15.04.2004 09:41:00 GMT
Armenian FM criticizes U.S. position on latest Yerevan events

Yerevan. (Interfax) – Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian has
criticized the U.S. Department of State’s report addressing the latest
developments in Yerevan.

In its report, the U.S. Department of State expressed concern over the
situation in Armenia and called on the country’s authorities and opposition
to hold negotiations to resolve the problem.

“The United States has forgotten to condemn the opposition’s calls for a
coup in the republic. If not for this failure, I myself would have signed
off on the U.S. Department of State’s report. At the same time, it is these
opposition calls that can be viewed as the underlying reason for what has
been happening in Armenia over the past few days,” Oskanian told a
roundtable session in Yerevan on Wednesday.

Tensions are running high today between Armenia’s authorities and
opposition, which is demanding that President Robert Kocharian resign.
Earlier, the opposition started to boycott parliamentary sessions, calling
for a referendum to assess the population’s trust in the authorities, and
staged a series of rallies. On the night on April 13, police broke up an
opposition rally outside the presidential residence, and all unauthorized
large-scale assemblies have been banned in Yerevan.

Oskanian blamed “both the opposition and the republic’s authorities for what
has happened.”

“We have already reached a certain level of the country’s democratic
development, but the biggest challenge – to make democratic processes in
Armenia irreversible – still lies ahead. And, we need the opposition’s
constructive assistance to succeed in this task,” the foreign minister said.

He expressed hope that “Armenia will manage to prove to the international
community that the political situation in the republic is still stable.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress