Author: Zargarian Hambik

COUNCIL OF EUROPE CALLS ON ARMENIA TO JUSTIFY STATE OF EMERGENCY

Agence France Presse
March 2, 2008 Sunday

The head of the Council of Europe on Sunday called on Armenia’s
government to justify its state of emergency declaration amid violent
protests that have left eight dead.

The secretary general of the democracy and rights watchdog, Terry
Davis, said the government was required under the European Convention
on Human Rights to "inform me of the measures it has taken and the
reasons" for it.

"I expect that they will do so without any delay," Davis said in a
statement issued by the institution, which has 47 member countries
including Armenia since 2001.

He also said the government should "review the justification for
the restrictions imposed especially on media, political parties and
non-governmental organisations."

Such measures were an "obstacle to political dialogue," he said.

Tanks and troops patrolled the Armenian capital Yerevan on Sunday
after eight people were killed and dozens injured during violent
protests against the result of the February 19 presidential election.

Authorities imposed a state of emergency late Saturday following
clashes between riot police and protesters. Europe’s top security
watchdog said Sunday it was sending an envoy to promote talks between
the authorities and opposition.

The runner-up in the election, opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian,
said he had been placed under house arrest, although the government
denied this. Davis had previously called for Ter-Petrosian to be
freed immediately.

Robert Kocharyan: If they shoot at policemen I am forced to have recourse to the army

2008-03-01 23:14:00

ArmInfo. If the rioters are shooting at policemen I am forced to
have recourse to the army, President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan said
during a press-conference today late in the evening.

Explaining his earlier decision to impose state of emergency in
Yerevan, Kocharyan said that after being driven out of the Liberty
Square, the unsanctioned demonstrators moved to other areas of Yerevan
and went beyond political behavior. They started robbing and destroying
state and private property. But the most outrageous thing is that
they used arms against policemen. They are shooting at policemen
from behind cars thereby jeopardizing the lives of innocent people
nearby. 8 policemen have been wounded, one of them has received a grave
wound. After learning that the rioters were shooting at policemen,
he decided to impose state of emergency and to deploy armed forces.

According to Kocharyan, Levon Ter-Petrosyan and his entourage
"were very upset" by the circumstance that all the presidential
candidates responded to Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan’s
proposal on cooperation. Besides, the weakening of the rally wave
made Ter-Petrosyan resort to provocation.

"Certainly, among his electorate there are people who joined him for
ideological reasons, but there are also people who are ready to do
everything, including robbery and firing at policemen", Kocharyan
said. He also said that the organizers of the disorders will be
severely punished.

Replying to ArmInfo correspondent’s question, the president noted
that he considered it inexpedient to impose a curfew in the city
with a population of over a million people. "We have taken measures
giving citizens who don’t take part in the disorders as less troubles
as possible", he said.

State of emergency imposed as clashes erupt in Armenia

Agence France Presse
March 1 2008

YEREVAN (AFP) – Authorities in ex-Soviet Armenia imposed a state of
emergency Saturday after rising tension over a disputed presidential
election erupted into violent clashes between protesters and riot
police.

The state of emergency will be in effect in the capital Yerevan
until March 20 under a decree signed by President Robert Kocharian,
his office said.

"In order to end the threat to order and to defend the law and rights
of the people, I declare a state of emergency in Yerevan from March
1 to March 20," the decree stated, a presidential spokesman told AFP.

Protesters and riot police clashed Saturday in Yerevan with
demonstrators throwing Molotov cocktails and stones and police firing
tear gas and automatic weapons into the air, an AFP reporter saw.

Shortly after the clashes began, riot police charged into the crowd
of up to 8,000 protesters who had gathered in a central square in
the Armenian capital in defiance of a crackdown earlier in the day.

AFP reporters on the scene described scenes of looting in central
Yerevan and said several dozen cars had been set alight.

The protesters had massed in Yerevan for an 11th consecutive day
protesting alleged rigging of a February 19 presidential election —
a vote Europe’s main election monitoring organisation said "mostly"
met international standards.

The opposition’s show of defiance came after riot police stormed
Yerevan’s Freedom Square to clear a hard core of some 1,500 protesters
who had been camping there around the clock since the election.

Police could be seen beating several protestors and the health
ministry reported that 31 people, including six police officers,
had been injured in the operation.

Opposition chief Levon Ter-Petrosian, the defeated presidential
candidate and former president of the mountainous country, said he
had been placed under house arrest following the crackdown.

