ARF faction leader Armen Rustamyan told reporters that the same mistakes of the past are repeating as far as discussions on who is the true opposition and who is fake. Aravot asked RPA faction leader Vahram Baghdasaryan about his opinion on this, and whether he agrees with the view that the mistakes of the past are being repeated and unnecessary arguments are taking place regarding who the true opposition is. He replied firmly, “First, we don’t have hateful rhetoric. We simply confirm facts. Second, our coalition’s colleagues in the ARF were in favor of the revolution while it was taking place and agreed to become a part of the government. Then, for unknown reasons, they decided that they needed to become the opposition. We don’t know what they will decide in the future. That is not how an opposition is formed. You cannot change your mind 2 or 3 times over the course of 6 months, deciding that now you’re with the government, now you’re the opposition.”
He continued, “The representatives of Nikol’s government were riling people up, telling some that they weren’t needed, and others that they might be needed in the future. That’s not how you form a ruling force vs. the opposition. We never behaved that way. We accept that if we hadn’t made mistakes, all of this wouldn’t have happened, but that doesn’t mean that we need to change our minds about the authorities repeatedly. I don’t think that that’s the best way to create a political arena. It’s very dangerous.”
According to Vahram Baghdasaryan, that is also why there should not be elections during this euphoric phase. People needed to give the government time to work in order to give it a proper evaluation.
Hripsime Jebejyan
