Vanetsyan explains decision to split from other opposition forces

Panorama
Armenia –


Artur Vanetsyan, the leader of the opposition Homeland Party who resigned from the Armenian parliament earlier this week, said his party parted ways with the other opposition forces demanding Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation due to differences on the ways of achieving their ultimate goal.

In his resignation statement on Tuesday, Vanetsyan also announced the breakup of the Pativ Unem alliance between the Homeland Party and former President Serzh Sargsyan’s Republican Party of Armenia (RPA).

In an interview with the Pubic TV Company, Vanetsyan also said his party would not continue to be involved in the opposition resistance movement launched by the Hayastan bloc in early May to oust Pashinyan and his cabinet.

“We have reached a point where the resistance movement is undergoing restructuring and taking a path different from the one of the Homeland Party,” Vanetsyan told the Hraparak daily in an interview on Thursday.

He said Serzh Sargsyan and his other colleagues from the Pativ Unem and Hayastan blocs have “different views” but respect his decision.

Vanetsyan stressed the need for opposition forces to intensify dialogue with people.

“First, we need to talk to citizens, expand the team by increasing both the number of our party members and supporters and explain to people what is really happening in the country,” he said, adding Pashinyan continues to “tell lies” to Armenian society.