Epress.am News from Armenia
In a statement issued by the Armenian National Congress (HAK) the day after its first meeting on Monday toward dialogue with a working group of ruling coalition parties the opposition bloc said that it accepts ruling coalition working group member Davit Harutyunyan’s statement that his delegation represents the executive branch formed by the coalition, the parliamentary majority and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan personally, considering that dialogue may continue in this format and expressing willingness in organizing a new meeting.
Recall, earlier HAK had said that it was prepared to dialogue not with the working group of ruling coalition parties, but with the executive bodies led by Serzh Sargsyan. It seems that with its statement on Tuesday, HAK has considered this issue closed.
The extra-parliamentary opposition bloc also notes that future meetings must take place in a neutral venue (the first meeting was held in a conference room in Erebuni Hotel in Yerevan). In addition, HAK calls for either the meetings to be broadcast live or “to ensure the parties have equal outreach opportunities, the [Armenian National] Congress should be provided at least a half hour of live broadcast on Public TV after every meeting, in order to present its views to the public.”
“The ban on broadcasting information about Armenian National Congress rallies on Public Television and the other TV channels has to be lifted,” reads the HAK statement, in part.
The last paragraph in the statement notes that law enforcement authorities have to stop “terrorizing the public and raising various barriers, in particular the disbanding of public and private transport, ahead of HAK rallies” in the Armenian capital.