Oppositionist Aram Manukyan on Vartan Oskanian’s Intention to Join Prosperous Armenia Party

Armenian National Congress (HAK) member Aram Manukyan today called former foreign minister of Armenia Vartan Oskanian’s recently stated intention to join the Prosperous Armenia party (BHK) “a result of Oskanian’s late blooming” and “a flippant move.”

“It’s regretful that a man matures at 60 years old and realizes that he belongs to the [political] force. To be in politics for 20–25 years and then realize that you belong to the party is not normal. The same happened also in [Armenian Prime Minister] Tigran Sargsyan’s case,” he said, referring to Sargsyan joining the ruling Republican Party of Armenia.

Asked whether Oskanian wanting to become a BHK member is at the behest of former president Robert Kocharian, Manukyan urged the journalist not “to mention his name” (referring to Kocharian).

“It’s doesn’t matter who gave the directive — I don’t want to know. What’s important is that a man is a toy, if a person needs to have an owner. There’s a saying: what should the slave owner do if the slave wants to remain a slave?” he said.