"ARU" APPEALS TO PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES WITH CALLS FOR SOLIDARITY,
WHILE VAHAN HOVHANNISIAN STATES: "CURRENT AUTHORITIES SHOULD ASK
THEMSELVES HOW MUCH THEY ARE LOATHSOME TO PEOPLE THAT IT FOLLOWS
HATEFUL "ANM"

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, NOYAN TAPAN. With the aim of making a call for
solidarity to all the political forces, a procession of women was
organized on February 16 on the initiative of "Armenian Relief Union"
(ARU) NGO. The procession started from the area adjacent to the
Matenadaran, then the participants went along central streets of
Yerevan, chanting "Freedom" and "Justice", and handed their messages of
solidarity to the central headquarters of the Armenian National
Movement (ANM) party, the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) and the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) party.

The message in particular reads: "Do not fall victims in the turmoil of
vanity and lust for power. Life neither begins nor ends with elections".

In the words of the head of the ARU Yerevan office Vehanush Margarian,
the messages of solidarity will be handed to all the candidates for the
RA presidency. In her opinion, "most intolerance and hatred is seen
between the presidential candidates Serge Sargsian and Levon
Ter-Petrosian, so the women’s message mainly addresses these two
candidates".

The procession ended at the ARF Supreme Body office where the
participants were met by the presidential candidate Vahan Hovhannisian.
He stated that "in order to have a strong state, it is necessary to
reject the past and change the present".

According to him, the society is sick and tired of the present, so it
follows the past without realizing that current authorities do not
differ from the former ones. "The current authorities should ask
themselves how much they are loathsome to the people that it follows
the hateful ANM," V. Hovhannisian said, adding: "These are two wings of
the same pole and their struggle has moved to the frame "power-money",
"money-power". In his words, the purpose of the ARF is to break this
frame.

He said that the people will not lose if any of the presidential
candidates, except Serge Sargsian and Levon Ter-Petrosian – the current
and former authorities, wins these elections.