Serzh Sargsian, President-elect of Armenia, stands firm after poll-clash deaths
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As Armenia celebrated Easter, the President-elect of the world's first Christian nation was fighting to resurrect his political future in the face of a revolt that has claimed eight lives and exposed bitter social divisions.
Serzh Sargsian's victory in an election marred by allegations of widespread fraud sparked opposition protests that erupted into violent clashes with police and troops. Fresh protests marked the end of a 20-day state of emergency on Friday, despite new legislation that effectively outlaws anti-government demonstrations in this former Soviet republic.
In an interview with The Times, Mr Sargsian insisted that he was elected legitimately and accused Levon Ter-Petrosian, the main opposition candidate, of plotting to seize power through street protests. As he spoke, riot police, many carrying guns and electric-shock devices, lined the streets while several thousand people marched silently in the capital, Yerevan, to the square where eight people died and hundreds were injured in the clashes on March 1.
“Nothing extraordinary is happening. There are some tensions in society but I think the 20-day emergency situation helped a lot,” he said. “This demonstration was not sanctioned but people are keeping to the pavements and not disturbing anyone, so there is tolerance of it.”
There is widespread anger at the loss of life and the emergency imposed by the outgoing President, Robert Kocharian, after police broke up 11 days of peaceful protests against Mr Sargsian, his ally, who is Prime Minister. Mr Sargsian said that police intervened after learning that opposition activists were gathering weapons to overturn the election by force. He said: “The main organisers declared publicly that March 1 was the day of their civil war.”
That claim is ridiculed by supporters of Mr Ter-Petrosian, who accused the Government of planting weapons to justify a crackdown. He is effectively under house arrest and more than 100 activists are in prison or in hiding as part of sweeping measures criticised strongly by the US and the European Union.
Mr Sargsian, 53, pledged to undertake extensive reforms as President to defuse the Armenian crisis by “hard work and raising public confidence”, but he added: “I don't think I am the one to blame for these divisions.”
His 52.8 per cent vote in last month's election was just enough to avoid a run-off against Mr Ter-Petrosian, independent Armenia's first President, who won 21.5 per cent. International observers described the ballot initially as “mostly in line” with Armenia's democratic commitments, but a later report was far more critical of electoral abuses.
The upheavals in Yerevan have been accompanied by a sharp rise in tension between Armenia and its neighbour Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
International mediators were optimistic about a peace agreement before the election, but there are fears now that a 1994 ceasefire may break down. Nagorno-Karabakh, run by Armenian separatists who have declared independence from Azerbaijan, is close to an important pipeline carrying Caspian oil to world markets.
Arman Musinian, Mr Ter-Petrosian's spokesman, said that protesters would continue to demand fresh elections. He told The Times: “The regime is hated by a majority in society now, even people who did not vote for us, so it is going to be extremely difficult for them to govern.”
By Armenian tradition the souls of the deceased are remembered on the 40th day after their death. For those killed in the protests, that will be on April 9 - the day that Mr Sargsian is inaugurated as President.
| More Oppositionists Arrested, Charged |
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Armenian prosecutors charged a top opposition leader and arrested another prominent supporter of former President Levon Ter-Petrosian on Tuesday as part of the continuing government crackdown on the opposition that followed last month’s disputed presidential election. Aram Sarkisian, the leader of the radical opposition Hanrapetutyun (Republic) party, was formally accused of attempting to “usurp state authority” and organizing unsanctioned street protests and “mass riots” in the wake of the February 19 election. Similar charges were also leveled against dozens of other opposition leaders and activists arrested since the March 1 clashes in Yerevan between security forces and scores of Ter-Petrosian supporters protesting against official vote results. At least seven civilians and one police officer were killed in the violence. Despite having played a larger role in the post-election protests than most of the detained oppositionists, Sarkisian was not taken into custody, with prosecutors only having him sign a pledge not to leave Armenia pending investigation. Sarkisian told RFE/RL that he was notified of the accusations during a morning visit to the Special Investigative Service (SIS), a recently formed law-enforcement body which is part of Armenia’s Office of the Prosecutor-General. He said he refused to give testimony in protest at what he considers to be a politically motivated case. The outspoken oppositionist was already interrogated by SIS officials for several hours on Friday. He said afterwards that most of the questions they asked were “political in nature.” He said he insisted that the Ter-Petrosian-led opposition has acted in accordance with law and blamed the authorities for the violence. The Armenian government and law-enforcement bodies say the March 1 clashes were part of Ter-Petrosian’s plot to use the presidential election for returning to power by illegal means. But they have so far refrained from arresting, charging or interrogating the opposition leader. Sarkisian’s party is one of the largest and most influential of some two dozen opposition groups that rallied around Ter-Petrosian in the run-up to the presidential ballot. Many of its senior members are currently in jail or in hiding. The case against Sarkisian was brought several hours after the arrest of Arshak Banuchian, deputy director of Matenadaran, Armenia’s famous institute of ancient manuscripts. Although not affiliated with any opposition party, Banuchian openly backed Ter-Petrosian’s presidential bid and took part in the ex-president’s rallies. During one of those rallies, he read out a statement signed by a large group of Matenadaran employees urging Armenians to vote for Ter-Petrosian. Ter-Petrosian himself had worked at Matenadaran before beginning his political career and becoming Armenia’s first president in 1991. According to Ter-Petrosian’s office, SIS investigators searched Banuchian’s Yerevan apartment late Monday before placing him under arrest early in the morning. A spokeswoman for the Office of the Prosecutor-General confirmed the arrest but said the scholar has not been formally charged yet. Meanwhile, several dozen residents of a village near the central town of Hrazdan, rallied for the second consecutive day to demand the release of Sasun Mikaelian, a local parliamentarian and prominent Ter-Petrosian backer also arrested as part of the crackdown. Local police dispersed the small crowd, detaining several protesters and one journalists in the process. All of them were set free later on Tuesday. “They said that if they spot us rallying again they will subject us to administrative punishment,” Aleta Mikaelian, one of the detained villagers, told RFE/RL. “But we will continue to fight to the end.” Karine Harutiunian, a correspondent for the opposition newspaper “Zhamanak Yerevan” said she was taken to the Hrazdan police headquarters and spent one hour there explaining her presence in the village of Vanatur, Sasun Mikaelian’s place of residence. She said police officers tried to force her to delete photographs of the protest from her small digital camera. Also covering the protest were two journalists working for another opposition paper, “Chorrord Ishkhanutyun.” Correspondent Taguhi Tovmasian and photographer Gagik Shamshian told RFE/RL that they took refuge in a village house after being harassed by plainclothes police officers. “They wanted to take away Taguhi’s recorder and my camera,” said Shamshian. The two journalists telephoned Armenia’s human rights ombudsman, Armen Harutiunian, from their hideout and asked for help. Members of Harutiunian’s staff promptly drove to Vanatur and escorted them back to Yerevan. In a related development, a court in the northern Lori region on Tuesday fined a Ter-Petrosian proxy 500,000 drams ($1,600) for obstructing the work of a local election commission on polling day. Lori’s chief prosecutor, Karen Shahbazian, claimed that the proxy, Sofia Kalantarian, “distracted” commission members from performing their duties and unduly interfered in the voting. Speaking at a court hearing in the regional capital Vanadzor, Shahbazian said she also “disseminated baseless doubts and speculations” about the freedom and fairness of the election. Kalantarian denied the accusations, saying the commission itself hindered her work. Her lawyer called the case a “big blow to the already endangered democracy in Armenia.” The court dismissed their statements. Another Ter-Petrosian proxy in Lori was fined on the same charge late last month. (Photolur photo: Aram Sarkisian.) |