Protesters claim the election was rigged to ensure victory for Prime
Minister Serzh Sarkisian, a close ally of the outgoing president.

Official results gave 52.9 percent of the vote to Sarkisian and 21.5
percent to Ter-Petrosian.

Ter-Petrosian ran on an anti-corruption platform and alleged massive
fraud in the election to replace Kocharian.

The mass protests echoed other street movements that have brought
down governments in neighbouring ex-Soviet Georgia, as well as Ukraine
and Kyrgyzstan following disputed elections in the last four years.

In a statement Saturday, the current chairman of the Organisation
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Finnish Foreign
Minister Ilkka Kanerva, condemned the use of force against peaceful
demonstrators in Yerevan.

"I urge the authorities to use maximum restraint," he said.

"I am troubled that there are reports of casualties. I urge the
authorities to release those detained, and I again call on the
government and the opposition to engage in dialogue."

The opposition accuses Sarkisian, who was backed by Kocharian, of
having used state resources to promote his candidacy, while activists
campaigning for Ter-Petrosian across the country were beaten up.

Though both the round-the-clock tent camp and massive daytime rallies
remained peaceful, the authorities had been warning that their patience
was wearing thin.

Kocharian has described the protests as an attempt at an illegal
power grab and promised the government’s response would be "decisive
and firm".

Sarkisian tried to reach out to opponents and on Friday signed a
coalition deal with the third-placed candidate, Artur Baghdasarian.

World Bank President congratulates Serge Sargsyan

armradio.am
01.03.2008 14:40

The President of the World Bank Robert Zoellick congratulated RA
President elect Serge Sargsyan.

"Dear newly Mr. President elect,

I extend my sincere congratulations to you on your election to the
post of the President of Armenia.

I’m glad that the Armenian people managed to make use of the hardest
process of reforms. Armenia has made great steps towards the formation
of a flexible private sector, improvement of the service sector,
development of infrastructures and poverty reduction. The World Bank
is pleased to have supported these efforts.

As for the future, we expect to continue working with you in the
direction of socio-economic and administrative reforms in Armenia,
closely cooperating with the private sector and the civil society.

I wish you success in carrying out your new duties."

PEACE PROTECTION

Panorama.am
14:38 01/03/2008

On 1 March Holy Cathedral Echmiadzin sent its holy message to
people. It is particularly mentioned in the message:

"Holy Cathedral Echmiadzin is concerned with the events held in the
Freedom square on 1 March. The Cathedral asks people to be quiet and
to keep peace and stability in the country, as only by dialogue we
could come to a possible conclusion and solve the created disorder."

Source: Panorama.am

EX-ARMENIAN MINISTER AIVAZIAN FACING UP TO 5 YEARS IN PRISON

Interfax News Agency, Russia
Russia & CIS
February 28, 2008

Former Armenian State Revenues Minister Smbat Aivazian has been charged
with resisting a government official using violence, the police press
service said on Wednesday.

The charges brought against Aivazian carry a fine varying from 300,000
to 500,000 drams (up to $2,000) or up to 5 years of imprisonment,
it said.

An unidentified caller reported the police on February 24 that he
had seen armed men on one of central streets of Yerevan, it said.

"Operatives from the organized crime department, who promptly arrived
at the place, found spring batons and a Makarov pistol in Aivazian’s
car," it said.

Aivazian and two men accompanying him were taken to a police station.

It turned out that the men who were together with Aivazian had prior
convictions. However, they were released, it said.

Aram Sarkisian, the leader of the opposition Republica party
demanded at a rally in downtown Yerevan on Wednesday that Aivazian
be immediately released.

FORMER POWS HAVE THE RIGHT FOR SOCIAL ALLOWANCES

KarabakhOpen
29-02-2008 11:52:43

The Civic Action Center, a Karabakh-based NGO, held a round-table
meeting about the problem of social rehabilitation of former POWs
and hostages.

Albert Voskanyan, a civil society activist, the director of the
organization, said in the post-Soviet countries which were involved
in war deal with the issue of rehabilitation of former POWs and
hostages reluctantly.

Two former POWs participated in the round-table meeting who
said that most problems occur because they do not have a social
status. "The social policy on former POWs is regulated by the
law on social security of servicemen and their families, which
does not define the status of POWs separately. It hinders the
solution of a number of problems. Meanwhile these people suffered,
underwent a hard psychological trauma. Their families suffered who
also need assistance," Albert Voskanyan said. He underlined that in
the post-Soviet space the governments have a "Stalin-like" approach
toward POWs, although, the civil society activist said, the approach
tends to change.

