PRESS RELEASE
The Heritage Party
31 Moscovian Street
Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+374 – 10) 53.69.13
Fax: (+374 – 10) 53.26.97
Email: info@heritage.am; office@heritage.am
Website:
April 23, 2007
Heritage Campaign Flourishes in the Face of Pressures and Attacks
Yerevan — As Heritage continues to carve its place as the majority
party in the new Armenian parliament, political attacks are on the
rise, from regional offices being soaked in paint to fear-mongering
confrontations on the part of neighborhood thugs and, occasionally,
local mayors, police, and security agents.
Two young female volunteers who were distributing Heritage flyers in
Yerevan’s Avan district on Friday, April 20, were not immune from
these attacks. At 5:15pm, midway through their campaigning, four
unknown males, having exited a BMW 520 vehicle (license plate 02OU909),
approached the college students, pushed them around, and confiscated
nearly 300 Heritage brochures. A police report was immediately filed,
and an official investigation is currently underway.
These incidents–as well as the blanket refusal of access for
Heritage to any billboards or overhangs, both public and private,
in Yerevan and across the country–betray an increasingly unfair and
intimidation-driven preelection cycle. The party will continue to
document these obstacles and present them to the Armenian public and
election monitoring groups. The OSCE observation mission has already
been informed.
Even so, Raffi K. Hovannisian and his fellow citizens continue their
campaign on a dynamic and triumphant ascent. On Sunday, April 22,
Hovannisian and Heritage’s candidates embarked on a tour through
the Gegharkunik marz, with enthusiastic public meetings in Sevan,
Gavar, Martuni, Tsovinar, and Vardenis. At Vardenik, where the
Hovannisian family has been honored with a school that bears the name
of world-renowned historian Richard Hovannisian, the Heritage team
enjoyed a particularly warm reception.
Today, the campaign bus "Toward Victory" is making its rounds in
Yerevan.
Tomorrow, in solemn commemoration of the victims of the Armenian
Genocide, three generations of Hovannisians, Heritage, and the entire
Armenian people will walk together to Tsitsernakaberd.
On April 25, Raffi Hovannisian will hold a press briefing at Heritage
Headquarters at noon, after which he and his fellow candidates will
visit Arax and other border villages between Etchmiadzin and Masis.
On April 26, the campaign caravan will travel toward triumph through
Talin, Artik, Maralik, Akhurian, Amasia, Giumri, and other towns in
the marzes of Aragatsotn and Shirak.
Founded in 2002, Heritage has regional divisions throughout the
land. Its central office is located at 31 Moscovian Street, Yerevan
0002, Armenia, with telephone contact at (374-10) 536.913, fax at
(374-10) 532.697, email at office@heritage.am or info@heritage.am,
and website at