In an interview with “Aravot,” former Foreign Minister Alexander Arzumanian criticizes the Armenian Pan-National Movement (HHSh), a former ruling party which he officially quit last week. Arzumanian says that the HHSh has ceased to be an independent political structure and now mainly caters to the Armenian National Congress (HAK) alliance. “The HHSh used to be a structure with collective decision-making, but this has not been the case for the last few years,” he says. “The HHSh is governed by the HAK and that is an unfortunate reality.”
Speaking to “168 Zham,” Nikol Pashinian, a leading member of the HAK, warns that if the authorities refuse to call fresh elections, the opposition alliance “will mobilize a maximum number of citizens in Liberty Square.” “If the opinion of a decisive majority of Armenia’s citizens is expressed in Liberty Square, it will simply be impossible [for the authorities] to avoid pre-term elections,” says Pashinian.
Asked whether the HAK can attract such a majority to the streets, Pashinian says, “I am confident that at a decisive moment the decisive majority will be in Liberty Square and, instead of going home, will send home the leaders of the kleptocracy.”
“Hayots Ashkhar” says Armenia needs to “draw maximum diplomatic dividends” from the ill-fated normalization protocols with Turkey that were signed in 2009. The paper says the protocols are in effect “dead but not buried.” “Therefore, we need to organize their funeral in a way that will make it impossible for the opposite side to exploit them further,” says the paper. “And that requires not hasty steps but a pro-active policy on the elimination of Armenia’s blockade, international recognition of the Armenian Genocide and other issues.”
“When the Supreme Soviet adopted Armenia’s declaration of independence on August 23, 1990 we all were deeply convinced that 20 years later, namely today, we will have an established democratic state,” writes “Yerkir.” “The aim was clear to everyone, even though everyone realized that the most important thing is not to declare independence but to actually gain it. But the country’s president says now that we will have a democratic country in 20 years from now. It means that we have simply squandered the past 20 years, having no major achievements on the path to democracy. In 1990, there was romantic faith in those who declared independence and the future of independent and democratic Armenia. Today people are realists. That faith has been shaken.”
(Tigran Avetisian)
Speaking to “168 Zham,” Nikol Pashinian, a leading member of the HAK, warns that if the authorities refuse to call fresh elections, the opposition alliance “will mobilize a maximum number of citizens in Liberty Square.” “If the opinion of a decisive majority of Armenia’s citizens is expressed in Liberty Square, it will simply be impossible [for the authorities] to avoid pre-term elections,” says Pashinian.
Asked whether the HAK can attract such a majority to the streets, Pashinian says, “I am confident that at a decisive moment the decisive majority will be in Liberty Square and, instead of going home, will send home the leaders of the kleptocracy.”
“Hayots Ashkhar” says Armenia needs to “draw maximum diplomatic dividends” from the ill-fated normalization protocols with Turkey that were signed in 2009. The paper says the protocols are in effect “dead but not buried.” “Therefore, we need to organize their funeral in a way that will make it impossible for the opposite side to exploit them further,” says the paper. “And that requires not hasty steps but a pro-active policy on the elimination of Armenia’s blockade, international recognition of the Armenian Genocide and other issues.”
“When the Supreme Soviet adopted Armenia’s declaration of independence on August 23, 1990 we all were deeply convinced that 20 years later, namely today, we will have an established democratic state,” writes “Yerkir.” “The aim was clear to everyone, even though everyone realized that the most important thing is not to declare independence but to actually gain it. But the country’s president says now that we will have a democratic country in 20 years from now. It means that we have simply squandered the past 20 years, having no major achievements on the path to democracy. In 1990, there was romantic faith in those who declared independence and the future of independent and democratic Armenia. Today people are realists. That faith has been shaken.”
(Tigran Avetisian)