On February 27 “Iskakan Iravunk” (“Real Iravunk”) newspaper was published.
The Chairman of the Editorial Board is Haik Babukhanian, the Chief Editor is
Hovhannes Galajian, who previously headed “Iravunk” newspaper, the party organ
of “Constitutional Right” Union (CRU). As reported, the party conflict at the
CRU conference in September 2006 between its leaders, the NA Deputy Hrant Khachatrian
and Haik Babukhanian, and the litigation that ensued split also the editorial
staff of the party organ. Having restored his rights of the Chairman of the
CRU Board Hrant Khachatrian dismissed the management of the newspaper from their
positions, and on February 23 “Iravunk” was issued with a new Chief Editor,
Piruza Meliksetian. Haik Babukhanian and Hovhannes Galajian, on their behalf,
announced their intention to continue publishing the newspaper, but with a different
title (see details in YPC Weekly Newsletter, February
16-22, 2007).
In the article of the Chief Editor Hovhannes Galajian, published in the first
issue of “Iskakan Iravunk”, the situation with “Constitutional Right” Union
and its party organ is qualified as “pre-election terror, initiated by the top
of RPA (Republican Party of Armenia – Ed. note), placing
the blame for it, in particular, on the Chairman of the RPA Board, the RA Minister
of Defense Serzh Sargsian.
Legally, “Iskakan Iravunk” is not a partisan newspaper: its founder and publisher
is “Zaruhi” LLC. De facto it is a certain counterbalance to the partisan “Iravunk”:
the two publications are issued on Tuesdays and Fridays, have the same volume
and format, similar layout , a number of similar sections (i.e., “Com. Panjuni’s
Corner”, “Gossip #1” in “Irvaunk” versus “Real Panjuni”,
“Real Gossip” in “Iskakan Iravunk”). The only difference
is the print run – 7,200 copies for “Iravunk” and 5,000 copies of
“Iskakan Irvaunk”. The latter is published with a slogan “Real Newspaper
for Real People”.
