YEREVAN, April 25. /TASS/. The talks on resolving the current political crisis that the Armenian government and the opposition originally scheduled for Wednesday have been called off, Tigran Avinyan, a spokesman for the Civil Accord opposition party said on Tuesday.
"Negotiations can center only on the issues that were made public earlier, namely, on the agenda for a transition of [state] power in Armenia," Avinyan said. "We don’t think any other agenda can be subject to discussion."
Under the initial arrangement, talks between Acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan and the head of the opposition movement, Nikol Pashinyan, were to take place on Wednesday. The head of the Civil Accord opposition party demands that election of a candidate from the people to the position of Prime Minister.
Along with it, Pashinyan did not rule out that he personally might took the reins of power in the government.
He believes that, in the first place, Armenia should get an interim cabinet that will lead it up to a ‘free and fair’ early parliamentary election, the results of which will be clear of causes for any doubts.
The powerful protest movement led by Pashinyan demanded resignation of the recently appointed Prime Minister Serzh Sagrsyan, the country’s former President. He resigned on Monday.
At the time of reporting, there was no reaction from the Armenian government to the opposition’s refusal to hold talks.
In the meantime, Acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan said at a meeting with foreign correspondents on Tuesday all the solutions to the political crisis in Armenia should be civilized and logical.
"Regardless of anything, all the solutions should be civilized and logical and should match the format of the Constitution and laws," he said. "I’d like to stress my intention to do everything in my power for assuring solidarity and unity of our people and I don’t make any secret of my hopes our partners [the opposition - TASS] will do the same."
Karapetyan also said he would make an attempt to tap a solution to the internal political crisis while holding talks with Pashinyan.
"The agenda of these talks is open and it envisions an opportunity for each side to come up with its proposals," he said.
Local analysts believe Pashinyan called off the talks upon hearing the latter position.