Although the Armenian National Congress formed a delegation to start a dialog with the authorities but the matter of opposition-government still remains hanging in the air.
The Republican Party continues making responsive statements that they are open for a dialog but have never had the intention to form a delegation to speak with the opposition. They are suggesting that the ANC should address its questions and concerns to relevant state bodies. And the spokesman of the Republican party Edward Sharmazanov even mentioned that they were ready to discuss the concerns of the ANC at the National Assembly. In a word, the RPA all day and every day excludes negotiating with the opposition in a format of delegations or groups. But we should recall that when the first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan sated in his May 31 rally that they were ready to cooperate with the government and they were going to do this in delegations on the next day the NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan welcomed the suggestions of the opposition and expressed an opinion that the President of the country will take that step. “The President will indeed organize this dialog, which steps from the interests of the Armenian people,” said Abrahamyan. And as a response to the question as when the government will form a delegation and what the format is going to be NA chairman said, “We haven’t discussed the format but in the near future it will be clarified.” After all this it is hard to believe that the government hasn’t discussed the matter of starting a dialog in delegations. In general it is hard to imagine that Ter-Petrosyan will build a delegation without having the prospect of cooperating in the format of delegations. ANC leader was probably sure that the government would give a relevant response to that idea. Otherwise he would have hardly taken that step. He was as sure about this format as he was sure to state that by May 31 rally political prisoners Nicol Pashinyan and Sasun Mikaelyan would be released. As we witnessed it has happened exactly that way. Let us also remember that the two of his other demands were also fulfilled, which included opening the Liberty Square for rallies and revision of the process of investigation of March 1 events. So the leader of the opposition was also confident in this format during his calculations. The political field and the whole society was expecting that. Moreover, a month and a half ago Serzh Sargsyan stated about the importance of overcoming the environment of hostility and evil and that he was willing to take the first step. Everything seemed normal because the steps of the government would be followed by the opposition statements. Although the government was claiming that their steps were matching with the statements of the opposition quite accidentally but that is not the important thing. Despite the statements of the ANC that the response was calculated by them it is still unclear why the government withdrew its positions from the starting point. Experts and politicians have numerously mentioned that that the outgoing US Ambassador to Armenia has majorly conduced to strengthening of the dialog between the opposition and the government. Both the ambassador and the officials visiting our country from the USA and Europe besides the government used to meet with the ANC leaders, naturally with Levon Ter-Petrosyan. Consequently, speaking about the dialogue became possible and the government came to meet some of the demands of the opposition. The European structures were particularly welcoming these steps of the government. However almost during whole this period Russia was silent, which was most probably closely following the development of the internal political processes in Armenia. According to some opinions the corresponding Russian circles did not like the ongoing developments in Armenia. It should be recalled that when the opposition was busy forming a delegation Serzh Sargsyan was in Italy and always beside the president of the Russian Federation Dmitri Medvedev. It is not excluded that the process was stopped right at that time, before it started. Yesterday we tried to find out from the President of the National Assembly why the “Dialogue stemming from the interests of the Republic of Armenia and the people” was not organized; however we did not receive any answer. A member of ANC, the chairman of the “Republic” party Aram Sargsyan told us yesterday through the phone conversation, that he always considered Russian factor on the internal activities of Armenia as a negative one. “Russia itself has serious issues connected with democracy. Armenia is not an Arab country and the changes here will directly influence the internal political life of Russia. In this sense, naturally, Russia will not be much interested in changes here. But to what extent Russia has influence on Serzh Sargsyan and internal political field of Armenia; I am not able to tell, since I am not informed”. According to the latter, the intrigues referring to the dialogue with ANC in the coalition and in the Republican party itself had impact on Serzh Sargsyan. It is not a secret, that both the government and the opposition are concerned about what may happen between ANC and the government. The former president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan expressed his point of view on this matter as well. The press secretary of the latter, Viktor Soghomonyan made an announcement according to which R. Kocharyan met with the vice president of Russia Vladimir Putin. At first this news was disproved by the Russian part, then it was approved after the ANC rally. And it becomes clear, that may be the attempt to hold a dialogue between ANC and the government failed as a result of Russia-USA competition. Of course it is not excluded that the dialogue will be held anyway, however it is clear that Russia is not confident that the either the former or the incumbent presidents are under its complete influence. In this case Russia may activate the former president and his team in the course of the further internal political developments. Where is the guarantee that as a result of the dialogue between Levon Ter Petrosyan’s and Serzh Sargsyan’s, the internal political developments of RA will come out of the influence frames of Russia. In any case one thing is clear, that R. Kocharyan coordinates his plans mainly with Russia, and has almost nothing to do with the western states and receives back the same attitude. It turns out that of the three RA presidents the most inclined to Russia is the second one. Most probably Russia thinks likewise, in spite of the fact that it was Levon Ter-Petrosyan who concluded military cooperation agreement with them and Sezh Sargsyan prolonged it by another 40 years last year. According to A. Sargsyan that S. Sargsyan will give his response anyway. “I think that the international community and the West are interested in the resolution of the issues in this country by means of negotiations and not by revolution. And in this sense, we should not forget that both the USA and Europe welcomed the idea of the dialogue”. And here S. Sargsyan has serious concerns, since people will hardly understand either him or the government. When the opposition calms down the people, and then proposes the government to resolve the problems the country faces through the dialogue, they do not reply. Here S. Sargsyan has to give a response to the international community,” concludes A.Sargsyan.