OPPOSITION LEADER EMERGES FROM HIDING

YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS: Artashes Geghamian, the leader of
the opposition National Unity party, who reportedly went into hiding
after the police dispersed an anti-government rally on early hours of
April 13, staged by his party together with Ardarutyun alliance,
emerged today at a news conferenceto claim that the authorities had
schemed to make him disabled. This accusation was echoed by his
party-fellow who declared that the entire goal of the authorities’
plan was to harm Geghamian, “who stood by people until the end.”

Asked to comment on the United States’ concern about the “sharp
escalation” in tension between Armenia’s government and the
opposition, andits calls on both the authorities and the opposition to
engage in dialogue and avoid any actions that could lead to violence
or infringe on the right to peaceful assembly, Geghamian said “a
dialogue could be started for search of ways tocome out of the
explosive situation,” but he added that he could agree only to a
televised dialogue with president Kocharian and defense minister
Sarkisian.He added the opposition would seek for the change of power
through constitutional ways.

SENIOR POLICE OFFICER DEFENDS USE OF FORCE AGAINST RALLY PARTICIPANTS

YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS: A senior police official defended
today police claims that the protesters themselves assaulted security
officers with stones and petrol bombs, despite repeated warnings that
their unlawful actions would be met with adequate reaction. Hovhaness
Kocharian, deputy head of a police department, argued today that the
crackdown on the demonstrators in early hours of April 13 did not go
beyond the boundaries, envisaged by the law on police. He was speaking
at a roundtable discussion at American University of Armenia, called
for an in-depth look into last two days’ developments.

Citing a clause from the law, the senior police officer argued that
police have the right to use physical force when arresting a suspect
or preventinga crime, but admitted that in some cases innocent people
may suffer. Kocharian said family members of all people detained on
April 13 morning were informed about the detainees whereabouts. To
conclude he again cited a provision of the Constitution that envisages
restricting some of citizens’ rights in the event of threats to other
people’s freedoms and safety.

Earlier a spokesman for president Kocharian defended the use of
force, saying that the opposition actions amounted to `political
extremism.’ He warned that further attempts to force the president
into resignation would be countered in the same way. The spokesman,
Ashot Kocharian, said the opposition disrupted `the normal work’ of
the president and the parliament, thereby `endangering the country’s
constitutional order.’ `The demonstrators did not obey the legitimate
orders of police officers,’ he said.

A senior member of Orinats Yerkir party, a component of the ruling
coalition, said today the disagreements between the opposition and
authorities erupted after the parliament majority refused to put on
its agenda an opposition motion calling for a referendum on confidence
in the president. He said only strict adherence to the rule of law
would allow Armenia to move ahead towards fuller integration with
Europe, adding also that his party stands for a dialogue between
forces to ease tension and avoid new clashes.

The discussion was mainly attended by representatives of
non-governmental organizations, who all condemned use of force on the
path of democratization.

ZORYAN INSTITUTE OF CANADA, INC.
255 Duncan Mill Rd., Suite 310
Toronto, ON, Canada M3B 3H9
Tel: 416-250-9807 Fax: 416-512-1736 E-mail: [email protected]

PRESS RELEASE CONTACT: GEORGE SHIRINIAN
DATE: April 14, 2004 Tel: (416)
250-9807

PROF. DADRIAN’S WORK ON THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE PUBLISHED IN TURKEY

Istanbul – The Turkish Belge Publishing House has just released a volume of
studies by internationally renowned scholar, Prof. Vahakn N. Dadrian,
Director of Genocide Research with the Zoryan Institute. This collection
contains three monographs and five journal articles on the World War I
Armenian Genocide and is the first of a two-volume series Belge has
projected for publication. The translations from English into Turkish were
done by the Turkish intellectual Attila Tuygan. It is hoped that the
publication of this new book will contribute to establishing a common body
of knowledge on Armenian-Turkish history for Turkish civil society.

As far as it is known, this is the first time that a collection of Dadrian’s
in-depth and multi-faceted studies on the Armenian Genocide, with all their
extensive footnotes, have appeared in Turkey in the Turkish language. As the
publisher has stated, one of the many aspects of the significance of this
publication derives from the fact that the primary sources and data that
Dadrian relies on are mainly authentic Ottoman-Turkish documents; they are
complemented and reinforced by extensive use of the state archive documents
of Imperial Germany and Imperial Austria-Hungary, Turkey’s staunch wartime
Allies.

