HAK Agrees to Meet with Ruling Coalition Parties, Though Aims to Dialogue with Executive: Statement

The Armenian National Congress (HAK) delegation has agreed to meet with representatives of the ruling coalition on Monday at 4 pm in Erebuni Hotel, according to a statement issued by HAK on Sunday.

In the statement, the opposition bloc notes that it never made proposals for dialogue with ruling coalition parties, thus “it is clear that the coalition parties themselves, of their own volition, expressed a desire to begin political discussions with us and to this end have formed a working group.”

The statement further notes that HAK repeatedly stressed that after its three requirements were met, it is ready to begin a dialogue not with the coalition parties but with members of the ruling administration, and “regretfully notes that the latter haven’t understood or pretend that they don’t understand this simple reality.”

“Considering this a temporary roadblock or minor deception that raises complexities in the question of decision-making, the [Armenian National] Congress has no doubt that sooner or later they will speak with us at the level of a delegation of representatives of the executive bodies and authorized by [Armenian President] Serzh Sargsyan dictated by the circumstances to discuss our proposed agenda, which is the question of holding early elections,” reads point 5 of the 8-point statement.

The Armenian National Congress adds that it’s meaningless to speak of real dialogue between HAK and the authorities since “such a delegation has not yet been established.” The group further notes that not matter how much the authorities try to buy time and delay the issue, “all the same, they won’t be able to avoid the imperative of holding early elections.”

Despite all this, the statement continues, considering the ruling coalition parties’ proposal to us, “that they have something to tell us (since they took such an initiative), we are not opposed to meeting with them on Jul. 18 and respectfully listening to them, although for a meeting they could have chosen a neutral venue. Moreover, we are prepared to keep the format of meeting with coalition parties also in the future, as a process that is parallel to and supportive of the main format of negotiations between the [Armenian National] Congress and the authorities.”

The statement concludes with the opposition bloc inviting the public to its rally on Aug. 2 where HAK will address all the aforementioned issues and the details of its upcoming meeting with the coalition parties’ “working group” (quotations in original).