| Gyumri TV Ends Fund-Raising Campaign |
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A provincial television station that has crossed swords with the Armenian authorities announced on Tuesday the successful end of a week-long fund-raising campaign that has enabled it to pay a heavy government fine and avoid immediate closure. The private GALA channel, which is based in Armenia’s second largest city of Gyumri, began a non-stop telethon last Wednesday as it was controversially fined almost 27 million drams ($87.7) for allegedly evading taxes. It has since managed to raise 26.5 million drams from viewers and other sympathizers and pay the bulk of the fine in several installments. Justice Ministry bailiffs visited the GALA office late in the afternoon to collect the final major installment. They said the TV station still owes the state about 442,000 drams and pledged pay the remainder on Wednesday. According to telethon organizers’ estimates, about 10,000 residents of Gyumri and other parts of Armenia have contributed cash to the embattled broadcaster. “Participation has been incredible. It has gone beyond our expectations,” said Levon Barseghian, the chairman of Gyumri’s Asparez Journalists Club who has been actively involved in the fund-raiser. “Twenty-five percent of people and organizations who have taken part in the fund raising have never watched GALA,” Barseghian told RFE/RL. “We have taught Armenia’s ruling regime a lesson. At least, I hope we have. And I hope they will reconsider their behavior vis-à-vis mass media,” he said. Like GALA’s owner, Asparez and other Armenia media and civil rights groups believe that the tax fraud case was brought against the small broadcaster in retaliation for its decision last October to provide airtime to Levon Ter-Petrosian, the country’s former president and top opposition leader. But local authorities and the State Tax Service deny any political motives behind the punitive action. Virtually all other TV stations, including the Yerevan-based major networks, are loyal to or controlled by the country’s leadership. The only national station that regularly aired criticism of the government was controversially pulled off the air in 2002. Despite the payment of the fine, GALA’s continued broadcasts remain in question. Its owner, Vahan Khachatrian, claims to have received no advertising orders since last fall. GALA has also been accused by the Gyumri mayor’s office of illegally using the local television tower to air its programs to the city and surrounding areas. Late last month a Gyumri court allowed the local government to remove GALA’s transmitter from the facility. The ruling was not immediately enforced because the TV company challenged it at Armenia’s Court of Appeals. The latter has yet to start hearings on the appeal. (Photolur photo: Levon Barseghian.) |
| Sarkisian Visits Moscow, Pledges Closer Ties |
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Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian on Monday discussed the post-election unrest in Armenia with Russia’s top leaders and assured them he will strive to further deepen Russian-Armenian relations during his forthcoming presidency. Sarkisian met with Russia’s outgoing President Vladimir Putin and the latter’s handpicked successor, Dmitry Medvedev, in Moscow on what was his first trip abroad after his victory in last month’s controversial presidential election. Both Putin and Medvedev were quick to recognize the official outcome of the February 19 vote strongly disputed by the Armenian opposition. “I know that political processes in Armenia are complicated,” Putin told Sarkisian at the start of their talks in the Kremlin. “But we very much hope that no matter how the internal political process in Armenia unfolds, what has been built in the past years in relations between the Russian Federation and Armenia will be maintained and will develop in the future.” “This is your first visit after the elections and of course we see a special symbol in this fact,” Medvedev said at a separate meeting with his Armenian counterpart. “I hope that our relations will continue to develop rapidly during your presidency.” Sarkisian assured Putin that he is committed to “deepening and expanding” Armenia’s already close political, military and economic ties with Russia. The Armenian president-elect has played a major part in the development of those ties in his past capacity as defense minister and co-chairman of a Russian-Armenian inter-governmental commission on economic cooperation. The political situation in Armenia was high on the agenda of the talks, with Sarkisian thanking the Kremlin for supporting the authorities in Yerevan “in the pre-election and post-election period.” “To be honest, we had never expected such an explicit approach [from the Russian government] before. Thank you for that,” he told Putin in his opening remarks released by the Kremlin. He did not elaborate on what form the Russian support has taken. According to the Armenian government’s press service, Sarkisian said he is “determined to do everything to establish stability in the country, consolidate the society and create an atmosphere of tolerance.” No further details were reported. Putin had earlier joined Western officials in urging a dialogue between the Armenian leadership and the opposition. Sarkisian also discussed with the Russian leaders the long-running international efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Both he and Putin were reported to call for the resumption of Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks mediated by the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Russia co-chairs the group along with the United States and France. (Itar-Tass-Photolur photo) |
| Popular Fundraiser Keeps Independent TV On Air |
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A cash-strapped independent television station looked set to avoid an immediate closure on Monday thanks to an unprecedented fund-raising campaign that has enabled it to pay the bulk of a hefty fine imposed by the Armenian government. The Gyumri-based GALA TV, the rare Armenian broadcaster defying the government, was controversially fined more than 25 million drams ($81,000) for alleged tax evasion last Wednesday. Its inability to immediately pay up automatically raised the sum to almost 27 million drams. The private channel immediately began a non-stop telethon, asking viewers and sympathizers for donations. Thousands of them have since responded to the appeal, bringing cash to its Gyumri offices and making wire transfers from Yerevan and other parts of Armenia as well as abroad. GALA collected a total of 23.4 million drams as of Monday evening and must raise the remaining 3.5 million drams by late Tuesday. “I expected the public to react to our appeal but not on this scale,” GALA’s owner, Vahan Khachatrian, told RFE/RL. “We are getting donations not only from Gyumri and Shirak region but all over Armenia. We also get many phone calls from abroad.” “I no longer feel like the owner of this TV company,” Khachatrian said. “It has belonged to the public for the past several months.” The Gyumri-based GALA has been facing uncertain future ever since it broke ranks to air a September speech by former President Levon Ter-Petrosian which contained harsh criticism of Armenia’s government. The speech marked the start of Ter-Petrosian’s dramatic political comeback. Tax officials raided the offices of the small station and inspected its books in late October. They claimed to have found more than 25 million drams in unpaid taxes, asking a local court to