Opposition parties form new alliance

Seven Armenian opposition parties on March 29, 1997, formed the National Accord Alliance to campaign for pre-term presidential and parliamentary elections and the adoption of a new constitution. The alliance aims to build "a democratic, law- governed, and socially oriented society." It unites four of the five parties that supported presidential candidate Vazgen Manoukian in last year's disputed presidential elections: the National Democratic Union, the Democratic Party of Armenia, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutiune (ARFD). and the Union for National Self- Determination. Other members are the Union for Constitutional Right, the National Progress Party, and the Scientific-Industrial and Civic Union.

As of early September, the National Accord Alliance parties are holding consultations regarding their future steps. Talks of a possible break-up of the Alliance have been denied by leaders of the parties involved.

ARF Bureau delegation meets with Ter-Petrossian represetatives

YEREVAN- On April 1 and April 3, a delegation of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Bureau met with representatives of President Levon Ter-Petrossian, who initiated the meetings.

Ter-Petrossian was represented by National Assembly Speaker Babken Ararktsian, Foreign Minister Alexander Arzoumanian and Chief of Staff Shahen Garamanoukian.

The ARF Bureau was represented by Garo Armenian, Massis Baghdasarian, Martun Matevosian, Mkrtich Mkrtichian and Tatul Ohanian.

Various political issues were addressed during the meeting with government officials, including, the Nagorno-Karabakh question, Armenia’s foreign policy concerns, as well as future development of Armenia-Diaspora relations.

The meeting participants also exchanged views on Armenias political and socio-economic situation, as well as the legal processes regarding ARF activities in Armenia.

The sides agreed to continue dialogue on these issues.

On April 21, during a rare meeting with Armenian journalists, Ter-Petrossian noted that he had launched the process aimed at establishing national accord in the country.

Asked how he sees the Armenian Revolutionary Federation’s role at the end of that process, Ter-Petrossian said, “Why at the end? We can describe the ARFs fate today already, if our laws are duly observed.”

To a remark that the ARF has changed its by-laws and that it is represented in Armenia by the ARF Executive Council, Ter-Petrossian answered, “Then what is the Bureau?”

In his statements Ter-Petrossian clearly signalled that the relations between the authorities and the government had not changed since Dec. 28, 1994 when he issued his decree banning the activities of the ARF in Armenia.

ARF representatives meet with Prime Minister Kocharian

YEREVAN - On April 1, Armenia’s Prime Minister Robert Kocharian met with members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Bureau and discussed issues of mutual concern.

ARF Bureau member Martun Matevossian, Garo Armenian, Tatul Ohanian Mkrtich Mkrtichian and Massis Baghdassarian congratulated the newly appointed prime minister and expressed the party’s readiness to fully support the prime minister’s programs. According to the prime minister’s office, Kocharian told the Bureau members that, in the name of stability and national cooperation, he was prepared to cooperate with all political parties and organizations.

The prime minister added that the concept of a national accord was not a new one for him, rather it was his conviction. In addressing the republic’s political, economic and social problems, as well as Armenia-Diaspora relations, Kocharian emphasized the need for national unity as a necessity for addressing those issues.

On April 25, Armenian Prime Minister Robert Kocharian met with representatives of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Executive Council of Armenia.

During the meeting the two sides exchanged ideas on the activities of the ARF in Armenia and Kocharian agreed with ARF representatives on the importance of internal political stability. The sides spoke of the establishment of an atmosphere of national accord in Armenia and Kocharian reaffirmed his willingness to cooperate with all political organizations.

ARF Bureau members meet with Karekin I

ETCHMIADZIN- An Armenian Revolutionary Federation Bureau delegation visited Holy Etchmiadzin on March 29, and met with His Holiness Karekin I, the Catholicos of All Armenians.

The delegation which included Bureau members Tatul Ohanian, Mkrtich Mkrtichian, Massis Baghdassarian and Martun Matevossian discussed the role of the Armenian church in confronting current difficulties facing the Armenian nation and the Armenian people.

