YOUTH CALL FOR ACTION TO STOP KILLINGS OF ETHNIC ARMENIANS IN RUSSIA
By Astghik Bedevian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Nov 17 2006
About three dozen young men gathered near the Armenian Foreign
Ministry building on Friday to denounce the recent killings of ethnic
Armenians in Russia and call for Yerevan’s official response to what
they believe to be crimes committed on ethnic grounds.
They said their previous protest actions near the Russian Embassy in
Yerevan were followed by more murders of ethnic Armenians in Russia
with clearly ethnic motives that they said had been covered up by
Russian law officials as hooligan actions.
This time around the young activists addressed their appeal to Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian.
"The Year of Armenia in Russia is being accompanied with brutal
murders of young Armenians," a letter addressed to Oskanian reads.
"We are full of grief and anger with the criminal inaction under the
pretext of the so-called complementary policy."
The letter was originally signed by nine activists. About 200
passers-by also joined in the demand by putting their signatures to
the appeal.
One of the activists, Izabela Sarkisian, cited statistics according
to which some 3,000 Armenians have been murdered in Russia in the
past ten years. "All those murdered are qualified as hooliganism
and not as murders on racist grounds. We call for Armenia’s clear
stance on this matter," she told RFE/RL. "We believe that under the
constitution the Republic of Armenia has the obligation to take care
of its every citizen and do everything for our compatriots to feel
more secure in foreign countries."
Head of the Ministry’s Russia Division Marina Balayan accepted
the letter from the protestors and promised them to forward it to
Minister Oskanian.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
