Armenia head mulls state of emergency in crisis

Reuters, UK
March 1 2008

Sat Mar 1, 2008 4:48pm GMT

YEREVAN (Reuters) – Armenia’s president may declare state of emergency
if his stand off with the opposition continues, but there is still
hope to resolve the crisis peacefully, the foreign minister said
on Saturday.

"All (draft) decrees are ready to declare state of emergency," Vardan
Oskanyan told a news conference.

"At this moment the president is holding serious discussions and
meetings, and he is very keen to resolve this political matter by
political means.

"Now it all depends on opposition (leaders). I feel we are living
through a critical moment, and if we now take the right decision we
(the nation) will win."

Armenia’s opposition called on its supporters to hold a new protest
on Saturday, hours after police violently broke up its 10-day sit-in,
drawing criticism from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation
in Europe.

Several thousand opposition supporters have protested daily in
Yerevan’s Freedom Square since Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyan was
elected to replace his ally Robert Kocharyan as president in a February
19 vote, seen as rigged by the opposition.

(Reporting by Hasmik mkrtchyan; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing
by Alison Williams)