NOR ZHAMANAKNER PARTY HOLDS ITS FIRST OPEN-AIR CONFERENCE
Noyan Tapan
Apr 04 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, NOYAN TAPAN. On April 4, the Nor Zhamanakner (New
Times) party held its open-air conference in the territory near
Yerevan Matenadaran.
As party Chairman Aram Karapetian said in his speech, the reason of
holding the conference in the open air is that no hall is given to
the party.
According to Karapetian, he has applied twice with a request to give
the party the governmental sitting hall but he was refused with an
“absurd” motivation.
According to the party Chairman, the conference participants arrived
by buses from different regions of Armenia. He announced that this
time the police did not hamper to people’s coming to the capital
from the regions. Aram Karapetian said that the Nor Zhamanakner’s
first conference can be considered a success as about 1000 people
take part in it instead of the expected 700 delegates.
Mentioning that he liked the idea of party’s open-air meeting, the
Nor Zhamanakner Chairman expressed an opinion that the authorities
do this deliberately so that the opposition not take to the
streets. Representatives of the Forum of Intelligentsia Rafael
Ghazarian, Yervand Manarian, Khoren Palian spoke at the party’s
conference. Garnik Margarian, Petros Makeyan, Vardan Khachatrian and
Aram Martirosian were present from “17+1” format. Aram Karapetian
said that the party is going to organize the next rally in Yerevan
near te Police building as the representatives of this structure
have confiscated the party’s equipments and have not given them
back up to this day. And before it the party plans to go to the
country’s regions by car columns and to organize meetings with the
regional population. The party will establish more than 12 offices
in the regions, the goal of which is to make the population more
active and to gather 50 thousand people in Yerevan if necessary. As
Aram Karapetian told the journalists, it is envisaged to hold the
above-mentioned events in the second half of April. Bofore it the
party Chairman will leave for Moscow, then for Tehran.