During a recent briefing, the “Alternative” non-governmental/political organization came to life. The organization consists of 18 initiators, including president of the “Armat” NGO, former National Assembly Chairman Babken Ararktsyan, leader of the “Democratic Homeland” party Petros Makeyan, chief editor of “Armenian Times” daily Nikol Pashinyan, former mayor of Yerevan Vahagn Khachatryan, members of the “Karabakh” committee Samson Ghazaryan and Samvel Gevorgyan, members of the Armenian National Movement administration and the “Armat” NGO, etc.
“We’re signaling the start of our joint non-governmental/political activities. We formed this organization because we are worried over the current situation in Armenia and feel responsible for the future of Armenia and the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh,” as stated in the announcement of “Alternative”. The organization already has a website-www.ayl.am and has printed a program booklet, where it states the opinions or the initiators about this or that event in Armenia and the means of getting out of the situation.
The member of “Alternative” is one who considers Armenia’s independence and the exclusivity of citizenship as high values, accepts the main ideas of the Armenian national movement, the guides of Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s “War or peace-time to get serious” article, accepts the proposed alternative projects and is ready to be the first to change from being obsessed with being the first to being prepared to be the last. With the readiness to bring to life the ideas of the alternative political organization, “Alternative” sees the issue of “overcoming the obstacle for Armenia’s development- the current egoist authorities of Armenia” as a priority. During a recent briefing, the initiators of “Alternative” announced that they hadn’t offered Levon Ter-Petrosyan to join the creation of the entire packet because Ter-Petrosyan is acquainted with the contents. According to one of the initiators of “Alternative”, N. Pashinyan, there are initiators in the group who have worked with Levon Ter-Petrosyan in the past, yet there are also people who “still haven’t worked with him”. “We truly respect Levon Ter-Petrosyan,” said N. Pashinyan.
I must say that “Alternative” differs from the rest of the oppositionist formats, alliances, unions and other parties with its clear world-outlook, the plan, opinions and its outlook for the future of Armenia and Karabakh, and on the day of its founding, presented to Armenian society its approaches for Armenia’s foreign politics, the current situation in the country and the possible solutions, the reforms in the electoral, economic and judicial systems, etc. It’s worth mentioning that “Alternative” is a union of individuals and not parties or organizations, as the previous oppositionist parties have been. Only time will show as to how far “Alternative” can go. “We’re going to speak to the people, try to get their support and are sure that we will get that support,” said member of the initiating group Petros Makeyan.