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RADICAL OPPOSITIONISTS STICK TO 'REVOLUTION' THEME
By Astghik Bedevian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
April 12 2007
Armenia's most radical opposition party rallied more than a thousand
supporters in Yerevan on Thursday, telling them to be ready for
a "democratic revolution" which it said could follow the May 12
parliamentary elections.
Launching their election campaign in the city's southern Shengavit
district, the leaders of the Hanrapetutyun (Republic) party indicated
their intention to stage a popular revolt in the wake of what they
expected to be another fraudulent vote.
"This is our country, people. We are its masters, people,"
Hanrapetutyun's outspoken leader, Aram Sarkisian, told the enthusiastic
crowd that braved heavy rain to gather in the main local square.
Sarkisian said the choice of the starting point of his party's
campaign was not accidental, reminding the demonstrators that the
Armenian opposition's most recent attempt at regime change began with
a Hanrapetutyun rally held in the same venue in January 2004.
That campaign eventually ended in failure due to poor attendance
of opposition rallies and an unprecedented government crackdown on
the opposition. Incidentally, the Shengavit rally coincided with the
third anniversary of the key opposition protest staged near President
Robert Kocharian's official residence at the time. Its heavy-handed
dispersal by security forces predetermined the failure of the regime
change drive.
Hanrapetutyun leaders seem to be undaunted by that fiasco, saying that
they would not content themselves with a handful of seats in the next
parliament. "There can be no evolutionary change in Armenia," one
of them, Gegham Harutiunian, said in his speech. "Only a democratic
revolution can change things in Armenia."
Harutiunian warned that those opposition forces that would refuse to
attend Hanrapetutyun's post-election rallies would be publicly branded
as government agents. The warning appeared to be primarily addressed to
the country's three largest opposition parties whose leaders -- Artur
Baghdasarian, Artashes Geghamian, and Stepan Demirchian -- have refused
to form electoral alliances with Hanrapetutyun and other parties.
The three men held separate gatherings with voters on Thursday.
Baghdasarian addressed about 200 disabled people in the headquarters of
his Orinats Yerkir Party, while Geghamian toured villages close to the
central town of Abovian. The area is the stronghold of Gagik Tsarukian,
a Kocharian-connected businessman whose populist Prosperous Armenia
Party is expected to do well in the elections at the opposition's
expense.
Without mentioning Tsarukian by name, Hanrapetutyun's Sarkisian
denounced the tycoon as an uneducated "anti-hero" who embodies the
values espoused by the country's leadership. "When you tell a kid
to study well [in school,] he asks, 'Did this country's richest man,
who is now prospering, study well?'" he said.
By Astghik Bedevian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
April 12 2007
Armenia's most radical opposition party rallied more than a thousand
supporters in Yerevan on Thursday, telling them to be ready for
a "democratic revolution" which it said could follow the May 12
parliamentary elections.
Launching their election campaign in the city's southern Shengavit
district, the leaders of the Hanrapetutyun (Republic) party indicated
their intention to stage a popular revolt in the wake of what they
expected to be another fraudulent vote.
"This is our country, people. We are its masters, people,"
Hanrapetutyun's outspoken leader, Aram Sarkisian, told the enthusiastic
crowd that braved heavy rain to gather in the main local square.
Sarkisian said the choice of the starting point of his party's
campaign was not accidental, reminding the demonstrators that the
Armenian opposition's most recent attempt at regime change began with
a Hanrapetutyun rally held in the same venue in January 2004.
That campaign eventually ended in failure due to poor attendance
of opposition rallies and an unprecedented government crackdown on
the opposition. Incidentally, the Shengavit rally coincided with the
third anniversary of the key opposition protest staged near President
Robert Kocharian's official residence at the time. Its heavy-handed
dispersal by security forces predetermined the failure of the regime
change drive.
Hanrapetutyun leaders seem to be undaunted by that fiasco, saying that
they would not content themselves with a handful of seats in the next
parliament. "There can be no evolutionary change in Armenia," one
of them, Gegham Harutiunian, said in his speech. "Only a democratic
revolution can change things in Armenia."
Harutiunian warned that those opposition forces that would refuse to
attend Hanrapetutyun's post-election rallies would be publicly branded
as government agents. The warning appeared to be primarily addressed to
the country's three largest opposition parties whose leaders -- Artur
Baghdasarian, Artashes Geghamian, and Stepan Demirchian -- have refused
to form electoral alliances with Hanrapetutyun and other parties.
The three men held separate gatherings with voters on Thursday.
Baghdasarian addressed about 200 disabled people in the headquarters of
his Orinats Yerkir Party, while Geghamian toured villages close to the
central town of Abovian. The area is the stronghold of Gagik Tsarukian,
a Kocharian-connected businessman whose populist Prosperous Armenia
Party is expected to do well in the elections at the opposition's
expense.
Without mentioning Tsarukian by name, Hanrapetutyun's Sarkisian
denounced the tycoon as an uneducated "anti-hero" who embodies the
values espoused by the country's leadership. "When you tell a kid
to study well [in school,] he asks, 'Did this country's richest man,
who is now prospering, study well?'" he said.