Armenian Opposition Party Picks New Leadership

A key opposition party aligned in the Armenian National Congress (HAK) has chosen a new leadership following the resignation of its two top members who reportedly disagreed with HAK leader and former President Levon Ter-Petrosian.

Unconfirmed reports said both Zurabian and especially Kokobelian were suspected by HAK leaders of secretly collaborating with the authorities. Ter-Petrosian, who maintains a strong influence on the former ruling party, was rumored to have personally told them to resign from the HHSh leadership. Ter-Petrosian gave far more weight to this theory in his speech at the congress.  Read more... (370 words)

Armenia’s Court of Appelas Upholds Yerevan Unrest Ruling

Armenia’s Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld the rejection of a lawsuit against law-enforcement authorities filed earlier this year by relatives of Armenians who died in the March 2008 post-election violence in Yerevan.

The district court rejected these demands in a series of rulings handed down in May and June. The plaintiffs decided to appeal the rulings.  Read more... (373 words)

Why Doesn’t Opposition Hold Rallies in Armenia?

There are some powers in the Armenian National Congress (HAK) which are for carrying a rally-generated fight, whereas there are also some which are against it, head of Social Democrat Hunchakian Party Lyudmila Sargsyan told a press conference today.

“I think it is very normal. There are numerous parties in the Congress with different approaches, various ideologies and … various political approaches. I think it is normal that there may be different viewpoints, but one thing is crystal clear: all realize that HAK is the only most serious political opposition power that is capable of opposing the encroachments by authorities, and naturally regardless how many disagreements [to organizing rallies] there may be, we do succeed in reaching a consensus and continuing our joint fight,” explained she.  Read more... (196 words)

Two Armenian Opposition Party Leaders Resign

The two top leaders of a key opposition party aligned in the Armenian National Congress (HAK) have stepped down amid conflicting reports about their disagreements with the opposition bloc led by former President Levon Ter-Petrosian.

“He himself will comment,” a party spokesman, Karen Karapetian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “Mr. Zurabian resigned only as chairman of the HHSh board and remains a member of the board.”  Read more... (300 words)

Armenian Opposition To Press Ahead With The Protest in Liberty Square

Representatives of the opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) said on Thursday that they will proceed with plans to stage a sit-in at Yerevan’s Liberty Square to demand the liberation of opposition figures remaining in prison.

The move led the opposition alliance to downscale the protest and thereby qualify for a legal provision whereby government permission is not required for public gatherings attended by up to 100 people.  Read more... (379 words)

Armenian Opposition Party Criticizes Levon Ter-Petrosian

A major Armenian opposition party criticized former President Levon Ter-Petrosian on Monday, again distancing itself from his Armenian National Congress (HAK).

Armen Martirosian, the chairman of Zharangutyun’s governing board, denounced what he described as a political “triangle” of Ter-Petrosian and his two successors and bitter foes, Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sarkisian.

“Zharangutyun is of the opinion that political solutions to the issues preoccupying the society lie beyond the triangle of the three presidents,” he told a news conference. “We must break up that triangle that was foisted upon us. That triangle is not moving the state forward in any way.”  Read more... (385 words)

Armenian Opposition Bloc ‘Held Back By Karabakh Talks’

The Armenian National Congress (HAK) is holding back from launching a renewed campaign of anti-government protests because of what it sees as strong international pressure on Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, a leader of the opposition alliance said on Tuesday.

Sarkisian said the HAK is not doing that now because it does not want to be a “tool of influence” in the hands of foreign powers that he said are seeking unilateral Armenian concessions to Azerbaijan. Echoing statements by the HAK’s top leader, former President Levon Ter-Petrosian, he claimed that the existing international plan to end the Karabakh conflict, drafted by the United States, Russia and France, favors Azerbaijan.  Read more... (378 words)

Armenian Opposition Back in The Spotlight At The Opera

Last week’s standoff between small groups of protesters and police, if nothing else, has put the country’s opposition back in the news.

Perhaps mindful of this and also heeding mounting concerns over human rights issues among local and international groups, the Armenian police have been reconsidering their tactics after nearly two weeks of clashes with opposition protesters and now seem to be trying to avoid conflict not to stir more opposition passions.

Last Thursday young activists of the opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) were allowed to enter Freedom Square and stage a sit-in there and on Monday, June 7, the opposition activists organized a march in defense of David Kiramijyan, a 19-year-old oppositionist serving a two-month prison term for resisting police in the recent standoff in the square.  Read more... (790 words)

Armenian Opposition ‘Undecided’ On Liberty Square Rallies

The opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) said late Wednesday that it has not decided yet whether to hold demonstrations in Yerevan’s newly reopened Liberty Square, while condemning police for not allowing small groups of its supporters to gather there.

“The HAK has made no decision yet on staging events in Liberty Square, but it will use all means at its disposal … to defend those individuals, citizens who will decide to exercise their right to hold various individual or group actions in the traditional venue for such events,” said the statement.  Read more... (269 words)