“Brandy is one of the symbols of Armenia, of course, not the official symbol. However, modern Armenia, unlike brandy, is defined differently or symbolized in its way. Reporter of “First News and Analyses” Aram Amatuni compares Armenian cognac with the political forces writing that “As we know, in the shops of modern Armenia it is very difficult indeed to find high quality brandy, which can bring honor both to the producer and to the country. Brandy is often sold in the form of everything. It is called cognac, but inside either tea, or even worse something alcoholic with the color of cognac. Approximately the same are the political forces of Armenia’s political arena.”
The author referres to the fact that it has become very common to organize political assemblies in cognac factories citing “Prosperous Armenia” party as an example of conducting party sessions at the brandy factory of the party leader Gagik Tsarukyan.
“The society is interested what was discussed at the party meeting on November 5 at Gagik Tsarukyan’s brandy factory. Everybody is waiting for the PAP’s position on the presidential elections, and the party is still silent. Everyone thinks that the PAP is keeping something for the last seconds, some interesting scheme… PAP with its silence and such secret or closed consultations just covers inadequacies of the name and content, as in the case of the vast majority of modern Armenian cognacs. PAP is trying to keep something to appoint its image”, notes Amatuni.
Continuing the theme of “image” Amatuni notes that by using the PAP as a tool Serzh Sargsyan is trying to keep restrained RPA’s (Republican Party of Armenia) so-called segment of criminal-oligarchs, as well as to ensure the background of competitive elections, which will be well assessed in the West. “For Robert Kocharyan PAP is a means to determine relationship with Serzh Sargsyan. And Levon Ter-Petrosyan, separately from the ANC, is trying to solve the issue of his dismissal using the PAP”, states the author.
“After all this, it is difficult to treat such a political force seriously, despite the fact that it announces that it has 500 thousand votes. It is clear that the PAP does not rely on that votes, otherwise at least once “Prosperous Armenia” will try to understand the mood of the voters and try to make a decision based on that mood, or to discuss further actions publicly together with constituents and to try to understand what is true for that 500 thousand voters. The most important thing for the PAP is to determine the center of power correctly, Serzh Sargsyan or Robert Kocharyan?” concludes Amatuni.
