Epress.am News from Armenia
Prosperous Armenia party (BHK) MP Naira Zohrabyan isn’t personally aware of discussions on cooperation between her party and former foreign minister of Armenia Vartan Oskanian.
Speaking to Epress.am, Zohrabyan said she can’t say “whether we’ll see Oskanian on the BHK party list or not.”
Calls to BHK party leader Gagik Tsarukyan’s press spokesperson Khachik Galstyan on this matter went unanswered.
As previously reported, in a written statement circulated by his Civilitas Foundation think-tank, Oskanian hinted at the possibility of running for parliament on BHK’s party ticket. “Talk about my involvement with the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) is not without basis. I have had such discussions with the Prosperous Armenia party as well as with other political forces,” he said.
Last week, local media reported that Oskanian had had meetings with Heritage Party leader Raffi Hovannisian and Free Democrats party representative Alexander Arzumanyan — both also Armenia’s former foreign ministers.
Seeking clarification, Epress.am spoke with representatives of these two parties, who both ruled out the possibility of collaborating with Oskanian in the parliamentary elections.
According to Free Democrats vice chair Anush Sedrakyan, it’s impossible for their party to collaborate with Oskanian. She mentioned that there haven’t been any preliminary discussions with Oskanian on the matter of collaboration.
“It’s every man’s right to engage in politics and an expression of his free will. But there hasn’t been a discussion on including Oskanian on our [party] list. In addition, I think that Oskanian clearly implied that he’ll be in the BHK list,” she said.
Heritage Party MP Larisa Alaverdyan, also in conversation with Epress.am, likewise said there’s been no talks between Oskanian and their party in the question of comprising the parliamentary party list.
“Oskanian never left politics. The non-governmental organization he leads [Civilitas Foundation] has always had a political agenda. It was very interesting for me that he very quickly changed his opinion on the administration’s foreign and domestic policies as soon as he was no longer a representative of the administration,” she said.