Author: Jalatian Sonya

NKR MFA TO ASSIST OSCE CRISIS MONITORING

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.03.2008 17:57 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On March 6, in connection with the NKR Foreign
Ministry’s demand to conduct a crisis monitoring on the Nagorno
Karabakh and Azerbaijan armed forces contact line near the Levonarkh
settlement, where the Azerbaijani armed forces violated the ceasefire
on night of March 4 early morning, the Office of the Personal
Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office presented a note to the
NKR MFA with a request to assist the conduct of a crisis monitoring
on March 7.

The NKR MFA expressed its readiness to assist in the organization and
conduct of the crisis monitoring and ensure the OSCE Mission members’
security.

>From the Azerbaijani side the monitoring group will be headed by
Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej
Kasprzyk, the NKR MFA press office reported.

LITHUANIA ALARMED OVER VIOLENT DISPERSAL OF OPPOSITIONIST RALLY IN ARMENIA

Baltic News Service
March 3, 2008 Monday 3:06 PM EET

Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry expressed concern over use of force
against peaceful demonstrators after Armenia’s police used truncheons
to disperse oppositionists who were protesting in the nation’s
capital Saturday. Director of Foreign Ministry’s information and
public relations department Violeta Gaizauskaite told BNS that
Lithuania invites both sides to open dialogue, especially since
the international community positively rated Armenia’s presidential
elections. The police used force against supporters of the opposition,
who consider the presidential elections in Feb. to have been rigged,
after the nation’s authorities remarked that their patience has run
out over the unremitting protests for the tenth day.

Serzh Sargsyan, who had hitherto served as Armenia’s Prime Minister,
was elected president Feb. 19 after gathering 53 percent of the
votes. After defeating Levon Ter-Petrossian, who got the support of
21.5 percent of the voters, Sargsyan replaced Robert Kocharyan in
office as Armenia’s Head-of-State. Kocharyan, who is yielding his post
as president, said opposition’s protests are destabilizing Armenia,
the emerging key transit route for oil and gas. Vilnius newsroom,
+370 5 2058512, [email protected]

VIKTOR SOGHOMONYAN: INCITERS, ORGANIZERS AND PERPETRATORS OF TEH EVENTS OF MARCH 1ST WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE

armradio.am
04.03.2008 18:20

"The law enforcement bodies periodically report the situation to
the President. Until now there has been no violation of the state
of emergency has been registered," RA President’s Spokesman Viktor
Soghomonyan told a press conference in Yerevan today. He noted that
the situation is fully controlled and the corresponding bodies will
periodically provide complete information to journalists.

Viktor Soghomonyan stated that he does not see any possibility for
a dialogue with Levon Ter-Petrosyan.

"Special Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Heikki Talvitie
already spoke on impossibility of a dialogue at the moment. The
possibility of a dialogue was present before and right after the
elections. However, the staff of Ter-Petrosyan rejected any possibility
of compromise or talks.

After what happened in Yerevan on March 1, I do not see a possibility
of a dialogue. I do not imagine what dialogue one can have with a
person, 30 supporters of which were beating one policeman," Viktor
Soghomonian stated.

"Levon Ter-Petrosian and the members of his team should realize that
they bear the whole responsibility for what happened in Yerevan
on March 1 and for the human losses," Spokesman of the Armenian
President stressed.

"All the organizers, instigators and executors of the unrest
will be punished to full severity of the law", Viktor Soghomonyan
stated, answering the question on the possibility of bringing Levon
Ter-Petrosian to criminal responsibility.

"On March 1, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia already talked
about this – State Protection Service considers it inexpedient for
Ter-Petrosian to leave his house. However, he can sign any time the
document on renouncing the services of state protection and in that
case no one will hinder his movement", Viktor Soghomonyan stated.

The Spokesman of the President noted that "the soon abolition of the
state of emergency meets the interests of all the citizens of Armenia."

Noting that the decree on state of emergency was signed by the
President on March 1 for the term of 20 days, Viktor Soghomonyan stated
that the decision on possible abolition of the state of emergency prior
to the given date will depend on the "development of the situation."

