OPPOSITION – IN A DEADLOCK

And in need of a dialogue

On April 19, when the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe was passing Resolution # 1609 on the “Activity of Democratic Institutions in Armenia”, our opposition was holding a demonstration in the Children’s Park of Yerevan.
The fact that those two events coincided in time aspect may considered by some people as the aftermath of the international pressures against Armenia. Others may view it as the opposition’s attempt of attracting the world’s attention, and still another third group of people may look upon it as a mere coincidence.
However, such diversity of opinions cannot separate this phenomenon from its essence.
If we are capable of organizing a demonstration in the heart of the capital city because of the recent changes introduced to the law on “Holding Assemblies, Rallies, Marches and Demonstrations”, a document that attracted criticism even by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, it means that the whole system of forcible though temporary restrictions of democratic norms is beginning to gradually lapse in Armenia.
For solving the problems of our citizens who have found themselves in the opposite barricades of the political struggle there will be no need to organize hearings in Washington or Strasburg, invite there the representatives of the participants of the March 1-2 confrontation, “ask them to the ring” and allow them to properly curse one another, spot our country’s reputation and gladden the Azerbaijani leadership which accuses the international community of applying double standards in relation to the recent developments of Armenia.
It is just necessary for us to realize that as a nation having a civilization of 5 thousand years, our standards of behavior and ability to understand one another are enough to get along without the assistance of PACE and the “Helsinki Committee” of the US Congress and implement the clauses underlying their resolutions and “recommendations” on our own.
It’s time for the participants of the recent political confrontation to put aside the thunderous statement “we have won” (instead of the April 19 slogan “we will win”) and look upon the reality with sober eyes. The PACE Resolution, adopted on Aril 19, has not only imposed certain requirements upon the authorities of Armenia, but also obliged the opposition to recognize the results of the February 19 elections or to appeal against them in a civilized manner, by applying to the European Court of Human Rights, Strasburg.
By the steps undertaken since February 19, the authorities have already expressed their willingness to comply with those requirements, and the first evidence is the authorization of the rally organized by the opposition.
A question arises as to what the opposition will do if all the people who didn’t resort to violence during the March 1-2 events are released and the restrictions introduced in the law on “Holding Assemblies, Rallies, Marches and Demonstrations” are mitigated. Will it organize new marches and demonstrations so as there will be new clashes, violence and hence - arrests or, is it going to comply with the proposals enshrined in PACE Resolution # 1609, thus recognizing the results of the February 19 elections or applying to the European Court of Human Rights? But the whole problem is that, having found themselves in a deadlock, the whole political team supporting L. Ter-Petrosyan has already been deprived of the opportunity of choosing any of the above-mentioned options. After the passage of the PACE Resolution, the opposition no longer has the opportunity of abusing the opportunity to “dispute” the results of the February 19 elections “in the streets”, and in case of applying to the European Court of Human Rights, it will be absolutely deprived of the right to speak on the topic because, likewise in the Constitutional Court of Armenia, the opposition will be unable to prove its barefaced allegations in Strasburg.
So, L. Ter-Petrosyan is facing the dilemma of either committing a political suicide or initiating a dialogue with the authorities. As to a third way, it simply doesn’t exist, because even though it is possible to “prolong” the existing abnormal situation for several months and wait for the new authorities to commit blunders in order to be able to criticize them, this will not change anything, as a matter of fact.
As to the opposition and its leader that brought the people to the streets after February 19, they, too, may be deprived of their current status at the coming stages of the political processes if they are unable to form part of the political counterbalances developing at present.
ARMEN TSATOURYAN

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