Kocharian's Return

[Armanen]

Re: Kocharian's Return

I think Serj has been more serious about getting rid of corruption in Armenia than Robert. Also, as has been said, this is not a true rift between the two, they are still very much together.

[londontsi]

Re: Kocharian's Return

I think Serj has been more serious about getting rid of corruption in Armenia than Robert. ......

Are you able to quantfy this?

My view is althogh corruption is not "visible" it is measurable by the state of the economy, economic well being of its citizens and other economic indicators.

He may have uttered anti corruption "slogans" because economic situation and future prospects are dire. He somehow trying to say others are corrupt but not me.

I agree he is a cut from the same cloth as Kocharian and I would add LTP.

[Armanen]

Re: Kocharian's Return

Are you able to quantfy this?

My view is althogh corruption is not "visible" it is measurable by the state of the economy, economic well being of its citizens and other economic indicators.

He may have uttered anti corruption "slogans" because economic situation and future prospects are dire. He somehow trying to say others are corrupt but not me.

I agree he is a cut from the same cloth as Kocharian and I would add LTP.

Well, minor and middle level government employees have been getting busted on a weekly basis, this is shown on Armenian tv and also in the press. Furthermore, European NGOs now have more time given to them by the public tv stations to show adds that explain why the rule of law is better for all, and how to report corruption. While some of the above mentioned things occurred under Robert, it was not at the same level. The issue really is that everyone has so much dirt on everyone else, that no one wants to rock the boat too much.

[Federate]

Re: Kocharian's Return

Kocharian Defends Karabakh Policy


Former President Robert Kocharian dismissed on Monday long-standing opposition claims that he helped to drive the unrecognized the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) out of Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks after coming to power in Armenia.

Karabakh representatives were involved, along with their counterparts from Armenia, in face-to-face negotiations with Azerbaijani officials in the early and mid-1990s. Although international mediators continue to visit Stepanakert during their regular tours of the conflict zone, the negotiating process has been mainly driven by numerous meetings of Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’s presidents held over these past decade. Critics say the NKR’s “exclusion” from the process has hurt the Armenian side.

In a written statement, the head of the ex-president’s office, Victor Soghomonian, claimed that the Karabakh Armenians’ involvement in the talks ended one year before Kocharian became president of Armenia in 1998. He said Kocharian always made clear that no Armenian-Azerbaijani agreement could take effect without being accepted by the NKR.

Soghomonian also argued that Kocharian’s predecessor and currently opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian too had frequently met with his Azerbaijani counterparts while in power.

“These are well-known historical facts,” said Soghomonian. “Before ranting about Kocharian’s mistakes in the negotiating process and brilliantly rectifying them, one must look into the issue thoroughly.”

Aleksandr Arzumanian, a senior member of Ter-Petrosian’s Armenian National Congress who served as foreign minister in 1996-1998, rejected Kocharian’s claims as a “blatant lie.” “Right after coming to power Robert Kocharian drove Nagorno-Karabakh out of the negotiating process,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.

Arzumanian argued that senior U.S. and French diplomats have also publicly stated that the Armenian-Azerbaijani talks were no longer held in a trilateral format after 1997 at Kocharian’s initiative.

Soghomonian’s statement marked Kocharian’s second public intervention in just over a week. The Karabakh-born ex-president had spoken out far less frequently since leaving office in April 2008.

In a March 23 interview with the Mediamax news agency, Kocharian criticized the current Armenian government’s handling of the economic crisis. The criticism fuelled more speculation about his possible return to active politics.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/1997037.html

[Haykakan]

Re: Kocharian's Return

Eurasia Review
April 17 2010


Robert Kocharian And Armenian Politics: Now You See Me, Now You Don't

Saturday, April 17, 2010
By LINKS

High profile visits by Robert Kocharian to Iran and France, and public
criticism of the economic policies pursued by the government of his
successor as president of Armenia, have increased speculation about
his political future. However, whilst Kocharian does not want to be
either forgotten or ignored, since he has interests he wants to
protect, it does not necessarily mean he wants to come back to
Armenian frontline politics soon.

Robert Kocharian came to power in Armenia in 1997, first as a Prime
Minister, and shortly afterwards as president in circumstances that
were far from normal. From his power base in Nagorno Karabakh he was
able to undermine the power and legitimacy of Levon Ter Petrossian,
finally forcing him to resign in 1998 for allegedly trying to sell out
on the future of Karabakh.

During his period as President from 1998 to 2008 Armenia saw rapid
economic growth that greatly improved the standard of living of the
people and earned it the title of a Caucasus economic tiger.

