Only one station of the chair of the Prosperous Armenia party Gagik Tsarukyan was enough to put the Republican Party into a “military” position.
On Saturday during the congress of the Youth Party of Armenia Gagik Tsarukyan said, “I can say that Robert Kocharyan has never tended to establish a political party or become a chair of any party. If he had wanted to, he would have been the honorary or actual chairman of the Republican Party. His main idea was to provide competition by creating parties. A powerful party is not the property of anybody.” And during the whole day the Republicans were busy interpreting Tsarukyan’s statement and giving him advice. The remark clearly did not go down well with the RPA leadership. "I don’t find constructive public musings about who could have been the leader of your partner party," RPA spokesman Eduard Sharmazanov said, commenting on it. “The Republican Party has never spoken with ‘ifs’ with our partners from Prosperous Armenia or Mr. Tsarukyan. Accordingly, I would advise Mr. Tsarukyan to do the same," Sharmazanov told a news conference. He emphasized that the RPA is "consolidated around Serzh Sargsyan.” Sharmazanov’s response was arguably the first ever instance of the Republican Party officially attacking Tsarukyan. It will fuel more speculation about mounting tensions between Armenia’s two main governing parties. Their leaders have denied that. So it seems that the Prosperous Armenia – RPA conflict is getting tenser. At any rate, yesterday in the political sector they were more inclined to think that the Prosperous Armenia chairman didn’t make this statement by accident. Many people think that this is not only his opinion. They think this may be a targeted statement coming from other people as well. In the political sector several opinions are circulated in connection with the statement of Tsarukyan. It is logic that such rumors that Prosperous Armenia is going to support Kocharyan’s interests could be generated by Republican sources trying to spread them within the society as much as possible. So, RPA can tangibly weaken the public positions of the Prosperous Armenia Party. Its public positions are less than in case of the Armenian National Congress, but Prosperous Armenia has never attempted to look more public than the Congress. Prosperous Armenia has always tried to show that it is a force enjoying more public support and prestige than the Republican Party. The Republican Party is dissatisfied with such an element that the Prosperous Armenia has, since this party, with the help of the public support, succeeds to feel firm in its relations with the RP and not to become a Legal State member. More, its positions enable Prosperous Armenia along with hearing claims from the Republican Party to present claims to it too. Consequently, the weakening of the Prosperous Armenia positions of public support can be considered one of the strategic goals of Serge Sargsyan’s electoral campaign. However, after the events of March 1 of 2008 no political force, including the Prosperous Armenia would ever want to participate in the elections with the “shady guidance” of Kocharyan. And they are at least on the surface are trying to show that they have no connection with Kocharyan Moreover, Tsarukyan has even tried to connect the name of Kocharyan with the Republican Party by mentioning that if Kocharyan wanted he’d be the chair of that party. It means that the ruling parties wouldn’t wish to spoil their images closer to elections. The Prosperous Armenia chair also gave the role of an arbiter to Kocharyan and so considers himself at a higher level than the incumbent president. In the RPA they think that this role is submitted by S. Sargsyan. “The RPA, Prosperous Armenia and the Legal State have signed a memorandum of cooperation. There is a coalition project that we implement and the guarantor of that is the President of Armenia. It means there is no guarantor to that. The president is in general the guarantor of the constitution and the coalition,” told us R. Zohrabyan. On the other hand there is a conviction in the political field that this statement of Tsarukyan may be directed by Kocharyan. Yesterday some of our interviewees didn’t exclude that this might be a message from Russia. The supporters of this idea rely on the information that during the recent period Gagik Tsarukyan and Robert Kocharyan have had meetings with different representatives of Russia’s leadership, who are trying to find new political bases in Armenia. It is noticeable that during the recent period Russia plays with the card of supporting the Prosperous Armenia. At any rate, Tsarukyan with just one statement violated the RPA tranquility. And in this party they are trying to find out where this wind blows from – whether it comes from Kocharyan or Russia? In the second case, indeed the threat to the government is much higher. The involvement of Russia in the process may be quite destructive for the incumbent government. By the way, many people yesterday recalled another statement of Tsarukyan made last fall, according to which during the national elections of 2012 the Prosperous Armenia is planning to receive 50+1 of the ballots. During the recent period this party was able to join with several small or smaller parties, which indeed doesn’t give a great support but provides a political sound. It is also evident that there is a fear within the RPA. What if Kocharyan really returns to politics? What are they going to do? Only several years ago they were endorsing him and now they get to endorse Sargsyan. Besides that it’s known that within the party there are people, who are dissatisfied with the management of Sargsyan and yearn after the Kocharyan tenure. It means besides the Prosperous Armenia Kocharyan may receive an indirect support from some of the RPA members. The RPA members don’t hide that when Kocharyan shows up at certain celebrations they can’t help but demonstrate their rejoicement. Therefore, the RPA has a serious reason to interpret Tsarukyan’s statement.