STEPANAKERT — Hrant Markarian, the long-serving top leader of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), has called for toppling the newly elected government of Armenia led by Nikol Pashinian in a speech delivered at the start of ARF World Congress held in Nagorno-Karabakh on Wednesday.

“There is an extremely high risk of a merger of the executive and legislative branches and a strengthening of one-man rule,” he claimed. “With their inexperience, bad governance and poor cadres, the authorities could set the country several years back from its normal development.”

He claimed that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian “doesn’t reflect the mood of the popular movement”

Dashnaktsutyun should therefore aim for removing Pashinian and his political team from power in the next general elections, added Markarian.

In the speech Markarian announced his resignation as party leader more than one month after it’s failure to win any seats in Armenia’s new parliament.

The weeklong gathering is attended by representatives of the party’s chapters in Armenia and other countries around the world having sizable Armenian communities. They are due to debate its new strategy following last spring’s “velvet revolution” that radically reshaped the Armenian political scene. The congress will also elect ARF’s new main decision-making body, the Bureau.

Markarian reportedly came under renewed fire from dissident Dashnaktsutyun figures in Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora after the party’s poor showing in last month’s snap parliamentary elections. They were said to have claimed that Dashnaktsutyun paid the price for its close ties with the former Armenian government ousted in the revolution.

Markarian blasted the “inner-party opposition” in his speech, saying that it has breached the 128-year-old party’s “traditions” and “moral concepts.” But he did not name any of his detractors.

Dashnaktsutyun joined a coalition government formed by Serzh Sarkisian immediately after he was controversially elected president in 2008. It pulled out of the government a year later in protest against Sarkisian’s policy of rapprochement with Turkey. It reached another power-sharing deal with the former president in 2016.

3 comments
  1. From my experience living in the diaspora the ARF belongs to a elite bunch of goons if you are not from boojhamood you are not regarded as a “true” dashnag . Im not sure how this gang is organized in Mother Armenia but if its anything like here where i live , Nikol probably saw their motives. Shame , as a person who aligns to the dashnak ( not the lebanese ) motto but the other i feel its time to put the spot light on those who have lost the meaning of being an Armenian and not the three hagobs sitting and deciding the fate of the Armenians in some soorj house in downtown lebnan .

  2. Pashinyan won 70% of the popular vote in Armenia and the entire world deemed the election fair and just. To try to topple such a popular vote falls nothing short of treason. How can one man try to sabotage the popular vote and even rebuke criticism of his own party? The ARF tried to straddle the fence during Sarkisyan’s years, hoping to hop over to whichever side offered the greater advantage in the end. What happened is the fence posts penetrated and impaled them. ARF’s best shot is to work with Pashinyan in hopes of getting a couple of seats next time. There have been no “Revolutionaries” nor any moral authorities in ARF’s leadership during Sarkisyan’s years.

    This man is delusional and seems like a snake spurting out its final venom before dying. Wisely, the ARF papers are not even writing about his speech. His stance is frankly treasonous, undemocratic, and baseless.

  3. Funny. How could this corrupt individual, HRANT MARKARYAN, being a member of ARF ARMENIA, make such a stupid demand. Himself, a supporter of criminals Robig Kocharyan and Serjig Sargsyan, totally discredited himself and the ARF Party under his leadership, and kicked out of the National Assembly, Parliament, of Armenian has the COURAGE to address such a demand from A PRIME MINISTER WHO RECEIVED AN ABSOLUTE MAJORITY, 70%, OF THE ELECTORAL VOTES. Hrant Markaryan was the MAIN CAUSE OF THE DEFEAT OF HIS PERSONAL DEFEAT which brought down OUR BELOVED PARTY, THE MIGHTY ARMENIAN REVOLUTIONARY FEDERATION OF 130 YEARS OF GOLDEN EXISTANCE OF OUR MUCH BELOVED PARTY. Hrant Markaryan enriched himself by joining the CORRUPT Armenian Republican Party and resulted in ZERO ASSEMBLY SEATS FOR ARF. Hrant Markaryan is a disgrace to ARF AND TO THE ENTIRE ARMENIAN DIASPORA. Hrant Markaryan MUST BE EXPELLED FROM ARF AND BANNED FOR LIFE OF HAVING ANY INVOLVEMENT WITH ARF.

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