Another aspect to this new book’s significance is the fact that discussion
of the Armenian Genocide is still a taboo subject in Turkey. In 1995, the
same publishing house had issued a Turkish language edition of Dadrian’s
legal analysis of the Armenian Genocide, which originally appeared in the
Yale Journal of International Law under the title “Genocide as a Problem of
National and International Law: The World War I Armenian Case and its
Contemporary Legal Ramifications” (vol. 14, no. 2, 1989, pp. 221 – 334). The
Turkish authorities prosecuted the publisher, the late Ayshe Zarakolu, for
that publication. She was convicted by Istanbul’s State Security Court on
charges of “incitement to enmity based on racial and religious differences”
(Clause 2 of Article 312 of the Penal Code), and accordingly faced a heavy
fine and long-term imprisonment. However, a petition to the Turkish Appeals
Court, signed by a dozen American academics from a variety of U.S.
universities, proved instrumental for overturning the verdict of the
Security Court some three years later. The prosecution tried to have this
acquittal reversed, unsuccessfully. In that petition, the American scholars
defended the publication by emphasizing, on the one hand, the impeccable
academic credentials of the author, and, on the other hand, by questioning
“the standards of fairness and justice in democratic Turkey.”

More recently, the Turkish Government seems to be renewing its pressure on
the Armenian Genocide issue. In May 2003, it required all public employees
to attend a mandatory seminar on “The Baseless Armenian Genocide
Allegations.” When some teachers at one such seminar in Elbeyli district
simply asked questions about the Genocide, the meeting dissolved in an
uproar. The government prosecutor indicted six teachers, and one was jailed
briefly, then released on bail. The teachers were to be tried on charges of
instigating social unrest. The teachers’ union has mounted a vigorous legal
defense.

In such a highly charged atmosphere, it is hoped that such sound, reliable,
academic studies as represented in this book will help provide factual
information for rational discussion.

Several thousand copies of that publication have already been distributed in
academic circles, as well as public sectors, in Turkey’s three major cities:
Istanbul, Izmir, and Ankara. This new volume comprises the following
important studies.

1) The Convergent Roles of the State and Government Party in the
Armenian Genocide. (From Studies in the Armenian Genocide. Eds.
Chorbajian and Shirinian. 1999).

2) Party Allegiance as a Determinant in the Turkish Military’s
Involvement in the World War I Armenian Genocide. (From Revue du Monde
Arménien Moderne et Contemporain, vol. 1, no. 1, 1994).

3) The Role of the Turkish Military’s Involvement in the Destruction of
Ottoman Armenians. (From Journal of Political and Military Sociology, vol.
20, no. 2, 1993).

4) The Role of the Special Organization in the Armenian Genocide during
the First World War. (From Minorities in Wartime. Ed. P. Panayi. 1993).

5) The Role of Turkish Physicians in the World War I Genocide of the
Ottoman Armenians. (From Holocaust and Genocide Studies vol. 1, no. 2,
1986).

6) The Armenian Genocide: An Interpretation. (From America and the
Armenian Genocide of 1915. Ed. J. Winter, 2003).

7) A Textual Analysis of the Key Indictment of the Turkish Military
Tribunal Investigating the Armenian Genocide. (From Journal of Political and
Military Sociology. Special Edition on Collected Essays by Vahakn N.
Dadrian. Vol. 22, no. 1, 1994.)

8) The Turkish Military Tribunals Prosecution of the Authors of the
Armenian Genocide: Four Major Court-Martial Series. (From Holocaust and
Genocide Studies vol. 11, no. 1, 1997).

Azerbaijan vows to take back disputed enclave from Armenia

AFP
ANKARA, April 14

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday vowed that his
country would never give up its struggle to recapture the disputed
enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh which has been under Armenian control for
a decade.

“Nagorno-Karabakh is Azeri territory. It has always been Azeri
territory and will always be so. Azerbaijan will liberate its own
territory whatever the price,” Aliyev said in an address to the
Turkish parliament.

Azerbaijan and neighbouring Armenia went to war in the early 1990s
when Nagorno-Karabakh, mainly populated by Armenians, seceded from
Azerbaijan at the time of the Soviet Union’s collapse, and the two
Soviet Caucasian republics became independent.

The war claimed more than 20,000 lives and made refugees of nearly a
million people.

After a ceasefire in 1994, Nagorno-Karabakh came under de facto
Armenian control.

