During a recent discussion organized by the National Press Club the head of the NDP Stepan Demirchyan said that power application on the participants of demonstrations in the Opera House square and later in the place nearby the Myasnikyan monument was groundless and not justified.
“The demonstrations organized by the opposition were exclusively peaceful. There have been no incidents or anything like that during such demonstrations. Thus, power application was groundless and not justified. Now they are saying that the opposition is going to organize new rallies for the purpose of provoking new clashes. Such allegations are absolutely groundless. All the rallies have been peaceful. In 2003 we had such peaceful rallies and demonstrations as well. Our way has always been peaceful”. What is the way out of this situation? Concerning the petitions to start a dialog Stepan Demirchyan says that in order to enter into a dialog there should be adequate conditions. “From that point of view we think that the primary action is stopping the harassment and criminal persecution, releasing all political detainees. Actions should be taken to ease the tension. At present in fact we don’t see any such concrete steps,” he said. By the way, he agrees with the petitions of the intelligentsia that on April 9, forty days after the death of rally participants, the authorities should not organize big celebrations. Demirchyan said that the European institutions had called on the Armenian authorities to review the amendment to the law on rallies and mass demonstrations and announced the following: “There will be no clashes if the authorities don’t provoke clashes”. The latter is one of those rare opposition leaders, who have not been persecuted after the events of March 1. Stepan Demirchyan was called to the prosecutor’s office on March 8, after which they have not disturbed him any more. Answering to a question why he was not involved in criminal proceedings despite many other opposition leaders Demirchyan advised to ask that question to the law enforcement bodies. Stepan Demirchyan had a speech on March 1 near the Myasnikyan monument and now he says that he believes the incidents of that day were a result of power application in the Liberty square. “Now the situation is really tense and dangerous. Actions should be taken to ease that tension. The problem cannot be solved through forming a new coalition. It is a self-delusion; they should start a dialog with the people,” he said. Let’s imagine that the political detainees have been set free and the opposition activists are not persecuted any more. What will the opposition do in such case? What issues will the opposition address? Answering to this question he said, “Of course a specific agenda should be prepared. I think that the crisis resulting from the election should be solved through a new election. Now there are some suggestions to organize parliamentary extraordinary elections as well. I believe this suggestion is very logical since at present the opposition does not reflect and fully represent the society. However, before preparing such agenda certain steps should be taken to ease the tension”. Thus, the law on organizing rallies and mass demonstrations should be amended as suggested by the European institutions and also the opposition should have an access to the television. “Such dialog should be organized first of all with the people. The people’s trust should be recovered. Agreements of persons should not be introduced as a national agreement; it doesn’t concern the national agreement at all,” he said. Concerning the Constitutional Court resolution Stepan Demirchyan said, “The resolution of the Constitutional Court is a part of the electoral process, which was adopted during the state of emergency, which is in contradiction with the Constitution”. Demirchyan also said that the authorities are often bringing examples from European countries and saying that they should agree with their loss. “Yes, people should learn how to accept the loss. If you are losing, don’t think that it is an issue of living or dying,” he said to the authorities. He believes that it is impossible to overcome this crisis through repressive methods, “Nothing has finished.”