Epress.am News from Armenia
Ter-Petrossian set a new deadline for Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan as thousands of his supporters again rallied in Yerevan’s Liberty Square in defiance of a government ban. Riot police again let the crowd enter the square after a brief conversation with HAK representatives, reports RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
In his 35-minute speech, Ter-Petrossian insisted that the Sargsyan administration free all political prisoners, agree to an objective inquiry into the 2008 post-election unrest in Yerevan and guarantee opposition access to Liberty Square. He said all three demands must be satisfied before the next HAK rally scheduled for Apr. 28.
“If that does not take place, then the Armenian National Congress (HAK) will consider the possibility of dialogue [with the authorities] to have been exhausted and will be compelled to drastically change its tactic and the character of activities,” he said, triggering “Levon!” chants from the crowd.
“We are still not inclined to talk to the authorities in the language of ultimatums,” added Ter-Petrossian. “But the people’s patience has limits. Therefore, Apr. 28 must be either a day of the beginning of dialogue or a day of the final watershed between the authorities and the public.”
The HAK leader did not specify whether he is prepared to launch the kind of non-stop protests that followed the disputed presidential election of Feb. 2008. He already issued what he called a “last warning” to the Armenian authorities on Mar. 1.
Ter-Petrossian’s right-hand man, Levon Zurabyan, spoke of “resolute actions” which he said would “make the authorities sober up.”
“We are calling on the people to start today a nationwide preparation for the launch of a campaign of civil disobedience across Armenia. And let nobody doubt that the people’s patience is running out,” Zurabyan told the crowd before it Mar.ed to Liberty Square.
Zurabyan said the authorities have still not met any of the demands voiced by the HAK since the launch of its campaign of antigovernment demonstrations on Feb. 18.
The campaign, clearly inspired by the anti-government revolts in several Arab states, rapidly gained momentum, with the number of HAK demonstrators steadily growing in the course of last month.
But attendance at Friday’s rally, although still rather robust, was clearly not stronger than at the previous protest on Mar. 17. Police said 8,500 people took part, while organizers claimed the number was much greater.
Ter-Petrossian and other HAK leaders maintain that the main aim of their campaign is to force the holding of snap presidential and parliamentary elections. They say at the same time that Armenia’s largest opposition force is ready to negotiate with Sargsyan if its three key demands are met.
The authorities freed two opposition members last month, reducing to six the number of Ter-Petrossian loyalists who were arrested following the 2008 vote and remain in jail — the most prominent being newspaper editor Nikol Pashinyan and former parliament deputy Sasun Mikaelyan.
Ter-Petrossian spent a large part of his speech rebutting verbal attacks from other, smaller opposition groups that accuse the HAK of trying to monopolize opposition activity in Armenia. “That empty accusation addressed by some to the HAK is in fact nothing but a cheap way of justifying their own ineptness,” he said in remarks apparently addressed to the Heritage and Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) parties.
“Organize your rallies,” he said. “Persuade the people that the Congress is wrong, that you are right. Make them follow you. And let us be in the last rows of the hundreds of thousands following you.”
Ter-Petrossian also ridiculed his opposition critics’ case for the emergence of a “third force” that would act as an alternative to both the government and the HAK. He went on to allege that they may be “extremely worried” about the possibility of a dialogue between the two rival political camps and would rather prefer to see the jailed oppositionists “perpetually” remain behind bars.