Former Armenian FM's hunger strike draws support, criticism

The leader of Armenia’s Heritage Party has completed the first week of a hunger strike that he started March 15 against the government of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan.

Raffi Hovhannesian, who was the first foreign minister of Armenia, started his strike in the capital city of Yerevan’s Liberty Square. While some have supported his action, critics say he has failed to set specific, achievable goals for the strike.

The protest by Hovhannesian is very important, said Hovsep Ghurshutian, the press secretary of the Heritage Party, Armenia’s largest opposition party and the one that is considered by some to be the country’s most important.

"The main reason for Armenia’s current state of affairs is the mistakes made by the present government. Our target is clear, we want a much more democratic Armenia," Ghurshutian told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. "Hovhannesian will continue to be on hunger strike as long as his health allows."


Levon Ter-Petrosian, the first president of Armenia and a recent opposition leader, criticized the strike, however.

"As a Christian, this situation is opposed to my principles," Ter-Petrosian told the Armenian daily Haygagan Jamanag, considered one of his strong supporters. "If Raffi had gone on strike in a different period due to his political views, instead of fasting before Easter, I would certainly have been the first person who would give support."

Ter-Petrosian was referring to the Christian holiday of Lent, a tradition that marks the 40-day period of fasting before Easter.

The former president’s statement was self-serving, Hagop Avedikian, the editor-in-chief of the leading Armenian newspaper, Azg (Nation), told the Daily News. He agreed, however, that Hovhannesian’s hunger strike lacked a clear goal.

"Ter-Petrosian does not want anyone other than him to take center stage. He is obviously acting like a dictator. On the other hand, Hovhannesian’s main purpose for going on strike is not clear," Avedikian said.

Agavhvi Harutyunian, an Armenian freelance journalist, has also criticized Hovhannesian’s strike, saying there is no valid reason for it. But he also took issue with Ter-Petrosian’s statement.

"Petrosian only wants himself to be a popular character in the media," Harutyunian told the Daily News. “When Ter-Petrosian was the president of the country, Hovhannesian was the foreign minister. He obviously wants to humiliate Hovhannesian. Even though Hovhannesian can not clearly present his goal, I respect his intellectual weight. At least he can show his reaction; this is important.”


Although security forces did not intervene in Hovhannesian’s strike in its first days, Ghurshutian said he witnessed an open intervention Monday.

"When party members tried to set up an umbrella for Hovhannesian to protect him from the rain, they [police] came to intervene. The umbrella was ripped. With this action, security forces breached both human rights and Armenian laws," he said.

The uprising in Tunisia, followed by ones in Egypt and Libya, has spread like waves in Armenia over the last month, Ghurshutian said.

"Current developments are being followed closely. If a progressive democratic understanding cannot be ensured in the country, and if people’s needs are met with no response, the consequences will be rather grave,” he said. “It is questionable whether or not the governing forces can clearly perceive this picture, which might pose a danger in Armenia."

Disagreeing with Ghurshutian, Avedikian said it was not likely that drastic change, similar to the events that have been seen across the Middle East, would occur in Armenia.

"It is not possible for Armenia to experience the events that happened in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. One of the biggest problems we face is the Karabakh problem. Another important point is that for the sake of a good future, young people are following their dreams and abandoning this country," said Avedikian.

A flashpoint of the Caucasus, the region known as Nagorno-Karabakh is a constituent part of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia since the end of 1994. While internationally recognized as Azerbaijani territory, the enclave has declared itself an independent republic but is administered as a de facto part of Armenia.

Academic Siranuys Dvoyan agreed with Avedikian that it was not possible for the Middle Eastern example to repeat itself in Armenia.

"Armenian society is not a society that will be able to seek its rights. I don’t believe there will be reform in Armenia," said Dvoyan.


/Hurriyet Daily News/