Once again, leader of the “New Times” political party Aram Karapetyan made some pro-Russian announcements last week. During the party meeting held on April 28th, the leader even said that he is and will always be in favor of having Armenia keep close ties with Russia.
“I stay true to that no matter how much they may hate me for that. I know very well that the intimate ties with Russia are our only savior,” said Aram Karapetyan.
What’s interesting is that on May 2, days after his announcement, based on the message from the party’s press department, the leader of “New Times” Aram Karapetyan and the newly appointed director of the U.S. National Democratic Institute (NDI) Andrew Bennet have met. According to the message, the meeting took about an hour during which both parties discussed some internal political and cosmopolitan issues, as well as organizing the upcoming elections in Armenia and issues concerning transparency and fairness. The director of the “Women’s leadership and political culture” program of the NDI also took part in the meeting. In any case, Mr. Karapetyan told us yesterday that the meeting was held with the initiative taken by the U.S. NDI. It turns out that the NDI has started a series of meetings with Armenian political figures and A. Karapetyan was simply one of them. But as to with whom else Andrew Benneth has met remains a mystery.
“Andrew Benneth has been in Armenia for the past 20 days already and has met with different political figures. Although none of our other political figures have mentioned that they have met with him, however the NDI told our party that he has met with them,” said A. Karapetyan yesterday during an interview with us. But what Aram Karapetyan didn’t know is who else has met with Andrew Benneth. According to Karapetyan, the abovementioned meeting was based on acquaintance and both sides discussed the issues concerning the upcoming elections. It turns out that the NDI representatives have, shall we say, given some advice to the “New Times” party leader regarding “the most effective political strategies”.
“Since they think that the oppositionist political parties are denied the right to make speeches on television, they believe that the most effective strategy is to go from door-to-door. In other words, they suggest establishing personal contacts with as many citizens as possible,” says A. Karapetyan. He adds that the party’s press department has spread news about the meeting based on the reason that “all the Armenian presses and political figures are of the opinion that just because someone gets up and makes pro-Russian announcements, then the U.S. is going to attack that person with pitchforks”, which according to Karapetyan, is not how serious political figures should react. The “New Times” leader says that an agreement has been made to hold more meetings in the near future.
“The NDI mainly sees problems concerning the upcoming elections in Armenia. They wanted to hear about political developments more from me and told me what was possible for the people to vote in so-called normal elections,” said Karapetyan.
Based on the interview with the political figure yesterday, we found out that the NDI is actually “giving lessons” to some political forces in Armenia. They have already given some lessons and it is expected to continue in the future. But to whom and what is the NDI teaching? According to A. Karapetyan, the lessons are given to those political parties that actually want to take part in the classes.
“Our party, and not only us, have participated in 2-3 courses. Different political parties took part in the courses, including the coalitional parties,” says the “New Times” leader.
What is the NDI actually teaching them? It turns out that the courses are aimed towards teaching the political activists about election techniques and working with the people.
P.S. Yesterday Aram Karapetyan also told us that the NDI representatives were worried about the events connected with the bodyguards of the “New Times” leader on April 21. According to Karapetyan, what happened on April 21 is just the beginning and will have consequences.