Stepan Safaryan: Phrases like "Serzh, go away!” “Robik, go away!” became political bragging (video)
There is nothing else to try and now [first president] Levon Ter-Petrosyan is taking steps towards the 2017 elections, Stepan Safaryan, Director of the Armenian Institute of International and Security Affairs, said commenting on the first president’s speech during the March 1 rally in Liberty Square. He [Levon Ter-Petrosyan] has burnt all bridges with his former associates and now will have to stay in the square. Speaking about the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), he said the party was formed on ‘volatile electorate’ which disapproved the political course of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). “It was created to be a buffer and this year Gagik Tsarukyan wanted to ‘get out of the project’ and decide on the next president but they [authorities] did not forgive him for his decision and forced him to resign as BHK leader,” said Mr Safaryan. He is convinced that the BHK will not become a radical opposition. “You cannot have all levers of the power, use their money and become an opposition,” he stressed. He says the phrases “Serzh, go away!” “Robik, go away!” used by the other oppositionists for several years have turned into political bragging. Mr Safaryan is convinced that the vacuum existing in the political domain will be filled soon. Anush Sedrakyan, Vice-Chairperson of the Free Democrats Party, singled out the positive developments following the dispute between the BHK and Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). “For the first time, a woman is elected leader of a major party in Armenia, which is already a positive thing,” she said.
