The opposition rally in Gyumri’s Theatre square started with a slight delay because of the accident at the Horom crossroad when the relatives of POWs blocked the road of the opposition cars. As we have already reported, there was an incident in Gyumri as well, which was settled quickly.
The square was crowded. The supporters of Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan were cursing the protesters and at the end of the rally were shouting and criticizing them saying “why did you come and pollute Gyumri?”
“Do you have motherland? You are people with no motherland!” the protesters were answering them.
Mutual criticism and insults were voiced, which were quickly resolved with the intervention of the policemen. University lecturers, former judges, school principals, and former governors of Shirak were participating in the opposition rally. It was noticeable that the Horom incident had a heavy impact on the opposition leaders. They focused on the incident in their speeches and on the issues of POWs. They criticized Nikol Pashinyan for “turning an Armenian against an Armenian”.
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“They are turning an Armenian against an Armenian taking an advantage of the emotional state of the parents, taking an advantage of the fact that the children of those parents depend on him. They try to turn an Armenian against an Armenian to suppress the opposition rallies. We are saying, Nikol, you will not succeed, as dignified Armenians will raise. And we will raise and throw you out to fix the broken spine of our motherland. We are a struggling nation, we are a nation that doesn’t kneel in front of Turks. And we say – struggle”.
They also referred to the organizers of the incident saying that all of them are the servants of the authorities, they have served those who gave them money and they are going to serve the next ones as well as “they are not people of the fatherland, but people of lining their pockets”.
In his speech, MP Vahe Hakobyan called Gyumri “the symbol of Armenian-Russian friendship”.
According to him, the Turks won’t manage to take away the symbol. He also reminded protesters that we don’t have time – the Turks had already come and entered our house. Vahe Hakobyan referred to Turkey’s preconditions mentioning that the Zangezour corridor itself is a precondition.
“Turkey’s appetite continues to whet. Now they want a corridor, and this government does everything possible to let them achieve their goal. But we won’t let them. This is not a struggle for a position, of one person, or of a group of people. This is our struggle, and we must become a fist otherwise they question our existence,” Vahe Hakobyan said mentioning that they are for stable, developed relations with the neighbors and long-term peace. But according to him, it should not be at the expense of Armenia’s territorial integrity and identity. And the current government is constantly leading to defeats and concessions. He demanded Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation.
Artur Khachatryan, former governor of Shirak, in his speech, referred to the incident in Horom. “I want to refer to the demands of our compatriots who had conversations with us today. I want to remind them of the position of the current government on the POW issues. Do you remember when they said that our brothers won’t be upset if they stay in Turkish jails for another two months? They are the ones who said that they consider the POW issues closed. Now they are trying to exploit the misfortune of these people? They are trying to deceive these people. They are saying if others come to power the issues won’t be solved because they burn flags. These people need to fulfill their promise so that they can say give us more time to solve the issue. It will be four years that Pashinyan is a Prime Minister. Four years is a term for the US President. What has he done during these four years that he can say, give me more time? Which promise has he fulfilled?”
Artur Khachatryan reminded the crowd that in 2018 Nikol Pashinyan was saying that he is going to bring happiness, then he asked people who were gathered at the Horom crossroad, are you happy? “Which of the people who block a road is happy? Now he says he will bring peace. You don’t get peace on your knees crying. No weak nation, no weak state lives in peace. You cannot beg for peace,” Artur Khachatryan said adding that Armenia should be powerful to get peace.
MP Hayk Mamijanyan mentioned in this speech that the incident in Horom was organized because security forces refuse to carry out illegal orders of Nikol Pashinyan.
“There is no Nikol,” MP shouted urging that no one else should be allowed to divide the nation into blacks and whites. He announced that this is the last stage of the struggle.
Nune AREVSHATYAN
