DASHNAK LEADER AGAINST ‘REVOLUTIONARY’ ACTIONS
Anush Martirosian

24.06.2011

Armenia — Hrant Markarian, a leader of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation party.

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) stands for a
“systemic regime change” in Armenia but considers any “revolutionary”
action taken for that purpose unacceptable, a top leader of the
influential opposition party said on Friday.

Hrant Markarian, the de facto head of Dashnaktsutyun’s governing
Bureau, strongly criticized Armenian government policies as he opened
a party congress in Yerevan that brought together hundreds of delegates
from Armenia and its worldwide Diaspora.

“The current authorities have neither the will nor the ability to
put an end to corruption, economic injustice and the impunity of
the privileged class,” he said in a speech. “We need a systemic
regime change.”

Markarian made clear, however, that Dashnaktsutyun will not seek
to topple President Sarkisian and his government with sustained
street demonstrations and other radical actions. “When there are
no real reasons for revolution and life itself doesn’t dictate it,
revolutionary activity becomes an unacceptable adventure,” he said.

The remarks underlined a cautious line followed by the party since its
exit from Sarkisian’s coalition cabinet in April 2009. Dashnaktsutyun
leaders backed the March 2008 suppression of nonstop antigovernment
protests staged by former President Levon Ter-Petrosian in the wake
of a disputed presidential election.

Armen Rustamian, another Dashnaktsutyun leader, clarified that
the party will be ready to campaign against the government on the
street if Sarkisian accepts a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict currently proposed by international mediators. “We would
launch a struggle more powerful than our struggle against the [2009]
Turkish-Armenian protocols was,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.

Markarian reaffirmed Dashnaktsutyun’s rejection of the “basic
principles” of the conflict’s resolution which Sarkisian was due to
discuss with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev in Kazan, Russia
later in the day. He said they require “unacceptable concessions”
from the Armenian side.

“The whole nation must be prepared to face that not-so-unlikely
moment,” Markarian added, referring to the possible signing of an
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace accord at Kazan.

The Zharangutyun (Heritage) party, another major opposition group
represented in parliament, issued a similar warning on Thursday.

The Dashnaktsutyun congress will continue behind the closed doors
in the resort town of Tsaghkadzor in the following days. Its opening
session was attended by senior representative of Sarkisian’s Republican
Party of Armen and its junior coalition partner, the Prosperous
Armenia Party.