Rule of Law Party (RLP) leader Artur Baghdasaryan said that “Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) has its own representative in the Cabinet, i.e. the Minister of Sports” and that it testified to the cooperation between the government and the PAP. In regard to this, we inquired of Galust Sahakyan, the deputy chairman of the RPA, during a conversation with www.aravot.am whether the PAP really cooperated with the government on this issue and whether we could say that the Minister of Sports is the PAP’s man, he said, “No, I don’t thinks so and I don’t agree with Artur Baghdasaryan. If there had been such an issue, the PAP would have been in the coalition and could have managed the portfolios. It is not the case, our intent is the following that besides the Ministry of Sports, we have also a committee
headed by Gagik Tsarukyan. What we want here is the following – to eliminate all kinds of obstacles in order that these two institutions can work together. This is the reason.”
Razmik Zohrabyan, another deputy chairman of the RPA, thinks “sports belong to everyone and one shouldn’t politicize it, therefore, they gave it to an independent man.” In response to our question whether we could say that the Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs was Gagik Tsarukyan’s man, he said, “Well, if we say so, then all of us in Armenia are each other’s men, what is the problem here? We are few, we are not many. The Minister of Sports is Armenia’s man, I wouldn’t say he is Gagik Tsarukyan’s man. The President said that since Gagik Tsarukyan was the President of the Olympic Committee and he knew the Minister of Sports, they would work easier together. We see no problem, we have depoliticisized sports, let them work, what is the problem? Gagik Tsarukyan’s contribution to the sports is huge. He supports and will support, because it is for our Armenia, our population and our dignity. I was watching kickboxing yesterday, our Armenian guy hit the Japanese guy hard and I was happy.”
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Hripsime JEBEJYAN
