YEREVAN — Republican faction leader Galust Sahakyan offered clarifications at a press briefing on Wednesday about their view of ongoing dialog with the opposition. The party official noted that it is not about “a primitive meeting and bonding”, but rather “a platonic dialog” involving signs and gestures as appropriate at an early stage of a serious relationship.
“I regret that our opposition perceived the concept of dialog as a vulgar suggestion of physical interaction,” Sahakyan said. “Seriously? They thought we’d neatly get together in a room and talk it out? We haven’t yet reached a decent level of trust.. How do I know Levon Zurabyan… doesn’t break my arm?”.
Republican press secretary Eduard Sharmazenko denounced opposition’s forged 5-men negotiating team. He said: “Too bad, opposition is stuck in 20th century mindset. In the age of Facebook and Skype, the idea of physical get-together gives me but a sheer smile, an honest, restrained and, why not, intellectual smile.”
Sharmazenko prioritizes distance in a dialog: “We have reliable information that significant part of their 5-men negotiating group doesn’t like us. It is only natural to stick to some basic distance. It is really unfortunate that our consent to dialog was misinterpreted as readiness for a cheap physical discussion of relevant issues”.
Political dialog expert Alexander Iskandaryan stresses the importance of formed dialog agenda. Expert believes the fact that agenda is developed and agreed upon is as important as dialog itself. “There are two clearly articulated and agreed topics on the list: 1) opposition’s offer — to hold early elections; 2) regime offer — not to hold early elections. I have a good feeling that whatever format the dialog takes with this agenda it will be strongly efficient, if not a breakthrough. However, I don’t exclude that things may unfold with no regard to my scenario. (translated from husky Russian — editor).
Armenian National Congress (ANC)representatives were officially informed today that a platonic dialog is currently in its most active stage, which brought some disappointment among the opposition.
ANC coordinator Levon Zurayan told our reporter that platonic dialog can hardly secure any progress. “If the regime continues to push on with the platonic dialog, we’ll be eventually forced to resort to a platonic split-up,” Zurabyan says.
Zurabyan explains: “Platonic split-up would not differ much from current platonic dialog, but at least will not create futile expectations. I think the authorities are afraid of face-to-face action, as in such case we may be able to convince them to go for early elections.”
Our sources report that the opposition has agreed to sign papers ensuring that Galust Sahakyan’s arms will not be fractured in case of a direct communication. Republican Party, in turn, has created the Facebook page “Dialog”, and has sent out invitations to the 5-men delegation of the opposition.