Author: Kamalian Hagop

Mediamax, Armenia
Feb. 23, 2008

ARMENIAN POLICE VOICE DETERMINATION TO REPULSE DESTABILIZATION
ATTEMPTS

Yerevan, 23 February: The Armenian police have declared readiness "to
repulse with determination and with theaim of preventing
manifestations of permissiveness and protecting constitutional rights
of people any attempts to break the social order and destabilize the
situation".

That is said in the statement by the Armenian police. The statement
says that rumours about the resignation of policeleaders "are
deceitful and do not correspond to reality", the Mediamax news agency
reported.

"The police leadership and all departments are strictly performing
duties envisaged by the law and are ready -with the aim of preventing
manifestations of permissiveness and protecting constitutional rights
of people – to repulse with determination any attempts to break the
social order and destabilize the situation," the statement says.

Agence France Presse — English
February 21, 2008 Thursday 12:43 PM GMT

25,000 protest Armenia presidential poll

YEREVAN, Feb 21 2008

About 25,000 people demonstrated in Armenia’s capital on Thursday as
the opposition vowed non-stop protests against election results that
gave Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian the presidency.

Supporters of rival candidate Levon Ter-Petrosian thronged into the
central Freedom Square waving Armenian flags and chanting "Victory,
Victory!" "Fight to the End!" and "Levon! Levon! Levon!" — a
reference to rival candidate Levon Ter-Petrosian.

"Starting from this moment our protests will not end," Ter-Petrosian
ally Nikol Pashenian told the crowd. "Freedom Square will be the
centre of our protests until the authorities leave."

Although the atmosphere remained calm, with a minimal police
presence, the opposition hinted they were ready to use more
aggressive methods.

"Our actions will be peaceful as long as all legal methods have not
been exhausted," Pashenian told the crowd. "Be prepared for all
scenarios."

In a statement released late Wednesday Ter-Petrosian’s campaign
refused to recognize the result of Tuesday’s vote and demanded a new
election.

Official results gave Sarkisian 52.9 percent of the vote, securing
him an outright first-round win over Ter-Petrosian, who secured 21.5
percent.

Ter-Petrosian has described the conduct of the election as
"shameful," alleging that Sarkisian’s camp used state resources to
promote him and that there were violations in the count.

Observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in
Europe described the election as "mostly" in line with international
standards. The US State Department said it was "concerned" at reports
of problems in the count.

ARTUR BAGHDASSARYAN’S HEADQUARTERS: TER-PETROSYAN’S CLAIM OF 65% OF VOTES INADMISSIBLE FOR US

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.02.2008 18:21 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On February 25, members of Artur Baghdassaryan’s
election headquarters issued a statement which says, in part,
"Yesterday the RA CEC held an extra sitting to confirm the outcomes of
the February 19 presidential election. The CEC informed of the meeting
just 30 minutes before it started but not 2 hours as it’s envisaged
by the regulations. The meeting immediately followed completion of
the re-count and thus deprived the candidates of the possibility to
familiarize themselves with their outcomes. In this view we state
that the results of the election were distorted."

"We condemn the arrests of political figures," it says.

"Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s claim of 65 per cent of votes is also
inadmissible for us… We state that use of force will escalate
tensions and give way to mass collisions, thus damaging the
international image of the country and questioning the entire election
process. True to our 300 thousand supporters and responsible for
hundreds of thousands of Serzh Sargsyan and Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s
voters, we call on the parties to resolve the problems via a political
dialogue," the statement says.

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Feb 20 2008

Change of Power in Armenia Won’t Affect Negotiations on
Nagorno-Karabakh – Political Scientist
20.02.08 11:35

Azerbaijan, Baku, 19 February / Trend News corr J. Babayeva / The
Armenian Prime Minister Serj Sarkisian, and Chair of the `Republic’
party, will definitely win the presidential elections, and that will
not affect negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the
political scientist Zardusht Alizade said to journalists in Baku on
19 February.

Today Armenia is holding its presidential elections. Nine candidates
are running for presidency.

`When the separatist movement was expanding in Nagorno-Karabakh,
Sarkisian was one of its leaders. Those who came to power from this
movement can be called the Party of `Commanders of Karabakh’ (PKK).
The members of the movement stick to an irreconcilable position on
Nagorno-Karabakh. They believe that they have already won and all
that remains is to document the victory,’ Alizade said.

According to the political scientist, in such countries as Armenia,
where persons use governmental positions as a source of enrichment,
and where civil society has no control over corruption, the people
will never be allowed to oust such people.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in
1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since
1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In
1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which
time active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful
negotiations.

SOME MEMBERS OF YERKRAPAH SUSPEND THEIR MEMBERSHIP

armradio.am
25.02.2008 12:03

After the presidential election held on 19 February, 2008 some
members of "Yerkrapah Union of Volunteers" NGO got engaged in an
activity unbecoming to the Yerkrapah without a corresponding decision
of the Administration, thus breaking the charter of the Union. It’s
unacceptable and defames the importance and reputation of the Union
and hinders the process of further reinforcement and development of
our newly independent state. They are used for dishonest political
purposes, and the leadership of the Yerkrapah Union of Volunteers
undertakes no measures to prevent this.