“The Nagorno-Karabakh dispute should be resolved to make the region
more stable,” Aliyev added.

The Azeri president and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Necdet Sezer on
Tuesday had spoken out in favour of settling the dispute in a
step-by-step approach, but gave no details.

Earlier, Aliyev had said in a newspaper interview that his country was
ready to mend fences with Armenia if it returned part of the territory
it had seized during the war.

The Nagorno-Karabakh dispute is keenly watched by Turkey, which in
1993 closed its border with Armenia in a show of solidarity with its
neighbour and ally Azerbaijan, with whom it shares close ethnic and
linguistic bonds.

Turkey also has its own row with Armenia over Yerevan’s claims that
the Ottoman Empire committed genocide against Armenians during World
War I — an allegation Ankara categorially rejects.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian footballer stabbed and robbed in Yerevan

AFP
YEREVAN
April 14, 2004

Carl Lombe, who plays for Yerevan side Pyunik, was stabbed and robbed
on Wednesday, local media reported.

Lombe, of Cameroonian origin, who has also played for Armenia’s
national squad, was seriously wounded, when two unidentificated men
stabbed him several times in the chest and belly.

Yerevan police started an investigation of the attack, saying that
Lombe has likely became a victim of an armed robbery.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
04/14/2004
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WEBSITE AT <;HTTP://

1) US Addresses Political Unrest in Armenia
2) Situation Remains Stable after Opposition Rally Dispersion
3) Human Rights Ombudsman Says Method of Force Unwarranted
4) Opposition Must Scrutinize Government Performance Says Kocharian
5) Azeri Leader Urges Turkey to Stand Firm on Armenia
6) US Interested in Strong Armenian Army Says DM
7) US Prepares to Capture Rebel Iraqi Cleric

1) US Addresses Political Unrest in Armenia

WASHINGTON–The United States expressed concern about the “sharp
escalation” of
tensions in Armenia between the government and the opposition, through the
following April 13 statement by US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher,
made public on Wednesday:
“The United States is concerned about the current political situation in
Armenia, particularly the sharp escalation in confrontation between the
government and the opposition. We call on both sides to enter into a dialogue
that will lessen tension and focus the political process on the challenges of
continued political and economic reform. Physical assaults, raids on political
party offices, and widespread arrests and detentions of opposition
activists by
the police do not contribute to creating an atmosphere conducive to political
dialogue. We call on all sides to respect the role of peaceful assembly and to
take all steps to prevent violence.”

2) Situation Remains Stable after Opposition Rally Dispersion

PRAGUE (RFE/RL)–The situation remained calm in Yerevan yesterday, 24 hours
after police forcibly dispersed an opposition rally in the center of the
city.
Authorities released three opposition lawmakers detained for their
participation in antigovernment protests.
Shavarsh Kocharian of the Justice (Artarutyun) alliance and Aleksan
Karapetian
of the National Unity Party had been detained during the previous morning’s
unrest, which followed four days of rallies. Another Justice lawmaker, Arshak
Sadoyan, had been taken to a police station a few hours later.
It is not clear whether they will face any sanctions.
Also unclear is the fate of former Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutiunian
and
former Deputy Health Minister Artak Zeynalian. Both men were taken into police
custody in connection with the unrest and have not reappeared since.
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service correspondent Karine Kalantarian reports that
police
confirm four opposition activists are under arrest and that another 19 are
being questioned.
Armenian authorities yesterday vowed to get tough on rallies staged without
official permission, saying all unauthorized meetings are banned throughout
the
country.

3) Human Rights Ombudsman Says Method of Force Unwarranted

YEREVAN (Yerkir)–Armenia’s human rights ombudsman Larisa Alaverdian said that
the actions of the opposition demonstrators on April 13, did not warrant the
steps taken by law enforcement officials to quell the rally. “Recent decisions
of the court and steps taken by the police do not always correspond–in the
first case, to what the people were accused of, and in the second, the
situation at the moment.”
Pointing to the laws in effect in the Republic, she said that there is no
classification of gatherings that are permitted or prohibited; thus,
attendance
at any given meeting is the right of Armenian citizens.
“It was possible to utilize other methods in reprimanding the criminal
announcements and expressions that were made,” said Alaverdian, adding that
those who did use unwarranted force on journalists and citizens will be
pursued
and held accountable for their actions.

