According to the deputy leader of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), Vardan Ghukasyan’s not being a mayor is not a loss for either him or the residents of Gyumri.
In the pre-election Gyumri, instead of talking about a certain candidate for the mayor or the council, the only subject of discussions is Vardan Ghukasyan’s son Spartak these days. The stories about him develop so quickly that it is hard even for journalists to follow them. And this means that regardless of how our government underestimates the current mayor of Gyumri and state that he can play no role in the election and that everything is over, he has managed to distract the public’s attention from pro-government candidate Samvel Balasanyan’s election campaign, why not, also to upset the latter’s plans to a certain extent, for example, to engage candidates for the council preferred by him in a fight and make them flee. As it is known, Mr. Ghukasyan’s son is suspected of taking revenge on Samvel Balasanyan’s teammates and kicking up a row with them. According to Artyom Ovsyan, an investigator of the Shirak investigation department, “On August 24, 2012, a hooliganism took place at the crossroads of Rustaveli and Sayat-Nova Streets, in front of children’s play center The World of Miracles – a group of young men fought, argued, used dirty language, during which gunshots were fired.” Although the police don’t make names public for the sake of the preliminary investigation, the fact that the Ghukasyans’ cars – Kia with 30 ԼԼ 244 license plate and BMW X6 with 99 VՏ 999 license plate – have been taken to the secured area of the Shirak region investigation department suggests his son’s involvement. Although Spartak Ghukasyan has fled the republic along with his entourage, the police search the houses and businesses of the participants in the skirmish, including Vardan Ghukasyan. An investigation has been launched into committing hooliganism, keeping and using illegal weapons and ammunition in accordance with two articles of the Criminal Code, one person has already been arrested, they try to find the others.
In response to questions concerning Aravot what was going on in Gyumri, when an end would be put to the shootings, Ashot Gziryan, the governor of Shirak said, “You know that they are gathering evidence, an investigation is launched, all perpetrators will be found and held accountable, I think it will be so. And I will be decisive in making it be so. And you don’t ask those provocative questions, no one can say what will happen tomorrow, the important thing is that if it happens, they must be held accountable, it is important that it is
not left unpunished. There is no particular fuss, you – journalists – make a fuss of it, are there injuries, are their casualties? There can be shooting everywhere, if there is, they must be held accountable. What can we do? We have the police for that, there are law-enforcers for that who work better than before.”
Galust Sahakyan, the deputy leader of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), who was invited to a cultural event in the village of Toros, the region of Shirak, yesterday stated during a conversation with us, “Who shoots will be punished, but we do everything we can, our most important task is that the election is not held in an atmosphere of tensions and has a good outcome. We endorsed our candidate particularly because the residents of Gyumri have positive feelings about that candidate, I think that Gyumri needs restoration of that faith; it is the main thing that will yield results. I think that if the candidate we endorse wins, I am also aware of his programs, his investment policy, the opportunities offered by Samvel Balasanyan to Gyumri will be everlasting and the resident of Gyumri will gradually be able to walk down the streets of his town so that shootings, fights, bad attitude will be things of the past.” In response to our questions whether the RPA had planned any office for the outgoing mayor of Gyumri, whether the party had discussed his issue, where they saw him, the RPA deputy leader stressed that Vardan Ghukasyan’s not being the mayor of Gyumri was not a loss for either the residents of Gyumri or Vardan Ghukasyan himself. “Vardan Ghukasyan is free to make a choice and I think we don’t know yet what thoughts, what ideas, what approaches he has and I by no means think that there are lifelong mayors or lifelong parliamentarians, I don’t think it is a loss for either him or the residents of Gyumri.”
Galust Sahakyan expects that Gyumri will become a quiet and at the same time, unsleeping town as it was before and it will bear the title of the town of crafts and arts again. “Under the circumstances of economic crisis, the president was able to solve the housing problem, which is under way again, i.e. in order that all these values are noticeable in Gyumri, Gyumri must become a quiet town,” Mr. Sahakyan says. He also doesn’t think that it is a tragedy that Vardan Ghukasyan’s team has massively left the RPA. “The party is for entering and leaving, if they can, they will join the struggle the party wages. The party members change all the time, but the ideologists and supreme bodies of the party are always in their places, it is an issue of human rights, everyone can choose any party, leave the party, but I think that generally, it is a favorable situation for the Republican Party, not in the sense that the Republican Party is in power, but also that at the end of the day, the Republican Party has to carry out the promises it has made to the society in the past years, I think that it will carry them out, regardless of who will leave offended, who will withdraw offended or new people will come.” Galust Sahakyan also added that the RPA didn’t consider state and national interests in the light of party interests, otherwise, it would have announced someone from the RPA for the mayor of Gyumri and they had had many candidates for that office.
NUNE AREVSHATYAN
