Author: Torosian Aram

VERY HEATED SUMMER

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on July 26, 2008
Armenia

`Beginning August 1, we will enter a more decisive stage. That’s to
say, this is not the end of anything; this is the beginning of a much
more active and decisive stage because both the accentuations and the
activities expected thereafter will have a more active pretext.

There will be both active street protests and an initiative of
discussing the internal organizational issues. And tougher assessments
will be made on the domestic and foreign policy conducted by the
authorities,’ ARMAN MOUSINYAN, the Spokesman of the first President of
Armenia says, promising this kind of stormy developments for the near
future.

DE PUIG’S CONTROVERSIAL STATEMENTS.

AZG Armenian Daily
25/07/2008

Armenia-Europe

The high-ranking European official is now on a visit to Armenia
and is having different meetings. As the official sources inform,
during his meeting with President Serge Sarkisian de Puig discussed
the process implementation of the PACE 1609 Resolution.

It is said that the PACE Chairman-in-Office had positive impressions
from his visit to Armenia and that he had arrived to encourage Armenia
to realize the resolution requirements as fast as possible. De Puig
said that the PACE is respectful to the choice of the Armenian people
and called upon the political opposition in Armenia to be the same.

Having meeting with Ombudsman of Armenia Armen Haroutiunian the PACE
chairman said that the temporary parliamentary committee investigating
the March events is not trusty enough.

IMAGINATION TURNING INTO MANIA
Naira Khachatryan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on July 25, 2008
Armenia

President of the Union of the Political Scientists Hmayak Hovhannisyan
was the guest of "De Facto" yesterday.

The Political Scientist is for the dialogue between the opposition and
the authorities. But he stated that according to the classical laws
of sociology Levon Ter-Petrosyan must represent the pro-oppositional
domain, because he was the one to get the votes of the protestant
electorate.

He believes, "Undeniably the ruling power must have more productive
touches with the civil society, must be more attentive towards the
demands and expectations of the different layers of society, but
meanwhile the ruling power must initiate a dialogue on the political
level, in order to overcome the unfavorable moral-psychological
atmosphere in the country."

Still during the Presidential elections H. Hovhannisyan reserved the
role of an impartial arbiter of dialogue for Robert Kocharyan and he
accused the second President for his unrealized dreams.

"It would have been logical for him to take the role of a favorable
arbiter for the country, for the candidates and in my view for Serge
Sargsyan, instead of emphasizing his patronage towards Serge Sargsyan,
thus depriving himself of the right to the role of an arbiter. Which
is a necessity from the point of view of political sciences, t o
ensure equal game rules."

According to the logic of H. Hovhannisyan’s analyses after committing
himself to the role of an arbiter R. Kocharyan must have left the
political arena, which he didn’t do, because he was publishing a book,
"And this shows that he doesn’t intend to leave the political arena. It
would have been logical for Robert Kocharyan to take a break, if not
ten at least for some years. Why didn’t he take this break?"

H. Hovhannisyan’s predictions in terms of the developments following
2007 parliamentary elections also didn’t come true. Of course the blame
over again lays on R. Kocharyan: "Announcing after the parliamentary
elections that "Bargavach Hayastan" party obtained less votes than
the Republicans Robert Kocharyan should have resigned."

But this is not all. Justifying Ter-Petrosyan’s refusal of the proposal
for dialogue and cooperation made by Serge Sargsyan and of course
taking the responsibility of March 1 events from the shoulders of
the radical opposition, the Political Scientist pointed out Robert
Kocharyan’s July 9 interview given to "Mediamax" saying "it was a
claim for the establishment of an iron hand in Armenia."

And the claim for the establishment of an iron hand was allegedly
addressed to nomenclature: "He is saying that Serge Sargsyan can’t
provide our security.20That Serge Sargsyan can’t be a safe roof
for us. I am the only person to provide security for you. And this
nomenclature, in the conditions of similar developments gradually
will have to yield to those whom Serge Sargsyan is bringing to the
political; arena, slowly, but still bringing."

"Aren’t the radical opposition and their ideological devotee H.

Hovhannisyan fighting for power?"

"Not the power but the leading staff is the first figure. Had Serge
Sargsyan done radical changes, accepting the package of the settlement
of human resource issue that LTP proposed, we could have seen that
change of power really took place."

