"It Is Their Right": Mirzoyan on Opposition

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Ararat Mirzoyan, addressed the protests taking place in Armenia, asserting that there is no political crisis in the country. During a press conference following his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Mirzoyan responded to a question from a Russian journalist, stating that he could provide two arguments to support his claim.

“First, there were snap parliamentary elections last summer where the citizens of Armenia provided very clear answers to a number of questions and resolved what was truly a political crisis at that time. It should also be noted that these elections were recognized as democratic and transparent by all observer missions. This indicates that citizens unambiguously had the opportunity to express their views and make decisions. Secondly, we observe, at least as far as I have been able to follow, that the scant turnout at the rallies does not suggest that these gatherings have support from the citizens of Armenia. However, I want to emphasize that the Republic of Armenia is a democratic country, and everyone has the right to hold peaceful gatherings,” Mirzoyan stated.

He notes that if one steps away from the issue of rights and examines the logical aspects of the situation, he can express his personal opinion. “I see certain questions related to common sense for myself, and I can also explain why. Firstly, these political forces have the opportunity to conduct their activities in parliament and criticize the authorities in the sharpest manner, addressing the most pressing issues, which, unfortunately or fortunately, they do not take advantage of. It is their right again. Secondly, the most essential substantive aspect of the issue is that, as far as I have been able to understand and follow, the forces organizing and participating in the rallies speak of the fact that the Republic of Armenia is not conducting the right policy regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, is not conducting the right policy in all the aforementioned directions of relations with Azerbaijan, nor in the process of normalizing relations between Armenia and Turkey, and so on.

“Here, I must say that it is strangely observed that we have not seen statements regarding whether our government resigns and power somehow transfers to these forces, they intend, for example, to annul the trilateral statement of November 9, or the trilateral statements of January 11 and November 26 from Sochi, whether they are planning to withdraw from the delimitation process, or to suspend the process of unblocking regional communications, and so on. That is, if such an approach were expressed, perhaps it would be reasonable, because our approach has already been presented and proclaimed long ago. And so, I assume it would be logical for these aspiring political forces to have opposing views on these key issues. Once again, I have not followed closely, but as much as I have been able to, I have not encountered any mention of suspending or withdrawing from the stated processes, which allows me to suggest that, after all, the discussed thematic content is being exploited by the opposition not in a very attractive manner and serves as an occasion,” Ararat Mirzoyan concluded.