“Beer and ‘dirty politics’ ”
January 19, 2006
[ Kotayk is a registered trademark of the Kotayk beer company ]
Politics always seems to be a word which is universally accepted to be something “dirty”. Of course, this connotation of “dirty politics” also applies in Armenia. In fact, the word politics in Armenian, “kaghakaganutiun,” has an implication that it is related to political parties or policies. (Please do correct me if I’m wrong, but this is what I have come to understand.)
Furthermore, why is it that the people do not want to get involved in the “dirty politics”? For the Armenian people, one recent example only further enhances this cliché of “dirty politics”.
Within the month of January, yet another political party was established by one of the most infamous and richest oligarchs in the country - Mr. Gagik Tsarukian also known as “Dodi Kako”.
Mr. Tsarukian has recently established a party called Prosperous Armenia. According to an Armenia Liberty news release, he explained:
“In a recent televised interview, Tsarukian promised to unveil the make-up of his party’s governing board soon. He said it will mainly comprise well-known intellectuals and other public figures, rather than government officials and wealthy individuals. Still, it will almost certainly receive behind-the-scenes support from other feared “oligarchs,” notably Samvel Aleksanian. The latter enjoys a highly lucrative monopoly on imports of sugar, wheat and cooking oil to Armenia.”
[ For the rest of the story, go to : http://www.armenialiberty.org/armeniareport/report/en/2006/01/F58D0C93-69D4-4530-BF66-BD245CC398A9.asp ]
And there are also speculations that Victor Dallakian, an outspoken opposition leader, will be leading this political party along with Mr. Tsarukian.
It seems as though if one has enough financial resources, then they are capable of establishing their own political party in addition to living in the most elaborate mansion, having your own church as well as a whole district of Armenia named after your most infamous beer- Kotayk.
Entry Filed under: Politics. .
5 Comments Add your own
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <pre> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed
1.
hetq | January 19, 2006 at 12:11 pm
A good reason to boycott Kotayk beer, I think. Besides, Kilikia is better.
Seriously, though, I would like to see an ethical approach to consumption.
Perhaps only buying products or frequenting venues that are relatively clean in Armenian terms.
The payment of taxes (or whether people employed by a businessman have killed rivals or beaten journalists in the case of Mr. Tsarukian) might be a good way to start such an initiative.
Otherwise, are we just feeding into a neverending upward spiral of corruption?
2.
hetq | January 19, 2006 at 12:12 pm
Sorry, just to clarify that it’s me, Onnik from http://oneworld.blogsome.com. I was automatically logged in as Hetq for some reason. Although I work for Hetq I just want to clarify that.
Cheers, and keep up the blogging!
3.
armyouth | January 19, 2006 at 12:45 pm
It’s too bad because ironically Kotayk is actually is my preferred choice of beer.
Tamar
4.
hetq | January 19, 2006 at 2:02 pm
Well, it’s your choice, of course…;-)
5.
Hasmik | January 20, 2006 at 1:05 am
I couldn’t agree with Onnik’s comment more. Ethical approach towards consumption is one step forward in implementation of fair distribuation of wealth and standing up against corruption and oligarchy. Boycotting is strangling the monopoly economically.
From reading various articles about the opposition movement sin Armenia, I primarily see division and instability and bunch of wealthy opportunists who are seeking for their own interests instead of people.
However, Raffi Hovhanissian does seem promising and charismatic. It looks like he is standing up for the masses but how accurate is my information?
I would appreciate more info on the opposition movements.