On May 26th, during a large rally in Yerevan attended by thousands, the leader of the “Tavush for the Homeland” national movement, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, announced the beginning of the third and decisive phase of the movement. He reiterated his and the movement’s vision for Armenia’s development within the framework of 20 theses, along with three short-term initiatives for a temporary, transitional government following a change of power:
– Internal public reconciliation,
– Halting foreign policy actions that turn Armenia into a stage for geopolitical confrontations and adjusting relations from the position of trustworthy partnership,
– Ensuring free, fair, and transparent extraordinary or regular parliamentary elections.
On the eve of the anniversary of the 106th anniversary of the first Republic of Armenia, the sons of Sardarapat and the daughters of Shushi have chosen Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan (@SrbazanBagrat) as their candidate for prime minister.#HolyStruggle #ՀանունՀայրենիքի pic.twitter.com/GkjWaxInme
— 301🇦🇲 (@301arm) May 26, 2024
The leadership issue of the movement reached its final resolution: considering the broad spectrum of Armenia’s political forces ready to rally around Archbishop Bagrat, along with support from writers, artists, journalists, and other unions, as well as representatives from healthcare, business, education, science, culture, law, political science, economics, and other professional communities, students, and various youth groups, Professor Gurgen Melikyan of Yerevan State University proposed to the rally participants the implementation of a peaceful, smooth, constitutional change of power with Archbishop Bagrat as the candidate for Prime Minister.
Today, on May 26, another large rally of the “Tavush for the Homeland” movement took place in Republic Square in Yerevan.
As expected, Republic Square was filled with people.
First, the gathered crowd observed a minute of silence to honor the memory of those who died as a… pic.twitter.com/J5oSrfrIFe
— 301🇦🇲 (@301arm) May 26, 2024
Archbishop Bagrat announced that he would temporarily suspend his spiritual activities to fulfill the responsible duty entrusted to him by the people. Emphasizing the necessity to avoid creating moral divisions within the ruling political team, he presented his strategy for achieving a change of power: securing the resignation of Nikol Pashinyan, which would facilitate the normative changes needed to elect the people’s candidate.
BREAKING: Professor Gurgen Melikyan announces Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan as Prime Minsiter candidate for the ‘Tavush for the Homeland’ movement.
In the aftermath, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan announced that he will be temporarily suspending his clergy status in order to be… pic.twitter.com/QIqsF6r86v
— 301🇦🇲 (@301arm) May 26, 2024
Led by Archbishop Bagrat, the rally participants marched to the government residence, inviting Nikol Pashinyan to meet with the Archbishop to discuss the terms of his resignation. The Archbishop called on all individuals within the current political power to take advantage of the public reconciliation agenda and contribute to their leader’s resignation. Concluding the first day of the movement’s third and decisive phase at Republic Square, Archbishop Bagrat called on everyone to begin acts of peaceful disobedience starting early on May 27th.
