ARMENIAN PRESIDENT TO MITIGATE RESTRICTIONS ON MASS MEDIA ACTIVITIES

Noyan Tapan
March 12, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 12, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian president Robert
Kocharian on March 12 went to see 3 sections of Heratsi-Saralanj
transport node to be constructed in Yerevan. Familiarizing himself
with the construction work on the spot, he told reporters that
what he saw "gives a hope that the node will be put into operation
on time". According to him, the construction of the transport node
is one of the largest projects in Yerevan, it costs over 10 million
dollars. The aim is to ease traffic in several streets of the city. The
project envisages 3 nodes with 6 bridges and two tunnels.

At the request of reporters, R. Kocharian spoke about the internal
political situation. He considered as provocative the first Armenian
president Levon Ter-Petrosian’s statements about an intention to hold
a rally immediately after the end of the state of emergency. "How do
you imagine the contacts of policemen and demonstrators – the same
people in the same plane?," R. Kocharian asked, adding that "no one
can guarantee security of such a rally".

R. Kocharian said that the post-election developments, especially the
March 1-2 disorders have first of all affected the tourism sector. "The
number of tourists to Armenia has significantly declined today, and
tourist agencies express an alarm that in fact people refuse the tour
packages formed for the next few months," the president said. In his
words, the newly elected president and the government to be formed
after April 9 "should take active measures to restore the prestige
of the country".

According to R. Kocharian, all this may also have an impact on the
settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. "We should realize
that the weaker Armenia and the president’s positions, the greater
the temptation to pressure this president and country will be,"
he said, adding that in his opinion, the current situation is not
irreversible and it will be rectified in one or two months. "But
in order to rectify it, all those guilty should be held accountable
for what they have done, all those who instigated and created this
situation should appear in court. Unless we do so, the provocative
actions will continue," R. Kocharian said.

He also urged reporters to perceive with understanding the restrictions
on their activities, informing them that in the coming hours he will
sign a decree to mitigate the restrictions on mass media activities:
"the approach will change" by this decree. In his words, the current
decree determines the mass media actions on the internal political
situation, whereas the new decree will envisage "very narrow"
restrictions and will state what may not be done. The president said
that the new restrictions will only be related to provocative actions,
dissemination of obviously false information, and reporters will be
much freer to express their opinions and approaches and to disseminate
information, they just should be careful and publish information only
after checking it.