"PEACEFUL ARMENIA" CIVIL INITIATIVE TO MAKE PUBLIC MESSAGE COMPOSED OF 24 POINTS IN NEAR FUTURE

Noyan Tapan
April 11, 2008

YEREVAN, APRIL 11, NOYAN TAPAN. One of the objectives of the
"Peaceful Armenia" civil initiative founded recently by 10 Armenian
non-governmental organizations is to contribute to the establishment of
a dialogue between the authorities and the society in the country. This
statement was made by Karen Bekarian, a member of the initiating
group and the Chairman of the "European Integration" non-governmental
organization (NGO), mentioning that about 250 NGOs have currently
joined the initiative.

According to him, under the situation created in Armenia the whole
public-political system more than ever needs to unite the society, to
unite around the statehood and look directly at their own problems. As
regards the NGOs, in the words of Karen Bekarian, they should not be
only in the role of an assessor or observer.

Karen Bekarian stated that the final version of the message composed
of 24 points adopted by the forum of the "Peaceful Armenia", which
was held on April 7, will be made public in the near future. It
will include short-term and long-term job programs, as well as the
settlement ways of the existing problems. In particular, it will offer
to conduct a comprehensive investigation and a complete revelation of
the March 1 events, to reconsider the recent amendmends made to the RA
Law on "Conducting Meetings, Assemblies, Marches and Demonstrations",
as well as to review the principles of the activities of the Public
Television and its heading staff.

In the opinion of Boris Navasardian, the Chairman of the Yerevan Press
Club, the public dialogue has not been conducted in Armenia in the
recent years mainly through the fault of the authorities as, according
to him, many institutions of the civic society have made suggestions
on the reforms in Armenia for many times, however those suggestions
have been left without response. In the words of the Chairman of the
Yerevan Press Club, "if the authorities are today ready for a fair
constructive dialogue, they should take that initiative."