“We have always been honest partners”
"Today Armenia's first and foremost task is to conduct a free and fair election in the country," Leader of the People's Party of Armenia (HZhK) Stepan Demirtchyan told a press conference today.
"If both authorities and opposition are formed in the result of a fair election, the country's political life will enter its ordinary routine with all issues being settled easily," he added.
Stepan Demirtchyan says that compared with his contenders, Nikol Pashinyan stands more chances to be elected as a NA deputy during the upcoming by-election in Constituency 10 though he doubted that "the authorities will hold a free and fair election in the constituency."
Assessing the passing year, Mr. Demirtchyan said that 2009 was not a year of achievements. "Our people still struggle against injustice."
Without detailing the shortcomings the HZhK Leader voiced concern over the developments on the Karabakh conflict resolution and Armenian-Turkish rapprochement.
Replying to A1+, Mr. Demirtchyan underlined that Serzh Sargsyan wouldn't be able to easily withdraw from the process of rapprochement.
"I don't think Armenia will withdraw from the process. Sargsyan's statement about legislative changes was made in response to the protraction of the ratification and Turkey's announcements, and did not mean refusal from the process.
World powers are interested in both the normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations and the settlement of the Karabakh conflict," he said.
"It's hardly possible for the Armenian-Turkish protocols to be ratified without significant progress in the Karabakh settlement process," he added.
The HZhK Leader reminded that the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs had anticipated a breakthrough in the Karabakh conflict in 2010.
"The documents laid on the negotiation table are not advantageous to the Armenian side," Stepan Demirtchyan underlined.
Regarding last-year's post-election clashes in Yerevan City, Mr. Demirtchyan said: "The acting authorities did their best to efface the murders of March 1 and October 27. The perpetrators and organizers of the massacre must be revealed and punished. It is evident that these authorities do not have such an intention. "
Mr. Demirtcyan didn't refute that the member-parties of the Armenian National Congress are at variance. "We have never concealed the fact. Yet, the political forces affiliated with the Congress pursue the same goals - restoration of constitutional order, release of political prisoners, etc. We have always been honest partners."
Stepan Demirtchyan considers public demand for mass meetings as natural. "Rallies become a must if there is a demand in the public. I think that opposition will resume its rallies but I cannot say when exactly."
