Opposition Plans Rally on February 20

Armenia's three opposition parties have announced that they will be holding a protest rally in Yerevan’s Liberty Square on February 20 at 4:00 P.M.

This decision was made following a meeting on Sunday by the leaders of the opposition parties represented in the country’s parliament -- Gagik Tsarukyan of the Prosperous Armenia Party, Levon Ter Petrosyan of Armenian National Congress and Raffi Hovhannisyan of the Heritage Party. The main theme of discussion at the meeting, which also included members of their respective parties, was the deteriorating political situation of the country.

President Serzh Sargsyan had issued a statement on February 12, severely criticizing his one-time ally Gagik Tsarukyan and made insulting remarks in what many considered a personal attack against the leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party.

Sargsyan went on at length about Gagik Tsarukyan’s intellectual capacity, making one derogatory remark after the other, stating that Tsarukyan, as a political actor, is an “evil for the country” and that Armenia did not exist to be made into a circus.

The president said that he would remove Tsarukyan from the National Security Council, which he did, that he will ask the Prime Minister to begin investigations into reports of billions of drams in unpaid taxes, and that he would ask parliament to revoke Tsarukyan’s parliamentary mandate.

Following a session of the executive council of Prosperous Armenia on February 13, Gagik Tsarukyan hit back at Serzh Sargsyan, saying that he has accepted the challenge and will ensure he is removed from the presidency.

In his statement, Tsarukyan said that he has met with several politicians, parliamentary and non-parliamentary parties, war veterans, representatives of civil society organizations who came out to support him and will wait for his decision on how to move forward. Tsarukyan admitted that he is not a politician in the classical sense, "but when poor governance is being realized which is keeping Armenia back, then all of us are obligated to rise up and all of us within our own ability, must propose solutions. I have seen the way out by ensuring political reforms.”

After removing Tsarukyan from the National Security Council, over the weekend, Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan instructed his chief-of-staff, David Harutyunyan to request that Gagik Khachatryan, the finance minister begin investigating reports of tax evasion by Tsarukyan.

The new phase in Armenia's political life remains unclear. It is unclear if the opposition forces will be able to mobilize enough ground support to force the resignation of the president and it is equally unclear what drastic measures Serzh Sargsyan will resort to if the groundswell become unmanageable for his governance.