Haykakan Zhamanak , Armenia
Aug 8 2008

The government is nervous

A member of the board of the People’s Party of Armenia [PPA], Ruzan
Khachatryan, told journalists yesterday [7 August] that the government
was very nervous about the establishment of the [opposition] Armenian
National Congress [ANC], meanwhile the opposition’s approach to this
issue was calmer and more practical.

"It has been said on many occasions that the Armenian National
Congress is the same [opposition] Popular Movement and has been
established just to solve strategic issues and to coordinate
mechanisms," Khachatryan stressed. She said that the stronger entity
[the ANC] would provide an opportunity to unite more people in the
popular struggle. "Because numerous citizens do not have a chance to
physically participate in the rallies that we hold. That is the
authorities are also afraid that these entities can work more actively
in the regions as well and can overcome the isolation that has been
artificially created by the authorities," Khachatryan said.

The PPA board member also stressed that the government understood that
its positions were gradually getting weaker and that, sooner or later,
it will have to concede the place which it seized via violence and
bloodshed. Khachatryan also spoke about the statements of the [ruling]
coalition that ideologically different forces were included in the
ANC.

"In fact, it is the coalition that unites parties which have different
ideological platforms, and we have set tasks before us that do not
oblige us to have similar ideological approaches," Khachatryan said,
adding that the coalition has united parties that were more different
from one another than the member-parties of the congress, which proved
that the coalition had been united by the most primitive interest. "As
we do not have this interest, we are not feeling constrained,"
Khachatryan said.

She did not rule out that the member-parties of the ANC could deal
with their own programmes after they solved the tasks set before the
ANC. "But this will take place only after a legitimate government is
established in Armenia," Khachatryan said.

[translated]