NO REASONS TO LIFT STATE OF EMERGENCY – KOCHARIAN

Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS
March 5, 2008
Russia

The state of emergency introduced in Yerevan following mass riots in
the city will be maintained, Armenian President Robert Kocharian said.

"As of yet, we are not sure that such incidents will not take place
again, and this could lead to more danger," Kocharian told journalists
on Wednesday.

"Firstly, one should be certain that riots will not repeat themselves
in order to lift the state of emergency. Today, there is no such
certainty, because the whereabouts of the organizers of the riots
have yet to be established," the Armenian president said.

People who used "arms and explosives against police" are still at
large, Kocharian said.

Yerevan’s city hall should not sanction new opposition protest actions,
the president said, adding that he advocates legal restrictions on
rallies in downtown Yerevan. "One should introduce legal restrictions,
for example on staging rallies on Liberty Square no more than once
or twice a week," the president said, stressing, "We should make sure
this situation does not happen again."

"There should be a swift reaction on the first day. The main thing
is to avoid a negative development of the situation; the main thing
is that there is no psychosis," Kocharian said. "We all should learn
a lesson from these events," he said.

The opposition, headed by Levon Ter-Petrosian, a former Armenian
president, launched mass protests the day after the February 19
presidential election, demanding a revision of the results.

Police dispersed the rally on Liberty Square on March 1. The protesters
then moved to an area adjacent to the embassies of France and Italy,
where up to 10,000 people rallied. Police reported that, by the
evening, the situation had become uncontrollable and crows had started
looting nearby government institutions and private shops, setting cars
ablaze in the process. An end was put to the rioting after a 20-day
state of emergency was introduced in Yerevan by a presidential decree.

According to official data, eight people died and 131 sustained
injuries in the rioting.

Besides Kocharian said, that the situation at the contact line between
the Nagorno-Karabakh and Azeri armed forces has stabilized.

"There was an attack on a stronghold, and it was captured. A response
came immediately, and the status quo was restored," Kocharian said
at a press conference.

The conflicting sides reached a ceasefire agreement, Kocharian said.

He praised the role of OSCE chairman-in-office’s representative for
Nagorno-Karabakh Andrzej Kasprzyk in settling the incident.

"We are capable of settling this incident," Kocharian said.

The Armenian president suggested that Azerbaijan might have thought
that Armenia lost its focus on Nagorno-Karabakh or that "some major
units were withdrawn from Nagorno-Karabakh to maintain order in
Yerevan."

"I don’t think that it would have been politically correct to take
advantage of such a situation," he said.

Earlier Armenian Prime Minister and President-elect Serzh Sargsyan
said, that the Armenian army inflicted "numerous" fatalities on Azeri
forces in a clash on Tuesday, and territory seized by the Azeris on
Tuesday morning was returned to the Nagorno-Karabakh government.

"There are negotiations in progress on the peaceful resolution of
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," Sargsyan said.

"I am sure that common sense will take the upper hand, and I rule
out the military resolution of the conflict," he said.

Armenia and Azerbaijan concluded a ceasefire in May 1994.