force GALA’s parent company, Chap, to pay the sum. The company denied the fraud allegations, endorsed by the court on Wednesday, and said they were fabricated in retaliation for its decision to provide airtime to Ter-Petrosian. “I have experienced very emotional moments in the past few days,” said Karine Harutiunian, GALA’s executive director who personally accepts the donations. “I was moved by the solidarity and kindness of our people. It was hard to watch disabled grannies come here with tears in eyes, and donate parts of their modest pensions.” Nazik Hakobian, a pensioner from another major Armenian town, Vanadzor, was among them. “What brought me here is GALA’s love for freedom,” she told viewers during the live telethon. “True, I can’t watch GALA, but I listen to Radio Liberty and I know what’s going on in our country.” “Let our people always hear GALA’s voice,” said another pensioner who donated 5,000 drams ($16) or one fifth of his monthly pension. He was not the poorest of the contributors. One unemployed woman, who lives in a village close to Gyumri, could only give 1,000 drams. “I have come here on foot,” she told RFE/RL. “I and four other members of my family are jobless. I would give 10,000 drams if I had a job.” “GALA is the only Armenian TV station that had the courage to be independent of the government,” explained another telethon participant. “I want my kids to grow up in a free country and to be able to freely express their views.” Local and Yerevan-based civic groups have also rallied to GALA’s cause, denouncing the tax fraud case as politically motivated and forming a committee to support the embattled broadcaster. One of those groups, the Gyumri-based Asparez Journalists Club, is also actively involved in the fund-raising campaign. A car used by the chairman of Asparez, Levon Barseghian, was set on fire and seriously damaged by unknown assailants on Friday. The incident occurred just hours after he denounced Gyumri’s controversial Mayor Vartan Ghukasian for pouring scorn on GALA and urging local residents not to help the TV station. Barseghian was quick to point the finger at Ghukasian. The Yerevan Press Club (YPC), another independent watchdog, also effectively implicated the mayor in the apparent arson attack. In a weekend statement, the YPC pointed to his repeated “insults and threats” against both GALA and Asparez. (Photolur photo) |
| Fired Diplomats Sue Armenian Foreign Ministry |
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Four Armenian diplomats who were fired after publicly describing last month’s presidential election as fraudulent filed a lawsuit against the Foreign Ministry on Monday, saying that their sacking was illegal and must be overturned. They were among six Foreign Ministry officials who expressed their “outrage” at serious fraud which they said prevented the February 19 vote from being “civilized, free and fair.” “Only by acting in conformity with the letter and spirit of the law can we create democracy and tolerance in Armenia and earn the country a good reputation abroad,” they said in a joint statement on February 24. A similar statement was also issued by Deputy Foreign Minister Armen Bayburtian, Armenia’s ambassadors to Italy and Kazakhstan as well as an envoy at the Armenian embassy in Ukraine. They stressed the need for Armenia to have a democratically elected president and expressed their solidarity with Armenians protesting against the official vote results. All ten diplomats were swiftly relieved of their duties, with Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian accusing them of breaching an Armenian law that bars diplomats from engaging in political activities. Oskanian also downplayed the unprecedented gesture of defiance, saying that most of the dissenters have long maintained close ties with opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian and his associates. The four plaintiffs are the former Foreign Ministry spokesman Vladimir Karapetian, Martha Ayvazian, the former head of the ministry’s NATO desk, Karine Afrikian, the former head of the U.S. and Canada desk, and Arakel Semirjian, a counselor at the Europe desk. Semirjian is also a nephew of Ter-Petrosian. He was detained and spent several hours in police custody last Friday for his participation in the post-election rallies held by the former Armenian president. The fired diplomats asked Armenia’s Administrative Court to have them reinstated, saying that their criticism of the government’s handling of the disputed election did not amount to political or partisan activity. According to their lawyer, Levon Baghdasarian, they will also argue during the upcoming court hearings that their sacking by Oskanian violated some provisions of Armenia’s Labor Code. “Any former diplomat has the right to appeal against a decision of their former boss,” Tigran Balayan, the Foreign Ministry’s current acting spokesman, told RFE/RL, commenting on the lawsuit. Balayan insisted that Oskanian’s decision was legal and justified. “The dismissing order was signed after consultations with lawyers,” he said. (Photolur photo: Vladimir Karapetian.) |
Armenian opposition stage protest | ||
The demonstrators lit candles and held pictures of the more than 100 activists who were arrested after clashes with police on 1 March left eight dead. fighting erupted when officers tried to end a protest against the result of last month's presidential election. The poll gave victory to the current Prime Minister, Serzh Sarkisian. The opposition says there was widespread fraud and wants to result overturned. Vigil Supporters of the main opposition leader, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who came second, took part in the march in Yerevan on Friday, only hours after the state of emergency was lifted.
The procession was a peaceful vigil to remember the 106 opposition activists arrested since the clashes for allegedly plotting a coup. No violence was reported, although several protesters shouted at riot police. When announcing the end of the state of emergency, outgoing President Robert Kocharian warned that any unauthorised protests would not be tolerated. A new law passed this week allows the authorities to ban demonstrations if they are said to be a threat to public order. But the opposition says it has the right to protest and will find a way to work around the legislation. The party of President-elect Sarkisian and three other parties have agreed to form a coalition government ahead of his inauguration on 9 April. | ||
Armenia state of emergency lifted, hundreds gather to protest arrests
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/2
The Associated Press
Published: March 21, 2008
YEREVAN, Armenia: Several hundred opposition supporters rallied across the Armenian capital on Friday after authorities lifted a 20-day state of emergency.
Friday's demonstrators protested the March 1 arrests of dozens of opposition activists after clashes between police and protesters. Eight people were killed and dozens were injured in those clashes.
That was followed by the state of emergency, banning public gatherings, which ended at midnight Thursday.
The latest demonstrators lit candles and held pictures of those arrested March 1. Police officers approached the protesters, who formed a chain across downtown Yerevan, urging them to disperse but not using force.
Several protesters yelled curses at the police, but there were no clashes.
Today in Europe
The violence March 1 broke out after police forcibly dispersed protesters who claimed the government rigged the Feb. 19 presidential election and demanded a new vote.
According to the official results, the favored candidate of outgoing President Robert Kocharian, Prime Minister Serge Sarkisian, won nearly 53 percent of the vote, while opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian received about 21 percent. Sarkisian is scheduled to be inaugurated April 9.
The opposition has alleged the election was affected by widespread fraud and sometimes violent pressure on its supporters.
Sarkisian said Thursday that 106 of the scores of opposition supporters who were detained remain under arrest, including some of Ter-Petrosian's former allies.
"We are demanding that the authorities explain to us why these 106 people have been arrested," said one protester, Armen Martirosian, 38.
The opposition has capitalized on widespread public anger over poverty, which remains endemic in Armenia despite an economic growth of recent years.