Politically however the country became much the poorer. In 1999 a
violent incident in the Armenian parliament resulted in the death of
the prime Minister and the speaker of Parliament and other political
leaders, seriously decapitating the Armenian political elite. Under
Kocharian, democratic freedoms became increasingly restricted and all
elections held under Kocharian were criticised in one way or another
by international monitors. Kocharian's final act, that of overseeing
the election of his successor was marred with further bloodshed as
police and demonstrators battled each other on the main streets of
Yerevan amidst accusations of election fraud, leaving ten people dead.

However, Kocharian abided by the constitution and left office when his
two terms ended. There was lot of speculation that he may change the
constitution to allow himself a third term, as happened in Azerbaijan
recently, or that he would re-invent himself as Prime Minister, as
happened in Russia with Vladimir Putin. To his credit he did neither.
Speculation however continues as to his political future, and this has
increased in recent weeks after he went on high profile overseas
visits to Iran and France, and following several public
pronouncements, some of which were critical of the policies of the
current government.

Kocharian's power base is a tripod: his control over `Prosperous
Armenia' party, a junior coalition party in government; his influence
over certain oligarchs and business movers and shakers who prospered
during his time in office, and influence over some of the Karabakh
clans, whose remit now extends well into the Yerevan establishment.

The relationship between Kocharian and his successor and current
President, Serzh Sargsyan was pivotal in securing Kocharian the
presidency initially, and in his maintaining control of power
subsequently. Sargsyan is however his own man, specific in style,
cautious in approach, but equally able to think in a radical fashion
when necessary.

What than has prompted Kocharian's recent outbursts? There are two
plausible reasons. The first is that Serzh Sargsyan's Prime Minister,
Tigran Sargsyan has been pushing for some long overdue economic
reforms, as well as trying to clip the wings of some of the oligarchs
close to Kocharian. The second is that Kocharian may have differences
with the President over the foreign policy being pursued, particularly
the attempts to normalise relations with Turkey, and to solve the
Karabakh issue. A proof that Kocharian is still an important player on
the latter was the meeting he had with the US Co-Chair of the OSCE
Minsk process facilitating the peace negotiations on Karabakh, Robert
Bradtke, a few days ago.

Kocharian may not be interested in a full comeback in Armenian
politics, yet. But he certainly does not want to be either forgotten
or ignored. He is therefore likely to pop up every now and then to
make sure that he doesn't.

Source: LINKS is a British non governmental organisation working for
the peaceful resolution of conflicts and in support of democracy and
sustainable development in societies in transition, through dialogue
and innovative initiatives.

http://www.eurasiareview.com/2010/04/robert-kocharian-and-armenian-politics.html

[Haykakan]

Re: Kocharian's Return

I had no idea the ANC had it in for Robert.

OPPOSITION IS NOT IDLE

By David Petrosyan

Jun 14, 2010


The lawsuit against the ex-president R. Kocharian, which was
prepared by the real opposition - the Armenian National Congress (ANC)
and filed on June 2 to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The
Hague, can in its essence indicate the start of reformatting Armenia's
internal political field. At first sight there are no signs that the
court is ready to accept that 280-page document (a kind of "report on
crime") for examination. It is also noteworthy that at first the text
of the lawsuit contained over 400 pages and several hundred thousand
signatures of Armenian citizens were collected in its support. Later
the text was abridged for technical reasons, with several dozen
thousand signatures left. As mentioned before, the appendix to the
lawsuit had more than 4,500 pages of various documents, including
detailed information about over 40 cases currently being examined by
the European Court of Human Rights. In addition, it included video
recordings and evidence concerning not only the events that took place
in downtown Yerevan on 1-2 March 2008, but also a number of
high-profile murders, the eviction of residents from their own homes
in downtown Yerevan, and many other outrages committed under president
Robert Kocharian.

Let us remind that Armenia signed the Rome Statute - the treaty,
under which the ICC was established and operates, but it did not
ratify the treaty as Armenia's Constitutional Court ruled that this
legal act contravenes the Constitution of the country. Thus, formally
Armenia is not a state party to the International Criminal Court.
Whereas, only crimes committed either in the territory of a state
party or by a citizen of a state party come within the Court's
jurisdiction. If the personal or territorial principle is absent, the
Court has no jurisdiction over the case.