Viktor Soghomonyan refuted the statements, according to which in
reality the number of victims exceeded eight.

"This is another blatant lie, which we evidenced repeatedly in the
course of the recent few months. The very lie was the basis for the
pre-election campaign of Ter-Petrosyan," Viktor Soghomonyan stressed.

Spokesman of the Armenian President refuted the statements and the
claims of Ter-Petrosyan, according to which he allegedly held talks
with the authorities the night of March 2nd.

"This is another lie. I believe that within the coming you will have
the opportunity to communicate with the President of Armenia, and I
propose you to ask the question on those claims of Ter-Petrosian to
the President. I am sure that he will have some things to tell you,"
Viktor Soghomonyan told the journalists.

ARMENIA ATTEMPT TO DRAW WORLD ATTENTION AWAY FROM ANTI HUMAN MEASURES – VICE-SPEAKER

TREND News Agency
March 5 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 5 March / Trend News corr. S.Ilhamgizi / Bahar
Muradova, Vice Speaker, believes that the intensification of situation,
related to the current violation of the ceasefire regime by Armenian
Armed Forces on 4 and 5 March, is an obvious attempt of Armenians to
draw the world attention away from the critical situation prevailing
in the country, Muradova said to Trend News.

"Armenian ruling officials undertook anti human measures against their
own population. Therefore, Armenian Armed Forces attempted to draw
world attention away from these measures and violated the ceasefire
regime with Azerbaijan," Muradova stated.

The Vice-Speaker noted that the Foreign Policy department of Azerbaijan
informed international organizations and Minsk Group co-chairs about
the latest violations.

Azerbaijani parliament will express its relation towards the measures
of Armenians to intensify the situation.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began
in 1988, due to the Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan.

Since 1992, the Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven neighbouring
districts. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire
agreement which ended the active hostilities. The Co-Chairs of the
OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding
the peaceful negotiations.

ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA MOURNS OVER EVENTS THAT TOOK PLACE IN YEREVAN

DeFacto Agency
March 5 2008
Armenia

YEREVAN, 05.03.08. DE FACTO. The Armenian Assembly of America (AAA)
joined with Armenians around the world in mourning the "senseless
loss of life" as a result of the violence erupted in Yerevan on March
1, 2008.

The members of AAA extended their deepest sympathies to the families
who had lost loved ones.

The Assembly also called upon all parties to adhere "to the rule of
law and to refrain from violence".

The AAA noted that Armenia’s young democracy had faced a crucial
test and expressed hope that the authorities would lift the state of
emergency as soon as possible. "We urge all sides to maintain peace
and order, and urge in the strongest terms that the resumption of
violence be avoided at all costs", the Assembly underscores.

Published on openDemocracy ()
Democracy contested: Armenia’s fifth presidential elections
By Armine Ishkanian,

Created 2008-03-04 15:52
Armenia’s presidential election of 19 February 2008 appeared to deliver a
clear victory to the candidate who had led in most opinion polls throughout
the campaign, Serzh Sarkisian. Sarkisian, Armenia’s current prime minister
and close ally of President Robert Kocharian, was declared the victor on 24
February with (according to official results) 52% of the vote. But as so
often in the region [1] – and in a pattern increasingly familiar around the
world – the official results were bitterly disputed. The supporters of the
leading defeated candidate (and former president) Levon Ter-Petrossian
responded to the declared outcome by organising a continuous mass protests
in the centre of the capital, Yerevan. In confrontations [2] between
demonstrators and security forces, eight people have been killed.

Armine Ishkanian [3] is a lecturer at the Centre for Civil Society, London
School of Economics. She is the author of Democracy-building and Civil
Society in post-Soviet Armenia [4] (Routledge, 2008)

The election crisis has thus become one of public order and governance [5].
But what is it "really" about, and where does it fit the pattern of
Armenia’s democratic development in the years since independence from the
Soviet Union in September 1991?

