ANC says ready for talks with allied forces

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Armenian National Congress (ANC) said it is ready to begin a consolidation process with the Strong Armenia party and other forces, according to a resolution adopted at the party congress.

At the ANC’s 5th (23rd) congress, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Armenia’s first president, was reelected party chairman in a secret ballot held in accordance with the party charter.

According to the resolution, as a result of the war that began in 2020 and remains unfinished, Artsakh has been depopulated of Armenians, part of Armenia’s sovereign territory has come under occupation, and Azerbaijan continues state-organized anti-Armenian propaganda while holding and torturing Armenian prisoners of war and the military-political leadership of Artsakh.

“Azerbaijan is also refusing to sign a peace treaty with Armenia, putting forward humiliating demands related to our country’s internal affairs and preserving the danger of a resumption of war. A deadly threat of further human and territorial losses hangs over Armenia. The homeland is under threat, and the very existence of Armenian statehood is in danger. The situation is further complicated by the intensification of geopolitical conflicts: Armenia’s security is threatened both by the West-Russia confrontation and by the war launched against Iran by the U.S. and Israel.

Meanwhile, the helm of the country has fallen into the hands of a political force guided by self-serving and alien agendas and trying to turn Armenia into a battlefield for geopolitical centers. By conjuring up the specter of an alleged hybrid war with Russia, Nikol Pashinyan’s regime is trying to secure the West’s unconditional support for its crackdown on democracy and civil liberties, while sowing division and lawlessness. At a time when Armenians need solidarity and unity as urgently as air in order to confront external threats, the regime accuses all political opponents capable of posing a serious challenge to the authorities in the upcoming parliamentary elections of falsely seeking to derail the peace agenda and serve Russia. Particularly reprehensible are the unlawful attacks on the Armenian Apostolic Church, which are in essence aimed at dealing destructive blows to our historical and cultural identity.

The time has come once again, in fidelity to the spirit of the 1988 Movement, to use the collective strength of our people to shape a genuine Armenian agenda serving the interests of Armenia, its people and our entire nation,” the resolution said.

The ANC also presented its principles and approaches for its forthcoming political activity and for governing Armenia in the future.

The resolution singled out several priorities: establishing peace, building a strategically important railway hub on Armenia’s territory, conducting a foreign policy based on realism and strategic thinking, pursuing multi-vector international cooperation, and advancing technological modernization.

The document stressed that the state should encourage scientific and technological development, make major investments in high technology, and support the development of such fields as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, stored energy, fintech and the crypto industry.

The ANC also underscored the importance of building an economy based on free and fair competition, reducing corruption risks and eliminating monopolies in domestic markets. At the same time, it emphasized the need to restore a presidential-parliamentary model of governance and to ensure the judiciary’s independence from the executive branch.

The resolution also addressed democratic values, saying that “political persecution must be stopped, political prisoners must be released, and freedom of speech and conscience must be guaranteed.”

“At the same time, the ANC realizes that achieving these goals requires the unification of all influential democratic, rational and realistic political forces. Therefore, we declare that we are ready to begin such a consolidation process together with the Strong Armenia party and other forces,” the resolution said.

In a message to participants in the ANC’s 5th congress, Armenia’s first president, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, said that if the opposition wins, the country will undergo a major overhaul. Earlier, Ter-Petrosyan said the only force capable of uniting the fragmented opposition is Samvel Karapetyan, chairman of the Strong Armenia party.