Serzh Sargsyan Against Karen Karapetyan: What the Former President Tried to Do

The newspaper "Zhoghovurd" reports that "RA State Minister Serzh Sargsyan, after a long silence, had an extensive interview addressing several questions of public interest. Essentially, the former president had several goals with this interview, published in two parts. Firstly, he tried to rid himself of the widespread opinion that Nikol Pashinyan is his political heir.

Additionally, he also touched upon the negotiations regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and with quite detailed logical explanations, he tried to prove that during his tenure, Armenia's positions were indeed strong.

When asked why he transferred power to Nikol Pashinyan, Sargsyan stated, "I handed over power to Karen Karapetyan. I understand that people have the right to think that I handed power to them." With this statement, Sargsyan was essentially attempting to diminish Karapetyan's rating, but it did not work out. After all, if power was indeed transferred not to Nikol Pashinyan but to Karen Karapetyan, then why didn’t the Republican faction nominate Karapetyan for the position of Prime Minister on May 1, 2018, and why did they vote for Nikol Pashinyan instead?

In the voting on May 8, 2018, the Republican Party again did not nominate Karen Karapetyan for Prime Minister; instead, a group of Republican faction deputies, along with votes from the "Gagik Tsarukyan," "Yelk," and "Armenian Revolutionary Federation" factions, elected Nikol Pashinyan as Prime Minister. Of course, the core of the Republican Party did not vote for Nikol Pashinyan, but at the urging of the party, a few deputies from the faction chose Pashinyan, and thus, power was transferred to Nikol Pashinyan in Armenia.

However, that’s not all. By October, Republican faction deputies did not elect Nikol Pashinyan as Prime Minister twice, which led to the dissolution of the parliament. This means that power was transferred to Nikol Pashinyan at least three times thanks to the direct efforts of the Republican Party.

Avoiding these realities, what problem was Serzh Sargsyan trying to solve? He was attempting to redirect the public's negative sentiments toward Karen Karapetyan. After all, in various matters, Karapetyan is the only representative of the former regime who has a high rating in Armenia. It should be noted that Karen Karapetyan has not reacted in any way to these statements."

For more details, see today's issue.