WHY THE CIA FUNDS ME AND OTHER NONSENSE

Turkish Daily News
July 24 2008

No, I don’t get any money from any foreign intelligence agency,
such as, most probably, the CIA. And with such a low dollar rate,
I am even not that interested

by Mustafa AKYOL

If there is one thing that the Kemalists never lack, that is
imagination. They can make up, and then believe in, all sorts of
fantasy. Their pundits have recently created a vast range of conspiracy
theories from the lunacy that "Islamist" Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan is in fact a crypto Jew who serves the Elders of Zion to the
more popular nonsense that the U.S. government aims at establishing a
"moderate Islamic republic" in Turkey.

I am used to seeing such bilge in the crude side of the Kemalist
camp, but these days even their most sophisticated representatives
seem to follow a similar line. My column neighbor, Yusuf Kanlı,
a most articulate and respected writer, surprised me by doing so
just two days ago. In his column titled "Muslim Democrats" he wrote,
"’Muslim democrats,’ some people on the payroll – or who were on the
payroll – of some foreign intelligence agencies… are conducting
psychological warfare against the patriot and Kemalist Turks through
a disinformation campaign in the media outlets."

Enemies united:

I often don’t take such broad accusations personally, but
Mr. Kanlı left me with no choice by explaining what these
foreign-intelligence-agency-paid misinformers do: "In this
psychological war, even Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was implicated with
terrorism and some insolent penslingers have started using the
‘Kemalist terrorism’ terminology to describe people who resist the
growing Islamofascist trends in this country."

Well, it was me who wrote a piece titled "Turkey meets ‘Kemalist
terror’" just two days before in order to explain the ideology of
the controversial Ergenekon gang. "Therefore," I said, "Mr. Kanlı
must be talking about me." So, let me say a few words.

Of course, accusations such as this — or that I am in fact a space
alien designed to look like a human in order to infiltrate the blue
planet — is impossible to disprove. I can’t get documents from
"foreign intelligence agencies" stating that they don’t really
pay me, right? I can only make a statement. So here it comes: No,
I don’t get any money from any foreign intelligence agency, such as,
most probably, the CIA. And with such a low dollar rate, I am even
not that interested.

I think the real question here is how Mr. Kanlı "knows" that Turkish
commentators like me are "on the payroll" of some secret and wicked
powers. The "knowledge" that lies behind this accusation is, actually,
a presumption that the Kemalist ideology has installed into the minds
of its believers. Since Kemalism became a state-ideology by wiping
off all political opposition in 1925, it has blamed all dissenters,
which were labeled as "internal enemies," to be the agents of "external
enemies." The Islamo-Kurdish revolt of that year was explained as a
"British conspiracy," although there was never ever any evidence
to support such a claim. Over the years, "the external enemies" who
supposedly finance and tutor the non-Kemalist groups (conservative
Muslims, Kurds, liberals, the democratic left) diversified by adding
on the United States, Armenians, "Zionists," Iraqi Kurds, Arabs,
the European Union or even individuals such as George Soros.

This line of thinking brings intellectual poverty on the
Kemalists. Instead of trying to understand their critics, countering
them with reason and inferring some self-criticism, they shut down
the debate by simply blaming them as "traitors." And when they feel
threatened by the democratic power of these "traitors," they call the
state powers (the military, the high judiciary, and even "deep state"
gangs like Ergenekon) to save "the Republic," which has become a
euphemism for oligarchy.

Yet Kemalism is a big tent and not all of its adherents are as crude
as the shall-we-gather-at-the-coup choir. The more cosmopolitan a
Kemalist becomes, the more his arguments against democracy become
nuanced. He can even abandon some aspects of the ideology, but as far
as he remains attached to its two main pillars — a strong distaste
toward conservative religion and an elitist contempt for popular
sovereignty — he has a place under the Ataturk sun.

Bekdil, Hitler, Marcus, etc.:

Which brings me to my other column neighbor, Burak Bekdil. His
stylish, sharp and witty pieces are full of oft-repeated but hardly
convincing arguments against the democratization of Turkey. At least
a dozen times, for example, he has reminded us that Hitler came to
power through popular vote. What we should infer from that must be
something thus: Hitler came to power by elections. So elections are
untrustworthy. So we don’t need to respect election results. Facts
such as that Hitler’s dictatorship was based on not election results
but that he had a paramilitary force (the SA) and that he wiped off
all political opposition by using violence, are, of course, not what
Mr. Bekdil reminds you.

