Armenian opposition stands firm on staging demo on 9 April
Arminfo
8 Apr 04
YEREVAN
The Yerevan Mayor’s Office has not authorized an opposition rally on 9
April, saying that this action is inexpedient, the leader of the
Anrapetutyun Party and Yerevan’s ex-mayor, Albert Bazeyan, told a
joint news conference of leaders of the opposition Justice bloc and
the National Unity Party at the Armenian parliament today.
At the same time, Bazeyan said that the rally would be staged
regardless of the aforesaid decision because the opposition considered
it expedient.
A member of the Anrapetutyun Party board and ex-prime minister, Aram
Sarkisyan, said that there was no alternative to changing the
authorities in Armenia regardless of who led the people’s
movement. “The 9th of April will become a turning point in the fate of
the Armenian people, the process of changing the authorities has
already begun and it will be taken to its end,” Sarkisyan said.
According to him, the change of power is a demand of society and all
actions to meet this demand will be carried out urgently and
dynamically. Sarkisyan expressed confidence that many people would
attend the 9 April rally and help the opposition carry out the change
of the authorities without special effort and clashes. Sarkisyan also
said that the Georgian experience of the power change was unacceptable
for Armenia because the situation in Armenia was radically different
from the situation in the neighbouring republic.
According to Sarkisyan, the Armenian authorities are scared of people
because they realize that if masses attend the opposition rally, the
country’s leadership will be forced to resign. “Precisely for this
reason the authorities are committing repression against opposition
representatives, trying to intimidate people and keep them from
attending the rally,” Sarkisyan added. The opposition cannot be
intimidated by arrests and repression as it is determined to change
the authorities, he said.
Sarkisyan spoke highly about Armenian Speaker Artur Bagdasaryan’s
statement yesterday [7 April], in which he condemned political arrests
in the country which were presented as criminal. “Artur Bagdasaryan is
a young and promising politician, and he is rightfully not linking
himself with President Robert Kocharyan,” Sarkisyan said.
Speaking about arrests of opposition representatives, the leader of
the Justice bloc, Stepan Demirchyan, said that the Armenian people
would not tolerate arrests of deputies elected by them while criminals
were at large. The leader of the National Unity Party, Artashes
Gegamyan, added that the country’s authorities would make a major
present to the opposition if they arrested him and Stepan Demirchyan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
