Samvel Karapetyan announces opposition rally of `strength and trust`

ArmInfo."Strong Armenia" bloc leader Samvel Karapetyan announced the opposition will hold a rally of "strength and trust," the goal of which is to gain genuine public support.  He made this announcement at a meeting with editors of several media outlets, during which he outlined the steps he believes  the collective opposition should take to overcome the crisis that has  arisen in Armenia following the parliamentary elections.

According to Karapetyan, in addition to consolidating the opposition  and holding a rally, they propose reaching out to key international  actors: the US President, the leaders of many European countries, and  the leadership of Russia and China. This, according to the bloc  leader, can be accomplished by inviting ambassadors from various  countries and representatives of international organizations to the  meeting. "We want them to listen to our position, our concerns, and  to see the situation through our eyes. Because we believe they are  only viewing it from one perspective. Yes, right now, anti-Russian  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan benefits them, but this is not  beneficial to the Armenian people, and they need to hear this.   Perhaps they don't fully understand that they are participating in  the loss of our country. Therefore, I attach great importance to  meeting with them," Karapetyan noted.

Speaking specifically about Russia, the bloc leader said they want to  appeal to the country and urge it to stop a process that has nothing  to do with Pashinyan. Because, according to him, all these bans and  restrictions related to the ban on the import of Armenian products  affect only the Armenian people. "We want to say that this must be  stopped as soon as possible. The Armenian government has no such  intentions, so we want to take this responsibility upon ourselves. We  want to explain to them that only the Armenian people are suffering  as a result of these steps," Karapetyan stated. The politician  continued that the collective opposition must also demand the release  of all political prisoners in the country. "Because we all understand  that these people are innocent," Karapetyan noted.

Speaking about mandates, the leader of the "Strong Armenia" bloc  noted that it is the government that is spreading the narrative that  the opposition should not accept mandates. Because, as Karapetyan  pointed out, doing so would give them the opportunity to form a  one-man government. He stated that they currently intend to discuss  this issue with other opposition forces and make a final decision,  but they are prepared for both scenarios-going to parliament and  renouncing their mandates.

He stated that their political force will appeal to the  Constitutional Court, and a decision on the mandates will be made  after it announces its decision on the Prosperous Armenia Party  (PAP). "But whether we win mandates or not, we will continue the  fight. We will appeal to the Constitutional Court, we will actively  participate in the open discussion in court, and an opposition rally  is expected to take place around the same time. The Constitutional  Court must make the right decision, since no one doubts that the PAP  has entered parliament," the politician explained.

Summing up, Karapetyan assured that the collective opposition's main  issue at the moment is removing Pashinyan from power and ending the  humiliation of the Armenian people. "Because the Armenian people  suffer from his every step. Therefore, this is our fundamental goal.  To achieve this, we will unite the opposition, and, correctly  assessing each of our previous steps, we will consider what to do  next," Karapetyan concluded.

Recall that Samvel Karapetyan previously proposed creating a  post-election opposition coalition. To achieve this, Karapetyan  proposed creating a coordinating council, holding live talks with the  opposition, reaching out to Armenian citizens, and figuring out what  steps to take next.