The Armenian authorities and the opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) are obviously acting in tandem, Lilit Galstyan, a Parliament member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D), told journalists April 26. “Although a dialogue is not talked about, the two political forces surely have an arrangement,” she added.

“A dialogue does not necessarily have to be talked about. You can see it from the ANC`s actions: it has left only three, the least serious, of its 15 demands. However, the dialogue between the Armenian authorities and the extra-parliamentary Opposition is not, unfortunately, is not aimed to defend the state interests. Rather, its aim is to enable the forces to retain or re-shape the power,” Galstyan said.

Manvel Badeyan, a Parliament member of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), said refuted as “unfounded” any rumors about a dialogue between the Armenian authorities and the Opposition. “There is no dialogue. Those making such claims are actually assuming great responsibility,” he said.

As to how he would explain President Serzh Sargsyan`s belated order to give new impetus to the March 1 case (given ANC Central Office Coordinator Levon Zurabyan`s statement that the Armenian authorities are satisfying the ANC`s demands), Badeyan said: “This fact cannot be considered a result of arrangements with the ANC. Law-enforcers were ordered to work without any political pressure on them. However, when it became obvious that law-enforcers failed to properly perform their duty, the President had to interfere.”