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"THE APRIL INCIDENTS WERE PLANNED BEFOREHAND"

Politics

This day two years ago, until midnight, it never occurred to anyone that the authorities would order to raise batons on the peaceful demonstrators whose only demand was to establish justice in the country. The violations on the night of April 13 came to testify that the authorities of the third Republic of Armenia are able to do anything. According to NA deputy Hmayak Hovhannisyan, the incidents of April 2004 were planned.

- The opposition was isolated from the process of governing the country by a coalition memorandum. I don't want to say that the opposition must have its people in the executive branch. It must by all means control several Committees in the Parliament, as it was after the 1999 elections when it gave them the possibility to participate in the processing of the legislative policy. Since the 2003 elections all the initiatives of the opposition are blocked. As the opposition was not given any chance to be integrated into the political field, they went to the streets. And so happened what happened.

- Could the April violations be prevented?

- There is one thing we must understand: if because of the obstacles of the authorities or maybe because of their own mistakes the opposition does not do its duty as a state institution which participates in the governing of the country, there is always danger of suchlike situations. These cases can be prevented, but in April 2004 the authorities themselves created the situation as they wanted to prove that the opposition will not reach anything even if the oppositional wings join together.

- Do you mean to say that today there is danger of suchlike situation?

- Not today, as the society lives in an atmosphere of hopelessness. The people do not pin hopes on anything for positive changes. In 2003 there was hope that there would be changes if the two oppositional wings joined together. The hope was immediately eliminated by the authorities. They warned the people beforehand that the joint opposition will not reach anything. Then they made a scenario and involved the opposition in it as a result of which the opposition really failed to reach anything. This was how the atmosphere was created.

Karine ASATRYAN