The head of the UAR, Ara Abrahamyan says that there are over 300.000 Armenians that have both Armenian and Russian citizenship and believes that they will take part in the political life of Armenia.
However, Ara Abrahamyan has not yet made a final decision what to do in the future. In 2003 he advocated the ARPP, where his brother, Gagik Abrahamyan was the second person in the electoral lists. The ARPP failed to enter the parliament and later A. Abrahamyan said that he hadn’t had a part in the elections. “I advocated all the parties. I have already said it for several times. Last time I helped the others more than the ARPP”, says the head of the UAR. Even though he is not going to advocate several parties at one time during the coming elections and is going to back only one party, he hasn’t decided which the mentioned party is. “I will make my final decision after the programs of parties are published and after I read them”, says A. Abrahamyan.
As for his relationship with the existing RA president, Robert Kocharyan, the head of the UAR says that he does not regret for supporting the president during the elections of 2003. “Of course I think that he is a legitimate president, for sure, I voted for him too and had my part in supporting him to be elected. I mean that in that period in those circumstances we supported him to be elected”, said A. Abrahamyan to journalists. According to him, this support does not mean that they provided financial support, but it means that the UAR made an official announcement on the threshold of the elections and gave explanations in communities. “If the situation is the same this time too, we will support him again. In the situation and circumstances that existed in that period the best solution was to elect Kocharyan in the president’s position”, says A. Abrahamyan.
He says that he likes the policy of the current authorities; however, he doesn’t like the foreign policy, especially the foreign policy connected with the Diaspora and the ties with it. Ara Abrahamyan believes that the third Armenia-Diaspora congress will help Armenians unite. He says that the main issue of the congress is to support the development of villages. The head of the UAR thinks that it is a very good idea, however there needs to be “an adequate environment”. “In order to create adequate conditions for me to go to villages and support them there should be specific programs and strategies. They should ensure us that the money we invest will not be stolen and will serve the goals prescribed beforehand”, says A. Abrahamyan. In fact, he is careful when investing money. Maybe this is the reason why several months ago the foreign affairs minister, Vardan Oskanyan, said that what the UAR is doing is less than it can.
“The main problem in what he said is the fact that everyone is expecting to work but no one wants to work. I can wait too. I don’t have any responsibilities. We should not wait, we should work together. I don’t know what he said, but we should work together. Instead of waiting he should come to Russia, come and make a speech for Armenians and say that there is a Union of Armenians and they accept that union. After that they can expect something to be done. As he hasn’t said that, before giving estimations he should think about whether he has a right to do that or not”, says Ara Abrahamyan concerning the announcement of the foreign affairs minister.
In spite of the fact that head of the UAR is going to enter the political field of Armenia, his business is not doing too wel in Armenia. We mean his business located on Abovyan street (Children’s World shopping center). A. Abrahamyan says that there is a reason for that, but he doesn’t say what that reason is specifically. He bought that building several years ago, reconstructed the external part of the building, but it has not been opened so far and does not operate. “You should go up to the fourth floor and look out to the yard. You can look and take photos and publish in your newspapers to show the reasons why the building is not functioning. There are huts in the yard that don’t let us connect the two buildings together and make them work. It has already been three years that over 2.000 citizens don’t work because of those huts”, said A. Abrahamyan to journalists.
Anyhow, it is very difficult to imagine how a “powerful” person like Ara Abrahamyan, who can back the president, participates in the parliamentary elections and solves problems in Armenia is not able to solve this problem and develop his business in Armenia.