Armenian opposition rallies in Yerevan Liberty Square (update 2, pho

Armenian opposition rallies in Yerevan Liberty Square (update 2, photos,Video)

tert.am
18:47 – 09.05.13

Former presidential candidate Raffi Hovhannisian rallied Thursday
evening a crowd of supporters in Yerevan’s Liberty Square to deliver
what was expected to be a keynote address in the first opposition
meeting following the Yerevan municipality election.

Hovhannisian’s Heritage party ran for the city council as a political
force represented in the opposition bloc Barev Yerevan (Hello
Yerevan).

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19:05

Opening the rally, Hovhannisian first congratulated the crowd on the
May 9 Victory Day.

He praised the effortless struggle of the World War I heroes who
combating fascism last century to save the world. He then remembered
the heroes of the Nagorno-Karabakh liberation war, extending his
greetings to all of them, both living and dead.

Addressing his popular movement, Hovhannisian thanked all the people
who have actively taken part in rallies and protest demonstrations in
Liberty Square.

`Those who were next to me day and night for 21 days [the period the
ex presidential runner was holding a hunger strike to contest the
voting results], a new generation, journalists, policemen and visitors
from other parties, sons of Armenia – I owe to you,’ he said.

Hovhannisian repeated an earlier statement that his popular campaign,
Barevolution (Revolution of Salute, which began after the February 18
election), is not a struggle of one person expected to last one day.

`That’s a lasting struggle of the state and nation, and let no one
compare me with anyone, either the former or incumbent presidents, or
soldiers. I am an ordinary man. I have proposed that the Armenian
nation, which made an unprecedented flight on February 18, keep doing
that. We are obliged to come over this despair, the emigration. We
aren’t going to face this in five years,’ he noted.

The politician said he has the right to expect the people to continue
their struggle in the square.

`The Armenian nation definitely won on February 18,’ he said, calling
the re-elected president a loser. `On May 5, we all were defeated in
the continuing struggle. On this day of victory, we all, starting from
me, are in freedom. That concerns Serzh Sargsyan, [second President]
Robert Kocharyan and [first President] Levon Ter-Petrosyan. Something
has to change,’ he said.

Hovhannisian added that in case anyone ever needs a scapegoat, he is
ready to be one.

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19:22

If no one understood me, I am to blame

Summing up his speech, the Heritage party’s leader said that if there
are people who never understood him over the past period, he is to
blame for that.

He told the crowd that his proposal was aimed at making people –
especially those in the upper circles – realize that the statehood’s
future is at stake.

He said he held today’s rally in order to just tell the people that
the struggle is continuing.

`The struggle is going on for all those who were next to me. I do not
need a throne,; nor do I need presidency, but we will have a new
quality of state in five years,’ he added.

The politician said at the end that his next public meeting will take
place in Yerevan’s Ani Plaza hotel on May 19.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress