How much do the demonstrations and rallies of the opposition have to do with external forces? In response to this question at the briefing with journalists on May 3, NA Speaker Alen Simonyan said, “During the first hours of the opposition rally, shots were fired at our border by Azerbaijan using large-caliber weapons. I leave the traces to you. The actions of our opposition almost always coincide either with the most important visits, meetings with the head of state, for example, with the leaders of Russia or the EU, or coincide with the events taking place at the border. I do not consider it a coincidence.
However, I think that it is coordinated by some means; the revelations that are already made and announced by the NSS today are part of it. I think our citizens understand everything well and do not unite. Increasingly, these rallies are taking place with fewer people. As a consequence, it happens and people do not participate.” To the observation that when you were holding demonstrations, the authorities of that time also said that there was a danger at the border, it was a mixed time, Alen Simonyan answered, “No, first of all, they should not talk about the same people, because, except for keeping a beard, they repeat everything, they do not understand that doing the same thing does not mean that you can succeed. I can explain it to you for a very long time. Sorry, in 2018, everything that happens at the border did not happen. It has been a long time since the actions and statements of the opposition have the impression that they are from the press department of the Ministry of Defense of the neighboring country, it is such an impression and not only with me. Look, action – shot, action – shot. I am not saying this, the fact is recorded.”
Hripsime Jebejyan
Aravot: By the way, the 2018 march was a repetition. In an interview to Mediamax, future Minister Mkhitar Hayrapetyan, who specializes in the development of non-violent actions, the methodology of peaceful disobedience, and their delivery, said, “The idea of the march is based on the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi on non-violent struggle. I have been familiar with the methodology of these technologies for a long time. We used the technologies used during the “Salt March” in 1930, in particular, when Gandhi walked 387 km to raise social issues. He started the march with 8 people and finished it with 80 thousand. The second example is taken from the march of Turkish opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu in 2017, when he walked about 450 km from Ankara to Istanbul to raise the issue of political prisoners. “He started the march alone and entered Istanbul with about 300,000 supporters.” The author of the idea to start a march also stated that they did not take into account the results of the mentioned movements, they used the technologies of conducting an awareness campaign through a march, multiplying the number of people.
