Press Statement
Sean McCormack, Spokesman
Washington, DC
March 1, 2008
All Political Forces in Armenia Should Avoid Violence and Engage in Political Dialogue
The U.S. deeply regrets today’s unrest in Yerevan, Armenia, and calls on all sides to avoid further violence, act fully within the law, exercise maximum restraint, and resume political dialogue. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried spoke today with Armenian PM Sargsian to make these points. The U.S. Charge d’Affaires has been in touch with the opposition to deliver this same message. Both sides are responsible for helping to re-establish order and return to political dialogue. Any unlawful actions such as violence and looting worsen the situation and must stop. We hope that the State of Emergency declared today will be lifted promptly and that political dialogue resumes. Political dialogue is the best way for all concerned Armenians to demonstrate responsible leadership and support for the future of Armenia and democracy.
While I have myself started a petition calling on Armenia’s authorities to end violence against presidential election protesters, I am not too comfortable with what the Armenian Civil Society is doing. I think the organization is contributing to the polarization in Armenia by asking the U.S. Congress to condemn the events. Moreover, characterizing Armenia’s authority as a “repressive regime” demonstrates lack of knowledge and understanding of political establishments on the part of the LA group. Armenia’s government is authoritarian but, relatively speaking, it is not repressive. In fact, although rumors of police brutality are most likely true in all details a repressive regime would have used other means to defend the establishment.
Anyhow, if you agree with the Armenian Civil Society you may call your Congressman. But I believe Armenia first needs social and not political reforms because the problems embedded in the latter often reflect the unaddressed issues of the former. One example is the extreme polarization and accusations drawn from xenophobic sentiments against demonized enemies.
A1Plus is not the only media outlet that has stopped reporting the ongoing presidential election protests in Armenia due to de jure state of emergency. Websites that were updated several times an hour are now silent complying with Armenia’s Constitution that gives censorship rights to the government when the latter declares state of emergency.
Hetq.am, a website of investigative journalists that I occasionally contribute to, informs (in Armenian) that they “have to limit their work” under the law while ArmeniaNow, a source widely seen as among the most objective, has stopped updating its homepage without even reporting the State of Emergency.
Armenian blogs have become somewhat passive too in the last few hours but it is too early to conclude that they perceive their activities to be limited under the law.
At least one pro-opposition media in Armenia now says it will stop reporting political news for the next 20 days due to the declared state of emergency. The website of A1Plus, a news group that is long banned from Armenia’s air, informs its readers that under Armenia’s law it won’t report political developments.
State of emergency is declared in Armenia, and, under such circumstances and according to the law, it is prohibited to provide information on the political situation and developments. The state of emergency will last for 20 days; during this time you can read cultural, sports and official [political] news [provided by the authorities]. We are asking for your forgiveness.
As I mentioned earlier today, the declaration limits political reporting to copy-pasting of official releases – raising the question of whether blogs based in Armenia fall under the ban. Technically, Armenian websites and blogs outside Yerevan may operate freely but almost every major media outlet is based in the capital city – including all the blogs I know from Armenia. I guess my fellow bloggers in Armenia should either relocate to another region from Yerevan for a few days or send their posts to bloggers abroad (like me) for publishing.
I will be glad to provide that service and guarantee anonymity – if requested. The constitution doesn’t prohibit individuals from sharing information with others. This blog’s e-mail is [email protected].
The 20-day state of emergency temporarily bans the following:
Gatherings, protests, marches and other mass activities
Strikes and activism leading to strikes
Activities by those political parties and NGOs that have led to the state of emergency order
The order also states:
Enforcement agencies, if necessary, may limit transportation routes and search individuals
Media reports concerning “state and interior issues” can be published exclusively using official information provided by the authorities (does this apply to blogs based in Armenia?)
[Distribution] of all kinds of political publications (print) are banned unless approved by the authorities
Talin Suciyan, an Armenian journalist born in Turkey, just informed from Yerevan in an e-mail to an online group that “state of emergency has been declared for 20 days in Armenia.”
