THOUSANDS IN YEREVAN DEMAND SCRAPPING ARMENIA-TURKEY PROTOCOLS
est/724-thousands-in-yerevan-demand-scrapping-arme nia-turkey-protocols.html
Friday, 09 October 2009 23:13
/Armenianow.com/ Armenia’s nationalist forces on Friday evening
marched to the Office of President Serzh Sargsyan demanding that the
authorities refuse to sign the controversial Armenia-Turkey protocols
on normalizing bilateral relations that they view as detrimental to
the state and national interests of Armenia.
The march commencing in Republic Square, the main venue for a nearly
month-long protest of opponents of the current Armenian-Turkish
thaw, was initiated by several political parties, including the main
government critics on Turkey, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutyun) and the Heritage party of ex-foreign minister Raffi
Hovannisian.
While, typical of protest marches in Yerevan, organizers released
attendance figures exceeding reality, the mass clogging Baghramian
Avenue creating headaches for late-afternoon commuters was an
impressive show of discontent.
Independent reporters on the scene measured the crowd comparatively
to those collected during Levon Ter-Petrosyan-led marches that were
objectively approximated at 30-40,000. (Though organizers of those
marches claimed up to 100,000.)
Dashnaktsutyun and its allies submitted 50,000 signatures that they
have collected against the protocols to the Office of the President.
After gathering near the presidential palace and making calls for
Sargsyan to stop his foreign minister Edward Nalbandyan from singing
a deal with Turkey, expected in Switzerland Saturday, the protesters
moved to the 1915 Genocide Memorial Tsitsernakaberd where they were
to hold a rally late into the evening.
Protesters during the march and at the rally held banners condemning
"Turkish preconditions" and saying "No" to Armenia-Turkey normalization
at "too high a price."
Dashnaktsutyun leaders Hrant Margaryan, Giro Manoyan, Zharangutyun’s
Armen Martirosyan, Aram Karapetyan from the opposition New Times
party and others led the demonstration.
A limited police force was on standby accompanying the demonstration
that appeared peaceful despite passionate statements and calls.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Disclaimer: This article was contributed and translated into English by Emil Lazarian. While we strive for quality, the views and accuracy of the content remain the responsibility of the contributor. Please verify all facts independently before reposting or citing.
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