ARMENIAN POLITICIANS, US INTELLIGENCE CHIEF DISCUSS SITUATION IN COUNTRY – PAPER

Iravunk, Armenia
Sept 16 2005

Headlined “‘Velvet season’: it smacks of a ‘velvet’ revolution”

Today it is difficult to say what political developments will take
place in Armenia this year. Will the opposition manage to topple the
authorities by means of a revolution or in some other way? One thing
is already clear: autumn will be full of unexpected and interesting
meetings.

According to a source close to the US embassy, such a meeting has taken
place at the US embassy. Some opposition leaders Aram Sarkisyan [leader
of the Anrapetutyun Party], Ovanes Ovanesyan, Aram Karapetyan, Stepan
Demirchyan [leader of the opposition Justice faction in parliament],
Viktor Dallakyan [secretary of the Justice faction] and Vazgen Manukyan
[leader of the National Democratic Union] were officially invited to
meet the head of the Eastern Europe and Russia department of the US
National Intelligence Council, Martin Schwartz.

This information is interesting because this is the first time that a
top official of the US secret services has officially met the leaders
of the Armenian opposition. It is remarkable that the format chosen
by the opposition for the meeting was not homogeneous in terms of
its geo-political orientation.

According to the same source, the meeting lasted for a long time and a
wide spectrum of local and foreign political issues were discussed in
detail. Incidentally, Mr Martin Schwartz also met some media chiefs
and even a reception was organized in his honour at the US embassy
at the end of his visit.