Then a decision will be made on the issue of continuing the dialogue
The coalition working group formed for the Congress-coalition dialogue discussed the Armenian National Congress’s (ANC) proposal of resuming the dialogue. The discussion lasted almost two hours, after which, during a meeting with journalists at 8.10 pm Gagik Minasyan, Vardan Bostanjyan, Khachik Harutyunyan and Mher Shahgeldyan, the members of the working group came out and stated that ceasing the ANC twenty-four-hour “illegal”, according to the coalition members, rallies is a precondition for resuming the dialogue. The coalition will wait till the sit-down strikes and rallies end, after which a decision will be made on the issue of continuing the dialogue. Gagik MInasyan thought appropriate to say that the issue of continuing the dialogue is left to the ANC rationality. In the meantime, Gagik Minasyan, a member of the coalition working group, stated that the proposal of the extra-parliamentary opposition would be discussed from every angle and its appropriateness would be considered related to some factors: the continuing rallies, the reasons for dialogue suspension, “A detailed discussion will take place and we will come to a common decision.” Gagik Minasyan also stressed that the Republican Party have not discussed the issue internally, because the coalition working group is the one who is authorized to give an answer to ANC. We would like to remind you that two out of six members of the coalition group are out of the country right now: Davit Harutyunyan, the chairman of the working group, and Naira Zohrabyan, a representative of the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP).
Gagik Minasyan reminded that the problems on the dialogue agenda raised by ANC had been discussed before the ANC-coalition dialogue was suspended and the discussions had reached a stage, when the coalition working group was explaining why the Congress proposals’ implementation was not logic and accordingly put forward its reasons, “Unfortunately, at that stage, I believe not casually, the dialogue was suspended, when we had to get to clarifying and discussing the reasons that time with specialists and analysts. During a working discussion we have to also understand, why that ungrounded suspension took place at that very stage and the dialogue should be resumed at this stage.”
Galust Sahakyan, the chairman of the parliamentary faction of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), thinks that the action organized by ANC is just a pre-election trick; every political force decides its strategy by itself. In response to “Aravot’s” question, how appropriate this point of time, when the French president is going to visit Armenia in a few days, is for the ANC action, whether the campground in the Freedom Square is what we must show to the French president, Galust Sahakyan gave quite a “democratic” answer, “I think there are such tents in every city of France, we have just copied the traditional European self-expression methods – I think it looks more democratic in Europe.” According to Galust Sahakyan, the opposition is more civilized now, “As they are ordered not to cross the limits of good manners, not to break the law, I give much importance to that, it is important for the political field, in order that the field may be politer. Under these conditions new actors will participate in the elections and expressing one’s thoughts in such a civilized way will make it possible to hold the upcoming elections better.”
P.S. Responding to a question of Radio Liberty, why they wanted to resume the dialogue, Ter-Petrossian said, “The goal of starting a dialogue was clear from the beginning – both we and this authority know that there are serious problems in this country, we proposed these problems to be solved in a civilized manner, through a dialogue, negotiations and comprise, in order that we may avoid the events of the Arab countries.”