Fulfilment of opposition requirements by Armenian authorities is a precedent for the CIS

On May 31st, at an opposition meeting demanding early presidential and parliamentary elections, the leader of the opposition Armenian People’s Assembly, LevonTer-Petrosyan, declared the readiness of the opposition for formal dialogue with the authorities.

“As the authorities have fulfilled three requirements of the opposition, the Armenian People’s Assembly is ready to communicate with the government at delegation level,” the former president said. He said the opposition delegation will consist of 3-5 people. In the near future the opposition will present their agenda for the negotiations. One of the issues on the agenda will be the immediate release of the political prisoners Murad Bodzholyan and Sargis Atspanyan, who are not connected with the events of March 1st.

Earlier, the authorities stated that Bodzholyan and Atspanyan would be released on the 9th and 13th of June respectively, when the terms of their imprisonment come to an end.

At the meeting of March 1st 2011 the opposition presented 15 demands to the authorities. Besides the three fulfilled requirements to release political prisoners, begin detailed investigation of the events of March 1st 2008 and permit meetings to be held on Liberty Square, the opposition demanded the revocation of the mayor’s decision forbidding street trade, as well as increases in salaries, pensions and benefits. The APA also demanded the dismissal of Prime Minister Sarkisyan, Vice President Gevorjyan, the chairman of the Central Bank Dzhavadyan, the chairman of the State Revenues Committee Khachatryan, the mayor of Yerevan Karapetyan, the general prosecutor Ovsepyan,the head of the National Security Service Akopyan and others.

The authorities reject the possibility of holding early elections in the country. The press secretary of the Republican Party of Armenia, headed by President Sargsyan, stated that early elections take place only when there is a political crisis in the country, but in Armenia there is no such crisis, as democratic reforms are being carried out steadily. However, the opposition sees early elections as its top target.

The latest meeting of the APA differed from other meetings in one significant feature – it had a visible result: political prisoners were set free.

This is a precedent for the CIS countries. In recent years there has been no country in the CIS in which the authorities have fulfilled the political demands of an opposition, which has only used constitutional means of struggle, i.e. meetings, hunger strikes and so on.

Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively to VK.