“THE APRIL INCIDENTS WERE PLANNED BEFOREHAND”
Karine Asatryan

A1+
[04:42 pm] 12 April, 2006

This day two years ago, until midnight, it never occurred to anyone
that the authorities would order to raise batons on the peaceful
demonstrators whose only demand was to establish justice in the
country. The violations on the night of April 13 came to testify
that the authorities of the third Republic of Armenia are able to do
anything. According to NA deputy Hmayak Hovhannisyan, the incidents
of April 2004 were planned.

– The opposition was isolated from the process of governing the country
by a coalition memorandum. I don’t want to say that the opposition
must have its people in the executive branch. It must by all means
control several Committees in the Parliament, as it was after the
1999 elections when it gave them the possibility to participate in
the processing of the legislative policy. Since the 2003 elections
all the initiatives of the opposition are blocked. As the opposition
was not given any chance to be integrated into the political field,
they went to the streets.

And so happened what happened.

– Could the April violations be prevented?

– There is one thing we must understand: if because of the obstacles of
the authorities or maybe because of their own mistakes the opposition
does not do its duty as a state institution which participates in
the governing of the country, there is always danger of suchlike
situations. These cases can be prevented, but in April 2004 the
authorities themselves created the situation as they wanted to prove
that the opposition will not reach anything even if the oppositional
wings join together.

– Do you mean to say that today there is danger of suchlike situation?

– Not today, as the society lives in an atmosphere of hopelessness. The
people do not pin hopes on anything for positive changes. In 2003
there was hope that there would be changes if the two oppositional
wings joined together. The hope was immediately eliminated by
the authorities. They warned the people beforehand that the joint
opposition will not reach anything.

Then they made a scenario and involved the opposition in it as a
result of which the opposition really failed to reach anything. This
was how the atmosphere was created.