ARMENIAN LEADER BLAMES PROTESTS ON "IRRESPONSIBLE POLITICIANS"

Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS
February 27, 2008
Russia

Outgoing Armenian President Robert Kocharian claimed that current
protests by the opposition against the official results of the February
19 presidential election were the work of "irresponsible politicians"
and urged protesters to "come to [their] senses."

According to official announcements, Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan
received 52.82% of votes in the election and won while former president
Levon Ter-Petrosian mustered 21.5% and Artur Bagdasarian 17.7% of
the vote.

Supporters of Ter-Petrosian, who was Armenia’s first post-Soviet
president and was in office from 1991-98, have been holding public
actions in Yerevan since February 20, demanding the annulment of the
official election results.

"Don’t be a weapon in the hands of irresponsible politicians. It is
not your game," Kocharian said in a televised address.

"No authorities in any country in the world would tolerate processions,
rallies or other actions that were unsanctioned," he said.

"It’s the time to wake up, come to one’s senses," Kocharian said.

Besides Kocharian said, that Armenian authorities have taken measures
to neutralize armed units trying to destabilize the situation in the
country following the recent presidential elections.

"I can say that measures to neutralize criminal groups were pursued
yesterday and today. Large amounts of weapons and ammunition have
been seized. Particular individuals have been detained," he said on
Armenian Public Television.

"What is most dangerous is that part of Yerkrap [an organization of
the Nagorno-Karabakh war veterans] and some other veteran organizations
have been involved in the internal political processes," he said.

In addition, those "responsible for vote rigging during the elections"
have been detained, he said.

"These are not only opposition members. There are members of the
Republican Party and other political groups among those detained,"
he said.

Law enforcement are also detaining "those who have organized
unsanctioned processions and demonstrations, ignoring interests of
other people," he said.

In particular, residents of the houses adjacent to Freedom Square in
Yerevan, where the opposition has been holding a rally to protest the
official outcomes of the presidential elections, are complaining that
the rally caused them inconvenience, he said.

The law enforcement agencies are taking measures "to provide the
people’s security and calm," Kocharian said.

>From one’s part Armenia’s president-elect, Prime Minister Serzh
Sargsyan, has offered peace to the opposition, which claims he won
last week’s election through rigging.

"I call upon you to eradicate your hatred," Sargsyan told a rally
in Yerevan on Tuesday in addressing opposition supporters who were
simultaneously holding another rally in the capital.

The premier called those who had gathered at the opposition rally
"our brothers and sisters." "It is love for a prosperous Armenia that
has brought them there," he said.

But he accused opposition leaders of devious motives. "I know these
people quite well, but I’m not someone who would allow them to go on
with their actions. I will make maximum efforts to have these actions
eradicated," he said.

"Democracy cannot accept lies and falsification," Sargsyan said.

"We face absolutely different tasks, we need to re-address the
expectations of the people."

"Today is not the time for division, today is the time for work,"
the president-elect said.