During a press conference convened two days before the parliamentary election that took place on May 1, 2007, Tigran Urikhanyan stated that the Armenian Progressive Party (APP) executive committee had decided to leave the election campaign, calling for its electorate to vote for the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), “If we come to an agreement with the RPA that our bills will be passed, then the decision is final,” said Urikhanyan.
During its snap congress after the 2007 parliamentary election and these events, the Armenian Progressive Party made a decision to endorse Serzh Sargsyan in the 2008 presidential election. The later developments led to the dissolution of the Armenian Progressive Party and its assimilation into the Prosperous Armenia Party. Tigran Urikhanyan is no. 20 of the PAP list for proportional representation now.
In response to the reminder of his past by www.aravot.am, Tigran Urikhanyan noted that he hadn’t made those decisions by himself, but the party had, expressing its fair and impartial position. And if as a result of future developments his fellow party members found themselves seeking for alternatives, it is because their expectations were not met, “The Armenian Progressive Party, which I led at the time, and the PAP, in which I work today, as political forces, have trusted the current president to some extent. The president, on the other hand, has obligations toward the whole nation and the voters that trusted him. Let the people answer whether the president fulfills his obligations or not.” As for endorsing the RPA, Urikhanyan clarifies, “I wrote an article at the time that a few newspapers published. The topic was We Endorse Not Serzh Sargsyan, but the New Expectations Related to Him – let the people assess whether he has met those or not. Moreover, I want to stress that I have never expressed my opinion on the RPA as a citizen of the Republic of Armenia and I have never been excited about the articles of their program and ideology. Furthermore, when the APP put an issue of endorsing Serzh Sargsyan to vote at the snap congress, let me remind specifically for people who have bad and short memory that I myself abstained from voting. There are videos, you can go into archives. Which aroused also the surprise of the members of the executive committee. I don’t want to pose in any way. I stress that the current president, becoming a member of the RPA, gave that party weight and endorsing him was also caused by the hopes pinned on him, which automatically turned into support for the RPA.”
Urikhanyan said without going into detail that he understood quite well in whose interest reminding his political history was and advised, “Don’t look into it, because as a result of it unpleasant memories for you can also emerge.”
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Nelly GRIGORYAN
