kocharyan's meeting with the Russian
prime minister in its stride.
"The meeting of the ex-presidents of the two countries is likely to
have been initiated by Putin and was of a protocol character rather
than was conditioned by the need to solve any major political issues,"
Sahakyan told reporters on Thursday.
According to the senior Republican Party member, Kocharyan has
no serious influence on political processes in Armenia and has an
"inert position". However, he said, it does not mean that he is not
interested in the fate of Armenia.
Meanwhile, the leader of the Prosperous Armenia party, tycoon Gagik
Tsarukyan has not yet said whose candidacy he will support in the 2013
presidential election. His party is one of the two junior partners
of the Republicans in the current governing coalition.
In its turn, Dashnaktsutyun, which quit the coalition in May 2009
over what it considered the current administration's conciliatory
position in the Armenia-Turkey rapprochement, has slammed the current
authorities for "failed foreign and domestic policies" and aims to
achieve a leadership change, i.e. "the change of the president,
the government and the National Assembly", as was stated by the
party's senior representative Armen Rustamyan. Speaking about the
change of power, Dashnaktsutyun has in mind the next parliamentary
and presidential elections.
Meanwhile, ex-prime minister Hrant Bagratyan, who is currently a
leading member of the extra-parliamentary opposition Armenian National
Congress, does not believe that there are any serious differences
between Prosperous Armenia and the Republicans.
"Tsarukyan or Kocharyan cannot go against the authorities. These
games are just for increasing their share in power and not to lose
what they have," says Bagratyan.
From: A. Papazian