Author: Chavushian

CHAIRMAN OF PACE AD HOC COMMITTEE JOHN PRESCOTT ARRIVING IN ARMENIA

armradio.am
06.03.2008 10:03

March 6-7 the Chairman of the PACE ad hoc committee on monitoring the
presidential elections in Armenia John Prescott will visit Yerevan
with a post-election fact-finding mission, Public Relations Department
of RA National Assembly informs.

On March 6 Mr. Prescott is expected to meet with the Speaker of
the National Assembly Tigran Torosyan and Head of the Armenian
Parliamentary Delegation to PACE David Harutyunyan. The same day
Mr. Prescott will meet with RA Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan. Meetings
with Levon Ter-Petrosyan and NGO representatives are also expected.

On March 6 Mr. Prescott will meet with the President of the
Constitutional Court Gagik Harutyunyan, President of the Central
Electoral Commission Garegin Azaeryan, Ambassadors of Council of
Europe member states.

On March 7 John Prescott will meet with the heads of parliamentary
factions of Orinats Yerkir, ARF Dashnaktsutyun and Heritage Parties.

The same day meetings with RA Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan,
President of the National Committee of Radio and Television Grigor
Amalyan and President of the Council of Public Television, Radio
Company of Armenia Alexan Harutyunyan and Chief Police Hayk Harutyunyan
are expected.

On March 6 Mr. Prescott will be received by RA President Robert
Kocharyan.

ARMENIAN PRESIDEMT SEES NO NECESSITY TO EXTEND OR REDUCE PERIOD OF EMERGENCY STATE

ARKA
March 5, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian president Robert Kocharian
at present sees no necessity to extend or reduce the period of the
state of emergency declared in Yerevan. He stated that at the March
5 press conference. He said that first of all, it is necessary to
clarify the whereabouts and list of the organizers of the March 1
disorders in Yerevan and to make sure that no disorders of this kind
will occur again prior to lifting the state of emergency. "Today we
are not completely sure of it because the people who used arms and
explosives against military are at large. Unless we have a definite
answer to this question, we have no right to lift (the state of
emergency) and then to have severer consequences," he said.

In response to the question of a Georgian reporter, R. Kocharian
said that the dialog with the authorities was rejected by this part
of the opposition.

Moreover, Levon Ter-Petrosian announced that Liberty Square is his
apartment and he must be carried from there to the presidential
palace. "Such statements just close the path of a normal
dialog." Besides, according to R. Kocharian, the newly elected
president expressed a willingness for dialog, his statement had no
ristrictions, everybody, except for Ter-Petrosian, responded to it,
and active negotiations are currently underway on formation of a
coalition goevrnment. "It is possible that they were reluctant to
engage in dialog so as to keep the bellicose mood of the electorate
or, roughly speaking, their fighting ability, which we saw late March
1 and early March 2," R. Kocharian said.

He refuted L. Ter-Petrosian’s statement that he was ready to engage in
a dialog with authorities and join demonstrators but he had no such
opportunity. "No one prevented him," R. Kocharian said, explaining
that his bodyguards refused to participate in illegal actions. "He
was free to go without bodyguards, and as he was concerned about his
own security, he should also have been concerned about security of the
people who gathered there." The first president informed R. Kocharian
(via the head of the latter’s guards Grigory Sargsian) about his
intention to go to demonstrators and tell them to calm down but he
presented an ultimatum: he will lead demonstrators to Opera Square
where they will hold a rally for 15 consecutive days. This proposal was
made at the moment when the crowd armed with sticks and metal rods had
already built barricades from about 30 burnt cars and there were beaten
policemen. "Just imagine what would have happened to the city if we had
allowed the crowd in such a state to reach Opera through the avenue."

The Armenian president said that Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II
went on his own initiative to Levon Ter-Petrosian. "I was astonished
to hear about it, I cannot imagine that an Armenian in any place of
the world can send His Holiness back from the door of his house. The
impression is that it seems to him that at this moment he is riding
high and that the authorities are in a panic. By not meeting with
His Holiness, he missed the chance to get out of this situation and
to save his own face," R. Kocharian said.

In the opinion of the Armenian president, "the direct consequence of
his activities is the disgrace that occured in Yerevan, for which
every Armenian, every resident of Yerevan experiences discomfort,
a normal person can be brought into a state of psychosis and at that
moment he is not aware of what he is doing – for this he bears direct
responsibility before the people and law enforcement bodies. If he is
to be forgiven, it is the people who may forgive him," R. Kocharian
said, pointing out that "everybody must be punished in accordance
with their guilt" in order to prevent such things in future.