Since achieving independence, Armenia has held five presidential elections
(1991, 1996, 1998, 2003, and 2008). Of these only the 1991 election is
considered to have been free and fair. All the others, the most recent one
included, have followed a pattern that has unfortunately become all too
familiar: a flawed process followed by boisterous protests by the
opposition.

In the aftermath of the 19 February 2008 elections [6], demonstrations were
convened in Yerevan’s Liberty Square. The atmosphere at the tented
encampment was celebratory rather than threatening, typified by protestors’
singing and dancing around bonfires. Behind the display of public defiance,
political manoeuvring also continued, as Serzh Sarkisian began reaching out
to other opposition candidates (apart, that is, from his chief rival [7]
Levon Ter-Petrossian) to seek collaborative deals. In quick succession,
Artashes Geghamian [8] and Artur Baghdasarian [9] agreed to cooperate.

The post-election standoff remained tense [10]; across the ten days until 29
February there were a number of arrests and detentions of individual
opposition party members, activists, and some state officials who had
defected to the opposition camp. But few expected what happened in the early
morning of Saturday 1 March, when interior-ministry security forces moved in
and forcibly dispersed [11] the demonstration in the square using tear-gas,
truncheons, and electric-shock equipment. In circumstances as disputed as
the election itself, eight people lost their lives; it appears that
excessive force was used against the demonstrators. The deaths have
intensified the sense of emergency [12] in Armenia, adding urgency to
efforts to resolve the crisis yet embittering an already difficult
[13]situation still further.

The context

The irreconcilable positions of Serzh Sarkisian and Levon Ter-Petrossian
[14] are rooted in Armenia’s post-independence politics. Ter-Petrossian came
to prominence in the late 1980s as the leader of the Karabakh Committee,
which championed the interests and rights of the ethnic-Armenian majority in
Nagorno-Karabakh [15] (an enclave inside Armenia’s neighbour Azerbaijan). He
was elected Armenia’s president in 1991 and was re-elected in 1996, but
resigned from office in February 1998 as a result of a coup that brought
Robert Kocharian [16] to power. Ter-Petrossian then withdrew from public
life and effectively entered voluntary internal exile. It was only in
September 2007 that he re-entered politics with a vitriolic attack on what
he saw as the corruption [17] of his successor and of Armenia’s system more
generally; soon after, he announced his candidacy in the February 2008
elections (see Vicken Cheterian, "Armenia’s election: the waiting game [17]"
(19 February 2008).

After his electoral effort [18] resulted in defeat (with the official
results awarding him 21.4% of the vote), Ter-Petrossian said that massive
voting irregularities and violations had made the declared outcome invalid.
His next step was to appeal to the Constitutional Court to schedule new
elections (another disappointed candidate, Tigran Karapetyan, has said he
also intends to take this route). But after the break-up of the protests,
there are reports that Ter-Petrossian has been placed under house-arrest.

A number of neutral local observers, and international organisations such as
Human Rights Watch, has highlighted voting irregularities and intimidation
at polling-stations across Armenia [19]. But the authorities insist the vote
was fair and that Sarkisian was legitimately elected, and thus characterise
the protests as part of an attempt to seize power by illegal means.

The Armenian government and Sarkisian’s camp defend their stance by pointing
out that a number of significant countries (including France, Russia, and
Turkey) has recognised his victory, and that the finding of the
International Election Observation Mission (IEOM) is that the vote met the
required standards. The IEOM preliminary report [20]indeed declares that the
election was "administered mostly in line with OSCE and Council of Europe
commitments and standards"; but it also says that further improvements are
needed to address remaining problems, including "the absence of a clear
separation between state and party functions, the lack of public confidence
in the electoral process and ensuring equal treatment of election
contestants". The report states: "The conduct of the count did not
contribute to reducing an existing suspicion amongst election stakeholders".

Several Armenian NGOs have criticised [21] the IEOM report as being too
cautious. They released a joint statement [22] arguing that "the apparent
discrepancy between the actual findings of the assessment with the formative
first two sentences of the report resulted in the government only referring
to this paragraph in the international observers’ assessment in order to
legitimise the results of the election". Some demonstrators picketed near
the OSCE offices in Yerevan, shouting "Shame!" to indicate their
disappointment with the observers’ report [23]and what they consider its
lending credibility to a flawed electoral process.