"We have nothing to eat," said another protester, Alla Arutyunian. "I'm wondering whether Sarkisian and his family could survive on the money they give me."
Western countries have expressed concern about the government's crackdown, while Russia — which has close ties with Armenia and maintains a military base in the ex-Soviet republic — expressed support for law and order.
| Protests Resume In Yerevan Amid Heavy Security |
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Police cordoned off major squares in downtown Yerevan and used force to stop about 2,000 opposition supporters marching through the city center following the lifting of a 20-day state of emergency on Friday. The protest began spontaneously outside the city’s Liberty Square, the scene of post-election rallies held by opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian, and ended in scuffles between riot police and some demonstrators four hours later. At least two of them were detained. The crowd was confronted and dispersed after silently marching past the site of the March 1 clashes between security forces and thousands of Ter-Petrosian supporters protesting against the official results of the disputed February 19 presidential election. At least eight people were killed in the violent confrontation, leading outgoing President Robert Kocharian to declare emergency rule and order troops into the Armenian capital. Some protesters lit candles and held carnations in memory of the dead, while others carried pictures of some of more than 100 people arrested in the ongoing government crackdown on the Ter-Petrosian-led opposition. Several dozen activists stood silently in a candlelight vigil outside the Armenian ministries of foreign affairs and energy. “We are mourning the deaths of innocent people and also want to express our discontent with what is happening in our country,” Ani, a young university lecturer, told RFE/RL. “The state did not even express condolences to the victims’ families.” “These criminal authorities did not even call a day of national mourning for the victims, and so we decided to remember them with this action,” said Narek, a university student. The 19-year-old said he took part in the March 1 unrest and is ready to attend more street protests planned by Ter-Petrosian. “I can’t stop thinking about the events of March 1,” he said. “A few bullets flew over my head on that day. I stayed alive miraculously.” Liberty Square, guarded by army soldiers throughout the state of emergency, was occupied by busloads of police and interior troops as pockets of opposition supporters, most of them women, began gathering just outside it at around 3 p.m. local time. Senior police officers told them to leave the sprawling area and cross the streets surrounding it, citing a continuing government ban on rallies. “Ten people standing together means a rally, and I have the right to disperse a rally,” Major-General Sasha Afian, deputy chief of Armenia’s Police Service, told a group of angry women. “So please go to Northern Avenue [opposite the square.] Nobody will touch you there.” “You’ve suppressed the people for 20 days,” one of them complained to Afian. “When will you stop doing that?” “We have come here to light candles for the dead,” said another. “Why don’t they let us do that?” The women chanted “Freedom!” and “Shame!” as police officers wearing riot gear slowly pushed them away. Similar scenes could be observed on other approaches to the square. A scuffle broke out when several police officers armed with rubber truncheons and electric-shock guns chased and tried to arrest a young man. Several women stood in the policemen’s way and enabled the man to escape. One woman was toppled to the ground as a result. The violence ended after the personal intervention of Major-General Nerses Nazarian, chief of the Yerevan police who also at the scene. “Please, calm down,” Nazarian told the protesters mostly grouped in Northern Avenue. He also asked them to move further away from the square. Shortly afterwards, the crowd, lacking any visible organizers, walked down the newly built boulevard to the city’s main Republic Square and on to the street junction outside the Yerevan municipality, the site of the March 1 clashes. A granite pedestal from which opposition leaders spoke on that day was surrounded by riot police. The protesters then marched back towards Liberty Square via another Yerevan thoroughfare only to be confronted by more numerous police units. They dispersed after a brief clash with security forces using truncheons and electric-shock guns. It was not clear how many opposition supporters were detained in the process. One passerby told RFE/RL that she saw more than a dozen men forced into a police van and driven away. Police spokesmen could not be immediately reached for comment. An RFE/RL correspondent witnessed one man forcibly brought into the police headquarters of Yerevan’s central Kentron district shortly afterwards. The police confirmed that they also detained another man earlier in the day. The man, Arakel Semirjian, is a nephew of Ter-Petrosian and one of a dozen Armenian Foreign Ministry officials who were fired last month for condemning their government’s conduct of the presidential election. Eyewitnesses said Semirjian was spotted and called up by a senior police officer as he sat in a café adjacent to Liberty Square with several friends. They said he obeyed the order and was bundled into a police truck moments later. The reasons for the arrest were not immediately clear. “If people provoke something, they will be punished,” Nazarian, the Yerevan police chief, told RFE/RL when asked about the incident. “There is no way he could be taken away from the café.” (Photolur photo: A police officer confronts protesters with an eletric-shock gun.) |
| New Armenian Coalition Takes Shape |
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Prime Minister and President-elect Serzh Sarkisian pledged to effect “serious changes” in Armenia on Friday as he formalized a power-sharing agreement with three major political parties that have recognized his victory in last month’s presidential election. Sarkisian and the leaders of the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) and the Orinats Yerkir Party said their coalition government will strive to “deepen democratic reforms” in the country and speed up its economic development. A joint declaration signed by them laid out the main objectives of that government but said nothing about its composition. It remained unclear whom Sarkisian will appoint as prime minister after taking office on April 9. Artur Baghdasarian, the Orinats Yerkir Party leader, said discussions on the ministerial appointments are still going on. “These changes will be large-scale,” Sarkisian said at the signing ceremony, outlining his coalition cabinet’s agenda. “They will be painful for many, many people. And in order to be able to implement these changes in full, we need serious public support.” “We must strive to live up to the people’s expectations and create conditions for work, education and a prosperous life,” Gagik Tsarukian, the BHK leader, said for his part. The four-party declaration called for the strengthening of the rule of, freedom of speech and human rights protection, a “substantial increase in public trust in electoral processes,” and a “comprehensive and effective fight against corruption.” The Sarkisian-led coalition also committed itself to significantly boosting living standards in Armenia through job creation and improved business competition. The BHK and Dashnaktsutyun are already represented in Armenia’s current government, while Orinats Yerkir was in opposition to the country’s leadership until now. Baghdasarian was a major opposition candidate in the February 19 election and strongly criticized government policies during the election campaign. (Photolur photo) |
| Kocharian Warns Opposition Against More Protests |
