Published since 1951
Published on January 24, 2008
SARKISIAN STRESSES SECURITY, PROSPERITY ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL
- Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian campaigned in the southeastern Syunik region on Thursday, again promising economic betterment and saying that he would safeguard Armenia’s national security better than any of his eight election challengers. “The war [with Azerbaijan] made be a realist, I want to become president of the republic,” Sarkisian told hundreds of people attending his campaign rally in the regional capital Kapan. His ten-minute speech there was preceded and followed by a free concert of Armenian pop starts traveling with the prime minister. “I want to become president of the republic so that our cities are not bombarded anymore, so that lights are always on in our homes in the evening, so that we can turn the victory achieved at the cost of your sacrifices and heroic acts by your sons and our comrades into a document,” he said in a town that endured cross-border shelling from nearby Azerbaijani army positions during the 1992-1994 war. Syunik is the second Armenian province visited by Sarkisian since the official start of campaigning for the February 19 presidential election on Monday. He started the campaign in the neighboring Vayots Dzor region, promising to double household incomes in the country within five years if he becomes president. This was also a key theme of his speeches in Kapan and other regional towns. “I will ensure that none of those who have backed me feels embarrassed for electing me,” the prime minister declared in the main Kapan square adorned with his massive campaign billboard. “We have all the possibilities of living at least twice as better in five years from now.” As was the case during similar rallies staged by Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK) ahead of the May 2007 parliamentary elections, many in the crowd were teachers of public schools and their students. Schoolchildren interviewed by RFE/RL claimed that they were ordered by their teachers to come to the rally after their classes. Meanwhile, more than 300 kilometers to the north, in the southern Ararat region, the Sarkisian campaign faced allegations of vote buying from local residents attending campaign gatherings organized by Artur Baghdasarian, one of the opposition presidential candidates. “Serzh Sarkisian said yesterday that those who hand out cash [to voters] are traitors,” a woman, who identified herself as Lena, told Baghdasarian in the local town of Vedi. “Maybe the presidential candidate doesn’t know that people are collecting [voters’] passports on his behalf.” “They go from village to village, from house to house and hand out cash,” she claimed without naming names. Vote buying has grown widespread in Armenia over the past decade. The HHK and other pro-government parties were accused by their opponents of heavily relying to the illegal practice during the 2007 parliamentary polls. They both strongly denied such accusations. “I must say that all those village mayors and other individuals who commit electoral crimes will be strictly punished by law,” Baghdasarian told voters in Vedi. He also deplored what he called an atmosphere of fear reigning in Ararat. Much of the fruit-growing region is widely regarded as the de facto fiefdom of the influential Deputy Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian, who is also Sarkisian’s campaign manager. (Photolur photo)
- By Astghik Bedevian and Karine Kalantarian
Headlines for January 24, 2008
TER-PETROSIAN TOUGHENS ANTI-GOVERNMENT RHETORIC
By Emil Danielyan
Former President Levon Ter-Petrosian toughened his harsh anti-government rhetoric Thursday as he toured Armenia’s central Kotayk region on the fourth day of his election campaign. Addressing voters in ...SARKISIAN STRESSES SECURITY, PROSPERITY ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL
By Astghik Bedevian and Karine KalantarianPrime Minister Serzh Sarkisian campaigned in the southeastern Syunik region on Thursday, again promising economic betterment and saying that he would safeguard Armenia’s national security better than ...ARMENIAN TAX REVENUES UP IN 2007
By Hovannes Shoghikian
The Armenian government successfully implemented its record-high budget for last year by ensuring a more than 31 percent increase in its tax revenues, Finance and Economy Minister Vartan Khachatrian said ...
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© AUA
Today in Armenian history- 1826 Death of Jooghayetsi Hovakim Lazariants. In 1815, he built the Lazarian Academy in Moscow by using his brother's (Hovhannes Lazarian) legacy. He was born on 1743 09 05.
- 1933 Opening of Yerevan's Tobacco Factory.
- 1965 Death of Sir Winston Churchill (politician). He first used the term "Holocaust" to describe the 1915 Genocide of the Armenians perpetrated by the Turks. (He was born in 1874).
- 1965 Izrael Oree meets Tsar Peter the Great to discuss Freedom for the Armenians in Artsakh.
- 1973 The Armenian SSR Council of Ministers decides to create the Central Archives of Armenian Periodicals.
- 1973 Decision to create the Armenian Periodicals Central Government Archives.
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