The radically different interpretations of the election result have
dominated political debate inside Armenia (as well as among the large
Armenian diaspora). On 26 February, two days after Sarkisian’s victory was
announced, a rally by his supporters – ostensibly to "thank the voters" was
organised in Yerevan’s Republic Square. People were bussed into Yerevan from
around the country, but many proceeded to abandon the Sarkisian rally and
march up Northern Avenue to join the demonstrators in Liberty Square – to be
met with chants of "Unity!"

The differences

I have observed and written about three of the four past Armenian
presidential elections (1996, 1998, 2003). With this experience in mind, I
find the 2008 elections and the post-election developments to be
significantly different from previous ones – in three ways.

First, several officials, civil servants and diplomats have resigned or been
sacked from their posts for expressing their support for (or for actively
joining) the camp of Levon Ter-Petrossian. They include the deputy
prosecutor-general Gagik Jahangirian (who along with his brother Vahan was
arrested [24] on charges of illegal arms possession and assault on "state
officials performing their duties"); a number of officials from the foreign
ministry (including deputy foreign minister Armen Bayburtian, chief
foreign-ministry spokesman Vladimir Karapetian, ambassadors Ruben Shugarian
and Levon Khachatrian); and civil servants from the trade and
economic-development ministries.

Several army generals have also backed Ter-Petrossian, including Manvel
Grigorian (who heads theYerkrapah [25] [Defenders of the Country] faction)
and Gagik Melkonian; neither has been stripped of his post. Such an open
breach [26] by senior figures was not a feature in past elections; then,
individuals would switch sides only once the final outcome had been
declared – and when they did so, they would move towards the ruling party
rather than (as at present) the opposition.

Second, there has been a flourishing of new forms of media, communication,
and information-sharing. During the election campaign and in the
post-election standoff, Armenian television coverage was greatly skewed in
favour of Serzh Sarkisian; opposition candidates were either ignored or (in
the case of Ter-Petrossian) negatively portrayed.

The absence of independent television channels and the strict loyalty to the
regime of the channels that survive – a situation that has lasted since the
closure of the independent [27]television channel A1+ in 2002 – has meant
that the reporting of the opposition protests has been scarce to
non-existent. The broadcasts have not reflected the reality of what is
happening in the streets and squares. This has led civil-society activists
to send an open letter criticising the H1 public-television channel’s biased
presentation.

Such bias was a feature in previous elections as well. Armenians have
responded by transmitting news in a familiar, more trusted and legitimate
source: word of mouth. But in addition, what is different this time is that
individuals have begun using new forms [28] of communication technology –
mobile-phones, email, blogs, and video-sharing websites such as YouTube – to
share and exchange information and opinions about the latest developments.
These innovative means of sharing information, news, and comments have
circumvented the official television and radio channels’ information
blockade, and created a "virtual public sphere" for debate and deliberation.
You Tube in particular has added a new dimension by hosting all sorts of
clips including demonstrations, arguments at polling stations, and
discussions with people on the street.

Third, the election itself and especially the demonstrations in their
aftermath have witnessed the emergence of a generation of young Armenians as
an active political constituency. The festive atmosphere in Liberty Square
has attracted increasing numbers of young people, despite threats of
expulsion or suspension against them (allegedly) made by the deans and
rectors of some universities. This, again, is a contrast with previous
elections, particularly in 1998 and 2003, when protest rallies were composed
mainly of older people whose nostalgia for the good old Soviet days led them
to support former Armenian Communist Party leader Karen Demirchian [29]
(1998) and his son Stepan Demirchian (2003).

There is a debate here between those who argue that many young people
support Ter-Petrossian because they do not remember how difficult life was
during the early years of his rule, and those who believe they are attracted
by his charisma and message of democratic reform. But the fact of change in
elite opinion, technology and generation is striking.

