This autumn, the opposition bloc Armenian National Congress (ANC) will continue struggling against the ruling regime, which seized power in the country by means of a military coup, Gagik Jhangiryan, an ANC parliamentary group member, told Tert.am. 

The ANC has stated its intention to put forward the initiative to impeach Armenia’s president – by itself, of it has strong representation in Armenia’s parliament, or in cooperation with other parliamentary forces.

The ANC also intends to raise the issue of setting ad hoc committees to investigate the tragic events on March 1, 2008 and the terrorist act in Armenia’s parliament on October 27, 1999.

With respect to cooperation with the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), Jhangiryan said that the ANC cooperated with both the PAP, Heritage party and Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D) during the recent parliamentary elections.
“Let us see how deep the ANC’s cooperation with the PAP, Heritage and ARF-D will be this autumn,” Jhangiryan said.

The ANC has its presidential nominee. As to which political force will support him, the coming presidential election campaign and political developments will show that.

As regards the ANC ex-member David Shahnazaryan’s statement that the ANC is “reviving Kocharyanism,” Jhangiryan strongly disagrees with it. “On the contrary, the ANC has been struggling against the Kocharyan-Sargsyan regime. They [Armenia’s ex-president Robert Kocharyan and incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan] are both responsible for rigging the presidential election, March 1 massacre and imprisonment of innocent people.

With respect to the tragic incident at the Harsnaqar restaurant, when bodyguards of President of the Football Federation of Armenia Ruben Hairapetyan, who is also an MP of Armenia’s ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), mercilessly beat up military surgeon Vahe Avetyan (he later died in hospital), Jhangiryan said that the “the institute of bodyguards is not effective in Armenia.” The Harsnaqar incident is the result of permissiveness and impunity, he said.