ARMENIAN RADICAL OPPOSITION CONTINUES PROTESTS

Itar-Tass
22.02.2008, 05.00

YEREVAN, February 22 (Itar-Tass) — A thousand of Armenian radical
opposition activists continued to protest for the second day in front
of the Opera Theater in Yerevan overnight claiming their candidate
had won the presidential election held on Tuesday.

Despite unusually cold weather of minus 6 degrees Centigrade the
activists did not abandon the square and made fires to keep warm.

They insist their candidate and former President Levon Ter-Petrosyan
had won the election and categorically refuse to accept the victory
of Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisyan.

In the meantime, the national defense ministry hurried to reject
the claims of Ter-Petrosyan that he enjoys the backing of two deputy
ministers.

He said Lieutenants General Manvel Grigoryan and Gagik Melkonyan
authorized him to say "they stay with the people and the candidate
who enjoyed popular trust".

"They will not allow the army to interfere into politics and be used
against the people," he said adding the generals were negotiating
with Army Chief-of-Staff Seiran Oganyan.

Defense ministry spokesman Seiran Shakhsuvaryan denied the allegations,
while the ministry warned the opposition against "pulling the armed
forces into political processes".

"We demand from opposition leaders and specifically from Levon
Ter-Petrosyan not to use our names and to refrain from provocative
statements that do not correspond to reality," the ministry said in
a statement.

"We assure the citizens of Armenia that the armed forces of the
republic will not get involved into political processes and will
act in compliance with the law, ensure security of our Motherland,
and fulfill the tasks set by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief," it said.

European observers assessed the Armenian presidential election as
generally corresponding to international standards.