IF WE DON’T PUNISH THE ORGANIZERS PROVOCATIONS WILL CONTINUE
Gevorg Harutyunyan
Hayots Ashkhar Daily
March 13, 2008
The construction works are in a heated process in Yerevan. The
high-speed modern highways connecting the communities of the capital
city also increase day by day. President Robert Kocharyan visited
the construction sites to familiarize himself with the working process.
The journalists used their chance to ask questions regarding the
internal political situation in Armenia. Robert Kocharyan firstly
estimated the situation in Yerevan during the 11 days of the
state of emergency. " I think people also need to rest after the
rallies. Society is rather polarized. It was only 11 days back, when
due to the serious clashes we had human losses. The talks about new
rallies are simple provocations, and it is nonsense to speak about
them. If we endow new rallies and the same people gather in the same
square, those who participated in March 1 demonstration, this means
the police must also participate in these demonstrations, because it
is their obligation to provide the people’s security. In this case
everyone will over again remember about the victims and the injured.
By the way 108 policemen were injured, from which 43 got firearm
injuries.
It is difficult to imagine that the appearance of the police and the
demonstrators on the same stage won’t lead to clashes. Only provokers
can think of demonstrations in such situation. No one can guarantee
security for the participants of similar rallies."
Robert Kocharyan confirmed that the post-election events had a very bad
impact on Armenia’s economic life: " Similar events firstly have bad
impact on tourisms. These days fewer tourists visit our country. The
tourism agencies are really concerned about it, because, as they say,
many clients have already canceled their applications.
Last year 510 thousand tourists visited Armenia. Many spheres benefit
from the development of tourism. The income is equally distributed
around the whole territory of the country.
What happened on March 1-2 was a blow for each citizen. The newly
elected President and the government to be formed from April 9 must
do their best to bring back the country’s good reputation."
The President also informed that he is planning to review one more
restriction of the state of emergency. "At the moment we are planning
the version of the review. In the coming days I’m going to sign
a decree according to which the approach towards Mass Media will
change. At present, the state of emergency defines the contents of
the publications regarding the internal political situation. The new
decree will define what must be said. The restrictions will be related
to the provocative actions only, the evident false information. The
Mass Media will be freer to express their own standpoints and analysis,
but they must be very careful about the correctness of the information
they spread, because they will shoulder the responsibility for any
false information. This information can thwart the country’s stability.
There is no objective to prolong the state of emergency, but we will
continue to soften the restrictions. By now there has been no case
of breaching the state of emergency. The situation is quiet and
under full control. But the volume of gossips is really striking;
the reason probably is lack of information. And the new decree will
give chance to fill this gap.
We must be conscious that the weaker the position of the new President,
the bigger the temptation to make foreign pressure on him. This is the
alphabet of the international politics. That is why we must avert all
the attempts to weaken Armenia’s position on the international plane.
I don’t think, that the present situation is impossible to change. No
doubt, in one-two months everything will be set right and all those
who have provoked this situation must appear in the court and return
an answer for their deeds. If we don’t do it the provocations will
continue. For some people it is beneficial to weaken the positions
of Armenia. It is really dangerous and we must annihilate this danger."