YEREVAN. – During these months, the Resistance Movement has had major achievements. This movement showed that the authorities have no mandate to lead the country to new concessions by the people. Resistance Movement coordinator Ishkhan Saghatelyan—the National Assembly deputy speaker from the opposition "Armenia" Faction and a representative of the Supreme Body of the opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Dashnaktsutyun Party of Armenia—stated this during Thursday’s press conference in the park near France Square in downtown Yerevan.

"We have a task before us: to achieve a change of power forthwith. We have taken all the steps in that regard, but the main problem has not been solved yet. This requires changes in the structure of the movement and new approaches to tactics. We must spread the movement throughout Armenia, be branched, have provincial structures, establish its centers in Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)] and the [Armenian] diaspora—all the prerequisites of which exist. We must continue the struggle with the same momentum, expanding it until we achieve victory. Two days ago, we presented a plan not to take a break, but to expand the movement, and that work has begun," he said.

Referring to their removal of their tents from France Square, Saghatelyan said: "The movement was not for the tents, the tents were for the movement. We decided to create the first center of resistance at the [aforesaid] square, to organize the struggle from this square; for that we had to have the tent settlement, which we created. We had a huge result by setting up those tents and organizing the struggle.

There came a time when we had to assess the situation and the matter of the effectiveness of the tents. There are times when the question of making difficult decisions comes up. Our task is to organize this struggle effectively and achieving the final result. It was not easy for us to make that decision, but we are accountable for the end result of this movement. We could have kept the square with a few hundred of our citizens, wasting our resources under the 30-40 degrees [Celsius] Sun."

Saghatelyan added that when making the aforementioned decision, they did not think about their popularity rating, but about the results.

"We knew what was expected. But I assure [you] that in one or two days, the citizens who were sincerely concerned that the struggle might weaken after the tents were removed will be convinced of the opposite. The effectiveness of the struggle is not conditioned by tents," concluded the Resistance Movement coordinator.