Armenia’s political crisis deepened yesterday as demonstrations continued and protest leader Nikol Pashinyan said he was only prepared to discuss the exit of the country’s newly elected prime minister, former president Serzh Sarkisian.
“We are only ready to discuss the conditions of his departure,” news agencies quoted Pashinyan as saying after Sarkisian called on the opposition to enter into talks with authorities.
“This won’t be a dialogue, as I already said, we do not want vendetta and we wish to secure the transfer of power to the people while avoiding shock as much as possible,” Pashinyan was quoted as saying.
Protests against Sarkissian’s rule entered their ninth day on Saturday as several thousand people flocked to Republic Square in the city centre of the capital Yerevan.
President Armen Sarkisian – no relation to Serzh – met Pashinyan yesterday afternoon at the demonstration, an AFP journalist said.
Flanked by bodyguards President Sarkisian shook hands with the opposition leader and the pair spoke for about 10 minutes.
Demonstrators waved Armenian flags and blocked streets, disrupting traffic in the capital.
Police said that they had made 84 arrests so far in the afternoon, and more than 230 people were arrested on Friday.
Rallies were also planned in other cities such as Gyumri, Ararat and Artashat.
Earlier yesterday, Prime Minsiter Serzh Sarkisian sought a “political dialogue” with the protest leader.
“I am deeply concerned about the unfolding internal political events.
In order to avoid irreversible consequences, I call on deputy Nikol Pashinyan to sit at the table of political dialogue and negotiation,” the 63-year-old leader said in a statement.
Opposition supporters denounce Serzh Sarkisian’s efforts to remain in power as prime minister after a decade serving as president.
At a 30,000-strong rally in Yerevan on Friday evening, Pashinyan laid out his demands for the authorities.
“First, Sarkisian resigns. Second, parliament elects a new prime minister that represents the people. Third, it forms a temporary government.
“Fourth, they schedule parliamentary elections. We will enter negotiations around these demands,” he said, calling Serzh Sarkisian a “political corpse”.
“The whole world can see this is a people’s velvet revolution, which very soon will be victorious,” Pashinyan told the rally.
Demonstrators held up placards reading “Sarkisian is a dictator”.
“I believe we will win this time because when the youth is on the street the police can do nothing,” Hovik Haranyan, a 25-year-old protester blocking traffic, told AFP yesterday. “Our generation has the right to live in a functioning country.”
Opposition supporters have criticised the 63-year-old leader over poverty, corruption and the influence of powerful oligarchs.
A former military officer, Serzh Sarkisian has been in charge of the landlocked South Caucasus nation of 2.9mn people for a decade.
Under a new parliamentary system of government, lawmakers elected Serzh Sarkisian as prime minister last week after he served a decade as president from 2008.
Constitutional amendments approved in 2015 have transferred power from the presidency to the premier.
After Serzh Sarkisian was first elected in 2008, 10 people were killed and hundreds more were injured in bloody clashes between police and supporters of the defeated opposition candidate.
Armenian police officers remove a vehicle during a protest rally in central Yerevan.
