YEREVAN. – Political technologist Karen Kocharyan is convinced that Friday, March 6, 2015 is the happiest day for Gagik Tsarukyan, now former Chairman of the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP).
“He will remember that day for a long time; he will bless a lot of people. Gagik Tsarukyan is a businessman; he was very distressed [in politics],” Kocharyan told reporters on Friday.
In his words, Tsarukyan had entered politics, and therefore he was forced to play the game.
“They told Tsarukyan, ‘you can, you can,’ so much that he believed [that he can],” the political technologist added.
He also noted that this is the first time that President Serzh Sargsyan has conducted himself in such a way, and this allows Kocharyan to assume that there had been underground processes which have caused the president’s outburst.
“Serzh Sargsyan had never expressed himself in such a way and about anyone. I am convinced that there were facts, recordings which were put on his table; that’s why Serzh Sargsyan acted in such a way,” Karen Kocharyan concluded.
As reported earlier, speaking at the February 12 meeting of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Board, President Serzh Sargsyan, who is also chairman of the RPA Board, had stated that then-PAP Chairman, MP and oligarch Gagik Tsarukyan had become a vice for the country as a political player. He also relieved the PAP leader from his status as a National Security Council member, and promised that a process will begin in connection with Tsarukyan’s frequent absence from the parliament sessions.
In response to President Sargsyan’s remarks, Gagik Tsarukyan issued a statement, on February 13, noting that the incumbent authorities must be removed from power immediately. In addition, he urged to achieve Serzh Sargsyan’s resignation by way of lawful political methods.
On February 17, however, Serzh Sargsyan and Gagik Tsarukyan held a brokered talk, and on the next day, the then-PAP leader issued a milder statement. He also called off the rally that was slated for February 20.
And on Thursday, March 5, Tsarukyan announced that he is quitting active politics, PAP National Assembly Faction Secretary Naira Zohrabyan was elected new leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party, and she declared the latter—which had been a non-pro-government force until now—an opposition party.