The outcome

After Armenia’s first four presidential elections, protests either dwindled
of their own accord or were violently suppressed by the authorities. The
option of force has been used too after the fifth election, yet – so far –
it does not appear that this is the end of the story.

Whatever happens next, it is clear – and encouraging – that these elections
engendered heated public debate about Armenia’s future, the past it has
traversed since gaining independence in 1991, the nature of its leadership,
and the country’s political culture. However an increasingly tense situation
is resolved, the early weeks of 2008 will have a significant impact on
political developments and the future of democracy in Armenia.

ARMENIA UNDER STATE OF EMERGENCY
By Asbed Kotchikian

ISN
March 4 2008
Switzerland

The Armenian government’s use of force to stop protests could reveal
its insecurity and boost the opposition’s resolve, Asbed Kotchikian
writes for ISN Security Watch.

In the early morning hours of 1 March, residents of the Armenian
capital of Yerevan woke up to the news that the state security
agencies had dispersed demonstrators gathered in Freedom Square,
with reports in the ensuing hours relating the consequences of the
states unexpected use of force.

The crackdown came almost 10 days after the hotly disputed presidential
elections that resulted in the overwhelming victory of the state
supported candidate and current prime minister, Serge Sargsian, with
over 53 percent of the votes. His main rival, former president Levon
Ter-Petrossian, received just above 21 percent of the votes.

While the international community considered the elections a done
deal based on reports by monitors from the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the local opposition demanded an
annulment of the elections, citing major violations and fraud.

What followed was a call by Ter-Petrossian to hold continuous and
peaceful demonstrations until the authorities conceded and held
new elections. While the number of people participating in the
demonstrations was not extremely large (reports from local media
and observers put estimates anywhere between 20,000 to 100,000),
the protests were the largest Yerevan has seen in the last 10 years.

The government’s initial response was to ignore the demonstrations and
continue with business as usual. This position was further encouraged
as Sargsian received support from the international community in the
form of election monitor reports as well as congratulatory messages
from Washington and Moscow.

Sargsian also managed to win the support of local political figures by
striking a deal with Arthur Baghdasarian, a former speaker of the house
who had earlier broken ranks with Sargsian to run for president. He
received 16 percent of the votes in February’s elections. Many analysts
have argued that Baghdasarian had always been Sargsian’s protege
and that run attempt at the presidency was actually orchestrated by
Sargsian in order to steal votes from Ter-Petrossian.

A day before riot police and internal security forces violently
dispersed the demonstrators, Baghdasarian met with Sargsian and
announced that he recognized him as Armenia’s legitimate president
and would be willing to cooperate with him to handle "domestic and
external challenges" Armenia Liberty news service reported.

The local news media then focused on a statement read by Baghdasarian
in which he mentioned that he had been offered and had accepted
the mostly ceremonial position of secretary of Armenia’s National
Security Council.

It is highly conceivable that the realignment of Baghdasarian with
Sargsian gave the latter more confidence to give the orders to disperse
the demonstrators the following day.

In the subsequent gatherings on Saturday afternoon, many of the
demonstrators chanted "Arthur, traitor," signaling their discontent
with Baghdasarian’s move to join Sargsian.

Witnesses in Yerevan told ISN Security Watch by telephone that early
on the morning of 1 March, internal security forces and riot police
surrounded the demonstrators, who had spent the night at Freedom
Square, and after giving them only a five-minute warning to leave the
area, used heavy force to disperse them. Most of the demonstrators
were caught by surprise, and what ensued was chaotic.

Ter-Petrossian, who had also spent the night at the square, was
surrounded by police forces and escorted to his residence just outside
of the city center.

Immediately after the dispersal of the demonstrators, the crowd
gathered at another square near the French Embassy. According to one
witness who spoke to ISN Security Watch on condition on anonymity,
on Saturday morning there were close to several hundred demonstrators
at the new location. However, in a matter of a couple of hours,
as many as 10,000 had joined the protest.

The new venue was again surrounded by riot police. Largely because of
the absence of a strong leadership calling for calm, clashes escalated
between the police and the protesters. It was at this point that
President Robert Kocharian announced a 20-day state of emergency in
Yerevan, banning "strikes, public rallies, demonstrations, marches
and other mass events," and more significantly, censoring all media
reports and limiting them to "official information of state bodies."