Another beloved example of Mr. Bekdil is the "yes" vote the Turkish
people gave to the 1982 Constitution. "Did 92 percent of our
‘enlightened’ nation not vote for the 1980 coup, its Constitution
and leaders as untouchables," he was asking yesterday, as he has
done again at least a dozen times, in order to imply how dumb the
Turkish nation is. Yet he was carefully avoiding telling you that
the 1982 Constitution was also a ticket from military rule to free
elections. Had people said "no" to the constitution, the military
regime would probably be extended indefinitely.

Yesterday Mr. Bekdil was also telling us that Turkey needs "checks
and balances" against the Justice and Development Party, or AKP,
government, which is, on paper, an absolutely true statement. What
he was not telling us was that the country is now on the brink of
a judicial coup, not an act of "checks and balances." And while
he was bashing journalist Aliza Marcus for her co-authored piece
in The Washington Post, he was evoking the standard Kemalist line
of traitor-hunting. The "love affair" Ms. Marcus allegedly had with
the AKP, according to Mr. Bekdil, was the reincarnation of her "love
affair" with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

Another, and much better, recent piece in these pages (by H. Akın
Unver) was referring to Turkey’s "unevolved secularists." Alas,
I wonder if there is any "evolved secularist" around at all.

–Boundary_(ID_QEtD4Nje5gny5DcGcqVjMw)–

DEFENCE MINISTER ABOUT ARMENIAN OFFICER MURDERED IN AZERBAIJAN

Panorama.am
19:53 23/07/2008

The Minister of Defence of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan announced that an
investigation is being conducted to reveal the results of Armenian
military officer G. Manasaryan’s murder in Azerbaijan.

According to the Minister the officer has left the military fronts
willingly and disappeared. Later they have been informed from
Azerbaijani web site that Manasaryan was murdered.

The Defence authorities contacted with the Azerbaijani Armed Forces
and negotiations are still being held to return back the body of the
murdered soldier.

AZERBAIJAN: "PROSECUTORS VERY MUCH WANT TO SENTENCE HAMID"
Felix Corley

Forum 18
July 23 2008
Norway

The criminal trial of Baptist pastor Hamid Shabanov began in the
north-western town of Zakatala on 22 July, despite the fact that
the prosecution had refused to hand the defence the case materials,
Baptist Union leader Ilya Zenchenko told Forum 18 News Service. The
trial resumes on 28 July. The same court sentenced fellow Baptist
pastor Zaur Balaev to prison in 2007. Shabanov is being prosecuted on
charges that he held an illegal weapon and faces up to three years’
imprisonment. His church and family insist the weapon was planted
during a massive raid on his home on 20 June during which he was
arrested. They say he is being prosecuted to punish him for leading
his congregation. "Prosecutors very much want to sentence Hamid,"
Zenchenko warned. "This whole case has been staged. We pray to God
for him to come home," Shabanov’s family told Forum 18. Meanwhile
prosecutors in the capital Baku are trying to prosecute Jehovah’s
Witness conscientious objector Mushfiq Mammedov for a second time on
charges of evading military service, although the Constitution and
the Criminal Code ban this.

The criminal trial of Baptist pastor Hamid Shabanov began yesterday
(22 July) with a preliminary hearing in the north-western town of
Zakatala [Zaqatala], Forum 18 News Service has learnt. The full trial –
at which he faces up to three years’ imprisonment – begins on 28 July
and could be over within two days, the head of Azerbaijan’s Baptist
Union Ilya Zenchenko told Forum 18 after the preliminary hearing on 22
July. "Prosecutors very much want to sentence Hamid," he warned. He
views Shabanov’s prosecution as part of an official campaign against
local Baptists which has lasted more than a decade. Meanwhile a police
manhunt has begun for a Jehovah’s Witness conscientious objector
Mushfiq Mammedov, who has already served one sentence for refusing
military service. Prosecutors want to sentence him a second time for
the same offence, although this is banned in law.

