ARF MEMBER: SARGSYAN, TSARUKYAN MEET, “ICE IS MELTING”

POLITICS | 17.02.15 | 19:24

President Serzh Sargsyan and Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) leader
Gagik Tsarukyan have reportedly met today with what appears to be
the mediation of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF).

Armen Rustamyan, the leader of the ARF parliamentary faction, confirmed
this information to 168 Zham .

“We have always said that sharp differences should be smoothed out,”
Rustamyan said. “We are glad that the meeting has finally taken place,
that there is contact and the ice is melting.”

Earlier, the ARF said it exerted efforts to promote rapprochement
between Sargsyan and Tsarukyan.

The “war” between the head of state and his ruling Republican Party
and the PAP leader broke out last week as Sargsyan accused Tsarukyan
of being a “pseudo-political phenomenon” and effectively ordered his
exclusion from the country’s political process.

Tsarukyan and his opposition allies responded by scheduling a rally
for February 20 to demand Sargsyan’s resignation.

Given the degree of antagonism between the two camps, some analysts in
Armenia did not exclude “bloody scenarios” if the opposition presses
ahead with its plans for “nonstop” rallies. They say any political
upheavals in today’s situation are fraught with risks for Armenia
in its regional affairs, since the country is in a de-facto state of
war with neighboring Azerbaijan.