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President Robert Kocharian said Thursday that he will not prolong the state of emergency in Yerevan but warned that Armenian security bodies would not hesitate to break up more anti-government demonstrations planned by opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian. Kocharian also effectively dismissed international calls for an independent investigation into the March 1 clashes between riot police and thousands of Ter-Petrosian supporters demanding a re-run of the February 19 presidential election. The violence, which left at left at least seven opposition supporters and one police officer dead, led to the imposition of the 20-day state of emergency. All rallies and other public gatherings in the capital were banned as a result. Kocharian said the Armenian authorities will not sanction rallies for “some time” even after the expiry of emergency rule on Friday. “People who shot at law-enforcers [on March 1] are still at large, there is no guarantee that the same people will not try to organize various provocations or shootings at the next rally and then blame that on the police,” he told a news conference. The Armenian parliament approved this week a government bill that will make it easier for the authorities to prohibit anti-government protests. They will now be able to do that by citing threats to “state security, public order, public health and morality” reported by the police and the National Security Service. Ter-Petrosian has dismissed the amendments as unconstitutional. Kocharian warned the opposition leader, who had served as Armenia’s first president from 1991-1998, against staging unsanctioned street protests. “I forbade the police from taking any steps [against opposition demonstrators] before the events of March 1, but will now demand that they take strict measures,” he said, adding that he is determined to restore stability in the country before handing over power to Prime Minister and President-elect Serzh Sarkisian on April 9. Ter-Petrosian says that the authorities themselves instigated the worst street violence in Armenia’s history by breaking up his supporters’ non-stop sit-in in Yerevan’s Liberty Square and then firing at thousands of people who gathered elsewhere in the city center later on March 1. Western powers have also questioned the official version of events, with the European Union and the Council of Europe urging the authorities in Yerevan to agree to an “independent investigation” of the bloodshed. Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, suggested last week that such an inquiry be conducted by a special commission of prominent Armenians “trusted by the public.” Kocharian insisted, however, that Armenian law-enforcement bodies and the Office of the Prosecutor-General in particular are independent and competent enough to investigate the deadly unrest. He said they can only agree to international experts’ involvement in their ongoing investigation that has resulted in mass arrests of opposition leaders and activists. Both the EU and the United States have expressed serious concern about the unprecedented government crackdown. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried reiterated those concerns on Thursday, saying that Armenia should "pull itself together and get back on a democratic path." "We welcome the lifting of the state of emergency, but there are other problems and these need to be addressed,” Fried told RFE/RL. “People who have been arrested for rioting and violent actions, that's one thing. But people who have been arrested for more questionable reasons need to be let go, there needs to be normalization, there needs to be a dialogue with the opposition.” “Look, this is a troubling situation for all of Armenia's friends,” he said. Kocharian effectively dismissed such calls, saying that law-enforcement authorities have been quite lenient towards opposition protesters. He argued that some 800 people were detained in connection with the March 1 events and that only just over a hundred of them are currently under arrest pending trial. Washington threatened last week to “suspend or terminate” $236.5 million in economic assistance which it promised to provide to Armenia under its Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) program. The money was due to be spent on the reconstruction of Armenia’s battered rural roads and irrigation networks. Kocharian claimed to be untroubled by the possible termination of the five-year aid package, saying that the Armenian government will find other sources of funding for the rural development projects, if need be. “If they make such a decision we will look for other ways of fully implementing that program,” he said. “I have no doubts that we will find those ways.” Kocharian also downplayed U.S. President George W. Bush’s failure so far to congratulate Sarkisian on his hotly disputed victory in the presidential election. Kocharian said he himself was congratulated by Bush only after being sworn in for a second five-year term in office in April 2003. That, he said, did not prevent Armenia from recording higher rates of economic growth and “cooperating effectively” with the United States in the following years. “So maybe it’s a good sign,” he told journalists jokingly. In fact, Bush stopped short of congratulating Kocharian on his equally controversial reelection and cited instead serious irregularities that were reported during the Armenian presidential election of February-March 2003. “In a spirit of friendship, I share the disappointment of the OSCE and others who have observed that Armenia missed an opportunity to make an example of a democratic election,” Bush said in an April 2003 letter to Kocharian. |
| Russian Official Voices Support For Yerevan |
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A senior Russian diplomat commended and voiced support for Armenia’s embattled leadership on Thursday as he wrapped up a two-day visit to Yerevan that focused on the post-election unrest in the country. “Riots, chaos in the streets is a very dangerous thing for any country, and I believe that the events of March 1-2 showed the citizens of Armenia just how dangerous that path can be. It does not solve any problems and instead brings about instability, uncertainty about the future,” Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said, referring to the last opposition demonstration in Yerevan marred by deadly clashes between security forces and protesters. “In my view, the government of new Armenian statehood has passed this dangerous phase, this dangerous test and is now stepping on to a very certain path of political reforms and dialogue,” he told journalists. The political situation in Armenia, Russia’s main regional ally, in the wake of last month’s disputed presidential election topped the agenda of Karasin’s talks on Wednesday with departing President Robert Kocharian and Prime Minister and President-elect Serzh Sarkisian. Russia has closely followed the post-election developments in the country, with President Vladimir Putin discussing it in a March 10 phone call with Sarkisian. While calling for a dialogue between the Armenian government and the opposition, Putin reaffirmed the Kremlin’s recognition of Sarkisian’s victory in the election and invited the latter to visit Moscow. Sarkisian’s office said on Thursday that the Armenian premier will fly to Moscow on March 24. It said he will meet Putin and Russia’s President-elect Dmitry Medvedev to discuss “a broad range of issues of mutual interest.” According to Karasin, Sarkisian and Kocharian now “understand and control” the domestic political situation. “They have certain plans for the future, plans for bringing the constructive opposition into the legal field and starting dialogue,” he said. “I hope that this tendency will prevail and Armenian society will again acquire stability and predictability. Russia is ready and interested in assisting in that by all means.” It was not clear if by “constructive opposition” Karasin meant former President Levon Ter-Petrosian and his opposition allies. Unlike Western envoys who have visited Yerevan since March 1, the Russian diplomat declined to meet Ter-Petrosian. “The information which the president, the prime minister and the foreign minister gave us was absolutely sufficient,” Karasin explained. “Having said that, we definitely have information about what they in the opposition camp think. We have an embassy here, we have friends in all spheres of Armenian political and public life. So rest assured that we possess information of various caliber.” (Photolur photo) |
| Turkish Soldiers ‘Knew Of Dink Murder Plot’ |
