Opposition downbeat

Noyan-Tapan have this rather downbeat interview with the chairman of the Motherland and Honour Party, Garnik Markaryan.

"The current political consultations between the coalition and opposition forces will hardly yield any result, because the coalition has no elementary powers, which are concentrated in the hands of President Robert Kocharyan," Garnik Markaryan, chairman of the Motherland and Honour Party, said in an interview with a Noyan Tapan correspondent. He thinks that the president "is using the coalition forces as a tool for preserving his power".

Yerevan, 11 May: "The current political consultations between the coalition and opposition forces will hardly yield any result, because the coalition has no elementary powers, which are concentrated in the hands of President Robert Kocharyan," Garnik Markaryan, chairman of the Motherland and Honour Party, said in an interview with a Noyan Tapan correspondent. He thinks that the president "is using the coalition forces as a tool for preserving his power".

Markaryan noted that the political consultations in essense have substituted the real negotiations conducted between the sides by the council of elders of the intelligentsia forum. "The fact that the opposition went for these consultations is another mistake," he is sure.

Garnik Markaryan said that if the opposition does not drastically change its organizational and management methods, it will be difficult to expect any positive changes in its favour in the domestic political process.

Apart from this, it is necessary to expand the geography of the opposition's activity, keeping Yerevan as the centre of the events of course: "We must not forget that in Armenia there are also other huge cities and regional centres".

As for the possibility of changing the authorities' behaviour, connected with Resolution No 1374 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Armenia, Garnik Markaryan stated that the ruling administration "has no desire to change anything, and the process of intimidation and persecution is continuing".

Posted by Matt on May 13, 2004 | TrackBack | Email to a friend