Ruben Hayrapetyan, the president of the Football Federation of Armenia, responded to a question about Vazgen Manukyan, a former Prime Minister and the leader of the National Democratic Union (NDU), asked during the famous interview given to French Nouvelles d’Arménie Magazine why the latter had appointed him the director of Haytskhakhot in 1991, “There was anarchy in the country. The Soviet Union was collapsing and massive robbery started. There were armed gangs, which would break into state enterprises and take what they wanted. In reality, I was appointed, in order not to allow the enterprise to be robbed and to enforce law and order, which I did.” And in response to an observation that Ruben Hayrapetyan had bought Haytskhakhot Association for a song, he denied it saying, “I
didn’t buy the enterprise for a song. On the contrary, I bought it quite expensively. It was one of the most expensive privatizations at the time, because Levon Ter-Petrossian and his friends did whatever they could, in order that I couldn’t buy the factory. Because I was one of Vazgen Manukyan’s supporters. All close friends of Vazgen Manukyan’s were oppressed and persecuted. They wouldn’t allow us to live peacefully. In 1994, they just expelled me from the country.” In this regard, www.aravot.am inquired of Vazgen Manukyan today whether Ruben Hayrapetyan had really been under serious pressure for standing by him, only for being one of his supporters. Vazgen Manukyan confirmed what Ruben Hayrapetyan had said in the interview, “I haven’t read the interview, but I can say that in 1996, Rubik Hayrapetyan was among our supporters and he suffered much damage after September 26, 1996, since his inclination to this side, our side, was obvious.”
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