That is why, assessing and valuing the role and importance of the
Yerkrapah, the Good name and memory of our killed fellow-soldiers,
as well as guided by the call of duty before Motherland and the
resolute decision to serve our people, we suspend our membership in
the organization.

Colonel-General Seyran Ohanyan Major-General Arshaluys Paytyan
Major-General Haykaz Baghramyan Major-General Levon Yeranosyan
Major-General Kamo Aghajanyan Major-General Samvel Karapetyan Colonel
Koryun Yeghiazaryan Colonel Murad Abrahamyan Colonel Felix Poghosyan
Colonel Arthur Grigoryan Colonel Poghos Poghosyan Colonel Samvel
Hovsepyan Colonel Sayen Hayrapetyan Colonel Nerses Yeghoyan

Armenian state officials "planned post-election coup"

24.02.08 17:29

( dpa ) – Several high state officials loyal to former president Levon
Ter-Petrosian planned a coup in Armenia after the defeat of the
opposition there in last week’s presidential election, the state
leadership was quoted as saying Sunday.

Police detained deputy prosecutor-general Gagik Jangiryan, his brother
and two justice officials, Interfax news agency reported from Yerevan.

In addition, President Robert Kocharian dismissed the deputy foreign
minister and three ambassadors who had backed the opposition, the
report said.

Ter-Petrosian, who won 21.43 per cent of Tuesday’s vote, had accused
the government during the election of a slew of violations including
the beating and kidnapping of supporters.

Official results from the Central Election Committee (CEC) showed
Wednesday that Sarkisian took 52.86 per cent of the vote with the final
ballots counted.

The results put Sarkisian just over the 50 per cent needed to avoid a
run-off with the second-place finisher after a bitterly contested
election campaign.

Observers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) said the day after polling that it had fulfilled in large part
the criteria for a democratic election.

But the OSCE said public mistrust in the electoral process and
interference by state apparati had to be reduced in the future.

The organization added that Armenians had in contrast to many other
former Soviet republics a choice of genuine political alternatives.

HHK: "ALL VOTE RIGGERS MUST FACE PUNISHMENT"

Panorama.am
20:22 21/02/2008

While commenting on inaccuracies found during re-counting in the
election precincts, Serzh Sargsyan’s pre election center press
secretary, Edward Sharmazanov, said: "The legal process of complaining
and reviewing of the election results have started in Armenia. Having
doubts about voting results in different precincts, some candidates
have required a re-counting. Serzh Sargsyan’s election center condemns
all those cases where it will be revealed that the election committee
intentionally changed the result of voters’ free will expression,
despite of the fact in whose favor that has been made."

US EMBASSY IN ARMENIA URGES AMERICAN CITIZENS TO AVOID DEMONSTRATIONS AND EXERCISE CAUTION IF WITHIN THE VICINITY OF ANY DEMONSTRATIONS

arminfo
2008-02-21 16:30:00

ArmInfo. The U.S. Embassy in Armenia urges American citizens to
avoid demonstrations and exercise caution if within the vicinity
of any demonstrations, the statement at the U.S. Embassy’s official
web-site says.

"The U.S. Embassy in Yerevan anticipates that post-election political
demonstrations in central Yerevan may continue, possibly for the
next few days. Demonstrations and marches through central avenues
have been peaceful so far. We wish to remind American citizens that
even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational
and possibly escalate into violence. American citizens are therefore
urged to avoid demonstrations, and to exercise caution if within the
vicinity of any demonstrations", the statement says.

U.S. CONCERNED OVER REPORTS OF PROBLEMS IN THE VOTE COUNT IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN ARMENIA

Mediamax
February 21, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. The United States of America are concerned over
reports of problems in the vote count in the presidential elections
in Armenia, which took place on February 19.

Mediamax reports referring the international news agencies, that the
representative of the U.S. State Department Edgar Vazquez said this.

"We are still in the process of weighing the various reports we have
received concerning the conduct of this election", the U.S. diplomat
stated.

He noted that the OSCE observers called the elections "mostly in
line with international standards". However, Vazquez noted, "we are
concerned by some elements of the report, including a description of
the vote-count as ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’ in 15% of the polling stations
observed" by the OSCE team.

The representative of the U.S. State Department noted that the part of
the opposition is protesting against the results of the elections, and
urged Armenia and the demonstrators "to insure that these gatherings
have thus far proceeded calmly and peacefully".

"We call upon all sides to maintain this peaceful situation and to
refrain from any acts of illegality or violence", Edgar Vazquez.

NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM OF ARMENIA TO HOLD UNOFFICIAL MATCH WITH NATIONAL TEAM OF KAZAKHSTAN IN ROTTERDAM ON MARCH 26

Noyan Tapan
Feb 20, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 20, NOYAN TAPAN. The national football team of
Armenia will hold a check game with the national team of Kazakhstan
in Rotterdam on March 26. Before that, the Kazakh football players
will hold a teaching and training gathering in Holland.

It should be mentioned that the national team of Armenia has played
with the team of Kazakhstan for already 3 times. A draw, a victory,
and a defeat was registered each time.