ASHOT MANUCHARIAN CALLS THE PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA TO RESIGN

PanARMENIAN.Net - 18.10.2000, MEDIAMAX, YEREVAN. President of Armenia Robert Kocharian must resign immediately. The Political secretary of the Socialist Union of Armenia Ashot Manucharian stated this today at a press conference in Yerevan.

Manucharian charged Robert Kocharian with the fact that the decision that the variant of the territory swap with Azerbaijan is acceptable for Armenia was taken by the latter all by himself. Manucharian thinks that the prime minister and the speaker of the parliament were killed last year due to this very reason, and the president of the country deliberately conceals this version from the investigation and the public. The Political secretary of the Socialist Union of Armenia thinks that Robert Kocharian's resignation will give the country a chance to gain time in the process of the Karabakh conflict settlement and to decline the variant of territory swap, imposed by the West.

"It's a terrible tragedy for me that Robert Kocharian, one of the most outstanding leaders of the national-liberation fight in Karabakh, who played a heroic role in it, has appeared in such a situation", Manucharian said. In his words, President of Armenia voluntarily or not serves the interests of other countries but not Armenia.

In early 90s Ashot Manucharian held the posts of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Armenia and President Ter-Petrossian's Adviser on national security issues. -0-