Acting together but independently – no agreement in how to divide power
By Karine Mangassarian
Yerkir/arm
10 June 05
While the Armenian pro-governmental political leaders are organizing
the Unity Round Dance, the opposition forces are starting the summer
season with another “unity dance” that once again aims at organizing
a revolution in Armenia.
However, the difference between these two “unity” events is that
while in the first case all the participants were dancing the same
dance, in the second case each of the them is trying to dance his
individual dance.
Nevertheless, every time they meet at conventions of this or that party
the opposition leaders do their best to praise each other in their
statements. There is always one conclusion to these statements – let’s
join our efforts to organize a revolution and get rid of the “illegal
government”. These outbursts of unity fade away in the same couloirs
where the conventions are held and the revolutions are discussed.
The situation outside the couloirs is different. Let’s have a look at
several examples. The Armenian opposition forces with the exception
of the radical Azgayin Miabanutyun (National Unity) Party attended
the third convention of Zharangutyun (Heritage) Party.
At this convention, Raffi Hovhannissian was elected president of the
party. Leader of Hanrapetutyun (Republic) Party Aram Zaven Sargsian,
President of National Self-Determination Union Paruyr Hayrikian,
leader of the Armenian Democratic Party Stepan Demirchian and
oppositioner-by-chance Hovhannes Hovhannissian were there to praise
the party and its leaders.
Their statements addressed everything except the question who would
be leading the nation after the revolution. In other words, no one
can tell the people who can replace the current president.
We are sure that those who support the opposition forces are waiting
for them to nominate one leader for the opposition. But we have a
different picture – at public demonstrations recently launched in
different regions of Armenia we can see different political leaders
ready to organize a revolution.
At one demonstration the revolution leader is Aram Karapetian of
New Times Party, at another one it is Stepan Demirchian, at a third
demonstration Artashes Geghamian is ready to head the revolution. By
the way, speaking of the latter, it should be noted that this branch
of radical opposition has somewhat isolated itself from our political
arena and does not attend even the demonstrations organized by its
fellow opposition parties.
Another opposition leader, Aram Zaven Sargsian is so disappointed
with his fellow opposition leaders that he now relies only on the
National Assembly Vice Speaker Artur Baghdasarian considering him the
only democratic force in the existing government. Maybe Sargsian is
looking for someone in the US to sponsor this democracy?
Outbursts of jealousy accompany the opposition’s activities –
the Democratic Party of Armenia has started worrying because Aram
Sargsian has got disappointed with their leader. In other words,
the chaos in the opposition camp is obvious. The roles and positions
have all shifted; the leaders and followers are all mixed; no one is
clear about the time and objectives of the revolution.
And the main reason for this disorganization and seeming unity is
that the opposition forces cannot decide on how to divide power after
a revolution. None of the opposition leaders can ever accept the
thought that he can occupy a position lower than the president. Any
other position would be simply humiliating for any of them.