IN ESTIMATION OF HEAD OF MEDIA RELATIONS DIVISION OF MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, "VOICING SUCH UNILATERAL CHARGE" BY MATTHEW BRYZA "IS GROUNDLESS AND USELESS"

Noyan Tapan
March 12, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 12, NOYAN TAPAN. "We are astonished that even after
the visit paid to Yerevan and receiving information from different
official and unofficial sources, the assistant of the U.S. Deputy
Secretary of State can make such wilful statements," Tigran Balayan,
the Head of the Media Relations Division of the RA Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, declared.

According to him, "the voicing of such a unilateral charge is
groundless and useless. The number of the injured policemen: 108, 43
out of whom have received fire-arms or splinter injuries, distinctly
shows that the demonstrators were armed with fire-arms and explosive
materials. This coincides with the operative information of the law
enforcement bodies, which made society aware of all this even days
before March 1. Under this circumstance, the labelling of the response
of the government as "dispersion of opposition demonstrations of
protest" or qualifying as "rude and severe" is not exact. That was
not an attack upon citizens by the police at all."

According to Tigran Balayan, "the acts of violence, which took place
on March 1, are a serious preoccupation for all of us in Armenia,
including and first of all for the government, which is responsible for
the preservation of rules and security in the country. The government,
manifesting restraint, was trying to maintain the rules, however,
as the law enforcement bodies warned beforehand, it turned into a
clash between the police and demonstrators. Under the circumstance,
when there are 8 victims (one of whom is a policeman) and tens of
injured people (many of whom are from law enforcement bodies), there
can be no doubt that this was a serious and, in justice, punishable
act of violence, as Mr. Bryza mentions."

Today, 10 days after that terrible day, the main problem standing in
front of Armenia is to examine and understand what happened and look
for ways forward together. The international community should encourage
all the envolved sides to assume responsibility for the damage caused
to the bases of our society and look for inclusive ways for moving
forward. The statements made on the basis of false awareness can and
already contribute to the aggravation of the political tension."