UDPATE: Talin has sent another e-mail clarifying that the emergency applies to the city of Yerevan only and not to the rest of Armenia.
A contributor to this blog has sent me an Amnesty International video titled, “Your Signature is More Powerful than you Think,” in the hope that people around the world will start a petition calling on the authorities to stop the use of violence againgst presidential election protesters in Armenia. The video is below; the petition I was compelled to start is here.
I keep receiving e-mails from Armenia sent by people who have not initially supported the protests. But it seems that by now people are more concerned with how the protesters are handled and brutalized by the authorities. The subject of one e-mail, sent by a freelance journalist, reads “sos” and asks for action. The body e-mail is short and direct:
mi ban ara, saytumd gri
menk kaki mej enk [do something; write in your blog. we are in shit]
Another journalist in Armenia, Onnik Krikorian, has left a comment on one of my posts advising caution on reporting rumors on killed protesters.
…please, let’s confirm the number of fatalities first before we quote them and they get taken as fact. From what I understand, nobody died this morning. Tonight, however, is going to be very bloody indeed.
Eyewitnesses at the scene have told ArmeniaNow that a woman struck when a police vehicle drove into a crowd of protesters near the Yerevan Municipal Building was killed by the blow.
An American citizen in the crowd also said he saw the police vehicle move into the crowd at a low-rate of speed running over three protestors including the woman, whom he, too believed to have been killed. After the vehicle stopped and its driver removed, the crowd set fire and burned the vehicle and subsequently two others.
The Ministry of Health, however, told ArmeniaNow that there have been no fatalities resulting from today’s clashes between law enforcement and opposition protestors.
It is 25 minutes after noon in Armenia (March 1, 2008) and 1:00 at night in Colorado but I had to wake up and write this. Although I did read about the “cleaning up” of the protesters who had occupied the Liberty Square some of my friends from Yerevan sent me several text messages telling that Armenia’s authorities are using brutal methods to fight protesters who disagree with last week’s presidential election results . I am talking to some friends on Yahoo messenger and also writing this at the same time.
One friend is saying that the police are at this minute beating up the protesters and many have found refuge in foreign embassies, especially at the French embassy building.
A1Plus, a banned TV station, has posted a short video on the ongoing battle about 50 minutes ago:
In an e-mail addressed to an online group, an aquintance sent from Armenia the following minutes ago:
At about 7 am on March 1 the police and internal force dispersed the protest meeting at the Square of Freedom lasting for the tenth day which was initiated by Levon Ter-Petrosyan and his supporters who disputed the result of the vote.
Regnum reports that at the time when the meeting was dispersed the first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan was at the square who, according to the news agency, urged several thousand people at the Square not to resist to the police.
Witnesses said the police used truncheons and other special means, and the operation lasted for 10-15 minutes. Now the police and the internal forces have blocked the city center. Regnum reports that the police gathered the tents in which the protestors spent the night. Regnum reports traces of blood are seen in the square.
***
In the morning of March 1 Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s office issued a press release concerning the police action on the peaceful protestors.
“Today in the morning of 7.30 about 5 thousand policemen were deployed at the Square of Freedom who dispersed peace protestors. The police force led by the chief of Robert Kocharyan’s security tried to arrest the first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan. Levon Ter-Petrosyan demanded to show the warrant, which they did not do. At the moment Levon Ter-Petrosyan is at the Square of Freedom surrounded by policemen. Some members of Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s team are missing. Levon Ter-Petrosyan stated that they will try to continue the protest meeting at 3 pm,” runs the release.
***
Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s office reports that on March 1, at 3 pm the protest will continue which was dispersed by the police force in the morning of the same day.
The rally of protest is foreseen to continue at the Square of Freedom , which is now surrounded by the police force. If it is impossible to hold the rally at the Square of Freedom , the rally will take place in North Avenue , if not, at the Square of Republic .
We have learned that Levon Ter-Petrosyan has been taken home from the Square of Freedom . There is no information about members of LevonTer-Petrosyan’s team who have been arrested.
The friend who woke me up says there is another protest growing up for 3:00 p.m. in Yerevan (in less than three hours).