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Two-Party `Spartakiad'
April 27 2013
`There weren't so many accidents, so many disasters in Communist
times, were there?' One can often hear such a question from the
elderly. As a matter of fact, we have heard about different kinds of
tragic accidents more often after 1985. However, it doesn't mean that
there hadn't been tragedies before that. It is just that they were
carefully concealed; the government had the ability and desire to
conceal unpleasant events from the Soviet people, sparing those
people's nerves and trying not to spoil the country's international
image. We hear almost the same talk with regard to Gyumri these days,
`What is going on in town?' However, it hasn't started today, nor did
it start yesterday; criminal face-offs in Gyumri have at least 15-year
history. It is just that the mayor of Gyumri during that time was
Vardan Ghukasyan who was the boss of one of the clans, and naturally,
he concealed what could be concealed, criminal cases that could be
`hushed up' were `hushed up.' Admittedly, as a result of that, crimes
against his clan and against him personally, including the
assassination attempt on him, were not investigated properly and were
not solved. Whenever Vardan Ghukasyan and his family would be blamed
for having criminal inclinations, he would get extremely annoyed and
say that those were made-up stories written by journalists at
someone's instruction, while he and his family were the embodiment of
worship of God and the Cross. Once Mr. Ghukasyan responded to these
criticisms with humor characteristic of a native of Gyumri: `I have
only Spartak [the son, A.A.], and they [Martunik's clan, A.A.] have an
entire Spartakiad.' However, several tens of people from both parties
are involved in criminal cases through a criminal chain linked by
kinship and friendship. Therefore, it is a two-party `Spartakiad.' Now
Vardan Ghukasyan is not a mayor any longer. And it is important that
the representative of Martunik's clan confronting him is not the mayor
either. It offers an opportunity to talk about the existing problem
openly, without concealing. I.e. to acknowledge that those two teams
are engaged in a bloody vendetta, which should be put an end to as
soon as possible to avoid new victims. As well as, to raise the issue
that those gangs have sponsors in the National Assembly and other
government circles. It is more than obvious that the automatic rifle
that killed a man on April 24 is not the only one in the rich arsenal
at the disposal of the two clans. Furthermore, all oligarchs have such
illegal armed groups in Armenia, and those are used not only in the
inter-clan struggle, but also for political purposes (for example, on
March 1). It is high time that everyone is disarmed. Aram Abrahamyan
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/04/27/153965/
© 1998 - 2013 Aravot - News from Armenia
April 27 2013
`There weren't so many accidents, so many disasters in Communist
times, were there?' One can often hear such a question from the
elderly. As a matter of fact, we have heard about different kinds of
tragic accidents more often after 1985. However, it doesn't mean that
there hadn't been tragedies before that. It is just that they were
carefully concealed; the government had the ability and desire to
conceal unpleasant events from the Soviet people, sparing those
people's nerves and trying not to spoil the country's international
image. We hear almost the same talk with regard to Gyumri these days,
`What is going on in town?' However, it hasn't started today, nor did
it start yesterday; criminal face-offs in Gyumri have at least 15-year
history. It is just that the mayor of Gyumri during that time was
Vardan Ghukasyan who was the boss of one of the clans, and naturally,
he concealed what could be concealed, criminal cases that could be
`hushed up' were `hushed up.' Admittedly, as a result of that, crimes
against his clan and against him personally, including the
assassination attempt on him, were not investigated properly and were
not solved. Whenever Vardan Ghukasyan and his family would be blamed
for having criminal inclinations, he would get extremely annoyed and
say that those were made-up stories written by journalists at
someone's instruction, while he and his family were the embodiment of
worship of God and the Cross. Once Mr. Ghukasyan responded to these
criticisms with humor characteristic of a native of Gyumri: `I have
only Spartak [the son, A.A.], and they [Martunik's clan, A.A.] have an
entire Spartakiad.' However, several tens of people from both parties
are involved in criminal cases through a criminal chain linked by
kinship and friendship. Therefore, it is a two-party `Spartakiad.' Now
Vardan Ghukasyan is not a mayor any longer. And it is important that
the representative of Martunik's clan confronting him is not the mayor
either. It offers an opportunity to talk about the existing problem
openly, without concealing. I.e. to acknowledge that those two teams
are engaged in a bloody vendetta, which should be put an end to as
soon as possible to avoid new victims. As well as, to raise the issue
that those gangs have sponsors in the National Assembly and other
government circles. It is more than obvious that the automatic rifle
that killed a man on April 24 is not the only one in the rich arsenal
at the disposal of the two clans. Furthermore, all oligarchs have such
illegal armed groups in Armenia, and those are used not only in the
inter-clan struggle, but also for political purposes (for example, on
March 1). It is high time that everyone is disarmed. Aram Abrahamyan
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/04/27/153965/
© 1998 - 2013 Aravot - News from Armenia