Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 18
By Elena Kosolapova – Trend:
The family of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan is engaged in racketeering, Vahan Martirosyan, the head of Armenian Intra-National Liberation Movement, said at a press conference in Baku Sept. 18.
Martirosyan earlier asked for a political asylum in Azerbaijan. The opposition organization led by him was persecuted by state authorities and certain authorized people in Armenia.
Martirosyan went on to talk about what was going on in Armenia.
“The president’s brother Alexander Sargsyan even has a nickname ‘Sasha 50/50’, because he squeezes a half of profits of all businessmen – no matter whether it is a large or small business,” he said.
Martirosyan said the people of Alexander Sargsyan kidnapped the son of someone he knows , who heads a canning factory, and as a result he had to agree to give away half of his profits.
“Sargsyan’s other brother – Levon heads a charity fund that begs for money from Europe and the US for treatment of children. However money goes into Sargsyan family’s pocket,” he said.
"’Karabakh clan" headed by Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan hates Armenia and its people,” Martirosyan said.
He said that the situation in Armenia is worse than in the most backward African countries.
"There are no jobs in Armenia,” he said. “If people did not receive money from relatives living abroad, they would starve to death long ago. The corruption is at a very high level. Everyone knows that, for example, a teacher must pay $3,000 to work in a rural school, but $10,000 in a city school. But the teachers compensate this money through pupils within a few months."
As for the occupied Nagorno Karabakh, he said that nobody wants to live there.
"There are uninhabited towns in Nagorno-Karabakh,” he said. “If a referendum is held in Nagorno-Karabakh now, people will vote to reunite with Azerbaijan."
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council’s four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
Speaking about the accusations of him stealing money, Martirosyan said the plaintiff filed a suit against him after the authorities started this campaign, adding that the plaintiff did it under the influence of the National Security Service of Armenia.
Martirosyan has appealed to the representative offices the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross in Azerbaijan asking for help to ensure the safety of his mother and his wife’s brother who stayed in Armenia.
“I know which methods are used by our National Security Service,” he said. “I ask the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross to intervene in this issue.”
Martirosyan said he hasn’t yet decided whether to stay in Azerbaijan or to move to another country.
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