Opposition holds rally for the benefit of Serzh Sargsyan?
Are the constitutional reforms an occasion or a reason for not participating in the rally to be held by the non-governing parliamentary forces in Yerevan on October 10? Political circles in Armenia interpret the decision of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation- Dashnaktsutyun not to participate in the upcoming rally in different ways. “It was evident from the very beginning that the opposition quartet could not survive for a long time since it was an artificial structure and the 12-point statement in which the four opposition forces laid out their demands to the new government lacked a serious political component,” says political analyst Aghasi Yenokyan . “Since the formation of the quartet I have said that it cannot become a strong force for the simple reason that the four forces did not have ideological commonality,” said management expert Harutyun Mesrobyan. “Each of the four forces in the quartet pursued its own interests from the very beginning,” says political analyst Andreas Ghukasyan. “Their primary goal was to create the impression that Armenia has a true opposition and the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) does not enjoy monopoly. In fact, the quartet tried to conceal the monopoly but let us not forget that all the four forces participated in the elections and legitimized all these falsifications.” Mr Ghukasyan believes that Dashnaktsutyun is not an independent party and it was forced by external forces not to participate in the October 10 rally, which, he says, will be held for Serzh Sargsyan's good. “Iran abstained from doing Serzh Sargsyan a service on October 10 so that he would be able to present the situation in this country in Minsk as an argument for joining the Eurasian Union,” said the political analyst. Aghasi Yenokyan does not exclude such a turn of events, at the same time adding that the opposition trio without Dashnaktsutyun can have other achievements. “On the other hand, this can become a factor to strengthen Serzh Sargsyan’s rule as he can show that there are forces in Armenia that disagree with him and try to win guarantees for his power,” he said. Harutyn Mesrobyan adds that it is needless to expect a revolution and major changes from the trio or quartet. Even the 12-point demands they submitted to the government do not reflect people’s concerns.
