On June 14, Ishkhan Saghatelyan, a member of the Armenian faction, said at a rally on France Square that the Resistance movement had the same goal: to prevent the eviction of Armenians from Artsakh and the Turkification of Armenia and to neutralize threats to Armenia’s sovereignty, and to achieve this, these authorities must leave. “Until these issues are resolved, this movement will not stop,” said Ishkhan Saghatelyan. According to him, thanks to the movement, society and the “Lao” (children) woke up.
The issue was finally closed that only small layers of the society are interested in the Artsakh issue. Second, the international community understood that there are people here to whom no solution or concession can be forced. “A broad consolidation around the national idea was formed with the support of different public strata and circles. This square is another factor. It was proven both inside the country and for the outside world that the current government has no mandate by the people to make new concessions to the country.”
Then he continued, “A clear division was drawn. Ninety percent of our people have openly stated that they are against Artsakh being part of Azerbaijan. This is the official result of a poll. At this moment, the movement at least prevented, violated the schedule of signing a new capitulation, and that is the reason for Nikol and Aliyev’s fears. Our movement started to unify the Armenians of Artsakh and the Diaspora. The Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora trinity is in the process of recovery. The political crisis is a fact. No matter how much they try to hide it, this is a different reality. And the public demand for Nikol’s removal is clear and unequivocal.”
Ishkhan Saghatelyan mentioned that the national and state core is being formed in this very square. “This nucleus will become the basis of a new quality of Armenian statehood. This nucleus will become the immunity of our state, which will protect us from all kinds of infections and diseases.” He said that the main problem remains unresolved: Armenia is still ruled by a person who presents an existential danger. “We will remove Nikol. We will definitely remove him, but we will do it without bloodshed.”
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According to him, the movement is facing the need to change its tactics. “We need to create a strategy appropriate to the new situation, which will allow us to further expand the movement and achieve our ultimate goal,” he said. According to Ishkhan Saghatelyan, the number of Nikol Pashinyan’s deniers is much higher than those in this square. “We have not been able to bring all these people to the streets yet. There are still people who think that this is a struggle for power, a struggle for the return of the former regime.”
He said that the movement had organizational shortcomings that need to be corrected. According to him, to increase the potential of the movement, to expand the geography, to enrich the tools, to adopt new approaches, to expand the platform, and to continue the struggle with a clear action plan, the Resistance movement leaders decided to change the movement’s structure and strategy while also capitalizing upon all the achievements they have had.
“Therefore, it is necessary to give an institutional nature to the movement in order to make the political, organizational, and propaganda work more effective. Secondly, the movement should be given a network nature, bringing to life territorial-sectoral structural units,” he said, noting that from now on the movement will have committees and sectoral commissions, due to which new groups will be expanded in political, organizational, and propaganda directions involving professionals, groups, and capable individuals in order to expand the movement and giving new strength. In response to questions about whether to remove the tents in France Square, Ishkhan Saghatelyan said that the tents will be removed, but if necessary, the tent settlement will be restored within two hours. He said that they will continue their activities and organize weekly demonstrations, marches, and street events.
Lusine BUDAGHYAN
