TRADITIONAL PARTIES WILL COOPERATE
By Meri Aleksanian

Yerkir.am
February 09, 2007

Hrant Margarian believes cooperation between the three traditional
parties and pan-Armenian political forces was conditioned by several
circumstances.

"First of all, I believe that the struggle for the Hay Dat with its
successes needs to taken to a new level. And such cooperation is
necessary in order to determine the principles and strategy for this
struggle, to clarify the new issues and new directions. Secondly,
I believe those parties that represent the thinking of different
segments of our society should be able to counter the anti-national,
anti-political tendencies that penetrate our reality because of
globalization. Third, there are specific issues that determine such
cooperation".

Representatives of the parties’ highest bodies arrived at an agreement
to cooperate on a number of pan-Armenian issues such as Hay Dat,
new stages in Genocide Recognition, issues of security and national
identity of Diaspora communities, etc.

Margarian assured cooperation will be pan-Armenian and will not
be connected with the political orientation and ideologies of the
parties involved. "This can serve as a positive example for other
political parties- it will show that parties can have different
political orientation, different ideologies and peculiarities,
but can at the same time be ready for cooperation on common goals,"
Margarian believes.

The meeting was initiated by Ramkavar Azatakan Party and Hnchakian
Party.

However, Margarian stressed that all parties were interested in the
issues raised and the agenda of the meeting and sphere of cooperation
were determined jointly by all parties.

The three parties have cooperated in the past on several occasions,
particularly, they exerted unanimity and consolidated approaches on the
issue of Genocide recognition. Margarian believes cooperation should
be raised to a higher level to work on more global issues. A working
group will be established that will follow up on implementation of
the agreements reached at the meeting in Paris.

"This is going to be high level work. Time will show to what extent
these plans will be implemented. I am optimistic about this initiative,
let us hope the plans will be realized," Margarian concluded.