PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN ARMENIA
By Messenger Staff
Thursday, January 17
Armenia will vote for a president on February 18. There are 8
candidates nominated for the presidency. The most notorious is Vardan
Sedrakyan whose program has a very distinct anti-Georgian form. Of
course Sedrakyan has no chance to win the elections, but the fact
that a candidate with such a program participates in the election is
already very alarming.
Initially there were 15 people applying to run for the presidency
but only 8 of them submitted to the Central Election Commission and
provided the required financial deposit of $20, 000 USD and were
thus registered. Sedrakyan's anti-Georgian statements were already
known however.
According to Sedrakyan, similar crises including Karabakh's
independence, which Armenia supports, is the independence of Abkhazia
and South Ossetia. He said the non-recognition of these entities as
independent is a "serious error" committed by Armenia. He promises
that in the case of victory he will do his best in this direction.
Moreover, Sedrakyan thinks that there are 250, 000 Armenian ethnic
representatives in Georgia who insist on the separation from Georgia
of the Javakheti region where most Armenians are concentrated. As
for Karabakh, Sedrakyan plans to declare it as an integral part of
Armenia together with the adjacent to Karabakh Azeri territories
which are now occupied by Armenia.
The next step according to his plan is to take over the Nakhchevan
autonomous region of Azerbaijan and integrate it with Armenia.
The lunatic dreams of Sedrakyan go further. He wants to recognize
Abkhazia as an independent entity with the capital in Kutaisi. This
delirium of the presidential candidate really embarrasses the
Armenian ethnic Diaspora in Georgia. Some of them commenting about
these issues say Sedrakyan is not a politician and his participation
in the elections is just a kind of humor. No serious politician would
repeat what he is saying,
Of course nobody in Georgia should seriously discuss this nonsense
and definitely no Armenian political figure is repeating similar
statements. They accept and recognize Georgia's territorial integrity
and understand the real situation and friendly sentiments between
the two neighboring nations.
Arnold Stepanian, Chairman of the public movement Multinational
Georgia, stated that Sedrakyan has a zero rating in Armenia. It is
obvious that Sedrakyan will further disseminate his position when the
election campaign starts in Armenia from January 25. Without a doubt,
such statements are not in Armenia's interests. However, the question
remains: who stands behind Sedrakyan and who is financing his election
campaign and his notorious ideas?
http://www.messenger.com.ge/issues/2778_january_17_2013/2778_edit.html
By Messenger Staff
Thursday, January 17
Armenia will vote for a president on February 18. There are 8
candidates nominated for the presidency. The most notorious is Vardan
Sedrakyan whose program has a very distinct anti-Georgian form. Of
course Sedrakyan has no chance to win the elections, but the fact
that a candidate with such a program participates in the election is
already very alarming.
Initially there were 15 people applying to run for the presidency
but only 8 of them submitted to the Central Election Commission and
provided the required financial deposit of $20, 000 USD and were
thus registered. Sedrakyan's anti-Georgian statements were already
known however.
According to Sedrakyan, similar crises including Karabakh's
independence, which Armenia supports, is the independence of Abkhazia
and South Ossetia. He said the non-recognition of these entities as
independent is a "serious error" committed by Armenia. He promises
that in the case of victory he will do his best in this direction.
Moreover, Sedrakyan thinks that there are 250, 000 Armenian ethnic
representatives in Georgia who insist on the separation from Georgia
of the Javakheti region where most Armenians are concentrated. As
for Karabakh, Sedrakyan plans to declare it as an integral part of
Armenia together with the adjacent to Karabakh Azeri territories
which are now occupied by Armenia.
The next step according to his plan is to take over the Nakhchevan
autonomous region of Azerbaijan and integrate it with Armenia.
The lunatic dreams of Sedrakyan go further. He wants to recognize
Abkhazia as an independent entity with the capital in Kutaisi. This
delirium of the presidential candidate really embarrasses the
Armenian ethnic Diaspora in Georgia. Some of them commenting about
these issues say Sedrakyan is not a politician and his participation
in the elections is just a kind of humor. No serious politician would
repeat what he is saying,
Of course nobody in Georgia should seriously discuss this nonsense
and definitely no Armenian political figure is repeating similar
statements. They accept and recognize Georgia's territorial integrity
and understand the real situation and friendly sentiments between
the two neighboring nations.
Arnold Stepanian, Chairman of the public movement Multinational
Georgia, stated that Sedrakyan has a zero rating in Armenia. It is
obvious that Sedrakyan will further disseminate his position when the
election campaign starts in Armenia from January 25. Without a doubt,
such statements are not in Armenia's interests. However, the question
remains: who stands behind Sedrakyan and who is financing his election
campaign and his notorious ideas?
http://www.messenger.com.ge/issues/2778_january_17_2013/2778_edit.html