4) Opposition Must Scrutinize Government Performance Says Kocharian

YEREVAN (Armenpress)–President Robert Kocharian pointed to dialogue as the
best method to resolve conflict between opposing political forces, and
denounced the opposition for presenting ultimatums.
Meeting on Wednesday with members of the United Communist Party ruling board,
the president disclosed that the ruling government coalition, in a bid to ease
the mounting opposition standoff through a dialogue, held a series of meeting
with opposition leaders during the past few months.
He said that the extremism of certain segments of the opposition which have
rejected dialogue, has instead, created the existing political tension. He
also
defended the security forces for attempting to restore law and order.
Kocharian said that the opposition’s ultimate goal should be the same as the
government’s–to improve living standards. The main functions of the
opposition, he noted, should be to keep the government’s performance under
continuous scrutiny, so as to prevent deviation.
“Today the opposition is fully able to operate normally, but if it decides to
take another course, the authorities possess enough resources, set by the law,
to protect citizens and stave off displays of illegality and extremism,” said
Kocharian, noting that recent developments have not affected the country’s
economy, financial markets, or investment environment.

5) Azeri Leader Urges Turkey to Stand Firm on Armenia

ANKARA (Reuters)–Azerbaijan expects Turkey to keep its border with Armenia
closed for as long as the dispute over the Karabagh region remains unresolved,
the Azeri leader said in an interview published on Tuesday.
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev began a state visit to Turkey, an old ally, on
Tuesday. His trip coincides with pressure on Ankara from some officials in the
United States and the European Union to lift its trade blockade of tiny,
landlocked Armenia.
Turkey has no diplomatic relations with Armenia because the Christian former
Soviet republic occupies Karabagh, a territory populated by ethnic Armenians
but assigned to Turkic-speaking, mainly-Muslim Azerbaijan in Soviet times.
“Some big powers may try to achieve their interests by putting pressure (on
Turkey over opening its border),” Aliyev told the Turkish daily Zaman. “Turkey
is a big country. We believe it will not give in to this pressure.”
About 35,000 people died in six years of fighting over Karabagh which
ended in
a 1994 ceasefire. A decade of diplomatic efforts by the United States, France,
and Russia to end the deadlock has so far failed.
Turkey hopes to open talks on joining the EU soon.
There had been speculation of a thaw in Azeri-Armenian ties after the death
last December of Aliyev’s father, Heydar Aliyev, who had dominated Azeri
politics for three decades.
But Ilham Aliyev, elected president last October, signaled there would be no
change in his Karabagh policy.

“UNCONDITIONAL” WITHDRAWAL

“We want the occupying Armenians to give back our lands unconditionally. Then
we can negotiate on the status of Karabagh,” Aliyev told Zaman.
He added Azerbaijan would never accept Armenian demands for Karabagh’s union
with Armenia or for independence from Baku.
Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, welcoming Aliyev to Ankara, said Turkey
backed a swift resolution of the Karabagh conflict.
“We are ready to make every effort possible to help our Azeri brothers…
towards solving the Karabagh problem through peaceful means, in line with the
principles of international law,” the state Anatolian news agency quoted Sezer
as saying.
As well as international pressure, Ankara has faced lobbying from Turkish
business interests keen to trade freely with Armenia. But Turkish diplomats
say
Ankara will not act without the agreement of Azerbaijan.
Apart from close linguistic and cultural ties, Turkey and Azerbaijan will be
linked in the near future by an oil pipeline pumping crude from the Caspian
Sea
to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.
The 1,760-km (1,100-mile) Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, built by an international
consortium and strongly backed by the United States, is worth around $3
billion.
“More than half of the oil pipeline has now been completed,” Aliyev told
Zaman,
adding work was also progressing well on a natural gas pipeline from the
Caspian to Turkey and Greece.

6) US Interested in Strong Armenian Army Says DM

YEREVAN (Armenpress)–Armenia’s Defense Minister Serge Sarkisian, announced
that $7 million in US military assistance would be provided to Armenia in the
coming months, and that US-Armenian military cooperation is on its way to
expanding.
Speaking at the joint press conference with US Ambassador to Armenia John
Ordway, Sarkisian said he is confident that the US is interested in a strong
and effective Armenian army to help in guarantee regional region and, if
necessary, participate in overseas peacekeeping efforts.
Ordway said that present military cooperation is at a “perfect level,” and
suggested it would deepen and expand from year to year. Ordway explained that
cooperation has specifically progressed during the last three years as a
result
of joint programs.
Ordway and Sarkisian were in the northern town of Talin for an opening
ceremony of a local hospital that was repaired by way of US Department of
Defense humanitarian assistance program.
Ordway explained that future US assistance would focus on providing
communication means, implementing educational programs, and raising of the
level of Armenia’s peacekeeping forces and mine-clearing centers. He also
spoke
of joint military exercises.

