"As of now the ARF will function in the form of an opposition force in the political arena of Armenia. Our priorities will be to become a full alternative to the government and to propose our own programs and solutions to all outstanding issues." This is the statement made today at a press conference by Armen Rustamyan, representative of the ARF's Supreme Council.  Mr. Rustamyan noted that all ARF members presently holding positions in the government, whether in the executive or legislative branches, as well as in various ministries would hand in their resignations. The process is already under way he added. He noted that at issue was the ARF's disagreement with the political direction adopted by the government. "From the start it was clear that foreign policy had to be formulated and that there were two main issues that had to be confronted by a specific set of approaches - Armenian-Turkish relations and the Karabakh conflict settlement," stressed Mr. Rustamyan. According to Mr. Rustamyan hasn't backed down from setting preconditions, just their nature have changed. "We must not allow a mentality to set in where preconditions will be implemented. Today, Armenia has much serious work to be done in terms of preconditions. If there is to be any talk regarding preconditions, it is only Armenia that has that right," he underlined. Regarding the Karabakh issue, Mr. Rustamyan stated that the ARF also had disagreements with government policy but "since that issue hasn't yet reached the stage of specific measures that might damage this national question, we didn't consider these disagreements to be insurmountable, but rather we believed they would allow for an optimal resolution."