Republican Party of Armenia MP Says Meeting with HAK was Positive

“We discussed, or rather, we exchanged views on those issues which we consider urgent. We also presented our position as to how we picture this dialogue,” said member of the working group and ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) MP Davit Harutyunyan, speaking to reporters after the meeting in Erebuni Hotel today between representatives of the Armenian National Congress (HAK) and ruling coalition parties.

“The thing is that this dialogue for us is the basis for the formation of new political culture. We believe that every democratic country needs to have a platform where the ruling authorities and the opposition can discuss issues with each other,” he said.

According to the MP, their purpose is to move from absolute conflict toward more collaborative work, which, however, doesn’t mean that political differences have been smoothed over.

“This platform will provide an opportunity for us to listen to the other’s opinion, to hold consultations together, to express everyone’s position and assessment,” he said.

Harutyunyan also touched upon the issue of who the working group represents. “We represent the [ruling] coalition, which means the executive authorities, which is formed by the coalition; we represent the parliamentary majority; we represent also the president, as leader of the coalition.”

The Republican Party of Armenia representative also noted that a discussion as such didn’t take place today — what took place was an exchange of views.

“Our assessment is positive. We believe that very soon we’ll be able to assess whether this process has a continuation or not, but I have to say that our working group is optimistic in this sense,” he said, adding that the next meeting date has not yet been set.