Armenian Republican Party (RPA) Deputy Chairman Armen Ashotyan stated that the team of businessman Samvel Karapetyan, who has been detained for two months, intends to become the leading force in Armenia’s opposition.
He criticized former President Robert Kocharyan’s allies, asserting that their only consistent political operation amidst a deepening crisis is their ongoing “disgusting smear campaign” against the RPA.
“No matter how unenviable Kocharyan’s team’s position becomes, their persistence and shamelessness in attacking the Republican Party and the third President are remarkable.
While Pashinyan cedes Syunik, intensifies assaults on the Church, jails our comrades, and combines political repression with tax persecution, what is Kocharyan’s team—once objectively, now habitually—doing in its self-imposed role as opposition leader?
Are they uniting constructive forces in society? No. Are they proposing solutions? No. Are they leveraging their vaunted international reputation to avert looming disaster? Again, no.
Their sole consistent political act has been an irrational and unethical campaign against us.
Those behind this campaign—once dismissed as marginal and disconnected—have now become the mainstream in Kocharyan’s camp. This is ironic, as normally the best are recruited into elite groups, but here, negative selection prevails.
This wouldn't concern us if Kocharyan’s propaganda team wasn’t built not on anti-Pashinyan but anti-Sargsyan principles. Ultimately, an experienced leader chooses his court—but sometimes forgets that ‘the king is made by his retinue’,” he wrote.
Ashotyan added that, from a human egoism standpoint, their behavior might be understandable.
“They cannot explain why they won’t support the only viable way to remove Pashinyan—impeachment. Meanwhile, they’re overshadowed by Karapetyan’s rising political presence.
Even if they deny it publicly, Kocharyan’s team knows Karapetyan’s initiative could siphon off a major share of the electorate, influence, agenda, and personnel.
In fact, Karapetyan’s team is vying to become the primary opposition force—a status dear to Kocharyan’s camp and the basis for their recent strategy.
These tectonic shifts in the opposition remind me of Nokia’s downfall: once a market leader, it failed to adapt and disappeared, while Apple and Samsung surged ahead.
Any realignment within the opposition is acceptable to me if it accelerates Pashinyan’s political end. But Kocharyan’s vile campaign against us wastes valuable resources and achieves the opposite.”
