BBC Monitoring Trans Caucasus Unit
Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring
Friday
Armenian party rallies to criticise authorities over undelivered promises
At a rally at Freedom Square in Yerevan on 23 May, Armenian Revolutionary Federation – Dashnakstutyun (ARFD) has accused the incumbent government of not delivering on its promises.
ARFD accused Pashinyan of trying to establish a one-man rule in the country and pursuing a policy, which created new dangers and threats for Armenia, the Armenian media reported
According to the Union of Informed Citizens, around 2,400 people participated in the rally.
No vision of progress
ARDF Supreme Body member Ishkhan Saghatelyan said that the authorities had neither a vision of the country's development nor a professional team to resolve the problems the country faced, Tert.am said.
Saghatelyan said that people's expectations one year after the change of power had not come true. He accused the incumbent government of dividing people into "whites and blacks", "revolutionaries and counterrevolutionaries". He said that instead of forming a common national agenda, consolidating the society, and establishing social solidarity, the authorities continued "to work, live, and breathe with the past".
Stop looking for enemies
Saghatelyan deplored Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's latest verbal attacks on his political foes and allegations that some of them were plotting treacherous acts in Nagorno-Karabakh. He claimed that such statements were only destabilising the political situation and could even provoke clashes in the country, RFE/RL's Armenian service, Azatutyun.am, said.
Saghatelyan called on the authorities to stop looking for enemies and understand that those, who did not share their views or criticised them were also humans. He urged them "to give up shows, populism, demagogy, and intentions to establish one-man rule on behalf of the people through force and threats". He warned against repeating the mistakes, which they had accused others of in past since, noting that people's patience had limits.
Point of no return
ARFD Bureau member Armen Rustamyan said that the rally had a clear mission of alerting the authorities that they could not continue this way, Tert.am said.
Rustamyan warned that "we have reached a point of no return and losses would be irreversible beyond it". According to him, the policy pursued by the authorities not only contradicted the expectations of people and the country's challenges, but also created new dangers and accumulated new and more serious threats.
Rustamyan accused Pashinyan of trying to acquire an "exclusive right" of speaking on behalf of people and establish one-man power using people as an excuse. He said that people served as a pretext "for overthrowing the constitutional order, bypassing laws, and suspending the powers of any state agency". He said this testified to the end of a constitutional state.
Rustamyan called on the authorities to emerge from the "state of narcissism and euphoria". He described as "sad" the consequences of Pashinyan's one year in office.
One man's opinion
ARFD member Gegham Manukyan also called on the authorities "to sober up". He said they were rallying because they were concerned and their serious questions and demands should be heard by the authorities. He said they would not let "one man's opinion" to rule in Armenia.
"We are again coming to say that we will not allow one opinion to be in our country, because one opinion is a dictatorship. And it must be ruled out in our country," Manukayn was quoted as saying.
Manukyan and other participants in the rally had "yellow cards" with them, which they showed to the authorities.
No meeting with ex-president
Rustamyan told journalists after the rally that the party had not held any meeting with former President Robert Kocharyan prosecuted on coup charges, News.am said.
At the same time, Rustamyan called "absurd" the criminal case against Kocharyan.
He also argued that ex-President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, a former ally of Pashinyan, "stood behind" the current authorities. He expressed concern that Pashinyan could resort to concessions regarding the Karabakh conflict settlement for the sake of developing the economy, as once proposed by Ter-Petrosyan.
Rustamyan also denounced as "dangerous" Pashinyan's claims on treacherous forces in Karabakh, noting that "it is a direct present to Azerbaijan".