Two Turkish soldiers admitted in court Thursday they knew of a plot to kill ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink months before the murder happened, Anatolia news agency reported. The two are the first members of the security forces to stand trial in the Black Sea city of Trabzon, where the murder was planned, amid widespread allegations that some officials condoned the killing. The investigation is seen as a test for Ankara's resolve to eliminate the "deep state" -- a term used to describe security forces acting outside the law to preserve what they consider Turkey's best interests. The 52-year-old Dink, whom Turkish nationalists hated for calling the World War I massacres of Armenians genocide, was shot dead in central Istanbul on January 19, 2007, outside the offices of Agos, the weekly newspaper he ran. One of the defendants told the judge Thursday he had been informed of the plot in August 2006 by a relative of its alleged mastermind Yasin Hayal, Anatolia reported. He passed the tip-off to his superiors at the local paramilitary force policing rural areas, but no action was taken, he said. "We did not do anything afterwards because we were given no instructions or orders," said the defendant, identified only as O.S. His superiors fabricated documents after the murder to create the impression they had no prior knowledge of the plot, he alleged. He had come under "psychological" pressure to collude and lie to government inspectors who probed the conduct of the security forces, he added. The other defendant, identified as V.S., agreed with the statement of his colleague. The two soldiers risk between six months and two years in jail for "abuse of power." The judge decided to ask prosecutors to launch an investigation into the officials the defendants had implicated at Thursday's hearing. Hayal's uncle has already testified that he informed the two defendants of his nephew's plans to kill Dink, but the pair sought to cover up the issue. The self-confessed hitman, 17-year-old Ogun Samast, went on trial in Istanbul last year, along with Hayal and 17 suspected associates. The trial is still going on. Lawyers for Dink's family say the police also withheld and destroyed evidence to cover up the murder, including footage from a bank security camera near where Dink was killed. In September, two policemen went on trial in the northern city of Samsun for their role in a scandal that saw security forces posing for pictures with the gunman after he was captured there a day after the murder. This trial is also still in progress. Dink had impressed many in Turkey with his efforts for Turkish-Armenian reconciliation and more than 100,000 people marched at his funeral. Also Thursday, a court in Istanbul sentenced a man to three years in jail for sending hate mail and death threats to the Agos newspaper after Dink's murder, Anatolia reported. The man reportedly used racist insults and wrote that "we have many other Samasts and Catlis," referring to Dink's assassin and Abdullah Catli, a shadowy figure known as a hitman of the "deep state" who died in a 1996 car accident. |
| Embattled TV Raising Money To Stay On Air |
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A rare Armenian TV station at loggerheads with the government pleaded for financial support from viewers and sympathizers on Wednesday as it scrambled to pay a hefty fine imposed by tax authorities. The Gyumri-based GALA has been facing uncertain future ever since it broke ranks to air a September speech by former President Levon Ter-Petrosian which contained harsh criticism of Armenia’s government. The speech marked the start of Ter-Petrosian’s dramatic political comeback. Tax officials raided the offices of the small station and inspected its books in late October. They claimed to have found more than 25 million drams ($81,000) in unpaid taxes, asking a local court to force GALA’s parent company, Chap, to pay the sum. The company denied the fraud allegations and said they were fabricated in retaliation for its decision to provide airtime to Ter-Petrosian. Local and Yerevan-based civic group also denounced the case as politically motivated, rallying hundreds of Gyumri residents in support of the embattled broadcaster in December. However, the Gyumri division of Armenia’s Administrative Court ruled on Wednesday that GALA did evade taxes and must pay the fine. The cash-strapped channel clearly anticipated such a decision, having decided on Monday to try to raise the required sum from the public and hold a telethon for that purpose. The televised fund-raiser began several hours before the announcement of the court ruling and appears to have attracted strong interest from Gyumri residents. Hundreds of them visited GALA’s offices and donated cash throughout the day. GALA’s owner and chief executive, Vahan Khachatrian, told RFE/RL that he has also received donations from Armenians living in other parts of the country as well as abroad. The TV station raised a total of 6 million drams, or roughly one quarter of the required sum, as of 6 p.m. local time. “I personally was against such fund-raising,” said Khachatrian. “But given the fact that GALA’s problem has long ceased to be my problem and is now the public’s, I bowed to pressure from the public, my staff, residents of Gyumri, Yerevan and entire Armenia.” Khachatrian claimed that the authorities hope that the financial penalty will force GALA into bankruptcy. “We’ve told them right from the beginning that this is not going to work and that they should think of other ways of taking GALA off the air,” he said. Virtually all other Armenian TV stations, including the Yerevan-based national networks, are controlled by or loyal to the government. The only major private network that regularly aired criticism of the government was controversially forced off the air in 2002. (Photolur photo) |
| Ter-Petrosian Faces Loss Of Armed Protection |
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In a further measure designed to thwart renewed opposition protests in Yerevan, the Armenian government pushed through parliament on Wednesday a bill that could leave former President Levon Ter-Petrosian without armed bodyguards provided by the state. Ter-Petrosian is among serving and former high-ranking state officials whose personal security is ensured by the State Protections Service (SPS) in accordance with a special law. All of his bodyguards are employees of the security agency run by Grisha Sarkisian, who has long been in charge of President Robert Kocharian’s security detail. Under government-drafted amendments to that law adopted by the National Assembly in the first reading, the former president can be temporarily or irreversibly stripped of armed protection by the STS if he engages in “illicit activities.” They are expected to be passed in the final reading on Thursday. Justice Minister Gevorg Danielian admitted that the amendments stem from the unrest that followed last month’s disputed presidential election in which Ter-Petrosian was the main opposition candidate. The ex-president refused to recognize Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian’s victory in the February 19 vote, alleging widespread fraud and rallying tens of thousands of supporters in Yerevan. The Armenian authorities used force to halt the daily protests March 1. Ter-Petrosian has been kept under de facto house arrest, with the authorities claiming that they can no longer guarantee his security. They say he can leave his house overlooking central Yerevan only after renouncing SPS protection in writing. The opposition leader has refused to do that so far. The changes in the law regulating the SPS’s activities came the day after the government-controlled parliament amended Armenia’s law on public gatherings in way that will make it easier for the authorities to ban further rallies which Ter-Petrosian plans to hold after the lifting of a state of emergency in Yerevan. Ter-Petrosian’s office swiftly rejected the restrictions as unconstitutional and said Armenians have a “legitimate right” to ignore them. “It is obvious that these changes allow for an arbitrary prohibition of any rally,” Stepan Demirchian, a prominent opposition leader allied to Ter-Petrosian, told RFE/RL on Wednesday. “The authorities must realize that it is impossible to overcome this crisis with repressive methods.” (Photolur photo) |
| Dashnaks Call For ‘National Unity’ Government |
