Each speech of the first president of Levon Ter-Petrosyan causes tense discussions for both the opposition and government of Armenia. And during the past several months there is a situation that the government doesn’t need to anymore criticize the ANC rallies and the speeches of Ter-Petrsoyan. Neither does it need to respond to those. This function is quite actively submitted by the rest of the players of the opposition, especially the parliamentary opposition – Heritage and ARF and to a certain extent other non-parliamentary oppositionists, such as Tigran Karapetyan and Paruyr Hayrikyan. The latter are relentlessly slamming the ANC and Ter-Petrosyan and even reveal certain things that they had saved for the “dark days.” And in Armenia we have a situation that there are opponents to the opposition both within the government and the opposition. In this context we may remember former oppositionist Artashes Geghamyan, who would respond to all the questions addressed to him by criticizing Ter-Petrosyan. Later Geghamyan was identified as a mine in the field of the opposition. And so the last speech of Levon Ter-Petrosyan has created certain embarrassment with the head of the ARF faction Vahan Hovhannisyan because for him there are three unclear points. The latter also thinks that the speech has caused certain embarrassment with the ANC and the thousands of loyalists of Ter-Petrosyan. In the words of Ter-Petrosyan the next rally on April 28 should either become the beginning of a new dialog or a separation of bridges. It demands on the release of the political prisoners and the demands of investigating the murders of the Liberty Square on March 1. “They state that they are not going to apply revolutionary methods during rallies because there is the Azerbaijani threat. It means they repeat what the ARF has been saying for years now. And for that they labeled the ARF and certain other forces as a fake opposition. Secondly, if you are saying that you are not going to apply revolutionary methods because of the threat of war what is the point of separation of bridges on April 28? If you are not going to apply revolutionary methods then why don’t you become an institutional opposition? If you are still going to apply revolutionary methods then don’t lie to everyone. And if you are not going to do so please explain the context of the separation of bridges. And thirdly he sets such demands to the government, which will maximally ease up the job of the government. The government has twice allowed to hold the rallies in the Liberty Square. What kind of achievement is that? Who said that the road to the presidential palace goes through the Liberty Square and not Hamzachiman? The ones, whom the ANC considers political prisoners seemingly the issue of their release is in process. Of course it goes very slowly, much slower than it should be. I don’t find it right to keep extra people in prison. And the promise of investigating the events of March 1 has originally been enacted by the Constitution. Back in 2008 they promised that they would keep examining the case. In fact, the three demands do not impose anything and the government may consider them as fulfilled or fulfill easily or avoid them imperceptibly,” said Vahan Hovhannisyan, but he did not want to answer the question if the people convicted on March 1 were political prisoners or not. It is difficult to tell what the exact aim the mentioned powers pursue is, but one thing is obvious: currently they consider ANC as their rival more, than the government. And this common idea seems to have effects already. The deputy president of “Heritage” party Ruben Hakobyan stated that he was negotiating with some political powers about creating “a new political alliance”. In one of his interviews given to our newspaper he said that over 20 parties “which do not concede to the member parties of ANC by their political quality” suggested the “Heritage” party to create a new Congress. About only a week ago Ruben Hakobyan noted as regards to what he had said earlier, that “no such an artificial structure would be created only for the purpose of proving something to others”. However, yesterday he announced about the negotiations for creating a new alliance, moreover he said that the negotiations had been in process for a month already. Anyway, following the development of political field the activation of “Heritage” party becomes obvious. After the rally organized by ANC on March 1, the deputies of this party organized quite a fuss and turmoil in front of the government building. As the deputy speaker Samvel Nikoyan said they made noise of 40.000 people with only 4 people. And on March 17, only about 2 days before the rally, the founder of “Heritage” party Raffi Hovhannisyan began a hunger strike at the Liberty Square. Before that the ANC was already thinking about entering the Liberty Square, and the fact that Levon Ter Petrosyan did not approach Raffi Hovhannisyan, created quite a positive background for the latter, at the expense of ANC leader. Anyway, on the election eve the opposition powers have decided to create a new political alliance or a third power. And the composition of the future parliament is being outlined gradually. And in case the desired the change of government fails, ANC will no doubt be presented in the Parliament. And this danger probably terrifies the “Heritage” party and ARF. They will not only be willing to share their position as opposition with ANC, but there is a danger that they may not appear in the Parliament because of ANC. And during the recent period the RPA has become quite tolerant to the ANC. The deputy-leader of this party Razmik Zohrabyan yesterday welcomed the statement of Ter-Petrosyan, according to which in order to repel foreign enemies we need to maintain internal stability. “This is really commendable for the first president because during his tenure he also faced the necessity of struggle against the foreign enemies,” said the MP. So these statements serve a ground for the political circles and people to assume that Ter-Petrosyan has cut a deal with Serzh Sargsyan. Zohrabyan thinks that regardless of criticism there is solicited dialog. “The difference is that they don’t sit around the negotiation table but the opposition with its steps goes shows that it collaborates with the government and the government in its turn takes certain steps to strengthen this cooperation,” says the deputy-chair of the RPA. As of the abovementioned three demands he says that the opposition has already started to hold rallies in the Liberty Square. In this aspect Zohrabyan considers the policy of Ter-Petrosyan a compromise because the ANC doesn’t spend the night at the square. The MP didn’t hide that the government is concerned about the 24/7 sit-in in the square. In his words, over 90% of the imprisoned people have been released and the rest will be released after the probation period. As of the demand of investigating the events of March 1 Zohrabyan says, “The opposition suggests establishing an international committee. I don’t think we need that right now. Our committee will work better and the investigation continues despite the fact that it’s not very visible. I think we will see the results and it cannot be the same. But we know that there are certain things that are not fully revealed, e.g. October 27.”
