YEREVAN—Armenian presidential candidate and leader of the Armenian Self-Determination Movement Paruyr Hayrikian was shot shortly before midnight on Thurs.,, Jan. 31, on Tpagrichneri Avenue.
Hayrikian was transported to the St. Gregory the Illuminator Hospital, where officials told Hetq.am that Hayrikian had been admitted at 11:55 p.m. with a gunshot wound to his right clavicle, and was recuperating in the intensive care unit after undergoing surgery .
The assassination attempt could postpone the Feb. 18 presidential elections.
Emergency Room reports indicated that his life is not in danger. “He is recovering,” said a hospital spokesperson.
Yerkir.am reported that Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, Health Minister Terenik Toumanyan, presidential candidates Raffi Hovannisian and Hrant Bagratian, as well as members of parliament visited the hospital.
Relevant agencies were on the scene investigating the incident.
According to Article 98 of the Armenian Presidential Election Code, if a candidate is faced with insurmountable obstacles, the elections must be postponed by two weeks, reported Yerkir.am.
The chairman of the Armenian Parliament and President Serge Sarkisian’s re-election campaign manager, Hovik Abrahamian, who was in the hospital with other high-ranking officials, did not rule out the possibility of a postponement of the elections, depending, he said, on the developments of the case.
the whole incident has bizzarre written all over it.
why would anyone bother with a candidate that has no chance to be elected RoA President. He is not even polling above 5%. (Sargsyan is at 60%+).
Some parties are desperately attempting to create social unrest in Armenia, or preparing the grounds to label the elections ‘illegitimate’ for the next 5 years.
And if whoever wanted Mr. Hayrikian dead, he would be shot multiple times.
The single flesh wound is not the work of a professional assassin.
Personal grudge, animosity perhaps ?
Hate to think that it was a setup to garner sympathy for a fading candidacy, a fading ‘activist’ in the twilight of his public career.
Dear Avery,
Paruryr Hairikian is definitely NOT a fading¨activist¨¨.I have met him 3 times.Once some 7 years ago,when we met -after I had requested through a friend of a freind of him-in one of the parks of Yerevan- for over an hour..
Then again at the academy of sciences,where I was invited by Rafael Hambartoumian ..when someone called him and he got up and left,saying his best friend Khanzadian was very ill.Latter then passed away,had cancer.Third time near Moscow theater (Aznavour sq.) exchanging books of ours…,shorter chat: he is very low spoken never raises the voice..As to the attempt to assasinate him, not necessarily a prof. assasin is employed-who knows-
Not a flesh wound, the bullet close to his important organs….
I wisha speedy recuperation to a man like him,Armenia needs such patriotic persons ,who have long proved their faithfullness to our LIBERATION!!!
I do trust this or such like attempts will not destablizie our fatherland…..
More
He is very pro-West. Most likely it was an outside job.
Dear Mr. Palandjian:
‘fading’ was not an adjective directed at his person: I disagree with his political views, but believe he is a decent man.
Nevertheless, he may be liked by his friends, but as a political figure or ‘activist’, he is not polling anything above single digits, if that. (e.g. 4%)
In the political arena, that is equivalent to fading. Sorry.
And according to this site, it is a flesh wound and nowhere near vital organs.
The fact that he is in such a good condition – thank God – 24 hrs after getting shot proves it was not a serious wound. (watch the video).
Here is the link, and the relevant sentence:
http://news.am/eng/news/138431.html
{“He underwent a successful surgery Friday morning, and a bullet—which was located in the soft tissues of his right elbow shoulder—was removed. “}
Soft tissue.
In commentaries everyone is saying something different: “he was shot by the west”, “he was shot by Russia”, “he was shot by the Turko-Azeris”, “he is a western agent”, “he is anti-Russia”, etc It all means nobody knows anything. Until the perpetrator is caught and who is behind him revealed, everything is hearsay.
