Hovannisian Dialogue Bid Fails, Opposition Protest Denied

RFE/RL reports that opposition Heritage (Zharangutyun) party leader, Raffi Hovannisian, has admitted that attempts to promote dialogue between the radical opposition led by former president Levon Ter-Petrossian and the new president Serge Sargsyan have failed. The U.S.-born former foreign minister under Ter-Petrossian says that both sides prevented such a possibility by demanding preconditions before meeting.

The attempt at dialogue was apparently announced last week and confirmed in a telephone interview between RFE/RL and Hovannisian.

The Zharangutyun leader, whose party endorsed Ter-Petrosian’s presidential bid, refused to specify what that precondition was, saying only that Sarkisian should have “no cause for such concern” after being sworn in as Armenia’s new president on April 9. “We have a situation where each of the politicians has his own approach, and so that process had no continuation,” he said.

Asked whether he will again approach the two men, Hovannisian said, “I don’t think there is a need for another letter or phone call. The issue has been raised, and if they have a desire, I’m sure they won’t need me in order to meet each other.”

While supporting the idea of a dialogue in principle, Sarkisian and his allies have said that they will not talk to the Ter-Petrosian-led opposition unless it recognizes his controversial election victory. Parliament speaker Tigran Torosian reaffirmed this position as he spoke to journalists on Monday. “What dialogue can there be with those who do not accept the need for law enforcement, those who break laws, those reject decisions by the Constitutional Court and other structures that can serve as the basis for that dialogue?” he said.

The RFE/RL report goes on to mention that the government refused to agree to a precondition set by the radical opposition — the release of all those detained for political reasons during the recent state of emergency. The demand is also voiced by the Council of Europe and other international structures although RFE/RL fails to mention that so is the demand that Ter-Petrossian accept the ruling of the Constitutional Court which accepted the prime minister’s presidential election victory.

Meanwhile, another demand from the international community is that the authorities allow the opposition to stage rallies, demonstrations and marches as well as to reform controversial legislation which gives the government too much power to restrict the right to assembly. RFE/RL also reports on news that a woman’s group who had previously staged a rally in support of Ter-Petrossian has been denied permission to hold another meeting but this time in Yerevan’s Liberty Square.

Gayane Martirosian, head of Women for Peace, told RFE/RL that the municipality turned down the application on the grounds that the pro-Ter-Petrosian group exceeded a two-hour limit set for its last gathering and allowed opposition figures to address the crowd. Martirosian said the municipality also told her that ban was recommended by Nerses Nazarian, chief of the Yerevan police.

Under controversial legal amendments passed by parliament last month, the police and the National Security Service can ban anti-government street protests practically at will. The authorities say the restrictions are needed for preventing a repeat of the March 1 clashes in Yerevan that left at least ten people dead. Nonetheless, they have agreed to ease the restrictions under pressure from the Council of Europe and Western governments.

To be fair to the authorities, after the occupation of Liberty Square by the radical opposition for well over a week after the 19 February presidential election, it seems unwise to risk the same happening again. Moreover, permission for the Women for Peace meeting on 19 April had been given on the basis that it was being held to discuss Russian-Armenian relations in the event of resolution of the Karabakh conflict. Instead, the meeting somewhat predictably turned into a radical opposition pro-Levon Ter-Petrossian demonstration.

On the other hand, such meeting should be allowed and once again raise questions and concerns regarding the democratic and constitutional right of citizens to stage demonstrations. Even if Liberty Square is considered off-limits to the opposition on the basis of the tent-camp erected illegally there in February, other venues such as the Matenadaran or elsewhere should be offered. Whether that was the case is not mentioned in the RFE/RL report.

The media outlet also reports that the radical opposition have been denied access to public and private meeting halls since the state of emergency which raises the question of whether in light of restrictions placed on them, where and how else can such meeting be held? Interestingly, one such possible location is Tbilisi, capital of the neighboring Republic of Georgia, and RFE/RL says that the government finally caved in when considering the negative ramifications of such a move.

Petrosian announced at the same time that the authorities have allowed Ter-Petrosian and two dozen opposition groups supporting him to hold an indoors meeting in a government conference hall on Friday. She said they had previously twice refused to give such permission and relented only after the opposition decided to hold the gathering in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi.

“I consider this an achievement in the sense that the authorities were forced to make such a decision because the conference would have a greater international resonance if it was held abroad,” Petrosian told a news conference.

Unzipped comments on this development.

For quite some time now, any party, organisation or movement which is associated with the opposition is unable to hold indoor meetings, conferences etc due to apparent government ‘directive’ to the venues. Smart tactic by the opposition movement to arrange a venue for the congress in Tbilisi, after exhausting any possibilities in Armenian capital.

Only after news on Tbilisi venue became known, government made a U-turn and decided to offer its conference hall for the congress of Ter-Petrosyan opposition movement which will be held on 2 May. It is expected that Armenia’s first president and leader of the opposition movement Levon Ter-Petrosyan will make his first public speech there after the state of emergency.

Imagine how devastating for the government’s reputation would have been the situation when Armenian opposition is holding a congress in Georgian capital Tbilisi. Luckily, this time government realised the ridiculousness of its position and made this U-turn. They should stop their childish ‘venue blocking’ tactics, in general. It only makes the situation worse… for them.

Incidentally, while unashamedly pro-opposition leaning, Unzipped has fast become a main source for credible and thought-provoking news, analysis and commentary on recent political events in Armenia, some of which can not be found elsewhere. Recommended.