ARF Bureau members meet with Leonard Petrossian

YEREVAN - On May 17, during a meeting between Karabakh Acting President Leonard Petrossian and representatives of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Bureau Martoun Matevossian, Apo Boghigian, as well as representative of the Central Committee of Karabakh Vachagan Zakarian, the sides focused on ways of coordinating actions between Karabakh authorities and the ARF in pursuing matters of foreign policy, in order to develop a single stance toward international and regional problems.

Having discussed the current state of the negotiation process on the settlement of the Karabakh-Azeri conflict, the parties agreed that there was need for ever greater consolidation of all Armenian forces in the name of a just solution to the Karabakh problem. The meeting was also attended by ARF Bureau representative in Nagorno-Karabakh Serge Amirkhanian.

ARF Bureau member Apo Boghikian in early April had been denied an entry visa to Armenia. Later, in May, he was granted a visa.

ARF’s seized property being returned... partially

YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan) - The process of returning the seized property of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation began in mid-May, said a spokesperson of the ARF Executive Council of Amrenia.

The property was seized following the presidential decree of Dec ember 28, 1994 “suspending” the activities of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation in Armenia.

The ARF welcomed the return of some of its property, however the process did not seem to be directly linked to the reinstating of the party‘s rights in Armenia.

As of September 6, 1997, the Yerevan offices of the ARF Bureau, the ARF Central Committee of Armenia and the “Yerkir” daily remained sealed.

"Hayots Ashkhar" published

YEREVAN (Combined Sources) - The first issue of “Hayots Ashkhar” (“Armenians’ World”) newspaper was published on Tuesday, June 17, 1997.

“The newspaper is the organ of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, in essence, but not officially,” said Gagik Mkrtychian, member of the ARF Executive Council of Armenia and Editor-in-Chief of the paper. “Our aim is not to become an elite paper but a paper of the people,” he noted. Mkrtychian further explained that the newspaper will mainly cover problems pertaining to human rights, democracy, the Armenian Cause, the Karabakh issue, the military, and the Diaspora. The primary objective is to address national goals and ideals.

According to Gagik Mkrtychian, there have not been any obstacles in the registration and publication of the paper. “The fact that confiscated property has been returned and the lack of obstacles in the registration of this newspaper gives us hope that ARF related issues will be solved. But it is just a hope,” he said.

“Hayots Ashkhar” has 30 staff members, 90 percent of whom formerly worked in the “Yerkir” daily, the official organ of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, whose publications were all shut down and its equipment and supplies confiscated following the December 28, 1994 presidential decree banning the activities of that party in Armenia.

“Hayots Ashkhar”, which has no financial problems, was founded by the staff. The publication of the newspaper has been met with encouragement from numerous news agencies and other newspapers in Armenia.

ARF delegation meets with Kocharian

ATHENS - A delegation representing the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Bureau and the ARF Central Committee of Greece met with Armenian Prime Minister Robert Kocharian, on August 21, 1997, at the Armenian Embassy.

Ambassador Arman Giragossian was also present.

Among issues discussed at the hour-long meeting were Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia-Diaspora relations, and specifically Armenian domestic and foreign affairs.

Kocharian was in Greece on a personal visit.

Armenia’s shifting poltical landscape

By LIZ FULLER and HARRY TAMRZIAN
From Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, June 5, 1997

For more than six years, Armenia’s ruling Armenian National Movement has dominated politics in that country. But in recent months, splits within the movement have become increasingly apparent, prompting leaders of the movement to concede it no longer qualifies as a ruling party.

The ANM was created in 1989 from the Karabakh Committee, set up by a handful of Armenian academics the previous year, to coordinate Armenian support for the drive by the predominantly ethnic Armenian population of Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast to achieve unification with Armenia. The movement obtained a majority in the post-communist Supreme Soviet elected in the summer of 1990, and its leader, Levon Ter-Petrossian, was elected president the fall of the following year.

Although popular support for the Armenian leadership plummeted between 1992 and 1994 as a result of economic collapse, successive attempts by opposition parties-including the Union for National Self-Determination, headed by veteran dissident Paruir Hairikyan, and former Prime Minister Vazgen Manoukian’s National Democratic Union-to create a lasting opposition coalition failed. The only serious threat to the ANM was the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. Banned by Ter-Petrossian in December 1994 for alleged involvement in terrorist activities, the ARF was unable to field candidates in the July 1995 parliamentary elections.