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The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) called on Wednesday for the formation of a “government of national unity” by all political parties represented in parliament, citing the need to implement “serious reforms” and overcome Armenia’s post-election political crisis. Dashnaktsutyun’s decision-making Supreme Body in Armenia said the establishment party is ready to join such a government and urged the Armenian opposition to “use this opportunity to make the process of reforms in the country more comprehensive and full-fledged.” The statement did not specify whether Prime Minister and President-elect Serzh Sarkisian too is ready to see any opposition group represented in a new coalition government which he plans to form after taking office on April 9. Sarkisian has said that it will comprise only representatives of his Republican Party (HHK) and three other parliamentary parties, including Dashnaktsutyun, that have recognized his victory in the February 19 presidential election. He is currently negotiating with leaders of those parties. The fifth parliamentary force, the opposition Zharangutyun (Heritage) party led by Raffi Hovannisian, has rejected the official vote results as fraudulent and strongly condemned the ongoing government crackdown on supporters of the main opposition candidate, Levon Ter-Petrosian. Dashnaktsutyun, by contrast, has defended the deadly use of force against thousands of Ter-Petrosian supporters who demonstrated in Yerevan on March 1. In a March 3 statement, the nationalist party called the protest an attempted coup d’etat. The Dashnaktsutyun leadership’s latest statement stressed the need for the new Armenian government to strengthen judicial independence, eliminate “impunity” enjoyed by government-connected individuals, respect freedom of speech and form an “independent electoral system.” It said these and other reforms are essential for tackling “hopelessness, polarization, mutual intolerance” which the party believes is reigning in Armenian society in the wake of the presidential election. (Photolur photo) |
| Government Signals Ban On Ter-Petrosian Rallies |
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President Robert Kocharian on Tuesday signed into a law a parliament bill that will make it easier for the Armenian authorities to ban fresh anti-government demonstrations planned by opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian. The measure, rejected as unconstitutional by Ter-Petrosian, took the form of amendments to Armenia’s law on public gatherings that were enacted at an emergency session of the National Assembly late on Monday. The law has until now allowed authorities to ban those demonstrations which they believe are aimed, among other things, at a “violent overthrow of constitutional order.” One of the amendments overwhelmingly adopted by the parliament complements the clause with cases where authorities have “reliable information” that street protests would pose a threat to “state security, public order, public health and morality.” Any such information coming from the Armenian police and the National Security Service (NSS) will be automatically deemed “reliable.” Another, more significant, amendment allows the authorities to “temporarily” ban rallies for an unspecified period of time after street gatherings resulting in casualties. The ban shall remain in force until the end of the official investigation into a particular case of deadly street violence. Leaders of the parliament majority loyal to Kocharian and his incoming successor, Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian, did not deny that the restrictions are specifically aimed at preventing Ter-Petrosian from again rallying supporters after the anticipated lifting of the state of emergency in Yerevan on Friday. The state of emergency was imposed by Kocharian on March 1 following the outbreak of violent clashes between security forces and thousands of Ter-Petrosian supporters demanding a re-run of last month’s disputed presidential election. At least seven protesters and one security officer were killed in the clashes. According to Armen Ashotian, a parliament deputy from Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK), the law was amended in order to “limit and prevent more illegalities that could lead to a loss of life” after the end of emergency rule. He defended the resulting restrictions on Armenians’ civil rights. “The law may be limiting the interests of 100,000 people, but it will protect the life and the rights of 3.5 million other citizens,” Ashotian told RFE/RL. Similar arguments were made by other HHK lawmakers as well as the parliamentary leaders of the Prosperous Armenia, Dashnaktsutyun and Orinats Yerkir parties during the late-night parliament debates. Only members of Zharangutyun, the sole opposition party represented in the parliament, and independent lawmaker Victor Dallakian voted against the legislation. Ter-Petrosian’s office said on Tuesday that the enacted amendments “blatantly violate” Armenians’ constitutionally guaranteed freedom of assembly and can therefore be ignored by citizens. “In these circumstances, it is the people’s legitimate right to ignore the illegal ban and reaffirm their freedom to hold rallies which is guaranteed by the constitution and international law,” it said in a statement. “In reality, this is an attempt to perpetuate the state of emergency,” Levon Zurabian, an aide to Ter-Petrosian, told RFE/RL. “A regime which attacked peaceful demonstrators and whose illegal actions left many people dead is using its own crime as a pretext to restrict our people’s right to hold peaceful rallies.” “This shows that the authorities are terrified by the existing situation and that they admit having no popular support,” he said. Asked whether Ter-Petrosian and his allies are ready to hold more unsanctioned rallies and risk another confrontation with the police, Zurabian said, “We will find a way of getting around these dictatorial restrictions and organizing rallies.” He did not elaborate. (Photolur photo: Ter-Petrosian supporters pictured during their last protest in Yerevan.) |
| Armenian Opposition Reports More Arrests |
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The Armenian government’s post-election crackdown on the opposition showed no signs of a let-up on Tuesday, with several more supporters of former President Levon Ter-Petrosian reportedly detained by law-enforcement authorities. A spokesman for Ter-Petrosian’s election campaign team, Armen Khachatrian, said the latest detainees include two senior members of the People’s Party of Armenia (HZhK), one of more than two dozen opposition groups aligned to the ex-president. One of them, Eduard Bakhshian, heads the HZhK chapter in Yerevan’s northern Avan suburb. Khachatrian told RFE/RL that police also detained at least two opposition activists outside Yerevan. He said one of them headed Ter-Petrosian’s campaign office in the northwestern Amasia district. The Office of the Prosecutor-General declined to confirm or deny the information. A spokeswoman said only that the total number of oppositionists arrested in the aftermath of the February 19 presidential ballot has risen to 109. Sona Truzian told RFE/RL that 106 of them have already been charged with attempting to “usurp power,” organizing or participating in “mass riots” and other serious crimes. Armenia’s Police Service, for its part, said a total of about 879 opposition supporters have been detained and questioned since late February. It said 754 of them have been set free. In a separate statement, Ter-Petrosian’s office said Tuesday that the police and the National Security Service (NSS) have also been rounding up and exerting “physical and psychological pressure” on dozens of other, less known oppositionists across the country since last week. It said they are being forced to give incriminating testimony against opposition leaders and to sign written pledges not to participate in further anti-government rallies. The statement said such pledges run counter to Armenian law and urged Ter-Petrosian supporters to show up for interrogation only after receiving written summonses. Among the individuals questioned by the police on Tuesday was Artak Yeghiazarian, a correspondent for the opposition newspaper “Hayk.” Yeghiazarian told RFE/RL that he spent several hours at a police station in Yerevan’s Nor Nork district giving explanations for his presence in Ter-Petrosian’s post-election rallies. He said he told police officers that he attended the unsanctioned rallies in his capacity as journalist. The Ter-Petrosian camp also released the list of 12 detained opposition figures which it says were ill-treated by security forces. Most of them were arrested during the break-up on March 1 of the 11-day opposition sit-in in Yerevan’s Liberty Square. Among them are Mushegh Saghatelian, a former chief of Armenia’s prisons, and two senior members of the former ruling Armenian Pan-National Movement (HHSh), David Arakelian and Vahagn Hayotsian. According to Seda Safarian, a lawyer representing the three men, has visited her clients in jail and found traces of violence on their bodies. “David Arakelian’s face was badly injured and swollen, while Mushegh Saghatelian had trouble walking and even standing,” she told RFE/RL. “They were mainly beaten in the street [adjacent to Liberty Square] and on their way to police custody. Only Mushegh Saghatelian told me that he was beaten up at the Kentron police [in Yerevan] as well.” Inessa Petrosian, another lawyer, represents three other detainees included on the list. One of those detainees, Ashot Manukian, heads the HHSh chapter in the northern Lori region. Petrosian said all three men were badly beaten during their arrest but were not tortured in jail. “All detainees are being kept in normal conditions,” insisted Ashot Martirosian, head of the Justice Ministry department managing Armenian prisons. “We don’t have a particularly negative attitude towards any prisoner. Nor do we have an instruction to show such attitude.” (Photolur photo) |
