ARMENIAN PRESIDEMT SEES NO NECESSITY TO EXTEND OR REDUCE PERIOD OF EMERGENCY STATE

ARKA
March 5, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian president Robert Kocharian
at present sees no necessity to extend or reduce the period of the
state of emergency declared in Yerevan. He stated that at the March
5 press conference. He said that first of all, it is necessary to
clarify the whereabouts and list of the organizers of the March 1
disorders in Yerevan and to make sure that no disorders of this kind
will occur again prior to lifting the state of emergency. "Today we
are not completely sure of it because the people who used arms and
explosives against military are at large. Unless we have a definite
answer to this question, we have no right to lift (the state of
emergency) and then to have severer consequences," he said.

In response to the question of a Georgian reporter, R. Kocharian
said that the dialog with the authorities was rejected by this part
of the opposition.

Moreover, Levon Ter-Petrosian announced that Liberty Square is his
apartment and he must be carried from there to the presidential
palace. "Such statements just close the path of a normal
dialog." Besides, according to R. Kocharian, the newly elected
president expressed a willingness for dialog, his statement had no
ristrictions, everybody, except for Ter-Petrosian, responded to it,
and active negotiations are currently underway on formation of a
coalition goevrnment. "It is possible that they were reluctant to
engage in dialog so as to keep the bellicose mood of the electorate
or, roughly speaking, their fighting ability, which we saw late March
1 and early March 2," R. Kocharian said.

He refuted L. Ter-Petrosian’s statement that he was ready to engage in
a dialog with authorities and join demonstrators but he had no such
opportunity. "No one prevented him," R. Kocharian said, explaining
that his bodyguards refused to participate in illegal actions. "He
was free to go without bodyguards, and as he was concerned about his
own security, he should also have been concerned about security of the
people who gathered there." The first president informed R. Kocharian
(via the head of the latter’s guards Grigory Sargsian) about his
intention to go to demonstrators and tell them to calm down but he
presented an ultimatum: he will lead demonstrators to Opera Square
where they will hold a rally for 15 consecutive days. This proposal was
made at the moment when the crowd armed with sticks and metal rods had
already built barricades from about 30 burnt cars and there were beaten
policemen. "Just imagine what would have happened to the city if we had
allowed the crowd in such a state to reach Opera through the avenue."

The Armenian president said that Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II
went on his own initiative to Levon Ter-Petrosian. "I was astonished
to hear about it, I cannot imagine that an Armenian in any place of
the world can send His Holiness back from the door of his house. The
impression is that it seems to him that at this moment he is riding
high and that the authorities are in a panic. By not meeting with
His Holiness, he missed the chance to get out of this situation and
to save his own face," R. Kocharian said.

In the opinion of the Armenian president, "the direct consequence of
his activities is the disgrace that occured in Yerevan, for which
every Armenian, every resident of Yerevan experiences discomfort,
a normal person can be brought into a state of psychosis and at that
moment he is not aware of what he is doing – for this he bears direct
responsibility before the people and law enforcement bodies. If he is
to be forgiven, it is the people who may forgive him," R. Kocharian
said, pointing out that "everybody must be punished in accordance
with their guilt" in order to prevent such things in future.

According to R. Kocharian, after lifting the state of emergency,
the city authorities must not allow any rally until the situation
calms own. "This time we will not wait for 2, 3, 5 and more days,
the response will be sharp on the very first day so that we will not
get into such a situation." In general, permanent rallies should be
excluded in order to avoid such situations. The Armenian president
expressed an opinion that an amendment should be made in the law on
mass events, the same political force or candidate should be banned
from holding a continuous rally for a week, the law should envisage
the opportunity to hold rallies in Opera Square twice a week. "After
all, no one can privatize Opera, it is a recreation site of our people
and city residents," Robert Kocharian said.