Although nobody ever doubted that Alexan Harutyunyan would definitely be elected President of the PTRC Board for the next 6 years this completion would be incomparably more often publicized if here were other nominees. We were assuming that the opposition would nominate its candidate for this position but it didn’t happen. However, the opposition had serious candidates for that position. One of them is the member of the PPA Party, Stepan Zakaryan, who used to quite successfully head the National Radio years ago. We decided to ask him our questions, “Why hasn’t the opposition nominate its candidate?” “First of all there wasn’t a thought like that. Plus, we all knew that all this was pre-determined. Otherwise there would be others competing. I don’t think there are no other socialists like that in Armenia. I personally know those people. If they had known that the election wasn’t pre-determined they would have participated.”
– Mr. Harutyunyan, what do you think about the fact that you were the only nominee of the competition? Don’t you think there were other adequate candidates for that post?
– I wouldn’t signify that question very much because there was no one else nominated to claim that the election wasn’t fair or transparent. If no one else was nominated then presumptions don’t make any sense. Besides that, don’t forget that there are clear requirements for the nomination besides professionalism. Once if I am not mistaken Boris Navasardyan mentioned that there are few unemployed professionals. There are always completions and people apply to different positions. If we think that everything was pre-determined then no one must be nominated. I wouldn’t like to draw assumptions.
– The position of the director of the PTRC board is not just a position in Armenia. And perhaps it’s not very good to compare it with regular positions. Parliamentary and Presidential elections are on the way. All the international elections monitors stated that all the elections of Armenia were either not broadcasting or broadcasting on the behalf of the government on the part by the Public TV. Is the same going to be repeated this year?
– There is no opposition or government for my position. I don’t belong to either opposition or government. During my position there were two national elections and one referendum. In 2003 the monitors were accusing the H1 of not maintaining the balance. This year we are more prepared and I think that both international and local monitors will give no worse estimations this year.
– You said that you are not in government, however your political preferences are quite obvious and you don’t even seem to be hiding those.
– I don’t have any political inclination to any party. There was a preference like that during the Presidential elections 2003 and I don’t hide it. I have worked with the RA President for many years and if I say that I don’t have any connection with him it won’t sound fair. But today my preferences are almost unnoticeable and will have minimal influence on my work.
– 30 days prior to elections the official campaign will be launched. According to what you are saying the prices of political ads will be the same for all parties.
– Although the Public TV has the widest broadcast in the country and is the most popular one, we decided to define the lowest prices for ads. We set a price (80.000 AMD including VAT per minute), which is almost the same as in 2003. According to the law every party will have 60 minutes free broadcast and 12o minutes paid ad time. H1 doesn’t have an objective to get rich during elections.
– Many statesmen resign in order to be nominated in the leading positions of the proportional list of parties. But you prolonged your position for another six years. Didn’t you find any preferable party or you decided to continue your current work?
– Our voters can be sure that I am not going to be nominated by the ticket of any political party.
– Mr. Harutyunyan let’s speak about the Euro Vision. The Russian media insist that they are going to nominate Dima Bilan one more time this year striving for the first time. Is Armenia planning to send Andre and strive for the 7th place this time?
– Last year there was no time to prepare for the Euro Vision that’s why sent what we had sent. This year the competition of the nominees of the Euro Vision is going to take place by Public TV on February 23, 24 and 25. There will be a jury and the voting is going to take place via SMS. Up to now songs were presented only by Emmi, “Hayer” band, Hayko and several other singers.
– As a TV viewer what are your favorite shows on H1 and Nor Alik channels?
– I watch the “Haylur”. Very often I watch programs, which are not that popular. I like to watch the “Cultural Consciousness” and “My Right” shows.
– Don’t you think that there is no time for good shows as your channel rushes to inform us about the lovers of Britney Spears or Angelina Jolie? Do you personally care about Jolie’s life?
– Nor Alik is a youth entertainment channel, which is similar to MTV. I cannot say that Angelina Jolie’s personal life is not interesting for me.
– Among Armenian starts who do you like as much as Jolie?
– I have normal relationships with almost all the starts of Armenia. But I am not interested in their personal life.