Thus, the crimes committed in the territory of Armenia are
formally beyond The Hague court's jurisdiction. However, there is an
exception to this principle: the United Nations Security Council can -
under a resolution adopted in accordance with Chapter VII of the
Charter of the UN - refer to the Court a certain situation concerning
a crime which was committed neither in the territory of a state party
nor by a citizen of a state party. The UN Security Council did
exercise once that right when it referred to the situation in Darfur
(a region in Sudan) to the Court. Sudan is not a state party of the
ICC. On July 21, 2008 the ICC issued arrest warrants for Sudanese
president Omar al-Bashir on a genocide charge in connection with the
Darfur conflict. Al-Bashir thereby became the first acting head of
state to be charged by the international judicial body.

Thus, the ANC lawsuit's prospects of success are mostly
theoretical, but at the same time they cannot be completely ruled
out. In this context, one can imagine a purely hypothetical situation
when one of the international functionaries will make a statement to
the effect that the documents submitted by ANC have been accepted for
examination, registered or something of that sort. Yet, such a
statement would be enough so that any external player planning to
stake on support for R. Kocharian's return to presidency would abandon
his plans.

Indeed, how promising is it to give political support to a
presidential candidate with a voluminous dossier at an international
judicial body?

However, in reality, even prior to any statements by the ICC,
there are numerous signs that the external players who would
potentially support R. Kocharian's return to politics have begun
showing quite a lukewarm attitude to that idea.

Finally, the traditional party of ARF Dashnaktsutyun, which held
its convention last week, has made it clear - on behalf of the
newly-elected Supreme Body - that it does not connect its political
future with the return or non-return of ex-president R. Kocharian to
politics.

R. Kocharian's major business partner - oligarch G. Tsarukian
who heads Prosperous Armenia, the second largest parliamentary
faction, has reduced his public activity in recent period and has
focused on his business.

Thus, a process of reformatting the political field has started
and Armenia may become transformed from the "country of three
presidents" into a "country of two presidents". It is about
minimization of the possibility of R. Kocharian's return to big
politics and restriction of his influence on domestic and foreign
political processes.

Interestingly, the ARFD party has already made several statements
which can be interpreted as really opposition ones, including the
calls for regime change (not necessarily early elections are meant,
but nonetheless, a change is urged), which, the new party leadership
believes, is a demand for national security. Along with these
statements, the traditional party also made some traditional attacks
on the extra-parliamentary opposition in the person of ANC regarding
the 1 March 2008 events. In this way ARFD members demonstrated that
they are not in disagreement with the country's leadership over the
issue of that crime's cover-up.

At the same time the ARFD has begun parliamentary cooperation on
some important issues of foreign and domestic policies with the real
parliamentary opposition, the Heritage Party. Some pro-opposition
media outlets forecast that later ARFD and Heritage may conclude a
political alliance and run as one political bloc in the elections
(regardless of whether they will be regular or early). Yet, this
author refrains from endorsing such a hasty forecast because
parliamentary cooperation is one thing, while a political bloc/union
is quite another.

Speaking again about the ANC's lawsuit filed to The Hague-based
ICC, we should note that in this complex issue the opposition
demonstrated its competence, efficiency and consistency. Indeed, the
preparation of the lawsuit took over two years, but nonetheless this
work was successfully completed. Thus, the ANC proved its commitment
to honoring its obligations, even though it was not an easy work,
given the scanty funds of the opposition and the constant criticism
leveled at it by the radicals. The preparation of such a serious
document as the lawsuit to the ICC as well as the reports of the
opposition members of the dissolved fact-finding group on inquiry into
the 1-2 March 2008 events in Yerevan (in this issue the ANC actively
cooperates with the Heritage Party) show that as before, the ANC
maintains its role of active extra-parliamentary opposition.

[londontsi]

Re: Kocharian's Return

The man is busy killing lions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH_P3nf5PP0

[londontsi]

Re: Kocharian's Return

http://www.slaq.am/en/news/28275/Robert_Kocharyans_personal_rating_is_2.5_%3A_Adibekyan.htm

Robert Kocharyan’s personal rating is 2.5 %

RA second President Robert Kocharyan personal rating is 2.5 %.
The head of "Sociometer" Sociological Center Aharon Adibekyan at today's press conference.

The reason of such low rating, according to Adibekyan, is the presence of negative information
about their family's economic activity after Kocharyan's leaving the power.

"He couldn't quite clearly deny and created a negative mood on his former fans,
because he was considered as the most important figure of Artsakh liberation war.
Karabakh issue, however, is in the 3-4 row among our political prior problems,
after economic, opening of borders, Armenian-Turkish relations' problems,
that's why he can't use the resource with which he had come into the power" - Adibekyan said.

