ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SHOCKED WITH MATTHEW BRYZA’S STATEMENT

Regnum
March 13 2008
Russia

Ministry of foreign affairs of Armenia is shocked with statement
of US deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian
affairs Matthew Bryza on the recent events in Yerevan. "Such biased
accusations are groundless and futile. The fact of 108 police officers
being wounded, of whom 43 received missile wounds, are evidence of
the rally activists’ being armed with guns and explosives."

"This coincides with operative information of the law enforcement
agencies, of which the public was informed several days before March
1. In this case, it is unacceptable to qualify the government’s
reaction to the riots as ‘opposition rally crackdown’ and ‘rough and
brutal action’," spokesman of Armenian foreign ministry Tigran Balayan
is quoted by a REGNUM correspondent referring to the ministerial
press service.

According to Balayan, acts of violence that took place on March 1
are a real cause of concern for everybody in Armenia, including and
first of all, the government that is responsible for maintaining law,
order, and security in the country. He said that while the government
displayed self-composure and tried to preserve law and order, the
situation followed the scenario, forecast by law-enforcement agencies
and deteriorated into clashes between the police and rally attendants.

"Whereas we have eight victims (one of them is a police officer) and
tens of injured people (of them many are employees of law-enforcement
agencies), there is no doubt about the incident being a serious and
deplorable" act of violence, just as Bryza has characterized it.

"Today, 10 days after the formidable day, Armenia’s major task is to
investigate and analyze the incident and look for ways towards the
common progress. International community has to support all concerned
parties that are ready to accept responsibility and look for ways
to move forward. Statements based on false information can lead,
and have already led, to aggravation of the tensions," the foreign
ministry spokesman’s statement reads.