YEREVAN. - If the authorities are interested in recovering Armenia’s reputation, as well as improving the country’s economic state, they need to change the preventive measure against Tigran Arakelyan and continue the dialogue with the Armenian National Congress (ANC), a board member of the ANC Hovhannes Igityan told a press conference on August 29.

“I am both pessimistic and optimistic about the dialogue. Representatives of the incumbent authorities should realize the further dialogue is a necessity, as Armenia’s diplomacy suffers defeats in all matters and the economy is in a deplorable situation,” he emphasized.

According to him, the authorities rather the Armenian National Congress need the dialogue. “However, I suppose there are some people among the coalition’s representatives who fear to lose their positions, as they are looking for a pretext for the failure of the dialogue. In this  case the pretext is Tigran Arakelyan’s arrest,” he noted.

As Armenia News-NEWS.am reported earlier, the oppositional Armenian National Congress (ANC) suspended its participation in the government-opposition dialogue last Friday, saying it will return to the negotiating table only if the ANC activist Tigran Arakelyan is released.

A total of 7 ANC activists were detained on August 9, around 10:00 p.m. from Northern Avenue of Yerevan downtown. The court upheld the detention of the third activist Tigran Arakelyan who is accused of using violence against law enforcer.