Dozens of members of the opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) have demonstratively claimed responsibility for a reported attack on an activist of a rival political party.
They accused the activist, Vartan Harutiunian, of insulting Nagorno-Karabakh’s leaders and assaulting a veteran Dashnaktsutyun figure.
Harutiunian, who is affiliated with former President Levon Ter-Petrosian’s Armenian National Congress (HAK), on Tuesday claimed to have been beaten in Yerevan by supporters of Dashnaktsutyun and another ex-president, Robert Kocharian. He asked the Armenian police for protection.
The police were quick to detain a man on suspicion of involvement in the attack. Dashnaktsutyun representatives confirmed that the suspect is affiliated with their party.
Later on Tuesday, several dozen Dashnaktsutyun members visited a police station in Yerevan to claim that they too were involved in the violence. Among them was Gegham Manukian, a prominent party figure who runs a Dashnaktsutyun-linked TV station.
Manukian said that Harutiunian deserves an “educational slap” because he wrote offensive comments about Karabakh leaders on Facebook and was among several dozen men that accosted Dashnaktsutyun’s former top leader, Hrant Markarian, in Yerevan’s Liberty Square last month.
The latter incident occurred during a protest against Kocharian’s release from prison ordered by a Yerevan court. Markarian was confronted by protesters as he strolled in the square with his grandchildren.
Armenia -- Dashnaktsutyun's Gegham Manukian talks to journalists outside a police station in Yerevan, June 4, 2019.
Artsvik Minasian, a member of Dashnaktsutyun’s governing body in Armenia, on Wednesday defended fellow party members’ “spontaneous” visits to the police station. “This is first and foremost a call for the authorities to put an end to this situation, to condemn and crack down on all manifestations of intolerant and hostile behavior which reigns in and is propagated in our country right now,” said Minasian.
However, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian seemed to put the blame on Dashnaktsutyun. He said law-enforcement authorities should ascertain whether the attack on the HAK activist was the work of “one or two individuals” or a larger group.
“All those individuals who propagate violence must be held accountable one by one,” Pashinian told reporters.
Dashnaktsutyun received two ministerial posts Pashinian’s first cabinet formed in May 2018 following the “velvet revolution” that brought down the country’s previous government. The prime minister sacked his Dashnaktsutyun-affiliated ministers in October, accusing their party of secretly collaborating with the former regime.
Dashnaktsutyun has since been increasingly critical of Pashinian’s government. It accused the government of not delivering on its promises and seeking to establish “one-man rule” at a rally held in Yerevan on May 23.