He thinks that Serzh Sargsyan accepts Raffi Hovhannisyan’s proposals, although he will try to put them off.
Will the expected negotiations between Raffi Hovhannisyan and Serzh Sargsyan not be the same as the previous dialogue between the opposition and the government? In response to this question of www.aravot.am, Tigran Khzmalyan, a member of the initiative group of the Sardarapat movement, said in Freedom Square today: “Raffi chose from two possibilities – frontal or position struggle – position struggle. This means that Raffi has prepared himself and prepares the people for a stage-by-stage struggle. Our cohesion is important here, and it is important not to allow consuming this energy, which accumulates in Freedom Square, Gyumri, Vanadzor, and Kapan every day. I think that Serzh Sargsyan and his junta that are used to bargaining will try to do that, i.e. to turn the negotiations into bargaining. It has been visible already, because the language is interesting. Serzh Sargsyan chooses the language of items – paper, pen, bread – whereas Raffi’s proposals include the main ideas. Roughly speaking, the answer to the proposals was, ‘Let’s talk.’ It is very important that Serzh will try to bring Raffi into that area. Raffi is not naïve; at the end of the day, he is an experienced politician. The most important thing is not Raffi, the most important thing is that the people,
the squares will not repeat the same mistakes and allow the negotiations to be turned into bargaining, i.e. what the junta, the regime longs for. I think that a certain stage-by-stage struggle is very important. Both sides think that they have time on their side. I think that generally, time is not on our side, because people leave every day, and every day the junta maintains the political leverage; the bleeding doesn’t stop.” Raffi Hovhannisyan made public his demands at the latest rally to hand over a set of offices – the Attorney General of the Republic of Armenia, the State Tax and Customs Service, the National Security Service, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture and Science, the Justice Council etc. Is Serzh Sargsyan ready for those concessions? Tigran Khzmalyan replied: “Every one of us understands that Raffi tries to defeat the purpose of the regime. It was proposed, presented as compromise, but Serzh Sargsyan, as a chess player, understands quite well that this is about the pivotal governors, the pivotal offices, after which the regime will collapse. The thing is that the regime is collapsing as it is, it is just that we very much need that collapsing, which is under way, to be controlled by the statehood. The statehood is in jeopardy these days. Unfortunately, no one inside the regime is ready to sacrifice his pocket, his small interests or big money for the statehood. We are actually engaged in rescuing the statehood, because 40-50 families have brought the country to the verge of collapse. And I am sure and can already say that yes, Serzh Sargsyan accepts those proposals already. It is a different matter that he will try to put them off, but he accepts, because he has no alternative.” In response to our observation that people gathered in Freedom Square mainly said during a conversation with us that one shouldn’t engage in negotiations with Serzh Sargsyan, because he could not change, Tigran Khzmalyan said: “As the majority, I also think that there is no need for parleying or dialoguing, whatever you call it. One could talk only about capitulation. However, it would have been so, if it hadn’t been Raffi. Raffi has brought that political culture. Raffi is a man of such a character, and we should dictate him, since he takes on that responsibility. We see that although the majority thinks that it is not needed, it nonetheless trusts Raffi, because the most important thing here is that the tactic may change, but the strategy remains the same. Raffi and we don’t long for a change of power; we long for changing the system.”
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
