“We never tried to hide who we are. When students from the Northern University joined us, we welcomed them. I also noted that this is a fight that is above all politics. This is not only a fight on behalf of the Armenian Youth Federation,” a member of the ARF youth wing’s central administration, Gor Sargsyan, told Aravot Daily in reference to a statement made by Northern University Director Boris Makichyan, where he said that the movement’s political motives became clear when his students joined the AYF protesters in their demands for Minister Arayik Harutyunyan’s resignation. Therefore, they will no longer be participating in the protests.
Gor Sargsyan said, “Regardless of whether or not we are the ones who organized these protests, this is a political movement because Arayik Harutyunyan holds a political office and is a representative of a political party. Regardless of everything, when we speak about that, the issue becomes political. But I want to emphasize that this movement has nothing to do with political parties.”
Another member of the AYF’s central administration, Christine Vardanyan, said that it is unacceptable that the Northern University director announced that the students would no longer be participating in the protests instead of the students themselves. “We consider that to be pressure. Students are free to protest wherever they would like. They were told not to participate in the sit-in or other protests. We understand that this is a private university that needs to curry favor with the ministry within the framework of expected changes.”
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Christine Vardanyan also said that, when the students from the Northern University joined them, they also spoke about pressure from the director. Gor Sargsyan added that students from the Northern University said that their director is against all of this, but they did not listen to him. “Students from the Northern University did not tell us that this is a politicized movement and that they do not wish to participate.”
Luiza Sukiasyan
