Armenia PM walks out of talks with protest leader

YEREVAN (Armenia): Armenia’s prime minister and former president, Serzh Sarkisian, walked out of a televised meeting yetserday with anti-government protest leader Nikol Pashinyan shortly after it began, denouncing the opposition’s “blackmail”.

“I came here to discuss your r e s i g n a t i o n ,” P a s h i n y a n , t h e leader of the opposition Civil Contract party, had told Sarkisian, 63, in front of the cameras.

“This is not a dialogue, this is blackmail, I only can advise you to return to a legal framework... otherwise you will bear the responsibility,” Sarkisian replied.

“You don’t understand the situation in Armenia. The power is now in people’s hands,” said Pashinyan.

“A party that scored eight per cent in (parliamentary) elections can’t speak on behalf of the people,” Sarkisian said before walking out of the meeting room at Marriott Hotel here.

Pashinyan then vowed to “step up pressure” on Sarkisian to force him to resign.

Heeding a call from Pashinyan, protesters had held rallies over the last 10 days to denounce Sarkisian’s shift to a premier’s post after a decade serving as president.

Tens of thousands of people flocked to the central Republic Square here on Saturday to protest against Sarkisian’s rule.

Opposition supporters had criticised the leader over poverty, corruption and the influence of powerful oligarchs.

A former military officer, Sarkisian had been in charge of the landlocked South Caucasus nation of 2.9 million people for a decade.

Under a new parliamentary system of government, lawmakers elected him as prime minister last week.