TER-PETROSIAN VOWS MORE PROTESTS

Radio Liberty
March 11 2008
Czech Republic

Former President Levon Ter-Petrosian pledged late Tuesday to continue
to challenge the official results of Armenia’s disputed presidential
election but made it clear that he will not hold unsanctioned
demonstrations anytime soon.

Ter-Petrosian predicted that the Armenian authorities will prolong
the state of emergency in Yerevan to make sure that Prime Minister and
President-elect Serzh Sarkisian does not face street protests before
and during his inauguration scheduled for April 9. He also said that
he is ready to negotiate with the Armenian authorities while refusing
to recognize the legitimacy of Sarkisian’s election win.

The 20-day state of emergency declared by departing President Robert
Kocharian on March 1 bans rallies and other public gatherings in the
capital. The Yerevan mayor’s office on Tuesday refused to authorize a
rally which Ter-Petrosian hoped to hold in the city’s Liberty Square
on March 21, saying that it would pose a "serious threat to the life
and health of citizens." In a written statement, an aide to Mayor
Yervand Zakharian also argued that the last opposition rally held on
March 1 was marred by deadly clashes between Ter-Petrosian supporters
and riot police.

Speaking at a news conference held in his house, Ter-Petrosian said
he will file more rally applications to the mayor’s office. "They
can’t reject our applications all the time," he said. "They’ll
find another way [of preventing rallies.] They’ll simply prolong
the state of emergency. They need 20 more days [of emergency rule]
so that there are no rallies until April 9."

"We do not plan to hold unsanctioned rallies," he added.

Armenia’s Constitutional Court on Saturday rejected Ter-Petrosian’s
appeal against what he sees as "fraudulent" official results of the
February 19 election that gave a landslide victory to Sarkisian. The
court found credible some of the vote rigging allegations made by the
opposition candidate but said they were not serious enough to affect
the election outcome.

In his first public reaction to the ruling, Ter-Petrosian stressed
the fact that it made no mention of his claims that Sarkisian was
not eligible to run for president because of a law that bars serving
government officials from contesting presidential elections. He claimed
that the court thereby recognized the validity of his arguments and
indirectly called into question the legitimacy of Armenia’s next
president. He said he will therefore continue to fight for regime
change in a "civilized, understandable, clear and uncompromising way."

"Once there is a possibility of holding rallies, once the [independent]
media resumes its operations, we will use the media, we will
use rallies and all other legal means of communicating with the
people. Something which we did for five months," said Ter-Petrosian.

"I will be telling the people that I do not accept the legitimacy of
these authorities."

The chain-smoking ex-president made clear at the same time that he
is ready to engage in dialogue with the authorities to try to ease
the post-election tensions in Armenia. "I won’t recognize Serzh
Sarkisian’s legitimacy but that doesn’t mean I won’t talk to him,"
he said, reaffirming his acceptance of relevant proposals made by
the European Union last week.

The EU’s Slovenian presidency said that in order to facilitate
such dialogue the Armenian government should lift the state of
emergency, release all political prisoners and allow an "independent
investigation" into the March 1 violence that left at least eight
people dead. However, the government ruled out an early end to
emergency rule and widened its post-election crackdown on the
opposition.

"They keep talking about dialogue, but are doing everything to
scuttle it," Ter-Petrosian complained, urging the EU to press the
Kocharian-Sarkisian administration to go along with its proposals.

Ter-Petrosian claimed at the same time that the authorities are only
"making their life harder" with the continuing mass arrests of his
supporters and other "political repressions." "No regime in a country
like Armenia can have the resources to establish dictatorship,"
he said.

Ter-Petrosian also put a brave face on his failure to unseat Armenia’s
current leadership, saying that he has managed to generate, against
all odds, a mass anti-government movement ever since ending his
self-imposed political retirement last September. The 63-year-old
scholar, who had led the country to independence from the Soviet Union,
was thought to be highly unpopular when he announced his decision to
join the unfolding presidential race. Still, he managed to attract
a large following and emerged as Sarkisian’s main challenger in the
following months.

"Our people are now totally different from who they were five months
ago," said Ter-Petrosian. "I consider this to be the greatest
achievement of my life. I and my team of supporters have done a
miracle. We have created a new society, civil society, conscious
society, intellectual society that has to be reckoned with."