Hundreds of people protesting against the Armenian government’s decision to cede key border areas to Azerbaijan continued to march to Yerevan on Monday, with a senior clergyman leading them insisting that their campaign is gaining momentum.
Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan spoke of “unexpectedly great” popular support for the protest movement that began in Armenia’s northern Tavush province following the announcement of the territorial concessions on April 19.
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The marching protesters, followed by a long procession of slowly moving cars, are due to reach Yerevan on Thursday to press their demands for an immediate halt to the land handover which they believe would create grave security risks for not only Tavush but the country as a whole.
They have attracted strong support from a wide range of opposition groups as well as public figures critical of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
Galstanyan declined to shed light on the planned actions in Yerevan when he spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service during the march. Nor would he say whether he and other protest leaders will also be demanding Pashinyan’s resignation.
“The whole essence, basis of our movement is spiritual,” he said. “The truth must defeat lies in our country. That’s enough. As for the cost and the price of that, we’ll see.”
The archbishop discreetly backed by the Armenian Apostolic Church also stressed that he has no political ambitions.
Pashinyan’s political allies, who have fiercely criticized and attacked Galstanyan for the last two weeks, claimed to be unfazed by the impending antigovernment protests in the Armenian capital. One of them, parliament speaker Alen Simonian, said the protesters stand no chance of toppling the country’s government.
“I don’t even understand what kind of a process this is because I don’t know if we are a theocracy and what are doing, now” Simonian told reporters.
“This is a process aimed at leading Armenia to war and turning Armenia into a remote province of Russia,” claimed Narek Babayan, a lawmaker from Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party. “Therefore, I don’t think that Armenia’s citizens will support it.”
“I don’t take it seriously because there is no seriousness whatsoever in these processes,” said Arusiak Julhakian, another Civil Contract deputy.
Galstanyan countered that Pashinyan and his political team are “scared” of the movement led by him. He also claimed that some senior members of the ruling party are “already sending us confidential messages as to how they could join in.”