During the round-table meeting the need for an NGO of former POWs and
hostages which would lobby their rights was discussed. The CAC said
willing to help set up an organization and organize meetings of its
future members with members of parliament and stakeholders.

HEAD OF ARMENIAN MISSION TO NATO MEETS WITH NATO PA SECRETARY GENERAL

armradio.am
28.02.2008 16:45

On February 27 the Head of the Armenian Mission to NATO Samvel
Lazarian met with the new Secretary General of the NATO Parliamentary
Assembly David Hobbs, who assumed office on January 1st, 2008.

During the meeting the parties discussed the future programs of the
NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the preparation of the spring session to
be held in Berlin in May, the perspectives of cooperation between the
National Assembly of Armenia and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the
opportunities of organizing reciprocal visits and parliamentary events.

The agenda of the Berlin session of the NATO PA will include
Afghanistan, cyber defense and energy security. Special attention
will be paid to the issue of working out a new Military Doctrine with
the Alliance.

CRIMINALS SAID TO ASSAULT ARMENIAN OPPOSITION MPS AT POLICE BUILDING

Haykakan zhamanak
February 28, 2008
Armenia

Criminals assaulted opposition MPs and journalists at a police
department in Yerevan on 27 February, an Armenian pro-opposition
daily has reported. The MPs had come to the building to clarify the
reasons for the detention of three supporters of former President
Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who is disputing the result of the 19 February
presidential election. The following is the text of an unattributed
article titled "Another act of violence" published in Haykakan Zhamanak
on 28 February:

At about 2230 [1830 gmt] yesterday a group of criminal elements
used violence against MPs, journalists and representatives of
non-governmental organizations in the presence of police officers
in the building of Central Department of the Police of the Republic
of Armenia.

Zaruhi Postanjyan, a member of the Heritage [opposition] parliamentary
faction, Stepan Safaryan [a member of the same parliamentary faction],
journalists and representatives of non-governmental organizations
went to the police to clarify the reasons three young persons had
been taken into custody from Freedom Square [the venue of rallies by
Ter-Petrosyan’s supporters].

The police building was under the control of criminal elements, who
decided who has a right to enter and who does not. It is likely that
it was the criminals who took the young persons to the police.

Anyway, the criminal elements assaulted the MPs and journalists,
forcibly removed them from the building, and shut themselves in the
building with uniformed police officers.

After representatives of the Ombudsman’s office arrived, the three
young persons who had been detained were allowed to leave the building.

Some time later the criminal elements, which were acting without
obstruction and under the patronage of the police, ran out of the
building and drove rapidly away.

U.S. PROVIDES EQUIPMENT TO ARMENIAN PEACEKEEPING BATTALION

A1+
27 February, 2008

Armenia’s Peacekeeping Battalion recently received over $3,000,000
worth of communication equipment through the United States’ Office of
Defense Cooperation (ODC) located in the U.S. Embassy. The radios,
antennas, various supporting equipment, and training, all purchased
from the Harris Radio Corporation, further ensure the ability of the
Armenian battalion to jointly operate with coalition and peacekeeping
forces worldwide, and specifically in Kosovo and Iraq where Armenian
contingents now operate.

The communications equipment is part of a larger U.S. assistance plan
to support Armenia’s NATO Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP)
goal, which stipulates Armenia’s objective to develop a peacekeeping
battalion. In support of that objective, the U.S. has allocated over
$6,000,000 of Foreign Military Financing (FMF) funds since 2006
to fully equip the Armenian Peacekeeping Battalion with uniforms,
field equipment, medical equipment, chemical detection and protection
equipment, and training.

Additional U.S. funding has been directed to support the expansion
of this peacekeeping battalion to a brigade size unit as is also
stipulated in Armenia’s IPAP with NATO. The ODC is working with the
Armenian Ministry of Defense in 2008 to provide a limited number
of transport trucks, uniforms, field equipment and additional
communications equipment to support the development of the Armenian
Peacekeeping Brigade

The U.S. Office of Defense Cooperation in Armenia works to foster
U.S. government and industry assistance to Armenia in the defense
sphere. The office operates under the authority of the U.S. Chief
of Mission in Armenia and the U.S. European Command, located in
Stuttgart, Germany.