COALITION PARTNER LEAVES ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT OVER DEAL WITH TURKEY
by Natalia Leshchenko

World Markets Research Centre
Global Insight
April 28, 2009

The junior partner in the Armenian government, Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) pulled out of the coalition yesterday over
quot;insurmountable fundamental disagreementsquot; with President Serzh
Sarkisian over his policy of improving ties with Turkey. In particular,
they fear the government will make compromises over the massacre of
Armenians in 1915 and the Nagorny Karabakh conflict. The party returned
three ministerial posts it held: agriculture, education and labour,
and withdrew its members from parliamentary committee positions saying
it will operate as a fully-fledged opposition party from now on. The
three other parties comprising the Armenian government defended the
policy of reconciliation with Turkey.

Significance:Dashnaktsutyun is a strongly nationalist party, and an
agreement with Turkey will deprive it of much of its raison d’etre,
hence the reaction is not unexpected. If not for the subject of the
disagreement itself, the transfer into opposition would be a healthy
move for Armenia’s political system. Currently all the parties
represented in the parliament are also present in the government,
a design meant to claim popular legitimacy of the parliament and the
cabinet. This is now breached, as the government will face genuine
opposition in the legislature. However, the subject of disagreement
is an arguably healthy development; the recently adopted roadmap
to reconciliation with Turkey is something both countries would
benefit from economically. The staunch non-compromising position of
Dashnaktsutyun which Armenia has pursued since the 1990s has not yet
led to any positive or feasible results. Dashnaktsutyun’s opposition
will certainly take away some energy from the Armenian government but
by itself should not interrupt the reconciliation process altogether.