Karapetyan Criticizes HAK, Offers Alternative in Third Political Entity

Lately the Armenian National Congress (HAK) seeks too much to find fault in its leaflets. A question arises: whom is HAK today fighting against — Serzh Sargsyan? Dashnaktsutyun (the Armenian Revolutionary Federation)? Raffi Hovannisian? Tigran Karapetyan? asked People’s Party leader Tigran Karapetyan himself, speaking to journalists in Yerevan today.

Karapetyan touched upon HAK representative David Shahnazaryan’s press conference Wednesday, saying Shahnazaryan calls everyone a “project.”

“A question arises: who’s saying this? The former director of the NSS [National Security Service of Armenia] — really, the national security minister [a title which existed during the Soviet period] — in the basements of which people have perished. Are they entitled to discredit anyone, they themselves being discredited? One is national security minister; one, minister of internal affairs [likely referring to Suren Abrahamyan]; and one, military prosecutor — [Gagik] Jhangiryan, in whose stomach Oct. 27 has settled… do these people have the right to find fault with immaculate people and call them ‘projects’? Here a question arises: whom is the struggle against — the authorities or the real opposition? This is what’s concerning,” he said, referring to notable HAK members.

In his words, he doesn’t like that the people trust Levon Ter-Petrossian and that they “don’t take separate steps.” Speaking about the possibility of cooperating with HAK, Karapetyan said, “there are many, many normal people there with whom he will cooperate, but not HHSh [the Pan-Armenian National Movement].”

Karapetyan also touched upon the establishment in the political arena of a third entity, a part of which he considers himself to be.

“What’s the problem in this? We are forming a third force [political entity], we don’t want people to go after Levon in despair (seeing no way out), or Serzh [Sargsyan]. There are such people, for the love of god. But the large mass that accepts the plunder of neither the past nor today, these people must have an alternative. It’s this alternative they fear, that they call each third entity a project.”