WikiLeaks on Armenian Speaker’s attitude towards PM
Weekly news, Politics | ankakh | September 5, 2011 18:06
WikiLeaks website issued a cable classified by deputy head of U.S. diplomatic mission in Armenia Joseph Pennington after meeting with Armenian Parliament Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan.
During the meeting the sides discussed the issues related to Armenia’s foreign policy and domestic reforms.
Speaking of corruption, Abrahamyan said Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan “gives a good speech but does little else”.
“He characterized the Prime Minister, generally viewed as a reformer in the area, as someone who gives a good speech but does little else. He told of challenging the PM publicly to articulate exactly what tools or leverage he lacks for the fight against corruption and oligopolies, suggesting that he received no satisfactory answer in reply. ‘Speeches and actions have to match!’he said. Without any noticeable sense of irony, he went on to ridicule the PM’s asset declaration draft law that would require 500 most senior public officials to come clean about their holdings and business interests. ‘I don’t accept such things,’ he proclaimed,” the cable reads.
In his comments Pennington stressed Abrahamyan is widely considered one of Sargsian’s most formidable rivals, and someone who is carefully building up his own power base.
“With detainees or the NGO law, for example, Abrahamian likely concluded there was decent upside and limited cost to at least presenting himself as an advocate for inclusiveness and reconciliation. But where a reform agenda collides with his personal or political interests, as with a draft law requiring him to reveal his considerable business holdings, he reverts to what most suspect is his true, thuggish form,” he said.
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