SARKISIAN TO MEET ARMENIAN PARTY LEADERS ON TURKEY
Emil Danielyan

Armenialiberty.org
Sept 14 2009

President Serzh Sarkisian will meet leaders of dozens of Armenian
political parties on Thursday to discuss his controversial
fence-mending agreements with Turkey, a spokesman said on Monday.

The meeting will be part of "internal political consultations"
which Ankara and Yerevan have agreed to undertake before signing two
protocols on the normalization of bilateral relations next month.

According to Samvel Farmanian, the presidential press secretary,
formal invitations to discuss "the current stage of the normalization
of Turkey-Armenia relations" with the head of state have been extended
to the heads of all political parties active in the country. "This
will be the third thematic consultation convened by President Sarkisian
in this format," he said in a statement.

The previous two meetings, held in November and March, focused on the
Nagorno-Karabakh peace process and the Armenian government’s efforts to
cope with the effects of the global financial crisis respectively. They
were attended by nearly 50 party leaders mostly loyal to Sarkisian.

Both meetings were boycotted by the main opposition Armenian
National Congress (HAK). Farmanian told RFE/RL that the presidential
administration has again sent out invitations only to the leaders
of the parties making up the alliance. The HAK’s top leader, Levon
Ter-Petrosian does not formally head any of those parties.

Some of Ter-Petrosian’s close associates have harshly criticized key
provisions of the Turkish-Armenian protocols publicized on August
31. The HAK’s official reaction to the documents, contained in a
September 1 statement, was more positive though. Ter-Petrosian is
expected to comment on the matter in detail during an HAK rally in
Yerevan scheduled for this Friday.

Another major opposition force, the Zharangutyun (Heritage) party,
has unequivocally condemned the Turkish-Armenian deal. Its spokesman,
Hovsep Khurshudian, told RFE/RL that Zharangutyun has yet to discuss
and decide whether to attend Thursday’s meeting. Its top leader,
Raffi Hovannisian, was presented at Sarkisian’s first meeting with
party leaders but boycotted the second one.

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), another vocal
opponent of Sarkisian’s Turkish policy, will likely send its leaders
to the upcoming meeting. Dashnaktsutyun is expected to circulate on
Tuesday specific amendments which it believes must be made in the
draft protocols.