He noted that one comes into power on the basis of a serious structure and
a question arises if there is a structure on which Robert Kocharyan had been based on,
would they like to recall and offer to rule again or not?

[Federate]

Re: Kocharian's Return

Kocharian Backs Tycoon In Row With Armenian Ruling Party



In a rare public statement that will stoke speculation about his political comeback, former President Robert Kocharian has backed businessman Gagik Tsarukian in a spat with the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK).

In an interview with the Mediamax news agency published late on Monday, Kocharian said he exerted considerable influence on the party led by his successor Serzh Sarkisian and deserves credit for its past electoral successes. He also stressed that Armenia’s next parliamentary elections should be democratic.

Some HHK representatives hit back on Tuesday with comments that threatened to cause a potentially far-reaching rift with the ex-president.

Kocharian’s interview was prompted by the HHK’s latest argument with Tsarukian and his Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), a junior partner in Sarkisian’s governing coalition. It was sparked by Tsarukian’s January 29 claim that Kocharian could have headed the HHK if he had wanted to. The remark drew stern rebukes from top HHK representatives.

A BHK spokesman scoffed at the criticism before Tsarukian tried to lower the temperature in the row last week. The tycoon, who is reputed to be close to Kocharian, said he “did not mean to offend” the HHK and its leader.

“The nature of the unfolded debate showed that, unfortunately, some politicians have an extremely short memory,” Kocharian said, referring to Tsarukian’s critics.

“I think few people doubted at that time that as a president, I am able to not only form but lead (both formally and informally) the [HHK-controlled] parliamentary majority,” he told Mediamax. “I simply chose a different model of interaction with the parliament and parties, which was more effective at that time and enabled the president to fully concentrate on state governance, while retaining a large room for maneuver in internal political affairs.”

Armenia -- Former President Robert Kocharian (L) and Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukian.
Kocharian said he personally strengthened the HHK during his 1998-2008 presidency by “advising” many government officials to join it. “Incidentally, many of them now sit on the party’s governing bodies,” he noted.

“In 2003 and 2007, every single name on the HHK’s electoral slates was agreed with me,” Kocharian continued, referring to disputed parliamentary elections swept by the party.

“But all this is history now, and it doesn’t matter who could have done what but hasn’t, or vice versa. What I find imperative now is the need for fair political competition in the upcoming parliamentary elections,” he said.

Kocharian did not specify whom he will support in the elections due in May 2012 or whether he will be involved in the race in any way. Media commentators have speculated over the past year that he is keen to return to government in some capacity through the BHK.

Tsarukian’s party has expressed its intention to make a strong showing in the polls. So has the more powerful HHK.

Commenting on Kocharian’s remarks, the HHK’s chief spokesman, Eduard Sharmazanov, said the party, officially headed by Sarkisian since 2008, was the ex-president’s main support base throughout his decade-long rule. But, he stressed, it has been and will be “consolidated around Serzh Sarkisian.”

“And since the second president also looks to the future, I must say that we associate our present and future with the implementation of our party’s programs under the leadership of Serzh Sarkisian and nobody else,” Sharmazanov told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.

Galust Sahakian, an HHK deputy chairman, went further, saying that Kocharian owes a lot to the Republicans. “The Republican Party enabled the [former] president to realize his programs,” he told reporters. “Kocharian made a big contribution to the results achieved over ten years, but nothing more.”

It was the first time that Kocharian and the HHK traded verbal barbs openly. The ex-president has until now only voiced thinly veiled criticism of the current government’s economic policies. He has otherwise kept a low profile since handing over power to Sarkisian in April 2008 following a presidential election marred by fraud allegations and a harsh government crackdown on the Armenian opposition.

Kocharian’s latest statements are certain to fuel more talk of his alleged desire to return to active politics. Some observers say he could rely on not only the BHK but the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), an opposition party that was one of his main political allies.

But Armen Rustamian, a Dashnaktsutyun leader, insisted on Tuesday that his party does not have regular contacts with Kocharian. “Dashnaktsutyun holds no meetings with Kocharian,” Rustamian told a news conference. “Dashnaktsutyun has its own life and Robert Kocharian his own.”

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2301618.html

[Haykakan]

Re: Kocharian's Return

Imagine that, a socialist party (ARF) endorsing a oligarch lol. They had no problem i guess as the wealth of the country was being accumulated into the hands of the very few so why would it surprize anyone if the dashnaks backed kocharian or tzarukian or any of the other olis.. Maybe the ARF should no longer call itself a democratic socialist party because it has not acted like one in Armenia.