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KOCHARIAN WELCOMES RAMKAVAR-AZATAKAN PARTY OFFICIALS
ARMENPRESS: President Robert Kocharian met today with Diaspora-based representatives of the Ramkavar-Azatakan (Democratic Liberal) party
who have arrived in Armenia for a major meeting of the party’s leadership.
Robert Kocharian welcomed their decision to hold the gathering in Armenia saying that was the evidence of its aspiration to intensify
the Armenia-focused activity.
According to Kocharian’s press office, Ramkavar-Azatakan leaders commended Kocharian for the achievements which the country has registered during his term in office. They were
quoted as saying that visiting Yerevan several times a year they are witnessing rapid and quality changes.
The press service said they spoke also about a set of issues pertaining to social-economic development.
KOCHARIAN SAYS MALICE SHOULD NOT BE USED IN POLITICS
ARMENPRESS: Presidnet Robert Kocharian said today it was regretful that ex-presidnet Levon Ter-Petrosian is seeking a
political comeback being filled with malice. He said it was that malice that destroyed his Armenian National Movement (ANM).
Kocharian made his remarks after a journalist asked him to comment on accusations
which the ex-presidnet leveled on the incumbent administration in a 90-minute speech at the October 26 rally.
Kocharian said the main ‘idea’ in his predecessor’s speech is that ‘everything was good when he ruled
Armenia and when he resigned everything turned bad.’
“I think our people remember well what quality of life they had during Ter-Petrosian’s years in office and now. At any rate, there is one and simple option to
assess how the presidents perform after taking up their offices. From this perspective we should look at what each of them inherited and what each achieved by the time they resign,’ Kocharian said.
He said this
approach is equally applicable to a farmer, a businessman and the country’s presidnet.
“Levon Ter-Petrosian became presidnet of Armenian in 1990 August, when it was still part of the Soviet Union and one of the
most industrialized republics and had a developed agriculture. Three-four years later Armenia transformed into one of the poorest world nations. Certainly, the disintegration of the former Soviet Union had resulted in certain
losses, but in my assessment they should not have gone beyond 15-20 percent. These losses should have been recovered through investments and development projects, which was the case in the Baltic countries, Belarus, Ukraine,
while in Armenia the economy was destroyed completely in few years.
Today we can say the following-Ter-Petrosian and his allies inherited a country in a normal state and handed it down to me as a country with a
collapsed economy, rated by international organizations as one of the world’s poorest nations,” Kocharian said.
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