Azatutyun.am. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) said on Tuesday that it will join forces with other opposition groups to stage protests against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s plans to sign a peace deal upholding Azerbaijani sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh.
“What Pashinian announced is not a peace treaty, it’s a new capitulation,” said Ishkhan Saghatelian, Dashnaktsutyun’s top leader in Armenia. “If it’s signed, it will have disastrous and tragic consequences for the Armenian people. The only way to prevent it is to organize a popular revolt and resistance front.”
“Nikol Pashinian has no mandate to hand over Artsakh to Azerbaijan,” he told a news conference.
Saghatelian said that his party will try to initiate such a popular movement together with other opposition groups, including those not represented in the Armenian parliament. The opposition demonstrations will start this summer, he said without giving concrete dates.
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Saghatelian spoke on behalf of Dashnaktsutyun, rather than the main opposition Hayastan alliance, of which his party is a key member. Other Hayastan leaders have also condemned Pashinian for effectively recognizing Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan. But the alliance headed by former President Robert Kocharian has not yet announced plans for renewed antigovernment protests sought by Dashnaktsutyun.
Hayastan and Pativ Unem, the other opposition bloc represented in the parliament, jointly staged daily protests in Yerevan in May and June last year after Pashinian signaled readiness to “lower the bar” on Karabakh’s status acceptable to his government. They claim to have delayed a “capitulation agreement” with Baku despite failing to topple Pashinian.
Saghatelian admitted on Tuesday that the Armenian opposition’s 2022 bid for regime change did not attract sufficient popular support. But he expressed confidence that the opposition will pull larger crowds this time around.
“Last year, many people did not quite understand what’s going on and accused us of fighting for power,” said Saghatelian. “But now, I think, it’s clear to everyone that the guy [Pashinian] … is going down the path of making Artsakh a part of Azerbaijan.”
