Perhaps Sarcosi wasn’t home

14/12/2006 Vartan GRIGORYAN

The truth is that the best form of defense is attack. All the big and small heroes of all times have used that method. For example, the heroes of the “Skid Republic” explained that they robbed and misbehaved due to their orphan upbringing and chose to attack to defend themselves.

Later, lieutenant Schmidt’s sons applied this method and, I must say, that it actually worked out for them. However, it turns out that the “Attack as the best method of defense” can also be applied in politics and the Armenian “Rule of Law” party is applying it the most effectively. After getting ownership of the eight-story building located on Abovyan street of Yerevan, of which the party has given the first five floors for rent, “Rule of Law” members only talk about how others have privatized companies by stealing. While they continue talking about theft, some “Rule of Law” deputies who have suffered thanks to the party are starting to mention new and interesting details about the party’s system of fundraising. It turns out that there has been a trilateral system for the party’s fundraising. The “Rule of Law” faction deputies and especially the party’s businessmen members, who have paid so much money just to be on the proportional list of “Rule of Law” and, as someone said, would be enough to become a deputy of the Russian State Duma, have all paid entrance fees. The party secretary Heghine Bisharyan was the first to take in the entrance fees in the beginning and the “Rule of Law” members have paid along with their other expenses. Varuzhan Bolorchyan, who was the assistant to the former chairman of the National Assembly of Armenia Arthur Baghdasaryan, took control of the second stage of the fundraiser. Bolorchyan has already received money for his ideological/political ideas and project implementation. There was no certain amount of money stated, but it’s understandable that each time the businessman deputies of the “Rule of Law” party paid money to Bolorchyan and left his cabinet, they were forced to curse the day that they were sent to the “Rule of Law” party, when they didn’t make it in the Republican Party proportional list. Third and most decisive stage of the fundraiser was providing funds to Arthur Baghdasaryan in order for him to purchase presents for this or that high-ranked official. Each businessman deputy that was forced to be part of the former Armenian parliament speaker’s delegations on his official visits has spent 20-30,000 dollars for each visit. Those businessmen were told that Arthur Baghdasaryan was going to be the future president of Armenia and they would simply be looked at as undisciplined to keep all that money for themselves. As for the recent return to the topic of privatization of the “Rule of Law” party, according to sources, it’s not like that. It turns out that at the time the “Rule of Law” party privatized a building near the railway located in the city of Dilijan and plans to turn that into a restaurant. That was when Arthur Baghdasaryan was still the Armenian parliament speaker. And since there are still some buildings near the privatized building that the “Rule of Law” party has an eye on since the times when Baghdasaryan was parliamentary speaker, the party had applied to the corresponding ministry and had gotten rejected. After that rejection, the “Rule of Law” party has once again applied “The best form of defense is attack” working method.

Days ago, Arthur Baghdasaryan visited France and Italy with the invitation of the “Institute of Public Policy and Human Rights”. We hope he didn’t mention anything about his party’s hegemonic environment, his methods of fundraising and the party’s custom of turning buildings into restaurants to the democratic institutes during his “unprecedented” visits to France and Italy. In fact, let’s discuss those “unprecedented visits”. Despite the fact that Arthur Baghdasaryan’s friends had “hinted” different oppositionists that he was going to meet with the possible French presidential candidate Nicola Sarcosi and was going to get the “okay” for the entire Armenian opposition under the condition that Baghdasaryan was going to be the leader of the opposition, however that meeting didn’t take place. Arthur Baghdasaryan has only met with French Senate President Christian Ponsle, who fits in perfectly with the receptions of former parliamentary speakers. In other words, the chairman of the French Senate has received the “Rule of Law” leader simply as the former Armenian parliamentary speaker and not the favorite of France, as “Rule of Law” claims. Besides this ceremonial meeting, deputy leader of “Rule of Law” Mher Shahgeldyan has met with head of the France-Armenia ties faction of the French Senate Bernar Piras. Since Mher Shahgeldyan is the co-president of the Armenian National Assembly Armenian-French relations faction, thus this meeting immediately fits into the work program of the Armenian National Assembly. As to what happened to Sarcosi, his “okay” and the big and unprecedented reputation of Arthur Baghdasaryan in Europe, there still are no facts.

P.S. Despite the announcement printed in the “Rule of Law” weekly, the French Senate’s official website, www.senat.fr, doesn’t mention anything about a meeting and probably doesn’t consider the ceremonial reception of great importance.