Zenchenko – who travelled the 450 kms (280 miles) from the capital Baku
to attend the hour-long hearing – said Shabanov "looked bad". "Hamid
was wearing the same clothes he had been arrested in back on 20 June,"
he told Forum 18. "The Zakatala police who are now holding him have
not allowed his family to pass on food or clothes. Hamid’s wife and
daughters were crying in court – it was the first time they had been
able to see him since he was brought back to Zakatala earlier this
month. Even then they were kept at a distance of three metres [yards]
and were not able to touch him."

Forum 18 was unable to find out from Zakatala police why they had
refused to accept food and clothes for Shabanov and why family visits
had been denied. The duty officer refused to put Forum 18 through to
the police chief Faik Shabanov (no relation) on 23 July. "Why should
I put you through?" he asked, before putting the phone down.

Shabanov is leader of one of several Baptist congregations in the
majority Georgian-speaking village of Aliabad several kilometres
(miles) from Zakatala, the regional centre. The 51-year-old pastor
is married with three adult children, two daughters and a son. He
is being tried at the same court where fellow Aliabad Baptist pastor
Zaur Balaev was sent to prison in 2007.

"We saw him today in court," Shabanov’s family told Forum 18 on 22 July
from their home in Aliabad. They report that about fifteen family and
church members were allowed into the court and say that for the first
time the police did not refuse to accept food and clean clothes for
Shabanov. "We hope they now hand them on to him."

The family insists that all they want is Shabanov back home. "This
whole case has been staged. We pray to God for him to come home."

Zenchenko complained that Shabanov’s lawyer, Mirman Aliev, was only
shown the full case file at the 22 July hearing and can only now
begin to prepare Shabanov’s defence. He said that Shabanov is being
tried under Article 228, part 1 of the Criminal Code, which punishes
illegal holding of a weapon with a sentence of up to three years’
imprisonment. Shabanov’s congregation and his family insist that
a Nagan pistol a Prosecutor’s Office official claims to have found
during the 20 June house search was planted in his home. Shabanov
was arrested immediately after the alleged discovery.

During the search by some ten officers of the police, Prosecutor’s
Office and National Security Ministry (NSM) secret police, Christian
literature was deemed "banned literature" and confiscated (see F18News
7 July 2008 ).

Zenchenko also complained that the case paperwork includes allegations
that Shabanov was promoting separatism among other members of
Azerbaijan’s Georgian-speaking minority, allegations Zenchenko
rejects. "Hamid did not have an illegal weapon and he did not promote
separatism," he told Forum 18. "But he has been accused of trying to
create a new Karabakh," he reported in a reference to the mountainous
region with a majority ethnic Armenian population which broke away from
control from Baku in a bitter war in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Forum 18 was unable to find out from Hekimkhan Seferov of the Zakatala
District Prosecutor’s Office why materials on Shabanov’s case had
not been handed to the defence until the first day of the trial. The
official who answered the telephone on 23 July said Seferov was not
in the office and refused to discuss Shabanov’s case.

Zenchenko lamented that unlike with earlier hearings in the prosecution
of fellow Aliabad Baptist pastor Balaev, no observers from the Baku
Office of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) were present in court.

Balaev was arrested in May 2007 on charges of attacking five police
officers and damaging a police car that he and his church insist were
trumped up and aimed to punish him for leading his congregation. He
was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, but was freed on 19 March
after being held for nearly a year. He was summoned and threatened
with a new prison term in early May (see F18News 12 June 2008
=1142).

Meanwhile Jehovah’s Witness conscientious objector Mammedov faces
a possible new sentence for refusing compulsory military service,
despite the fact that he has already served one sentence on this
charge. Jehovah’s Witnesses told Forum 18 on 22 July that the new
criminal case could have been lodged to punish him for challenging
the original sentence through the domestic courts and at the European
Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, where his case is now
awaiting an admissibility decision.

Forum 18 tried to find out why the Prosecutor’s Office is seeking to
prosecute Mammedov for a second time, but the telephone went unanswered
on 23 July.

Mammedov was found guilty by Baku’s Sabail District Court on
21 July 2006 of violating Article 321.1 of the Criminal Code,
which punishes evasion of military service with a sentence
of up to two years’ imprisonment. He was given a suspended
sentence of six months. The authorities have repeatedly – as in
other cases such as that of Pastor Balaev – violated due legal
process in hearing Mammedov’s appeal (see F18News 22 January 2008
=1075).

