Orinats Yerkir Update: We Are Opposition
A1 Plus has this update on the resignation of NA Speaker Artur Baghdasarian and the departure of Orinats Yerkir from the coalition government. “We are opposition,” the 37 year old is quoted as saying at today’s press conference. RFE/RL’s Armenia Service has more comprehensive coverage of the latest change in Armenia’s political landscape, but the news does not look too good for the young populist leader.
Interestingly, given reports leading up to Baghdasarian’s resignation, he does not appear to blame events on the Armenian President.
Baghdasarian dismissed reports, confirmed by some government sources, that the dramatic collapse of his parliament faction was engineered by Kocharian. He insisted that he decided to resign and pull Orinats Yerkir out of the coalition because of major policy differences with the country’s leadership.
“It is morally right for me to tender my resignation and for our political team to leave the coalition,” he told a news conference. “All Orinats Yerkir members holding [government] posts must also resign. This is the decision unanimously taken by our political council [on Thursday night].”
Unfortunately for Baghdasarian, however, not all of the other Orinats Yerkir representatives in the Armenian Government seem to eager to leave with him. Power is money in Armenia, and it is unlikely that any of them are going to risk their own business interests for the sake of political allegiances, ideology or personal moral integrity.
Not all of the three members of Armenia’s government representing the Orinats Yerkir Party were in no rush to step down on Friday despite its leadership’s decision to leave the ruling coalition.
At least one of them made it clear that he prefers his government post to continued membership in the party led by the outgoing speaker of the Armenian parliament, Artur Baghdasarian. Minister for Urban Development Aram Harutiunian told RFE/RL that he will not quit because he thinks “the government is satisfied with my work.” He said he will end his membership in Orinats Yerkir instead.
Such a point is picked up on by many of the Armenian newspapers in various op-eds and interviews on the departure of Orinats Yerkir from the pro-government camp. However, it is worth pointing out that while Baghdasarian has largely behaved more responsibly when compared with the other two members of the three-party coalition government, there was always speculation that Orinats Yerkir was created by the Defense Minister, Serzh Sarkisyan, and that Baghdasarian was at one point considered Kocharian’s likely successor.
“Four years ago, when Orinats Yerkir was not part of the government, its populism could not be taken seriously,” writes “Hayots Ashkhar.” “But it is more than weird to be part of the government; have a number of government members, a myriad of various-caliber officials, protected and reliable businesses; and play the old tune. This is a violation of the rules of the game. One deserves to be severely punished for that.”
Opposition leader Vazgen Manukian also believes that Baghdasarian broke those rules. “They have found a way to punish [Baghdasarian] so that others don’t do the same thing,” Manukian tells “Aravot.” “The party of the predators is becoming too intense. They have to remain inside the regime by smashing each other.” Manukian also thinks that the authorities can similarly weaken the Republican Party of Prime Minister Andranik Markarian. But he says they will have trouble disposing of another governing party, Dashnaktsutyun, pointing to its “rigid caste-type structure.”
“It turns out that the ruling semi-criminal, clan-based system can deal very sharply even with the number two figure of the state if the latter dares to deviate from the parochial interests of that system,” comments “Iravunk.”
Meanwhile, the Defense Minister denies claims that he had been behind the creation of Orinats Yerkir in a news item on A1 Plus, and through a presidential spokesperson, Kocharian says that Baghdasarian’s departure from his government doesn’t concern him. According to the latter report carried by RFE/RL, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation - Dashnaktsutyun is eyeing up Orinats Yerkir’s cabinet posts, and not least the Ministry of Culture which has plagued Baghdasarian’s party since the 2003 parliamentary elections.
Actually, despite the possible creibility of Baghdasarian as a political figure in Armenia, his Ministers haven’t faired too well. Since taking its position in the coalition government, three have had to resign, the most recent being the second Orinats Yerkir Minister of Culture Hovik Hoveyan who pistol-whipped electricity workers at the beginning of the year.
Hoveyan revealed the news to RFE/RL following a humiliating interrogation by the Armenian police and an internal investigation conducted by the governing Orinats Yerkir Party, of which he is a member.
