KARABAKH LEADER REPORTEDLY TO RUN FOR THIRD TENURE

Haykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan,
10 Jan 2007 p 1

"Arkasha and the mess he made"

Trustworthy sources have said that NKR [Nagornyy Karabakh republic] President Arkadiy Gukasian has decided to run for president for a third time. Although the NKR constitution adopted on 10 December [2006] gives him such a legitimate opportunity, in this case the point is that Gukasian himself stated many times that he was not going to run for president for a third time as this contradicted the NKR's interests.

However, it has become clear today that the incumbent president of Karabakh does not understand very well the interests of the country he rules and is not so much of an honest man. One should confess that the incumbent NKR president and his retinue understand the discomfort of the current situation very well. For this reason, some people across the Armenian diaspora are twittering that the NKR's interests require Gukasian to stay on the post of NKR president for a third term.

Vahe Karapetian, a rich Armenian living in the USA, started this campaign when he said during the 2006 telethon that he will do everything possible for Gukasian to remain on the post of NKR president. The president of the Pan-Armenian Congress, Ara Abraamian, went on with the campaign by saying that in conditions where the Karabakh conflict has not been settled, it is simply necessary for Gukasian to remain on the post of president. Andranik Migranian, Russian political expert close to Abraamian, recently said on Karabakh Public TV that they should ask Gukasian to take the post of president for a third time as his departure may negatively affect the Karabakh [peace] talks.

According to our source, such statements were made at the desire of the NKR authorities and personally Gukasian. Nobody asked Gukasian to state that he was not going to put forward his candidacy for a third time. At present, it turns out that he regrets making such a statement. This is the best option, and the worst is that Gukasian deliberately made such a statement for the NKR constitution to be adopted without any fuss.

Anyway, it is also clear that Gukasian could not have made the decision to run for president on his own. Undoubtedly, [Armenian] Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisian, who has gained a devoted partner in the shape of Gukasian, has played a big part in this. The activeness of the Russian Abraamian-Migranian pair makes us think that some Russian circles also played a big part in this decision [being made].

Here, very much important is the process in which owing to the efforts of known forces, the Karabakh resolution issue has turned from progressive fighting into clan fighting and Armenia and Karabakh will get the image of mafia - mojahedin states.