The original prosecution and the new attempted prosecution come despite
Azerbaijan’s commitment to the Council of Europe to have instituted
an alternative sentence by January 2004, three years after it joined
the pan-European organisation. Azerbaijan failed to meet this deadline
and has still not adopted an alternative service law.

Jehovah’s Witnesses told Forum 18 that the "harassment" of Mammedov
and his family began soon after he filed the application to the ECHR
in March 2008. "Starting from May this year, policemen several times
went to the apartment where Mushfiq is registered," they told Forum
18. "And several times officials from Sabail District Prosecutor’s
Office called his mother and told her that Mushfiq should come to
the Prosecutor’s Office, allegedly because Mushfiq was accused of
committing the crime of stealing a mobile phone."

On 8 June Mammedov and his mother Sevil Najafova filed a complaint
against these actions with Sabail District Prosecutor’s office. "Up
till now they received no answer from the Prosecutor’s Office," the
Jehovah’s Witnesses complained. Copies of the complaint were also
sent to the Human Rights Ombudsperson Elmira Suleymanova and human
rights organisations.

On 7 July a police officer named Javad called Mammedov’s mother and
said that a criminal case has been instigated over his alleged evasion
of military service. He said he had received a written order to find
him and bring him forcibly to the investigator Vugar Alekperov of
Sabail District Prosecutor’s Office. "Interestingly, up till that
time Mushfiq did not receive any written notice from the Prosecutor’s
Office," the Jehovah’s Witnesses commented.

The next day Mammedov’s mother went to the prosecutor’s office where
she was given the written decision that a criminal case had been
instigated against her son. The decision – of which Forum 18 has seen
a copy – was dated 5 June. She was also informed that police would
soon declare a manhunt for him.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses point out that Article 64 of Azerbaijan’s
Constitution and Article 8.2 of the Criminal Code do not allow
criminal charges to be brought against someone twice for the same
crime. "Moreover this should be true in this case when Mushfiq did
not commit any crime, but used his constitutional rights to request
alternative service." They said Mammedov intends to file another
complaint shortly with Sabail District Prosecutor’s Office about the
attempt to prosecute him a second time for the same offence.

ARMENIA IN VIOLATION OF EUROPEAN ARMS DEAL

AzerNews Weekly
July 23 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan has facts proving Armenia`s violating the restrictions
imposed by the Treaty on Conventional Arms in Europe, the Foreign
Ministry said.

"Armenia has violated the indicated limit by 70 units, and Baku has
information about over 300 armored vehicles based in the occupied
territories of Azerbaijan," it said in a statement.

It also said that under the deal, Armenia is not allowed to maintain
over 220 armored vehicles and the same number of tanks.

After the Soviet collapse in 1991, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia had
the right to keep military machinery of the same volume – 220 tanks,
220 armored fighter machines, 285 artillery systems, 100 planes and
50 helicopters. Unlike Armenia, Azerbaijan is strictly following
the quota.

ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN RELATIONS HAVE BRIGHT FUTURE

ARKA
July 21

RA President Serge Sargsyan is sure of a bright future of
Armenian-Russian relations.

"We have a very good common past, present, and I am sure of a bright
future of our relations," S. Sargsyan told a press conference.

According to him, Armenian-Russian relations are as good as relations
between two countries can be. The President pointed out that some
opponents speaking of problems certainly have the best motives.

S. Sargsyan pointed out statements on a low level of economic
relations.

However, the 30-40 per cent increase in bilateral trade is the best
evidence of the bilateral economic ties.

The RA Statistical Service reports that Armenian-Russian trade turnover
had totaled $291.6mln by end of May 2008 (exports totaled $79.7mln,
and imports $211.9mln in January-May 2008).

In January-May 2008, Russia’s share reached 14.7% of Armenia’s total
foreign trade turnover, which remains the highest indicator as compared
with other countries among Armenia’s trade partners.

"We have similar stands on many issues, which simplifies out
cooperation within international organizations," S. Sargsyan said.

The RA President expressed the confidence that RF President
Dmitry Medvedev’s planned visit to Armenia will contribute to the
consolidation of bilateral relations.

EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS ALERTED ON RAGIP ZARAKOLU CONDEMNATION

armradio.am
22.07.2008 12:30

The European Armenian Federation recently alerted the European
Commission on the condemnation of the Turkish dissident Ragip
Zarakolu in virtue of the Turkish Penal Code 301 article and the
new violation of principles of freedom and democracy (that this case
constitutes). The Federation reminds that these principles are supposed
to constitute a prerequisite for Turkey’s EU accession.

In the letter sent to the Commissioner for Enlargement, Mr Olli
Rehn, the organisation for the defence of Human Rights reminds
that M. Zarakolu’s "crime" simply consisted in editing the Turkish
translation of a book evoking the Armenian genocide. The Federation
is worried, because Mr.

Zarakolu’s condemnation has not triggered any reaction from the
European Commission, quite the contrary, by opening 2 new chapters
with Turkey on the same day, the Commission sent to this country a
political message "which strengthens the idea of the inanity of the
European values and of the pointlessness of any effort in this regard".

Reminding the Commission of her own prerequisites for EU accession, and
specifically ‘in case of grand and continuous violations in Turkey of
the principles of democracy, human rights and basic freedoms, exactly
those values on which the European Union is based, the Commission
has the right to halt all ne gotiations." The European Armenian
Federation calls on to the European Commission to "grant Turkey a
period of six months, to totally review the bulk of the liberticidal
legislation.’ Taking into account the ‘credibility of the Union’,
‘the Commission herself has to suggest to the Council to cease the
negotiations process in December 2008’.

In parallel, the European Armenian Federation has also informed
the Council of Europe’s representative for Human Rights, Mr. Thomas
Hammarberg about the Zarakolu case. In the letter is mentioned that
Mr. Zarakolu is a fighter for Human Rights in Turkey and that ‘in his
country he is fighting for Human Rights and against dogmas’, like
racism, glorification of militarism and the denial of the Armenian
Genocide. The Federation expresses her worries about the conviction,
and notes that ‘it’s symbolic for encouraging the suppression of
freedom of speech and the denial of the genocide in Turkey’.

The letter of the Armenian European Federation sent to Mr. Hammarberg
notes that OSCE’s representative for freedom of press Mr. Harartzi, Mr.

McSheyn and other prominent members of the Council of Europe’s
Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) have condemned, both the trial and
the conviction.’

The Federation calls on Mr. Hammamberg to defend and assist the
convicted dissident, ‘exactly in accord to his duties, to defe nd
and assist the defenders of Human Rights’ and naturally ‘persuade
the Turkish judiciary to re assess their stance on Human Rights in
the country".

"After Hrand Dinks’s assassination, after the Ergenekon paramilitary
criminal organization, Zarakolu’s conviction proves that the country
is not ready. After these proofs, PACE has to adopt a resolution to
restart the monitoring of this country’, announced Laurent Leyliekian,
Executive Director of the European Armenian Federation. "The European
Commission has to suggest a moratorium on the process and find the
right and effective mechanisms for protection and surveillance of
the freedom of speech and human rights in Turkey’, concluded Laurent
Leylekian.

SERZH SARGSYAN: TOO SOFT VERDICTS TO POGROMISTS MAY NOT BE OF SERVICE TO PUBLIC

ArmInfo
2008-07-21 15:40:00

President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan called effective the actions by
the law- enforcement in investigation of the incidents of 1 March
in Yerevan.

Speaking at a press conference devoted to 100 days of his presidency
Serzh Sargsyan outlined the release of dozens of people not guilty
in organization or participation in the unrest as an evidence
of the effective work of the authorities and partial fulfillment
of international recommendations. ‘I have repeatedly said and now
reiterate that I welcome soft verdicts to the people whose guilt is
not significant’, the president said. However, he said, the people
that committed heavy crimes, provoked pogroms or crushed private
property will not get soft verdicts.

‘On the other hand, I think we have no right to overlook those
incidents and the people who committed heavy crimes, organized
disorders, broke, smashed private property. I think if we are too soft
to them we will not be of service to public and many in our country
will yield to temptation to make such actions’, the president said.

Commenting on the recent statement by the first president Levon
Ter-Petrosyan that ‘Serzh Sargsyan could set free all the prisoners
by a singe phone call’, the president said ‘this step will not be
useful to anyone. If anyone is able to set free dozens of people by
a single call, he can easily imprison dozens of people in the same
way. It is not my style’, he said.