“Unwilling to give rise to unnecessary attacks on my party and government partners and considering the fact that attempts to exploit the issue have already been made, I announce my resignation,” he said after an emergency meeting of the party’s leadership.
Nevertheless, and although things don’t look too good for Baghdasarian’s Orinats Yerkir so far, if he were to team up with other opposition leaders such as Raffi Hovhannisyan and Aram Z Sarkisyan, his political career is certainly not over in the run-up to the next year’s parliamentary elections. At an Embassy reception in 2004, officials from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs openly announced their interest in Baghdasarian, and has at least favored compromise over confrontation when dealing with opposition demonstrations in Yerevan.
Parliament speaker Artur Baghdasarian criticized on Friday the Armenian government’s continuing crackdown on the opposition and made what appeared to be a last-ditch attempt to avert another violent confrontation between the two mutually hostile camps.
[…]
“The guillotine is not the best means of treating dandruff,” Baghdasarian said. He specifically denounced police raids on the offices of major opposition parties following the violent dispersal of the April 13 overnight street protest in Yerevan.
Moreover, Baghdasarian has said all the right words for the international community.
Following the way of democracy must be an issue of top priority for us as well as an indispensable necessity.
This issue concerns not only politics but morality as well. Our younger generation must see a real hope for the future and an opportunity to make progress.
This hope means freedom - freedom to think, freedom to act, freedom to choose.
Do we move forward being completely confident about the full victory of free elections?.
I am certain that the answer is negative.
Thus we must resurrect our hope and our trust as there are many people, who are frightened; we must resurrect tolerance as wickedness becomes a realpower in the political field.We must struggle against violationsof the law and shadow economy as now corruption and clannishness stand in the way of our democratic reforms.
Well, let’s wait and see. For now, though, it doesn’t look like Baghdasarian is going to have much of a party left in the short term at least.
A1 Plus also reports that it is holding a poll regarding Baghdasarian’s resignation. Readers of the site can vote via the front page. So far, as of Saturday 13 May 2006 at 5pm Yerevan time, the results from 321 votes in order of popularity are as follows:
Interesting to note that although the majority of readers seem to believe that Baghdasarian’s resignation was as a result of disagreements within the coalition government or with the Armenian President, a sizeable number (30%) don’t seem to trust the news at face value.
That is, while 36% of readers believe Kocharian forced Baghdasarian out, a similar number (30%) consider that it is also possible that Baghdasarian’s resignation was manufactured. I’m not sure if I go along with this idea, but to explain the rational behind such a theory it is because some consider the move might have been staged to split the opposition.
This isn’t the first time such an attempt has been made, and it won’t be the last. Time will tell, but for now at least I’d give Baghdasarian the benefit of the doubt. Armenians are suspicious of the entire political process anyway, and the news leading up to Baghdasarian’s resignation makes his departure not so surprising.
Then again, this is Armenia so anything is possible. One things for sure, though. Someone in the Armenian National Assembly is keeping a close eye on this blog.
Whoever that is, please feel free to leave a comment.
Comment by Onnik — May 13, 2006 @ 4:07 pm
I agree that I have doubts Baghdasarian quit because he’s playing a political game alongside Kocharian. I do believe that he left because he wants to lead his party and the Armenian people in a direction that is for true democracy. His statements, especially of late regarding his admission that elections in the recent past were fraudulent, demonstrate this. It remains to be seen how Orinats Yerkir will do that, but we just have to wait and see. I would argue that not very much can be predicted regarding Armenian politics. A lot of the information circulating regarding politics has always been based on rumors and speculation. So I really doubt Orinats Yerkir will lose out–if they succeed in genuinely rallying the public, which I think it can with supposedly 62,000 party members. I said a few years ago and continue to say that Orinats Yerkir is the party to watch. Just because it bowed out of the government, doesn’t mean they won’t gain seats in the upcoming parliament elections. I am hoping that exciting times lay ahead.
Comment by Christian — May 15, 2006 @ 3:07 pm
More press coverage on rfe/rl, including a rather poignant quote from 168 zham:
Comment by Onnik — May 16, 2006 @ 6:54 pm