Wednesday,
Dashnak Leader Won’t Rule Out Cooperation With Kocharian
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia - Hrant Markarian, a leader of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation,
attends a conference in Yerevan, 9 December 2015.
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) might again cooperate
with former President Robert Kocharian, a top leader of the party represented
in Armenia’s current government said on Wednesday.
In an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian service, Hrant Markarian also said that
both Kocharian and another former president, Levon Ter-Petrosian, are to blame
for deadly street violence that followed a disputed presidential election held
in 2008.
“We are prepared for cooperation with everyone, with all Armenians, but we have
neither a decision nor an agenda to specifically cooperate with Kocharian,”
said Markarian.
Asked whether he is not ruling out cooperation with Kocharian, he said: “Why
should I? I neither intend [to cooperate] nor exclude that.”
Markarian would not say whether his party expects the ex-president to return to
the political arena. “It’s up to him to decide, I really don’t know,” he said.
Dashnaktsutyun was allied to Kocharian throughout his 1998-2008 rule. The
latter lifted Ter-Petrosian’s controversial ban on the party’s activities in
Armenia shortly after becoming president.
Dashnaktsutyun, which is particularly influential in Armenian communities
abroad, also reached power-sharing deals with Kocharian’s successor, Serzh
Sarkisian, in 2008 and 2016. It went on to receive two ministerial posts in the
current government headed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
Armenia - A police car is set on fire in Yerevan, 1 March 2008.
Dashnaktsutyun criticized as politically motivated Kocharian’s arrest late last
month on charges stemming from the breakup of the 2008 post-election protests
in Yerevan which left eight supporters of Ter-Petrosian and two police
personnel dead. Commenting on the criticism at the weekend, Pashinian said
Dashnaktsutyun is free to decide whether to remain part of his cabinet.
Kocharian, who was released from custody on Monday, stands accused of using the
armed forces against the protesters in the wake of the disputed ballot in which
Ter-Petrosian was the main opposition candidate. He strongly denies the
charges, saying that Pashinian is waging a “vendetta” against him. Pashinian
played a key role in Ter-Petrosian’s 2007-2008 opposition movement.
“The blame for those 8-10 victims, regardless of who shot at them, lies with
everyone: with Levon Ter-Petrosian and also Robert [Kocharian,]” said
Markarian. “It doesn’t matter who opened fire. What matters is who created that
situation.”
“At that time we warned both the [Ter-Petrosian-led] and Robert Kocharian not
go down that dangerous path but they didn’t listen to us … They deliberately
opted for that and got what they got,” he said.
Armenian Ministries Evacuated After Bomb Alert
• Anush Muradian
Armenia - A government building in Yerevan that houses the Ministry of Health.
Hundreds of employees of the Armenian Ministry of Health and other government
agencies were briefly evacuated on Wednesday after what turned out to be a
false bomb alert.
The Armenian Ministry of Emergency Situations said security forces joined by
rescue workers and demining experts were rushed to the ministry building in
downtown Yerevan after an anonymous caller threatened to blow it up. They found
no explosive devices in the building that also houses two other ministries.
“The alert was false,” a senior Armenian police official, Suren Khudoyan, told
RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “The police carried out searches and found nothing
dangerous. The employees are now returning to work.”
A police spokesman said shortly afterwards that law-enforcement officers have
already identified the person who made the bomb threat. But it was not
immediately clear whether the suspect was detained.
False bomb alerts made over the phone have not been uncommon in Armenia. They
have targeted government institutions, at least one private firm, Yerevan’s
Zvartnots international airport and even a school in the Armenian capital. In
virtually all of those cases, the callers were identified and prosecuted by the
authorities.
Press Review
“Zhoghovurd” praises Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s video address that
followed the disruption of a news conference planned by former President Robert
Kocharian on Tuesday. He said that “all individuals who committed crimes
against the state and the people will be held accountable.” “Although Pashinian
did not name any names it is obvious that his remarks also applied to these
events [related to the probe of the March 2008 unrest,]” comments the paper. It
says at the same time that Pashinian has still not directly commented on
Kocharian’s arrest and subsequent release.
“I am not afraid of Robert Kocharian,” writes the editor of “Hraparak.” “I
don’t see a danger emanating from him. I do not feel sorry for him or defend
him. But nor do I consider him the main cause of our misfortunes. I do not
think that had it not been for him we would have had a better country. I also
do not think that only he is to blame for [what happened on] March 1. But I can
understand those people who have been looking for a single guilty individual, a
single enemy and are now venting their negative emotions on that person. I
realize that it’s a natural phenomenon and that Kocharian himself had formed
this attitude with his activities … But I am totally opposed to the concept of
repression in principle, no matter who is targeted by it.”
“Aravot” sees a geopolitical “fire” escalating around Armenia. “In essence,
Russia, Turkey and Iran are entering a period of very serious crises,” writes
the paper. “At least in the case of Russia and Turkey, we can assert that there
is an unprecedented crisis in their relations with the U.S. Armenia has no
reason to share this trio’s hostile attitudes towards the West. It actually has
many reasons to do the opposite.” It says that in order to better cope with
these geopolitical challenges the Armenian authorities should speed up the
conduct of snap parliamentary elections and thus cement internal stability. The
paper also calls for a “restart” of Armenia’s relations with the West.
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2018 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org