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FACEBOOK WARS: ARMENIA'S FORMER POLITICAL ALLIES EXCHANGE ACRIMONIOUS COMMENTS VIA INTERNET
By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow
Politics | 31.10.12 | 14:22
Vartan Oskanian, Eduard Sharmazanov
Political disputes among Armenian lawmakers have shifted from the
parliamentary chamber to online social networking sites like Facebook.
In this virtual space the most active participants have so far
been education and science minister Armen Ashotyan and Prosperous
Armenia Party (PAP) MP Vartan Oskanian. However, recently other
parliamentarians have become more active, too.
Deputy Parliament Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov has written a lengthy
response to Oskanian's critical comments posted last week on
why efforts and time should be wasted on visits to African and
Latin-American countries.
"When Azeries were finishing their preparations for receiving Safarov,
the foreign minister [Edward Nalbandyan] was in New Zealand. During
the recent dramatic events in the region he was in Africa, and now
he is in Latin America," Oskanian wrote, meaning the controversial
extradition by Hungary and subsequent pardon in Azerbaijan of the
confessed Azeri killer of an Armenian, Ramil Safarov.
Sharmazanov came forth with a belated but rather blatant response,
calling the former FM's comments "cheep populism and dilettante
approach".
"Oskanian 'points out with bemusement' and does not understand the
importance of the current foreign minister's visits to Asian, African
and Latin American countries. Of course it would "not be clear",
because the former foreign minister during the decade of his tenure
was oblivious to the above-mentioned regions, and, as a consequence,
dozens of countries simply gave in to Azerbaijan's anti-Armenian
policy," he wrote on his page.
Sharmazanov does not rule out that "perhaps it was that very
indifference that gave birth to the "laurel" of Oskanian's
ten-year-long policy of complementarism - the UN General Assembly's
anti-Armenian resolution of 2008".
The deputy speaker of parliament who is also a spokesman for the
ruling Republican Party of Armenia qualifies Oskanian's mentality
as "dilettante", despite the fact that Oskanian was his party-lead
government's foreign minister for ten years.
"When someone who held the highest position in the Foreign Ministry
for 15 years makes such comments, serious questions come forth. Well,
dilettante remains dilettante..," he concludes.
Another FB dispute has been initiated by Republican MP Samvel
Farmanyan, who questioned PAP's new status of an "alternative force"
and urged PAP members to come up with their ideas and vision on
foreign policy issues.
"In which issues is PAP's being an alternative force expressed?" asks
Farmanyan, and cites the main directions of Armenia's foreign policy
and stresses that PAP's plan and projects are no different at all.
PAP's unlikely to delay its response in Facebook's virtual realm.
By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow
Politics | 31.10.12 | 14:22
Vartan Oskanian, Eduard Sharmazanov
Political disputes among Armenian lawmakers have shifted from the
parliamentary chamber to online social networking sites like Facebook.
In this virtual space the most active participants have so far
been education and science minister Armen Ashotyan and Prosperous
Armenia Party (PAP) MP Vartan Oskanian. However, recently other
parliamentarians have become more active, too.
Deputy Parliament Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov has written a lengthy
response to Oskanian's critical comments posted last week on
why efforts and time should be wasted on visits to African and
Latin-American countries.
"When Azeries were finishing their preparations for receiving Safarov,
the foreign minister [Edward Nalbandyan] was in New Zealand. During
the recent dramatic events in the region he was in Africa, and now
he is in Latin America," Oskanian wrote, meaning the controversial
extradition by Hungary and subsequent pardon in Azerbaijan of the
confessed Azeri killer of an Armenian, Ramil Safarov.
Sharmazanov came forth with a belated but rather blatant response,
calling the former FM's comments "cheep populism and dilettante
approach".
"Oskanian 'points out with bemusement' and does not understand the
importance of the current foreign minister's visits to Asian, African
and Latin American countries. Of course it would "not be clear",
because the former foreign minister during the decade of his tenure
was oblivious to the above-mentioned regions, and, as a consequence,
dozens of countries simply gave in to Azerbaijan's anti-Armenian
policy," he wrote on his page.
Sharmazanov does not rule out that "perhaps it was that very
indifference that gave birth to the "laurel" of Oskanian's
ten-year-long policy of complementarism - the UN General Assembly's
anti-Armenian resolution of 2008".
The deputy speaker of parliament who is also a spokesman for the
ruling Republican Party of Armenia qualifies Oskanian's mentality
as "dilettante", despite the fact that Oskanian was his party-lead
government's foreign minister for ten years.
"When someone who held the highest position in the Foreign Ministry
for 15 years makes such comments, serious questions come forth. Well,
dilettante remains dilettante..," he concludes.
Another FB dispute has been initiated by Republican MP Samvel
Farmanyan, who questioned PAP's new status of an "alternative force"
and urged PAP members to come up with their ideas and vision on
foreign policy issues.
"In which issues is PAP's being an alternative force expressed?" asks
Farmanyan, and cites the main directions of Armenia's foreign policy
and stresses that PAP's plan and projects are no different at all.
PAP's unlikely to delay its response in Facebook's virtual realm.