Perhaps we can understand that during those days everybody has been impatiently waiting for the Kocharyan-Aliyev meeting in Paris. Both opposition and authority parties were planning to go along with their activities based on the results of this meeting. But now, when the meeting is over without results, it’s interesting to know what the opposition is planning on doing.
According to the head of the Liberal Progressive Party of Armenia (LPPA) Hovhannes Hovhannisyan the opposition doesn’t have time to slow down any more and should take certain steps to take the country out of the current chaotic situation. “We don’t have time. Time works against our people and sovereignty. We should all understand that there is an issue concerning the people and our country’s sovereignty”, says H. Hovhannisyan. However he thinks it’s very important to have ideologies in the political field. It is necessary to solve the issues of the country with a narrow ideology. H. Hovhannisyan calls our current political field “spoilt” and blames the current government for that. However at present the society is kind of disappointed in the opposition as well. Both the “18+8” and the “17+1” formats failed to do anything. Hovhannisyan also agrees with this. “The “18+8” and “17+1” formats may exist, operate but the serious issues must be solved by a narrow group of people. If we don’t come up with a certain ideology and a strong team to speak to society, we will endanger the future of our country. And we need an opposition that is able to clearly present their ideologies to our people and start to make concrete steps”, he emphasized. The latter thinks that the opposition has had victories a few times. The problem is that they were not able to “fix and maintain these victories”.
We also spoke with the president of the “Republic” Party Aram Sargsyan regarding this issue. According to him, the opposition is very busy discussing the strategies of the opposition. Besides, serious negotiations are taking place in the RA foreign political field and different branches of government. “At the present, the opposition is progressing. This includes the election of the Ombudsman, Referendum and Karabagh conflict”, says A. Sargsyan. He thinks that the number one priority of the opposition is to get rid of the current government as soon as possible. “We will not step back from our objectives because those objectives include the reestablishment of rights and normal lifestyle of our people. To reach our goals we will use all the possible means and resources that exist in the political field”, assured the head of the “Republic” Party. Sargsyan assured that they are going to resume their activities through rallies, roundtables and announcements. The opposition leader signifies the conduct of rallies. That’s a good means to socialize with the society due to the fact that they don’t have a TV channel. Moreover they are totally deprived from the right to express their opinions on TV. “The society is ready to make sacrifices and be deprived just to make sure they get rid of the current corrupt and destructive government”, he said.
According to Sargsyan, “We realize that the government pyramid will do its best not to recede their powers, however they should realize that people would do the same for their country and a prosperous future. Everybody thinks like this. Finally, the opposition doesn’t have a mission to make people go out on the streets. Our mission is to lead the people who are out on the streets. How long are we going to be jealous of the people in Palestine or Haiti, who are able to protect their rights?”