The Republic bloc, comprising the ANM and four smaller parties, won 114 of the 190 seats in the new parliament. But the ban on the ARF, in conjunction with violations of voting procedure, led some opposition politicians to question the legality of the poll. Rouben Mirzakhanyan, [former] chairman of the Ramgavar party, argued that the ANM’s hold on power rested on an elaborate network of patron-client relationships permeating the national and local governments as well as the police. In December, 1995, Ter-Petrossian appeared to be distancing himself from the ANM, which, he said, should form the nucleus of a broader right-wing party.

The disputed presidential poll of September 1996, in which Ter-Petrossian was narrowly re-elected with 51.75 percent of the vote, served to split the ANM into two camps: the “bureaucrats” grouped around former Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan, former national security adviser Davit Shahnazaryan, and parliamentary legal affairs committee chairman Eduard Yegoryan; and powerful shadow economic interest groups backed by former Interior Minister Vano Siradeghian (now mayor of Yerevan) and Defense Minister Vazgen Sargsyan.

Two months ago, political forces began to realign after it became apparent that the president might consider dissolving the current parliament and holding early parliamentary elections.

In early April, Ter-Petrossian initiated talks with ARF representatives, which observers in Yerevan predict will culminate in that party’s re-legalization. If that happens, the ARF could once again emerge as the strongest opposition party.

In late May, Hairikyan announced that he no longer recognizes Vazgen Manoukian as leader of the opposition National Alliance created in September 1996 to support Manoukian’s presidential candidacy. Also in late May, Bagratyan, whose aggressive free-market policies earned him the nickname of the “Armenian Gaidar,” launched his own liberal political party, Azatutyun-liberty. Several ranking members of the ANM have already defected to that party, while Hairikyan and other opposition leaders have also indicated they are willing to cooperate with the liberals.

On May 30, the Yerevan branch of the ANM met to prepare for the movement’s congress to be held in June. Some members may break away at that meeting to align themselves either with the liberals or conceivably even with Manoukian. Many of the movement’s leaders have expressed concern that the ANM has lost its political clout and can no longer be considered the ruling party. Some have suggested that they may seek a vote of no confidence in the government of Prime Minister Robert Kocharian, the former president of Nagorno-Karabakh, who is not an ANM member. Such a move would bring the ANM into open conflict with Ter-Petrossian.

In an implicit challenge to the president to choose to side with either the ANM or the prime minister, parliament deputy speaker and ranking ANM member Ara Sahakian told the ANM’s newspaper Haik on June 3 that the chairman of the ruling party should be Ter-Petrossian. Observers in Yerevan suggest that a conflict between the ANM and Kocharian is inevitable, particularly since the latter’s campaign to wipe out tax evasion is likely to impact on the economic interests of many ANM members. But the strong backing Kocharian enjoys both from Ter-Petrossian and from the ARF makes him the probable victor. And since Ter-Petrossian has stressed he will not seek a third term as president, Kocharian is well placed to succeed him in the 2001 elections.

Vazgen Manoukian visits ANCA offices in Washington

WASHINGTON - Armenian opposition leader Vazgen Manoukian, who is in Washington on the invitation of the National Democratic Institute, on June 3, visited the offices of the Armenian National Committee of America.

Manoukian who held a number of meetings with administration officials and political figures, later traveled to Los Angeles at the invitation of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Western United States Central Committee.

At the ANCA, Manoukian met with ARF Bureau member and political representative Garo Armenian, ANCA Chairman Mourad Topalian and ARF Executive Council of Armenian political representative Roupen Hagopian. The leaders discussed several issues including matters concerning the Caucasus, as well as developments in Nagorno-Karabakh and the negotiations. Ideas were exchanged on the socio-political situation in Armenia and the Karabakh republic.

Manoukian became acquainted with the activities of the ANCA and its local chapters in the pursuit of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, as well as the strengthening of the independent statehood of the Armenian and Karabakh republics and the just rights of the Armenian people.