With Ter-Petrossian was confined to his house by authorities
(according to official statements he was not put under house arrest
but was isolated for his own safety) there were very few opposition
leaders able to calm the crowd. During most of the evening of 1 March
there were violent clashes between some radical elements among the
demonstrators and the police, resulting in hundreds of casualties
and at least seven deaths.

Polarization One witness in Yerevan told ISN Security Watch: "Saturday
night was surreal. At one intersection one could see events unfolding
with characteristics of a revolution, while a few blocks up the street
people were walking their dogs, taking their dates home and eating
at restaurants as if nothing was happening."

This observation illustrates the extent of popular apathy and could
indicate that Armenia is not, as many observers and experts have
considered, on the verge of a colorful revolution as happened in
Ukraine and Georgia, where there were elements of overwhelming popular
mobilization and foreign – specifically western – support.

The current Armenian opposition has neither, and as such is bound to
develop in ways dissimilar to these colorful revolutions.

Even before the announcement of the state of emergency and media
blackout, the local media was polarized.

On the one hand, official media sources disregarded any and all
reports about demonstrations, which immediately before the 1 March
events had spread to the northern cities of Gyumri and Vanatzor.

On the other hand, opposition media (mostly print and online) were
calling for the continuation of the demonstrations and reporting
arrests and provocations by the authorities.

It was ironic that on 2 and 3 March the Armenian media spent more
time covering the Russian presidential elections than they did the
events in their own capital. As such, the residents of Yerevan found
it necessary to rely on outside news sources to learn about what was
happening in their own city.

Only one television media source, Yerkir Media – affiliated with the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) party and whose candidate
Vahan Hovannisian came in a distant fourth with 6 percent of the
votes in the presidential elections – offered limited coverage of
the demonstrations, mostly without commentary.

The ARF is the only major political party in Armenia that has not,
until now, taken sides. While admitting defeat, the ARF did not
congratulate Sargsian on his win, and in the very few official
announcements that the party released, its officials called for calm
and blamed Ter-Petrossian for polarizing the country.

This perhaps was a direct result of the stark rivalry between
Ter-Petrossian and the ARF during the former’s tenure as president
when he banned the ARF from operating in Armenia, claiming that the
party was planning a coup d’etat.

Tense calm An interesting issue related to the makeup of the
demonstrators was that according to many interviews conducted by ISN
Security Watch, most of the demonstrators were not Ter-Petrossian
supporters. Some of them were even staunch opponents of the former
president.

However, with the absence of any other viable opposition leader,
Ter-Petrossian became a de facto representative of civil society and
youth movements, including a sizeable section of Armenians who in the
last decade or so have become frustrated with the current government’s
socio-political and economic policies.

The Armenian capital has been in a state of tense calm since Sunday,
and while the demonstrators are currently dispersed and internal
security forces are stationed all over the capital, the opposition
has vowed that after the end of state of emergency later this month,
they will take to the streets once again. Meanwhile, the international
community has been trying to mediate in an attempt to find a permanent
solution to the crisis.

In an overall mood of apathy, the main question remains if in 20-days
time Ter-Petrossian will be able to mobilize enough people to continue
his demonstrations.

In the meantime, the foundation has been laid for behind-the-scenes
negotiations for which both the government and Ter-Petrossian will
attempt to "recruit" as many allies as possible.

With Sargsian already having secured the support of Baghdasarian
ahead of his officially taking over from Kocharian on 9 April, he
seems to be ahead of his political rival by calling for all sides to
join his government with the promise of various posts and positions
to be awarded for loyalty.

With a media blackout in place, state-controlled television showed
President Kocharian visiting some of the injured policemen at the
hospital with minimum comments about the situation and mostly criticism
of Ter-Petrossian and his alleged role in the fomenting the unrest.

The only source of independent (although biased) news remains the
various blogs maintained by individuals in Armenia and a handful
of international news agencies that have limited access to properly
assess the situation in the country.

