EurasiaNet, NY
March 7 2008
Armenia: Authorities Advance Conspiracy Theory
03/07/08
Armenian leaders are now casting the March 1 bloodshed in Yerevan as
the product of an international conspiracy that sought the
revolutionary overthrow of the existing political order.
Speaking at a March 7 news conference in Yerevan, Armenian
Prosecutor-General Agvan Ovsepian asserted that `conspiratorial
foreign forces’ played a role in initiating the armed clashes between
anti-government demonstrators and state security forces that left at
least eight people dead. [For background see the Eurasia Insight
archive]. `Many factors related to the [March 1] events … provide a
basis for such a conclusion,’ Ovsepian added, according to an account
published by the Russian daily Izvestiya.
Meanwhile, in an interview published by Rosssiiskaya Gazeta on March
7, Serzh Sarkisian — Armenia’s prime minister, and, according to the
official results of the February 19 election, outgoing President
Robert Kocharian’s successor — claimed that the anti-government
protesters were intent on toppling the government. `It’s fair to say
that an attempt to organize a `color revolution’ in Armenia really
took place,’ Sarkisian insisted.
Overall, 350 individuals have been interrogated in connection with a
criminal probe being carried out by officials, Ovsepian said. So far,
53 individuals have been formally charged in connection with the
March 1 violence. Another 16 have been detained and are under
suspicion of wrongdoing, Ovsepian added.
Meanwhile, two members of parliament, Sasson Mikaelian and Khachatur
Sukisian, have apparently gone into hiding, Ovsepian announced. The
two, who are suspected of playing a role in organizing the
anti-government protests, were recently stripped of their
parliamentary immunity.
The government version is contradicted by eyewitness accounts of the
March 1 events. Participants in the anti-government protests insist
that security forces opened fire on a largely unarmed crowd. [For
background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. In addition, the
preliminary findings of Armenia’s ombudsman have indicated that the
Kocharian administration initiated the sequence of events that led
directly to the bloodshed. [For background see the Eurasia Insight
archive].
State of emergency restrictions have hampered the ability of
independent news organizations, both inside and outside Armenia, to
gather information, thereby hindering the ability to verify the
competing versions of events. [For background see the Eurasia Insight
archive].
The United States and key members of the European Union have not
challenged the Kocharian administration’s handling of the crisis,
even though as part of its all-out effort to stifle a free press, the
Armenian government pulled the plug on Armenian-language broadcasts
of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. In a March 7 editorial titled
`Dark Days in Armenia,’ the New York Times called on President George
W. Bush, along with European leaders, to `make clear to Armenia’s
government that such behavior is unacceptable and will jeopardize
future relations.’ A clear signal of disapproval is needed in order
to halt what the editorial described as a `slide into
authoritarianism’ by CIS states.
Amid the relative silence of the United States and EU, Armenian
authorities have started to vigorously attack the few Western
officials who have gone on record as criticizing the Armenian
government’s behavior. One such official is Terry Davis, the
secretary-general of the Council of Europe, who on March 3 called for
a quick end to the state of emergency. [For background see the
Eurasia Insight archive].
Without referring to Davis or other critics by name, Victor
Sogomonian, Kocharian’s press secretary, pointedly told outsiders to,
in effect, mind their own business. `We must clearly realize that it
is not foreign officials, but rather [Armenian] authorities that are
in charge of the republic’s security,’ Sogomonian said.