President Sargsyan wants ARG CEO Karen Karapetian to be elected new mayor of Yerevan: newspapers
16.12.2010,
15:31
An Armenian daily claimed in its today’s issue that president Serzh Sargsyan wants Karen Karapetian, CEO of Russian-Armenian natural gas operator ArmRosGazprom (ARG), to be elected as a new mayor of Yerevan.
YEREVAN, December 15, /ARKA/. An Armenian daily claimed in its today’s issue that president Serzh Sargsyan wants Karen Karapetian, CEO of Russian-Armenian natural gas operator ArmRosGazprom (ARG), to be elected as a new mayor of Yerevan.
The pro-opposition daily Hraparak (Square) said its sources in the governing Republican Party insist however that the controversial ex-mayor Gagik Beglarian, who was forced to step down last week, will be replaced by his deputy Taron Margarian.
Another pro-opposition daily Chorrord Inkniskhnautyun (Fourth Estate) writes that Russian Gazprom that holds the majority in ARG ostensibly asked president Sargsyan not to press for Karen Karapetian’s election as a new mayor. ‘But Sargsyan has found a replacement for Karen Karapetian, suggesting that the job be given to Vardan Harutyunian, a former chief of the natural gas department, who is close with Gagik Tsarukian, head of the Prosperous Armenia Party,’ it says.
The daily Haykakan Zhamanak (Armenian Time) says a spokeswoman for ARG, Shushan Sardarian, declined comments on these rumors.
Gagik Beglarian was forced to step down December 8 after reportedly beating up Aram Kandayan, an official at the presidential administration’s protocol unit. According to media reports, Kandayan angered Beglarian after asking the latter’s wife not to sit next to Serzh Sargsyan during the November 3 concert in Yerevan of Placido Domingo, the world-famous Spanish tenor because such seats are traditionally reserved for Armenia’s prime minister, parliament speaker and the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Beglarian, who did not attend the concert, was said to drove Kandayan to Metax plant and beat up the official there the next day. The election of a new mayor is set for December 17. -0-
The pro-opposition daily Hraparak (Square) said its sources in the governing Republican Party insist however that the controversial ex-mayor Gagik Beglarian, who was forced to step down last week, will be replaced by his deputy Taron Margarian.
Another pro-opposition daily Chorrord Inkniskhnautyun (Fourth Estate) writes that Russian Gazprom that holds the majority in ARG ostensibly asked president Sargsyan not to press for Karen Karapetian’s election as a new mayor. ‘But Sargsyan has found a replacement for Karen Karapetian, suggesting that the job be given to Vardan Harutyunian, a former chief of the natural gas department, who is close with Gagik Tsarukian, head of the Prosperous Armenia Party,’ it says.
The daily Haykakan Zhamanak (Armenian Time) says a spokeswoman for ARG, Shushan Sardarian, declined comments on these rumors.
Gagik Beglarian was forced to step down December 8 after reportedly beating up Aram Kandayan, an official at the presidential administration’s protocol unit. According to media reports, Kandayan angered Beglarian after asking the latter’s wife not to sit next to Serzh Sargsyan during the November 3 concert in Yerevan of Placido Domingo, the world-famous Spanish tenor because such seats are traditionally reserved for Armenia’s prime minister, parliament speaker and the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Beglarian, who did not attend the concert, was said to drove Kandayan to Metax plant and beat up the official there the next day. The election of a new mayor is set for December 17. -0-