‘There Was Blood All Over Police Station’ |
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Robert Chakhoyan endured hours of beating in Armenian police custody but he does not have much of a grudge against his tormentors. He is remarkably composed when describing scenes of torture and pools of blood at a police station in Yerevan where he and scores of other supporters of opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian were taken on March 1. “Police officers are also human beings,” explains the 23-year-old university student. “Let them come to their senses and think about who they are supporting. They must not carry out every government order.” Chakhoyan and his wife Naira were among more than 2,000 Ter-Petrosian supporters camped out in Yerevan’s Liberty Square since February 20, the day after Armenia’s disputed presidential election. Hundreds and possibly thousands of riot police, interior troops and other security units surrounded the tent camp at around of 6:30 a.m. on March 1. The square outside the city’s massive Opera House was cleared within 10-15 minutes. Overwhelmed by the onslaught, the protesters chaotically fled the scene only to be ambushed and attacked by more security forces deployed in adjacent streets. Eyewitnesses say the protesters were chased even hundreds of meters away from the square, suggesting that the purpose of the security operation was not only to disperse participants of the 11-day vigil but to beat, intimidate and arrest as many of them as possible. The violence in and outside Liberty Square essentially set the stage for a much bloodier drama that unfolded in another location in the city center, a major street intersection outside the Yerevan municipality and the French and Russian embassies, just hours later. Hundreds of angry people began gathering there later in the morning. Riot police tried to disperse them as well but met with fierce resistance and left the scene in the afternoon as the hardcore Ter-Petrosian supporters were joined by thousands of other Armenians furious with the police actions. Witness accounts of police brutality might explain the ferocity with which they fought back a late-night police onslaught from one of the streets leading to the mayor’s office. Braving automatic gunfire that left at least seven of their comrades dead, they confronted security forces with sticks, stones and Molotov cocktails and sent the latter fleeing the street in disarray. It took a military intervention and a state of emergency to force Ter-Petrosian to end the deadliest street protest in Armenia’s history. “In essence, the people rose up spontaneously and the authorities didn’t expect that,” says Samson Ghazarian, one of Ter-Petrosian’s few prominent allies not arrested by the authorities so far. “I would say that most of those driven out of the Opera square didn’t go home and gathered near the French embassy.” The official line, reaffirmed by Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian last week, is that law-enforcement officers never intended to break up Ter-Petrosian’s unsanctioned sit-in in Liberty Square and that they simply wanted to confiscate firearms and ammunition allegedly stashed in the square. The police, Sarkisian said, used force only after the protesters ignored warnings not to resist the search. Like many other tent campers, Chakhoyan claims to have not heard any warnings. “All I heard was, ‘Guys, attack them,’” he tells RFE/RL. “They started hitting us, we hit back and then tried to retreat. But they were already surrounding us.” “No arrests were made in the square. People were arrested outside the square,” he says. Chakhoyan says he somehow managed to sneak out of the square with his wife, catch a taxi and drive her to a friend’s apartment before spotting and joining a large group of fleeing oppositionists near the Yerevan State Circus, about two kilometers away from Liberty Square. Moments later they were surrounded by about a dozen police vehicles. “Ten to fifteen of us managed to escape to a nearby courtyard,” he says. “We got in an apartment building, walked upstairs and asked residents to give us refuge. Half of us were let in, while the others, myself included, walked up to the roof. We got out of there at around 8 a.m., thinking that the police are gone. “I saw two injured people downstairs. One of them had a broken arm and foot, the other serious wounds on his head. A resident of the building brought a bandage and cotton wool so I could provide first medical aid. We then put one of the wounded in a yellow car that took him to hospital.” “As I bandaged the other man’s head, police came and arrested all of us,” adds the father of one. The oppositionists were taken to the headquarters of the police department of Yerevan’s central Kentron district. “All of us were beaten up in both the police car and the police station,” Chakhoyan recounts calmly. “They hit me in the legs, the head, the sides and other parts of my body. I asked them not to hit me in the abdomen because it bleeds. I also asked them not to touch my head because my eyes had been operated on. But they kept hitting the same parts of the body on purpose.” According to Chakhoyan, Kentron policemen were anxious not to leave traces of violence on his and other detainees’ bodies, putting books on their backs, stomachs and sides before hitting them with truncheons. The “insulation,” as the young man discovered, prevents bruises but does not reduce pain. “As they beat us, they yelled, ‘You Levon supporters, who do you think you are to hold illegal rallies and defy us? Don’t you know that Serzh won [the election?]’” he says. Chakhoyan becomes more emotional when describing the experiences of other opposition supporters brought to the Kentron police long before the outbreak of the deadly clashes in Yerevan. “At around 10 o’clock in the morning, I saw a bleeding young man brought over to the police station,” he says. “He lay on the floor and they dragged him from his feet to the registration desk. The guy was convulsing in shock. No police officer would approach him. I said, ‘Let me help him, I can do that, I’ve worked for the rescue squad of the Armenian Red Cross.’ But they refused, saying, ‘You bastard, stay where you are and don’t move, we know what to do.’ “But I said, ‘If this guy dies, you will have to answer for that. So let me help him before it’s too late.’” The officers relented. “I put him in an anti-shock position, pulled his tongue back and gave him water,” Chakhoyan says, adding that an ambulance arrived shortly afterwards to take away the young man and three other beaten detainees. “There was also a badly beaten teenage boy,” continues Chakhoyan. “He was 14 at most. I saw him sitting in a corner. Blood was gushing from his eyes and forehead.” “If you entered the Kentron police headquarters at that moment, you would see blood all over its white tiled floor and even on the walls. The floor turned red,” he says. After nearly two hours of interrogation Chakhoyan was transported to the police department of the southern Shengavit district. He was kept there without a charge and released three days later. “Nobody beat me at the Shengavit police station,” he says appreciatively. “They treated me in a much more respectful way. They fed me and gave cigarettes.” Meanwhile, Naira Chakhoyan too got caught as she looked for her husband on March 2. “I walked past a police van parked at a bus stop near the railway station,” she says. “There were middle-aged policemen inside it, and I saw one of them pointing at me and saying, ‘This tramp was also there, catch her too.’” Younger officers quickly obliged and took her to the Kentron police station which Naira says was packed with beaten men. “I stood by the wall and every passing policeman would hit and swear at me,” she says. Naira was kept there until midnight. “They didn’t give any explanations,” she says. “Instead, they were mocking us, saying, ‘Hey, didn’t Levon promise to take care of you? Why isn’t he doing that? Why did you rally for him?’” Some officers, according to her, chanted Prime Minister Sarkisian’s election campaign motto, “Forward, Armenia!” in the process. (Photolur photo: Riot police guard Liberty Square shortly after it was cleared of protesters on March 1.) |
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