June ended with the rally of Armenian National Congress (ANC) rally at Yerevan's Liberty Square. This has been the 3rd ANC rally, which, however, gathered fewer demonstrators than at previous actions. According to Armenian police data, 4000 participants gathered at the rally.

Rally starts with criticism of current Armenian president

The rally was opened by the amnestied oppositionist, Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper editor-in-chief Nikol Pashinyan.

“June 22 statement of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan at PACE session was one of the most disgraceful ones in the diplomatic history of the 3rd Republic of Armenia,” he said.

As Pashinyan stressed, “in his statement, Armenian President clearly noted Azerbaijan is better prepared for a war than Armenia is. Naturally, it prompted Azeri President to harden its position at Kazan meeting.”

Migration from Armenia becomes key issue on ANC rally agenda

Armenian National Movement (ANM) administration board chairman Aram Manukyan and oppositionist Sargsis Hatspanyan slammed the policy of current authorities, urging to stop migration flow.

According to Manukyan, over the last 5 months, 65 000 people have left Armenia; 250 000 emigrated in the last 2 years.

ANC gives Armenian authorities time to decide on talks

ANC intends to give authorities some time to decide on a dialogue with ANC and satisfy the opposition’s demands, ANC coordinator said.

As Levon Zurabyan stated, “it’s going to be a short time. After the time limit expires, people will gather in the streets and stay there for as long as it takes for the authorities to resign.”

“The authorities have exhausted all of their external and internal resources for retaining power. They realize that the only way to avoid a revolution or a social riot is agree to negotiations with ANC,” he said.

“At present the authorities are stalling for time, to weaken ANC and avoid satisfying the opposition’s demands,” Zurabyan stressed.

Ter-Petrossian dwells on Kazan, March 2008 events, ANC-opposition dialogue

Congress leader refrained from commenting on the results of Armenia-Russia-Azerbaijan presidential meeting in Kazan on Karabakh conflict settlement.

As he noted, in view of serious issues discussed in Kazan, details of the meeting are being kept secret.

“ANC will support any resolution on Karabakh passed by the authorities and the people of Artsakh,” Ter-Petrossian stressed.

“Discovery of March 1-2, 2008 events and punishment of perpetrators are primary issues on Armenian National Congress (ANC) agenda,” Ter-Petrossian stated.

As he stressed, to discover the events, the whole chain of orders which led to use of weapons against peaceful demonstrators should be followed.

According to ANC leader, the chain in question will surely point to the second Armenian President Robert Kocharyan.

During the rally, Ter-Petrossian stressed the role of Kocharyan in the events mentioned, stating that the latter worked out the scenario of clashes long before March 1 events.

“The opposition-authorities dialogue can only be built on equal terms,” Ter-Petrossian stated.

As he said at ANC rally in Yerevan, ANC has nothing to lose should the dialogue fail.

“The authorities and the society in general would be the losing party,” he said.

According to ANC leader, the dialogue should focus on key issues, specifically, snap elections and establishment of legitimate power in the country. As Ter-Petrossian noted, accession to power is not an end in itself; he'd be the first to congratulate a new leader, whoever he is, if he’s chosen as a result of fair elections.

“Unless the authorities satisfy our demands this time, next time we'll demand for the immediate resignation of current president,” Ter-Petrossian stressed.

Next rally scheduled for August 1 a result of a vote

Before the end of the rally, Ter-Petrossian put the date of the next rally to a vote, with August 1 chosen as a result.

Upon completion of a rally, demonstrators launched a march to the center of Armenian capital. They further returned to the Liberty Square and back to their homes.