November 16, 2009 - 17:38 AMT
Vahan Shirkhanyan: Dashnaktsutyun is not opposition while ANC has no ideology
Had opposition turned to people on September 1-2 and kept them in streets for a couple of days, Armenian-Turkish Protocols wouldn't have been signed, member of Social-Democratic Hnchakyan Party Vahan Shirkhanyan said. With regard to ARFD's protest against signing of Armenian-Turkish Protocols, politician said it might have attracted more people had it been initiated by Armenian National Congress. "Dashnaktsutyun is not opposition unlike ANC," he stressed, criticizing the latter for not having an ideology,

"If people feel threats, that will create a new opposition," Shirkhanyan noted, not ruling out possibility of extraordinary elections in case of normalizing Armenian-Turkish relations under procedures proposed by President Serzh Sargsyan.

MP Vardan Khachatryan noted in turn that Armenian authorities and society should unite to resist external pressures. "We must make use of all possible political resources to curb the process," he said.