Amulsar: ARF Dashnaktsutyun’s position before and now

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) sometimes makes statements that are logically different from the positions expressed by the party when it was part of the ruling coalition.

On August 21, referring to the situation around Amulsar, the ARF supreme body issued a statement in which “Prioritizing national and state interest, public solidarity, safe exploitation of natural resources, environmental biodiversity and sustainable development of the country, it considered very alarming that the published findings (concerning Amulsar Ed.) were not sufficiently convincing and trustworthy both for the public and professional circles”, also making a few suggestions.

In particular, the ARF urged the authorities not to view the published expert opinion as the final justification for the mine’s operation and to achieve a decision that is in the interests of the state and accepted by the public through a referendum.

However, let us see what the ARF Dashnaktsutyun thought of the Amulsar mine during its years in power.

So when in September 2017 Shakesh Isayan, a Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) MP, asked the Minister of Nature Protection Artsvik Minasyan what he thought of the findings of three internationally recognized independent expert organizations on Amulsar, according to which mine operation poses a serious threat to the environment, Minasyan replied that the environmental impact of the mine complies with the requirements of the RA legislation.

“All legal processes meet the requirements of current legislation, including the environmental impact expert conclusion. Yes, we have received other international expert conclusions as well. We have reviewed the claims that the ministry recognize invalid the conclusion issued in 2014. We cannot do it because of lack of grounds provided by law.” Artsvik Minasyan said.

In fact, Dashnaktsutyun’s position on the operation of Amulsar has changed over time. Whether this is due to being part of the government in the past and now being an extra-parliamentary opposition is not clear.

It is not the first time that the ARF has changed its position on important issues. The Ffact Investigation Platform has already addressed the differences between the ARF Dashnaktsutyun representative Armen Rustamyan’s views before and after the revolution.