DASHNAK LEADER WORRIED ABOUT SARKISIAN-TER-PETROSIAN UNION

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Tuesday, 17 November 2009 00:29 |

/ArmeniaLiberty/ – A top leader of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) expressed on Sunday concern about the
possibility of a shock alliance between President Serzh Sarkisian
and his hitherto main nemesis, Levon Ter-Petrosian.

Speaking at a Dashnaktsutyun rally held in Paris, Hrant Markarian,
the de facto head of the nationalist party’s ruling Bureau, said he
hopes Sarkisian will not accept what he called a cooperation offer
extended by Ter-Petrosian last week.

"I don’t know whether Levon Ter-Petrosian has already reached an
agreement with Serzh Sarkisian behind the scenes or whether his public
statement is a manifestation of such an agreement," he said in a speech
the transcript of which was circulated by the Bureau. "Perhaps this
is the latest Ter-Petrosian adventure."

"I don’t want to believe that Serzh Sarkisian can finally abandon
the national course which was adopted with his participation in
1998 …, finally turn his back on his teammates and surrender to
[Ter-Petrosian’s] HHSh. It’s hard to imagine that but everything lies
ahead. Time will tell," added Markarian.

The Dashnaktsutyun leader referred to Ter-Petrosian’s speech last
Wednesday in which the leader of the opposition Armenian National
Congress (HAK) signaled his readiness to recognize Sarkisian’s
legitimacy under certain circumstances. Ter-Petrosian also denounced
the main arguments of Dashnaktsutyun and other "extreme nationalists"
critical of the recently signed Turkish-Armenian agreements.

Markarian construed this as another indication that Ter-Petrosian
supports Sarkisian’s controversial policy of rapprochement with Ankara
despite HAK leaders’ criticism of the agreements. He claimed that
the HAK suspended its anti-government rallies and refused to join
a Dashnaktsutyun-led opposition coalition in order to "salvage the
protocols even at the cost of keeping Serzh Sarkisian in power."

Markarian claimed at the same time that Ter-Petrosian is offering
the president to "surrender" to the HAK and thus "defend against
Dashnaktsutyun and other national forces."

In his speech, Ter-Petrosian gave a mixed assessment of the two
protocols. He again condemned one of their most controversial
provisions envisaging the formation of a Turkish-Armenian panel of
historians tasked with looking into the 1915 massacres of Armenians
in the Ottoman Empire. But he defended another clause that commits
Armenia to explicitly recognizing its existing border with Turkey.

Ter-Petrosian also stressed that Sarkisian could and should seek to
legitimize his rule at home, rather than abroad. He said that could
be done through solving "internal political problems" and creating
"national solidarity." Sarkisian has not responded to the extraordinary
overtures yet.