Twenty days is a long time in the life of political movements, and
it is very possible that the demonstrators will lose their momentum.

Ironically, the authorities could have achieved the goal of dispersing
the demonstrations by simply ignoring them. In situations like these,
the use of force could be an indicator of government insecurity
and could increase the resolve of the opposition to continue with
their demands.

Asbed Kotchikian is the Assistant Director of International Affairs
Program at Florida State University and specializes in the politics
of identity as well as political processes in the South Caucasus and
the Middle East.

RA PRESIDENT HAS TELEPHONE CONVERSATION WITH PRESIDENT OF GEORGIA

Noyan Tapan
March 3, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 3, NOYAN TAPAN. Robert Kocharian, the President of
the Republic of Armenia, had a telephone conversation with Mikhail
Saakashvili, the President of Georgia, on March 2. This information
was provided to Noyan Tapan by the RA President’s Press Office.

The President of Georgia was interested in the situation governing
in Armenia after the disorders instigated by the supporters of the
opposition on March 1. The President of Georgia expressed his support
for the people and authorities of Armenia.

LEVON TER-PETROSSIAN’S SUPPORTERS CARRIED OUT DISORDERS IN CITY

DeFacto Agency
March 3 2008
Armenia

YEREVAN, 03.03.08. DE FACTO. On March 1 Levon Ter-Petrossian’s
supporters, who disagreed with the results of the presidential
elections in RA, carried out disorders in the centre of Yerevan. In
part, clashes with police were provoked, as a result of which there
are victims. The clashes took place on the territory adjoining Yerevan
city hall, as well as on the crossroad of Mesrop Mashtots and Grigor
Lusavorich streets. To remind, on March 1, in the morning, Armenia’s
law enforcement organs carried out operation on dispersal of the
opposition’s unapproved meeting on the Freedom Square. The decision
to conduct the operation was made after numerous notices concerning
illegal nature of the meeting and requests that it should be stopped.

After the meeting’s dispersal on the Freedom Square Levon
Ter-Petrossian’s supporters headed for France’s embassy in RA. The
meeting’s participants scanned "Levon! Levon!", "Levon is the
President", "Struggle to the end". Meanwhile, by the evening the
meeting developed into disorders. The participants of the protest
rally robbed cars and shops.

EIGHT KILLED IN ARMENIA PROTESTS OVER PRESIDENTIAL VOTE RESULTS-2

RIA Novosti
March 2 2008
Russia

YEREVAN, March 2 (RIA Novosti) – Eight people were killed and over
130 wounded in Armenia’s capital in overnight clashes between police
and protesters unhappy with recent presidential election results,
police said on Sunday.

"The Prosecutor General’s Office is investigating the circumstances of
those people’s death," police said adding they were being identified.

Armenian riot police used tear gas and electric stun guns to disperse
thousands of supporters of Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who was defeated by
Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisyan in the February 19 vote. Sarkisyan
gained 52.8% of the vote against the former’s 21.5%. Protesters said
the polls were rigged.

President Robert Kocharyan declared a state of emergency late on
Saturday to be effective until March 20.

Health Minister Arutyun Kushkyan said on national television on Friday
a total of 131 were injured in the clashes.

"Hospitals provided medical aid to 131 people, including 72 police
and soldiers and 59 civilians," he said adding 16 soldiers and 18
civilians suffered gunshot wounds, with eight of them lethal ones. 41
people have been released from hospitals by now.

Ter-Petrosyan’s supporters have rallied since the next day after the
polls, demanding a rerun and access to national television. On Friday,
the opposition challenger appealed against the vote results with the
Constitutional Court.

Foreign monitors said the vote in the ex-Soviet Caucasus state
corresponded to international standards.

Protests turned violent on Saturday, when groups of protesters set fire
to two dozen cars, including police vehicles and ambulances, smashed
windows in major buildings in central Yerevan and looted a supermarket.

The army took control of the capital by early morning. Several armored
military trucks and soldiers patrolled the area near the government
and foreign ministry buildings in the center.