According to R. Kocharian, after lifting the state of emergency,
the city authorities must not allow any rally until the situation
calms own. "This time we will not wait for 2, 3, 5 and more days,
the response will be sharp on the very first day so that we will not
get into such a situation." In general, permanent rallies should be
excluded in order to avoid such situations. The Armenian president
expressed an opinion that an amendment should be made in the law on
mass events, the same political force or candidate should be banned
from holding a continuous rally for a week, the law should envisage
the opportunity to hold rallies in Opera Square twice a week. "After
all, no one can privatize Opera, it is a recreation site of our people
and city residents," Robert Kocharian said.

RA PRESIDENT PRESENTS HIS CONDOLENCES TO FAMILIES OF PEOPLE, WHO DIED IN CONSEQUENCE OF MARCH 1 EVENTS

Noyan Tapan
March 5, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 5, NOYAN TAPAN. Country’s rating was seriously damaged
as a result of the March 1 events in Yerevan. RA President Robert
Kocharian stated this at the March 5 press conference adding that
still a month ago, as everyone said, Armenia was the most stable,
quickly developing country in the region. The RA President said that
he watches the video materials on the March 1 events with a feeling
of shame and does not believe that it is possible. The head of state
considers that "all of us should have courage to very soberly estimate
everything, which happened, should together try to restore country’s
rating and the attitude formed in the world towards our people."

The RA President presented his condolences to the families of
the people, who died in consequence of the March 1 clash between
demonstrants and policemen. According to him, the development of the
events showed that introduction of state of emergency was a necessity,
and expressed confidence that if that measure were not used, the
losses and the consequences would be much more grave for Armenia.

R. Kocharian said that within the framework of the criminal case
instituted on the fact of the events, the total picture of the events
will be restored, minute by minute, there are many materials, including
video materials, it will give a possibility to correctly estimate the
events. According to the President, the volume of the criminal case is
huge, the number of people involved in it is large, the geography is
also large. According to the commission of the head of state, the law
enforcement bodies periodically, by everyday regime should inform the
population about the amount and direction of the work, which is being
done. The RA President said that the Police made a statement the day
before, calling for coming to the Police voluntarily, in this case
the attitude will be much milder. It will give a possibility to more
quickly restore the picture and to clarify the political estimation.

The RA President divided the participants of the events into three
groups.

The first group includes the organizers of the people’s gathering in
front of the Mayor’s Office, "as a result of which serious clashes
were instigated," there were people aggressively instigating clashes
in the organizers’ group: Nikol Pashinian, people, who made an attempt
to calm down the situation as a result of its coming out of control:
David Shahnazarian.

"But the crowd more obeyed the instigating group."

The second group includes people, who organized attacks upon Police
with use of arms, explosives: "The fault of the victims mainly falls
on this group, as their activity resulted in victims, more than 130
injured, part of which are policemen. The actions done against the
Police had mainly organized character," the President evaluated.

The third group of the participants, according to Kocharian, includes
people, who attacked, participated in the rally, but then took an
active part in robbery. "These three groups’ guilt is of different
degrees, and the approach to them should be also differentiated. It
will be very unfair if law enforcement bodies not punishing the
organizers and the instigators only punish the people, who I think
themselves fell a prey to this rally," the President said emphasizing:
"everyone should receive the punishment he has acquired by his actions,
which he deserves ,and first of all, certainly, the organizers should
be punished, whose activity resulted in the rally’s coming out of
control and turning into a crowd. No one has ever managed to control
a crowd in the history, and when you gather people, you should be
responsible for these people and the consequences," he said.

According to the President, a special attitude should be also shown
to the people, who used arms and explosives, "we know approximately,
in which circles we should look for them." According to the head
of state, both "the people of that stratum" and the organizers just
avoid law enforcement bodies.

ARF DASHNAKTSUTYUN APPROVES RA PRESIDENT’S DECISION TO IMPOSE STATE OF EMERGENCY IN YEREVAN

DeFacto Agency
March 4 2008
Armenia

YEREVAN, 04.03.08. DE FACTO. ARF Dashnaktsutyun Supreme Organ expressed
its deep condolences to the families of those killed in the course
of disorders carried out by Levon Ter-Petrossian’s supporters March
1 in the centre of Yerevan.

The statement circulated by ARFD Supreme Organ runs, in part, that
what has happened is our common tragedy, and to find the way out of
the situation is our duty and responsibility.

The statement’s authors note that during the recent months L.

Ter-Petrossian and his supporters had been preparing a scenario
targeted at the split of the society, discredit and destruction of
the state institutions.

