Epress.am News from Armenia
The year 2008 passed and now Armenia is experiencing a different reality, but many political forces — including many Pan-Armenian National Movement (HHSh) members — have remained in the past, writer, publicist Marine Petrosyan said at the Free Democrats’ congress today.
“Losing is a harsh thing. But if you don’t confess your loss, you can’t move forward. I’m happy that in this room [today] are people who had the courage to accept that they lost and moved forward. I’m happy that many HHSh members moved forward and created the Free Democrats party,” she said.
In the opinion of the former Armenian National Congress (HAK) member, a part of Armenian society perceives freedom incorrectly, while “nationalism” is associated with the Hayots Artsivner (“Armenian Eagles”).
Another former HAK member, Karapet Rubinyan, also welcomed former HHSh members’ move to establish Free Democrats.
“Unlike HHSh, which was established by quite a motley group, the Democrats was founded by experienced people; therefore, the responsibility is greater. I want your party to give lessons on people who have become prisoners of idols — disperse the atmosphere of repulsive lies,” he said.
Also participating in the congress was the Conservative Party, a HAK member party. Party leader Mikael Hayrapetyan said that he sees the Free Democrats’ struggle for decolonization.
“Let’s finally open the KGB archives. Our first step is being released from Russian colonialism… That which is called the CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] is an anachronism. The guarantee of our country’s security has to be NATO,” he said.
Free Democrats party leader Khachatur Kokobelyan said the axis of their plans is comprised of the following: the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Karabakh’s participation in the Minsk Group negotiations, Armenia establishing normal realizations with all its neighbors and EU-Armenia relations.
According to him, the time for the Heritage Party and the Free Democrats to unite has long been ripe. “We find that the Heritage Party is that force which can lead to serious changes, ” he said, without, however, making an official statement as to whether the two parties would join an alliance or not.