ArmInfo.Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan cannot understand the opposition forces' attempts to drive a wedge between the Armenian and Artsakh authorities.
"What is the point of the attempts and who benefits from them? I cannot understand the criticism over the Armenian authorities' condolences to Turkey either. I offered my condolences as well - and I did well because they have 10,000 victims to the tragedy similar to that our country once suffered. We could not but respond," Mr Simonyan said. Even the president of the Legislative Assembly of Cyprus, which hardly has an amicable relationship with Turkey, did so. Of course, Ankara's actions toward Armenia are hostile. "But what should we do in this situation? Shall we attack Turkey with its 90-million-strong population? I cannot understand your way of solving problems," Mr Simonyan said.
He is severely critical of the opposition forces' attitude to the four-partite meeting in Prague, which discussed an Armenian-Azerbaijan peace agreement.
"Do the UN member-states recognize Artsakh's territorial integrity? For many years in power, the forces that are in opposition now, never made any claims to Azerbaijani territories. So what are you talking about now?" Mr Simonyan said.
In commenting on the idea of early elections put forward the other day, he called the opposition forces not to link the Civil Contract party's supporters with those of the opposition forces. "When during your marches you, according to some reports, tried to involve new people by bribing them, their number was within 10,000, whereas you received 200,000 votes during the elections. So where are your supporters?" Holding early elections is not a problem for Armenia's authorities, Mr Simonyan said. It is primarily the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) that should get ready for early elections as it either may not get into Parliament at all or have even fewer representatives in Parliament.
"All the nations, including Armenia, have their national interests. When [Armenia's third president] Serge Sargsyan awarded a medal to Mikheil Saakashvili, which could have been perceived as a personal insult at that time - why do you say, why are you spoiling relations with our powerful ally?" Mr Simonyan said.