How Alen Simonyan Celebrated His Birthday

The ruling elite celebrated the birthday of NA President Alen Simonyan with great pomp on January 5, according to the newspaper "Joghout". Among the guests were Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his wife, Anna Hakobyan, as well as Defense Minister Suren Papikyan, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister Arayik Harutyunyan, and members of the CP faction.

Sources told "Joghout" that the celebration was lavish and lively, with CP members partying late into the night. Only Nikol Pashinyan was passive, probably so as not to draw attention, and he left his associates early.

It was also reported that Alen Simonyan's "fierce ally" Andranik Kocharyan and his associates, Arpine Davoyan and Lusine Badalyan, were absent from Simonyan's celebration. The fact that the waters between Simonyan and Kocharyan have not flowed in the same direction for a long time is no secret. The prominent CP figures dislike each other and do not hide it, often publicly jabbing at one another.

In fact, their relationship is so strained that the tension has shifted to personal grounds. CP members told the newspaper that when Andranik Kocharyan talks about Alen Simonyan, he refers to him as "Madik-Mutsik" instead of using his name.