InternationalRadical opposition holds another “decisive” rally
Ter-Petrossian gives president an ultimatum, again
Published: Saturday September 20, 2008
Levon Ter-Petrossian on September 15. Photolure
Yerevan - The newly formed opposition Armenian National Congress held a rally on Monday, September 15 in central Yerevan. The rally, which was sanctioned by the city, drew between five and ten thousand participants, continuing the trend of dwindling participation in rallies called by former president Levon Ter-Petrossian.
Monday was a state holiday.
Before the rally began, the deputy police chief of Yerevan, Col. Aghasi Kirakosian, spoke to Mr. Ter-Petrossian about a proposed march to follow the rally. He "requested and demanded" [video on reporter.am] that they refrain from holding the march, adding that he could guarantee security during the authorized rally but not during an unauthorized march.
Mr. Ter-Petrossian said, "Got it," and walked away. At the end of the rally, Armenian National Congress coordinator Levon Zurabian announced, to the audible dismay of demonstrators, that no march would take place.
Organizers had heralded the rally as the kickoff of the "decisive" and "victorious" phase of the opposition's struggle - which calls for new presidential and parliamentary elections. Although the speakers, including Mr. Ter-Petrossian, were as strident as ever in their criticism of the president and the "kleptocracy," they did not in fact call for any extraordinary measures.
Davit Shahnazarian, one of the leaders of the opposition movement and an in-law of Mr. Ter-Petrossian's, announced that now was not the time for decisive action. He said organizing the Armenian National Congress was a priority.
A member of the board of the New Times Party, Hrachia Sargsian, had announced days earlier that he would be joining the congress as an individual; he was immediately expelled from the party. But the leader of the New Times Party, Aram Karapetian, was present at the rally and spoke. He declined, however, the request of the Armenian Reporter to discuss the party's rift over joining the Armenian National Congress. The New Times Party received 3 percent of the vote in the May 2007 parliamentary elections. (Among the parties that endorsed Mr. Ter-Petrossian's candidacy in the February 2008 presidential elections, only the Heritage Party had fared better, with 6 percent of the vote in May 2007.)
In a 45-minute speech, Mr. Ter-Petrossian argued that "the nature of the kleptocratic regime" in Armenia had not changed, and he warned that owing to the "criminal economic policy" of the government, the people of Armenia should expect "a difficult winter" and "by early spring, a crisis situation."
He observed "cracks," however, in the "kleptocratic pyramid." Specifically, he cited differences within the ruling Republican Party, which has pushed its vice-president, Tigran Torossian, out of his role as Speaker of parliament; unsubstantiated rumors that former president Robert Kocharian hopes to return to politics as prime minister; and the fact that the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, a member-party of the governing coalition, organized a mass protest against Turkish policies during the visit of Turkey's president last week.
In the form of an ultimatum, Mr. Ter-Petrossian offered the president a truce. Mr. Sargsian should arrange for "political prisoners" to be freed and for "a true, not artificial, dialogue with society and its representatives," he said, referring to himself. "That would change the atmosphere entirely. That would show the West that in such cases, where Karabakh is threatened, on such national issues, Armenia is able to set aside the most serious domestic differences, come together, and united, as a nation, resist external pressures. This is the only way. If Serge Sargsian takes another route, that means he, for the sake of his egotistical interests, is selling both the Genocide and Nagorno-Karabakh, and ultimately, our beloved homeland, the Republic of Armenia."
The next "decisive" rally is set for September 26, two days before elections for the district head of Yerevan's Center district. The Armenian National Congress is running a candidate, Ararat Zurabian, in that election. Mr. Zurabian held the position during Mr. Ter-Petrossian's presidency.
