Galust Sahakyan, the deputy leader of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), doesn’t relate Vartan Oskanian, a member of the PAP parliamentary group, to the Prosperous Armenia Party. “Oskanian is a newcomer and his positions are not the PAP position. If Oskanian was a member of the PAP, he would have been in the PAP when he was in power and the PAP was established. He was elsewhere at that time,” Mr. Sahakyan told www.aravot.am.
As for why he was in the PAP now, Mr. Sahakyan explained, “He deemed it appropriate for the moment. God grant, all political forces are able to express their positions clearly and transparently, this is the question. The Oskanian issue is the Oskanian issue today. One shouldn’t relate it to the PAP.”
Mr. Sahakyan remembers quite well that the PAP stated as early as in 2011 that in the upcoming presidential election it will endorse the RPA candidate, i.e. the incumbent president. As for why it hadn’t reconfirmed it yet, Mr. Sahakyan explained, “It is their strategy. They will express their position at the right time.” In response to our question whether they didn’t suspect that the PAP wouldn’t reconfirm, Mr. Sahakyan said, “We don’t go into it, because the capital our candidate has depends neither on us, nor on the PAP, nor on any other political force. He has proved by himself, with his consistent steps that he is a serious national figure and politician. Reconfirming or not reconfirming is more their problem and depends on their approaches.”
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Mr. Sahakyan commented also on Mr. Oskanian’s Facebook status written yesterday, “Armenia is in a deadlock today. On the one hand, one needs profound reforms to get out of this mire, regress, on the other hand, the people, on whom alone the process and implementation of reforms depend, are not interested in implementing those reforms at all, because they will endanger their political and economic monopolies.” “He is in such a condition that it turns out that Oskanian also curses, but in a civilized manner. When he was
an official, he had no opinion about the political stage. I think whether I would think of Armenia as mire, if I was in that mire. One should treat Oskanian tolerably, because he is in a bad condition,” the RPA deputy leader said.
In response to an observation of Mr. Oskanian that the EU donors’ forum to take place in Brussels this year, during which the EU members would supposedly promise $1 billion grant to Armenia, had been postponed because of holding the parliamentary election badly and lagging behind in terms of reforms, Mr. Sahakyan said, “He is a unique official of newly-independent Armenia. All programs have been there and have been good for 20 years, now they are bad. It is good that Oskanian didn’t say that the attitude toward him had changed, that was why such programs were not implemented in Armenia. I think that politicians of Armenia should not cause a perception among the people that Armenia is a begging country and is based on grants. We get grants for our normal characteristics and in accordance with democratic standards. One shouldn’t express such an opinion.”
Arpine SIMONYAN