7) US Prepares to Capture Rebel Iraqi Cleric

NEAR NAJAF (Reuters)–US forces have tightened their grip around one of Iraq’s
holiest cities as the rebel Shi’ite cleric they have vowed to kill or capture
offered peace terms to spare Najaf a bloodbath.
An envoy appointed by Moqtada al-Sadr said the wanted cleric had asked him to
convey peace proposals to the Americans.
Russia said it would airlift out more than 800 of its nationals and citizens
of ex-Soviet states to escape a hostage free-for-all and worsening violence
sweeping Iraq.
The 2,500-strong 3rd Brigade Task Force, along with Spanish and Polish
troops,
set up what US officers called an exclusion zone around Najaf and sent out
reconnaissance patrols from Forward Operating Base Duke, 20 km (13 miles) west
of the city.
President George W. Bush vowed to stay the course and said a June 30 handover
to Iraqi sovereignty would go ahead.
“Sayyed Moqtada made positive proposals to end the crisis. I cannot disclose
the details. He realizes that an armed confrontation is not in anybody’s
interest,” Sadr’s envoy, Abdelkarim al-Anzi, now in Baghdad, told Reuters by
telephone.
Anzi said he had met Sadr in Najaf on Tuesday.
The US military has branded Sadr an outlaw and pledged to kill or seize the
cleric. Sadr had been staying near the Imam Ali shrine, which is sacred to the
world’s Shi’ite Muslims, but an aide said he had now moved to his father’s
house in eastern Najaf.
Iran said the United States, its arch-foe, had sought its help in calming the
Iraq violence. “Naturally, there are demands by Americans…that we help to
resolve the crisis in Iraq. And we are acting,” Foreign Minister Kamal
Kharrazi
said.
As tension mounted in Najaf, Iraqi mediators said they had extended a shaky
truce in the embattled Sunni town of Falluja for 48 hours from 9 a.m. on
Wednesday.

LOOTERS SHOT

But violence flared in Baghdad, where US soldiers fired on looters raiding a
military truck on the airport road. A Reuters photographer said he saw several
Iraqis lying motionless and bleeding after the shooting.
Four people were killed and six wounded in the northern city of Mosul when a
Katyusha rocket, aimed at a police station, hit a civilian area, police and
hospital officials said.
Tension was also running high in Najaf’s sister city, Kerbala, where
residents
said streets were empty amid fears of clashes between Sadr’s militia and
US-led
forces.
Bulgaria said its troops in the shrine city had come under fire during the
night, but took no casualties.
Bush said his generals, who have asked for two more brigades–about 10,000
troops–to be sent to Iraq, would get them.
At a rare White House news conference, Bush called on Sadr to disband his
militia. The cleric launched an uprising this month after US-led authorities
closed his newspaper, said he was wanted for murder and detained his top aide.
The revolt came as insurgents from the smaller Sunni Muslim community, to
which Saddam Hussein belongs, responded to a military crackdown in central
Iraq
by taking on US Marines in street battles.
Hundreds of Iraqis have been killed in April, also the deadliest month for
the
US military since Saddam’s fall a year ago, with 83 American troops killed in
two weeks of combat.
The violence has spurred insurgents to kidnap more than 40 foreigners in
Iraq,
though many have been released.
A French photographer was the latest to join four Italian private security
guards, three Japanese civilians, three Czech journalists, two Arab aid
workers
and a US contractor on the list of reported hostages.
Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said seven flights from Kuwait and Baghdad
would
take 553 Russians and 263 nationals of former Soviet states out of Iraq later
this week, despite the safe release of three Russian and five Ukrainian
hostages on Tuesday.

