Parliamentary opposition’s plans for talks remain on agenda – MP

Armenia’s parliamentary opposition has not changed anything about its plans, hence the leaders of the four minority factions will very probably meet for talks until the demonstration promised in the months to come, says a lawmaker.

“The [opposition] quartet will sum up everything at the end of September; nothing has changed ever since we reached the agreement and announced [our plans],” Stepan Margaryan of the Prosperous Armenia faction told Tert.am, commenting on the non-ruling political forces’ future cooperation efforts.

The opposition MP said that though no special date for a meeting has been set, the plans for talks remain on the agenda of the four political forces’ leaders (Levon Ter-Petrosyan of the Armenian National Congress, Gagik Tsarukyan of the Prosperous Armenia Party, Raffi Hovhannisyan of the Heritage party and Armen Roustamyan and Hrant Margaryan of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaksutyun).

“I do not rule out anything, so we will do that. There is absolutely no problem in terms of organizing a meeting on the leaders’ level. Several meetings may be held if necessary; we just haven’t fixed a day or any timeframes,” he added.

As for the promised demonstration, Margaryan did not point out to any specific date in that connection either. “The quartet has not scheduled a date for the demonstration,” he said, agreeing in the meantime that the public event is inevitable, with their earlier plan for reforms not having been fulfilled by the authorities. “To say none of the provisions was realized would not be absolutely true, as some of the questions raised were called to life. But we will make the concise evaluation in late September, as we had earlier agreed. But I do not insist on the opposite scenario either; what we have said remains valid. The quartet’s statement outlines everything; no changes were observed,” Margaryan noted.

Asked whether the four parties have met over this period, the Margaryan said bilateral and trilateral meetings among different members are being held occasionally. “I believe there will be an official meeting in September,” he replied.

But the politician did not elaborate on the questions discussed. “Whatever the quartet decides is approved by consensus. Any question raised on the quartet’s behalf is considered at our sessions, so I cannot say anything now,” he said, promising to declare future plans after an official session.