Raffi Hovannisian Says ‘Good Luck’ in Dialogue Between Authorities and HAK

“This isn’t yet a rally; this is our first return to Liberty Square, where together we stayed day and night,” said Heritage Party leader Raffi Hovannisian Saturday at Yerevan’s Liberty Square. Recall, the opposition party leader camped out at Liberty Square for two weeks in March on what he billed as a “Fast for Freedom.” When asked what he was fasting for, Hovannisian recalled the 15 demands put forth by his party.

On Saturday, he touched upon the recent general amnesty granted by the president, which applied to a number of Armenian National Congress (HAK) loyalists imprisoned since 2008 on questionable charges related to the events of Mar. 1–2, 2008, when national police and military forces, called in to disperse the mass riots following the contested presidential election, used “excessive force and violence” which left 10 people dead and many more wounded.

Hovannisian welcomed the release of the HAK loyalists (referred to as “political prisoners” by the opposition).

“They should never have been imprisoned. Their release occurred with a delay of over three years. Yesterday as well political prisoner Tigran Postanjyan [brother of Heritage Party MP Zaruhi Postanjyan] was also released. Only [Sarkis] Hatspanian and [Murad] Bojolyan and many others remain, who are in prison with this unfair method. Much occurs in our country with a delay,” he said.

On the topic of dialogue between HAK (the country’s largest opposition bloc) and the ruling authorities, the Heritage Party leader wished the parties success, noting that his party welcomes this and has always welcomed public and civic dialogue and negotiations.

“If the dialogue leads to pre-term elections, the early resolution of this terribly destructive situation, we will only welcome this early resolution and value this negotiation of our opposition colleagues and the authorities. We’re not criticizing; in all honestly, we welcome it and we will participate in those pre-term elections, in whatever sequence they occur, but if there is another agenda apart from this, which moves to agreements where other issues will be discussed — unacceptable concessions in the Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh] issue, unacceptable continuation of policy in Turkey-Armenia relations —, in this, in my opinion, the people will say ‘no’ to accomplice cooperation,” said Hovannisian.