On another level, if an Armenian anything is behind this crime, it is just plain awful regardless of what Hairikian is, because it is not in the spirit of the kind of nation Armenians everywhere are interested in creating… at least in my view the majority of us feel that way.
Wow! Is it real that Sarkisian is going to get %60 votes? I don’t think so. We have educated and smart people in Armenia. We don’t have that much low and non intelligent people in our country. if he gets that, it means they are doing their job very well. You know what I mean.
I wonder all Armenian oligarchs have body guards, but some politicians don’t have. who ever was behind this assassination attempt was directly controlled by foreign political forces to destabilize Armenia and Armenian election. They have March 2008 riots in their head.
You are right Avery,my mistake.But knowing him closely, he is not one that would give up his beliefs and will fight for them.Right again he cannot garner more than a few percent of the votes.But I do not believe in this system of elections.
I have my own which ahs been registered as intellectual property at the D.C. and Yerevan equivalent. Title of which is¨¨A New Concept of Electporal Shystem and Governance¨¨ which in very short format .- it is based onm electing from main 15 fields of professions-worldwise- representatives for their worth*M E R I T S that they unite.Also understanding full well that i cannot go against current,that of present system come to us from old Greek law,then old English centuries old, then undergone yet another change that of -afdter the French and American revolutions THE PRESENT ONE.Based on politicl parties setting FWD their reps. which I do admit is understandable,but not the others who are getting theirs into Parliament s and congresses,because of their worth economically and having lavishly thrown their wealth around , spdnign in campaigns etc.,promising important positions for friends and friends of friends etc., and or Congresses because of their.This latter is not JUST AT ALL,although in my concept the 3 main Merits include the achievements economywise as well -one of the merits, but that on a PERSON WHO HAS HIMSELF accomplished the position ..NOT COME FROM DADDYHO…or grandpa..etc-., et., etc.,
Hayrikyan’s life represents one of the tragedies of modern Armenia. He was a visionary, far ahead of all politicians and most people in Armenia. From the very start, he wanted to make Armenia a US-style democracy. Every one of his ideas were either eventually adopted (albeit late) or were proven to be the right path. He believed in independence when everyone else thought it was a joke. He advocated a presidential-style democracy, which was later adopted (unfortunately, it evolved into a dictatorship). He insisted on adopting a new constitution sooner than later (unfortunately, it was done later, after the formation of the criminal olygarchy).
Had he been a president instead of all the clowns that came later, Armenia would be in much better shape. This shooting shows one more time what a pathetic (i.e. “voghormeli”) country RoA is (whether the shooting was done by Armenia or its equally pathetic “ally” Russia).
This was most probably an assassination ordered by Western interests perhaps in collaboration with elements within Armenia’s political opposition. They basically shot one of their own in an attempt to incite unrest in the country ahead of the coming presidential election. The electoral process was proceeding too quietly, too peacefully and the incumbent president was assured to win. Therefore, something had to give. Anyway ask yourselves: who gains from unrest in Armenia? The answer is – the Anglo-American-Zionist alliance and their regional Turkic and Islamic friends.
PS: There is also the possibility that this could have been a public relations stunt by Hayrikian and his small group of faithful followers. Anyway, listen to his utter nonsense about Russia and you would not put anything past this guy.
I tend to agree with Vahagn,though previously I did refer to a reply by Avery above, sort of agreeing him*but note please..only for not being able to garner more that 5% or so.That is not the question.For what Vahagn indicates is the TOTAL TRUTH, as to Paruyr being the foremost person who opted for RA Indepoendence and that at a time when people in Ra or all the pother republics would tremble by so much as the listening to one uttering word Independence . He was the Vanguard of Freedom loving people of Ra and all other 14 republics-including neighbour Georgia and axerbaijan.
As to concerned armenian’s remarks-above-his is hypothetical rather than factual. Also it being a PR stunt….what endangering their own man’s life for whom.Please explain and expand further on that, if you so wish.
Otherwise let’s wait and see.One of two or three Brit. saying I like to quote….