Leaders of the opposition party accused Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s administration of planning to make sweeping concessions to Azerbaijan and Turkey that would threaten the very existence of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
“This resistance must be directed at those who try to lead us to vital concessions with false pacifist calls,” said Armen Rustamian, a member of Dashnaktsutyun’s new governing Bureau elected during a party congress held in Yerevan.
The weeklong congress brought together senior members of the party’s branches in Armenia and its worldwide Diaspora. A statement adopted by it says that Dashnaktsutyun must be ready to play a “decisive” role in the fight for regime change.
Dashnaktsutyun is now affiliated with the opposition Hayastan bloc led by former President Robert Kocharian. The bloc finished second in the snap parliamentary elections held last June.
Speaking at a joint news conference, Rustamian and the Canadian-Armenian head of the Bureau, Hagop Der Khatchadurian, gave no indications that Dashnaktsutyun is considering leaving Hayastan.
Still, they said they are open to cooperating with more opposition forces that share their concerns about “existential” threats facing Armenia. They also made a case for new methods of political struggle against Pashinian’s government, notably street protests.
Hayastan already announced in November the start of a “nationwide resistance” campaign during a rally in Yerevan. But it has staged no further protests since then.
Kocharian said in December that despite what he sees as a sharp drop in Pashinian’s approval ratings Armenians are still not willing to attend anti-government demonstrations in very large numbers. The ex-president stood by his view at a news conference held last month.
Rustamian seemed to acknowledge that opposition groups need more time to generate a strong protest movement.
“The people do not feel an existential danger,” he said. “I’m sure that as soon as the people feel that existential danger they will fill the streets. This is why the authorities are doing everything to keep the people in the dark.”