According to the ARFD, the actions of the first president and his
supporters were based on the goal to come to power by force. In its
statement ARF Dashnaktsutyun underscores that the RA President’s decree
on imposing state of emergency in the capital city was a necessity.

ARFD requested that the authorities undertake consecutive steps to
reveal and call to account the instigators and organizers of the
disorders.

TABLE TENNIS ARMENIAN NATIONAL TEAM FAILS IN WORLD TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

Noyan Tapan
March 3, 2008

GUANGZHOU, MARCH 3, NOYAN TAPAN. The Table Tennis World Team
Championship finished in the city of Guangzhou, China. The Armenian
national team included in the third group was beat by the national
teams of Scotland (1 to 3), Algeria (2 to 3), Saudi Arabia (0 to 3),
United Arab Emirates (1 to 3), Kuweit (0 to 3) and took the 71st
place in the competition of 104 teams.

Murad Asatrian has gained 3 and Garegin Mkrtchian 1 victory.

RA Health Ministry: no casualties in rally dispersal

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.03.2008 16:28 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 31 people, including 6 policemen, suffered in
collisions during the dispersal of the opposition rally in Yerevan,
the Armenian Public Television reported.

According to the RA Public Health Ministry, all they received various
bodily injuries. 10 were hospitalized; the others were rendered the
first aid and sent home.

No casualties have been fixed.

As a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter cam to know from Yerevan 3rd clinical
hospital, one person with a hypertensic crisis and one with cardiac
decompensation were hospitalized.

On March 1 morning, the police dispersed the oppositionists who have
been for 10 days demanding an extra presidential election.

Armenia president says to use army against protesters

Reuters, UK
March 1 2008

Sat Mar 1, 2008 4:43pm EST

YEREVAN (Reuters) – Armenian President Robert Kocharyan vowed on
Saturday to use the army against protesters occupying the centre of
the capital, saying they were using weapons, Russia’s ITAR-TASS news
agency reported.

Kocharyan said the demonstrators — who have been protesting against
what they say is a rigged presidential election last month — were
shooting at unarmed police.

A Reuters correspondent saw a column of army trucks carrying soldiers
on the main road heading towards the Armenian capital Yerevan.

(Writing by Michael Stott in Moscow, editing by Dmitry Solovyov)

RA PRESIDENT: NKR DESERVES INDEPENDENCE NO LESS THAN KOSOVO

PanARMENIAN.Net
29.02.2008 18:02 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Proclamation of Kosovo’s independence is the most
pressing problem of the international community," RA President Robert
Kocharian said at a meeting with the students and teaching staff of
Yerevan State University.

"Proclamation was inevitable. I do know a nation that would not like
to be independent. The point is whether the position of other states
will soften Serbia’s attitude to the issue," he said. "Independence
of Kosovo is a very important precedent. NKR deserves independence
no less than Kosovo and this case just proves that the Armenians are
on the right pass."

As to official recognition of NKR, the President said, "We can
recognize independence of Nagorno Karabakh at any moment. But we have
to think how our decision can affect the negotiation process. If the
talks reach a deadlock, Armenia will immediately recognize independence
of Nagorno Karabakh. Everything should be done in the right time."

LEVON ANANIAN: AUTHORITIES AND OPPOSITION SHOULD START DIALOG

Noyan Tapan
Feb 29 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 29, NOYAN TAPAN. "I think the authorities and the
opposition should start a dialog. The opposition should be sensible
and prudent so as not to lead the people into a dead end because
it is the issue of people’s security," the chairman of the Union of
Writers of Armenia Levon Ananian told NT correspondent, adding that
this situation "involves great responsibility not only for today but
also for tomorrow".

In response to the question about whether the actions of Levon
Ter-Petrosian have personal character or are motivated by concern
about the country’s future, L. Ananian said: "In my opinion, there
is lack of comprehension. If all this is done deliberately, no one
will benefit, including the society".

REPUBLICAN AND ORINATS YERKIR MAKE COALITION

Panorama.am
15:45 29/02/2008

Today the Prime Minister of Armenia and the new elected president
Serzh Sargsyan and the president of Orinats Yerkir Party and the
former presidential candidate Arthur Baghdasaryan will make coalition
and signed agreement. Thus, the Republican, Prosperous Armenia and
Orinats Yerkir created tripartite coalition.

Arthur Baghdasaryan was offered to accomplish the position of
secretary in the National Security Committee under President’s
administration. Serzh Sargsyan’s proposal was accepted. Sargsyan did
not exclude the possibility that the tripartite coalition might become
four-membered coalition. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF)
might join the coalition, as negotiations are being held with them.

Their positioning will become obvious in these days.