It was still the month of October when the Dashnaktsutyun (ARF) had
threatened the authorities of turning their backs if they did not
fulfill their demands and if they did not carry out actions in the
cadre scheme in politics. “The ARF will not stay where it is and will
point out the role it plays. It will turn into an alternative for
today’s authorities,” announced Armen Rustamyan, who is the
representative of the Supreme Body of the ARF. He added that they are
always confronting with Robert Kocharyan during these battles.
Rustamyan, along with his fellow federalists, affirmed that these
issues will be put up for discussion in the next meeting of the Supreme
Body with the outlooks of making decisions to clarify everything. The
federalists had their three day closed meeting 174 kilometers from
Yerevan in Jermuk. However, even that meeting did not help them to
return as alternatives for the authorities. They announced again that a
majority of the approaches and strategies stated in the coalition’s
memorandum is incomplete and that their main goal is to not steer their
course in the wrong way. “We are part of the coalition in order to not
change the route of the course. The ARF has the right to review its
orientation in case there is a violation of laws stated in the
memorandum,” said Armen Rustamyan during a post-press conference on
Wednesday. We reminded Mr. Rustamyan that they had warned us about
their right, but they had also announced that they would make decisions
for carrying out actions during the course of the press conference. In
regard to this, Mr. Rustamyan said the following: “We have said that
the Supreme Body has clarified everything. I think we stated what is
and will be our role played in the coalition. We believe that it is
possible to give good solutions to all problems within the framework of
the coalition.” In response to the question as to why they keep on
threatening their colleagues of turning into an ally, Armen Rustamyan
replied: “That is not a threat. It is simply a way of showing how
serious we are in politics. What threat? Isn’t it clear when we say
that we will take certain steps if something goes wrong? We are not
threatening anyone. Besides, what can we threaten them with?” “168
hours” informed the representative of the Supreme Body that the other
members of the coalition think that the ARF wants to get new
ministerial powers with its threats. Armen Rustamian said: “It is
impossible to get new powers. That has certain limits in the
memorandum. A person who has no clue about all of this may perceive it
as a threat. We have made everything clear-how can we get something new
by threatening? The memorandum must be reviewed and reviewing means the
end of the coalition.”
Besides all that, Armen Rustamyan stated that the conference has
decided to do everything it can to maintain the country’s stability and
eliminate the hatred between political figures: “We can not solve any
problems with our course taken without strengthening the potential. We
do not have all the means to separate all the problems in different
sectors. There are some issues that need to be solved through the
combined efforts of everyone. Otherwise, we will lose that
opportunity,” confirmed the Supreme Body representative. In response to
the question as to which force was the one that forbade the
implementation of the clauses of the coalition, Armen Rustamyan said:
“It is wrong to decide who is to blame, but we believe that a large
part of the memorandum has not been completed. If we stay true to the
memorandum, there will not be any debates.”