FALLUJA NEGOTIATIONS

US Marines fought Sunni insurgents in Falluja overnight and witnesses said
four civilians and two fighters were killed, but negotiators extended a truce
for 48 hours.
The US military took no direct part in Tuesday’s truce talks. Ahmed
Hardan, of
the Iraqi Islamic Party, represented on Iraq’s US-appointed Governing Council,
said Iraqi police were to return to duty in Falluja within 48 hours and US
forces would withdraw. Hospitals would be re-supplied and displaced civilians
would return.
Abdul Salam al-Kubaysi, spokesman for the Muslim Clerics Association,
negotiating on behalf of Falluja, said only local police would be allowed in
the city, not the “traitors and collaborators” of the US-trained Iraqi Civil
Defense Corps.
He said police could be backed up by creating a security force drawn from
local tribes–apparently a reference to the gunmen who have been battling the
Marines.
No US comment was available and it was not clear if the military had
dropped a
demand for the surrender of those behind the gruesome murders of four
Americans
in Falluja on March 31.
Pledging to keep US troops in Iraq as long as necessary, Bush said the latest
violence was a “power grab” by ruthless extremists, not a civil war or popular
uprising.
About 130,000 US troops spearhead the 145,000-strong coalition in Iraq, but
some US allies are growing nervous.
The Philippines said on Wednesday it was considering pulling its troops and
aid workers out of Iraq. Despite public disquiet at home, Japan and Italy have
rejected demands by kidnappers of their nationals that they withdraw their
troops.

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

14.04.2004 07:52:00 GMT
Armenia trade deficit grows 13.5% in Q1

Yerevan. (Interfax) – Armenia’s trade deficit grew 13.5% year-on-year in the
first quarter of 2004 to $140.7 million.

Foreign trade amounted to $445.9 million, up 14.5%, First Deputy Trade and
Economic Development Minister Ashot Shakhnazarian said at a press conference
Tuesday.
Exports increased 9.6% to $152.6 million and imports rose 9.1% to $293.3
million.

The Moscow Times
Putin confident in continuing stability in Armenia

Interfax. Wednesday, Apr. 14, 2004, 10:34 PM Moscow Time

MOSCOW. April 14 (Interfax) – President Vladimir Putin and Armenian
President Robert Kocharian discussed pressing issues in bilateral relations
during a Wednesday telephone conversation, the Kremlin press service
reported.
At Putin’s request Kocharian shared his opinion of the recent developments
in Yerevan that caused in an upsurge in domestic tension.
Putin expressed confidence that the leadership of friendly Armenia would use
the existing potential of democratic reforms to maintain stability, law and
order.
The two presidents also discussed further Russian-American contacts at
various levels, including the very highest

Rosbalt, 14/04/2004, 13:04
With Outcome of Armenia Crisis in Doubt, Russia Keeps Its Distance
MOSCOW, April 14. Russia is taking ‘a quite sober and carefully weighed
approach’ to the situation in Armenia, Prof. Andranik Migranian declared at
a press conference here Tuesday. Migranian is a member of the board of the
Union of Armenians of Russia.

‘There have been no official statements by Russian authorities. And one
would have to be very foolish to make any,’ the professor said. ‘For whoever
turns out to hold power after the current crisis, Russian-Armenian relations
are hardly likely to change.’

He also said ‘it would be incorrect to draw direct parallels between the
current political crisis in Armenia and the velvet revolution in Georgia at
the end of 2003.’ Migranian, a political scientist, pointed out some crucial
differences. ‘The Georgian leadership was less unified,’ he said. ‘So when
the army and police declared neutrality, it was obvious that Shevardnadze’s
time was up. On top of that, the Georgian opposition had an indisputably
charismatic leader who was known for his struggle against corruption-Mikhail
Saakashvili.’. On the other hand, Migranian said, the Armenian opposition
has a number of leaders and was unable to agree on a single candidate in the
last election for president, which ‘very much helped Robert Kocharian to
win.’

‘Finally,’ Migranian said, ‘there is no George Soros with his money, who
helped get rid of Shevardnadze, in Armenia. Nor is the US ambassador so
active in Armenia. It’s known, after all, that the architect of the Georgian
revolution was the American ambassador Richard Miles.’

Rosbalt, 14/04/2004, 17:04
Erevan Angered, Clamps Down on Russian Media
EREVAN, April 14. Staff of Armenia’s embassy in Moscow bought up all copies
of today’s Independent Newspaper from kiosks near the embassy, Avetik
Ishkhanian, head of the Helsinki Committee, told Rosbalt. Ishkanian said the
aim was to keep out of circulation an article headlined ‘Kocharian Takes
Revenge on the Opposition in the Name of Moscow.’

Rights organizations earlier had complained that issues of Independent
Newspaper containing information about Armenia’s opposition leaders were not
being sold in Erevan. In addition, broadcasts of NTV to Armenia have been
cut off since April 5, the day of the first mass meetings of the opposition.