Three leading opposition parties assured thousands of supporters rallying in Yerevan on Wednesday that they will soon publicize a plan of further joint actions aimed at achieving “regime change” in Armenia.
“The popular movement will soon present a program of joint actions, including mass public gatherings, aimed at expediting complete regime change in Armenia and establishing a government of the people through pre-term free and fair elections,” Levon Zurabian, a senior member of the Armenian National Congress (HAK), said in a speech delivered in Liberty Square.
The HAK and the Prosperous Armenia (BHK) and Zharangutyun (Heritage) parties held the rally there to mark International Human Rights Day more one month after their most recent anti-government protest. They have yet to shed light on the future of their joint push for power announced in September.
Levon Ter-Petrosian and Gagik Tsarukian, the top leaders of the HAK and the BHK respectively, were conspicuously absent from the latest demonstration. Zharangutyun’s Raffi Hovannisian attended it but avoided addressing the crowd before it marched through the city center. Hovannisian said he is still awaiting Ter-Petrosian’s and Tsarukian’s responses to his calls for the opposition trio to draw up a specific “common agenda.”
Like the HAK, Zharangutyun is seeking a joint effort to try to force President Serzh Sarkisian into resignation. Tsarukian and his aides have made more vague statements on this score.
Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am), Tigran Urikhanian, the BHK spokesman, insisted that his party is committed to “regime change.” Asked whether that means Sarkisian’s ouster, Urikhanian said, “It’s up to you and the public to draw conclusions.”