OPPOSITION IS NOT A ROOM THAT CAN BE LOCKED UP

Lragir.am
16 May 06

During the hours that followed the resignation of Speaker Arthur
Baghdasaryan, the attitude of the opposition towards his announcement
to become opposition was negative. Now Arthur Baghdasaryan is not
met with slings and arrows, at least. Grigor Harutiunyan from the
Ardarutiun Alliance, reminding about controversies between Robert
Kocharyan and Arthur Baghdasaryan, states that the opposition is not a
room, where they can accept or turn out whoever they want, or lock the
door with a key. People are considered pro-governmental or opposition
judging by their political activities. People assess this or that
political force. “We may cooperate with Orinats Yerkir on certain
issues.” Another member of Ardarutiun Tatul Manaseryan informs that
the parliamentary opposition will not participate in the election of
the new speaker of the National Assembly. “The opposition can see no
point in nominating a speaker, because everything had been decided in
couloirs. In other words, there is no need to act as a fool. We need to
prepare for the processes more seriously.” The opposition is not likely
to idle, especially that “a formally pro-governmental force is coming
to join the opposition which is going to be rather diverse.” Tatul
Manaseryan thinks that the processes underway inside the coalition
show, on the one hand, that their defiant bearing is no more effective.

“Unhealthy processes cannot last long. There is going to be a crash
somewhere. This is the beginning of the end.” On the other, hand,
they show that this defiance still has some way to go. “I cannot tell,
however, where they will reach,” said Tatul Manaseryan.

Republican Rafik Petrosyan thinks that the reason for Arthur
Baghdasaryan’s resignation was his interview with the German
newspaper. The speaker of the National Assembly told the reporter of
this newspaper that Russia cannot be an obstacle on the way of Armenia
to NATO and Europe. “Under Article 55 of the Constitution of Armenia
the country’s foreign policy is led by the president.” It should be
noted that Arthur Baghdasaryan had expressed an opinion which he
had expressed several times long before this interview, including
in Russia. Rafik Petrosyan insists that the speaker of the National
Assembly should not have stated that Russia cannot obstruct. “They
do not speak with great powers in such a language. This should
have been done more mildly, diplomatically.” In other words, Rafik
Petrosyan agrees with Arthur Baghdasaryan, simply he disapproves the
way of expressing one’s own opinion. There is nothing else to do but
wait for the resignation of Rafik Petrosyan. By the way, he thinks
there were other points on which Arthur Baghdasaryan and Robert
Kocharyan disagreed. In the meantime, the Republicans were against
the resignation of Arthur Baghdasaryan. Not because they take care
of the Orinats Yerkir. Simply the “burden of the Republicans thus
becomes heavier.”