DID THE FRENCH CONSUL KNOW ABOUT MARCH 1?
A1+
[08:11 pm] 16 October, 2008
On February 29 RA French Consul had held talks with French Armenian
liberation fighter, film director and citizen of France Sargis
Hatspanian and had advised him to leave Armenia. Does this mean that
the French Consul knew what was going to happen on March 1? In response
to ethnographer Hranush Kharatian’s question, Hatspanian refused to
reply and only said that the conversation is recorded, can’t be found
in Armenia and that he has promised to keep it top secret.
During a press conference today, Hatspanian announced that he is going
to stay in Armenia longer than Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sargsian and
that he has lived in Karabakh longer than both presidents. Hatspanian
noted that he has no problems with Kocharian and Sargsyan, but said
that he can’t stay on the sidelines.
"I can’t put up with the fact that the authorities disrespect the
people’s voice and I have made an announcement on that on February 20
at Freedom Square. The Armenian people received an awakening thanks
to Levon Ter-Petrosyan and proof of that was Freedom Square, which
was the last poll where the people had come to vote. There has never
been anything more legal in the history of independent Armenia."
After the beatings in Freedom Square on March 1, Hatspanian’s friends
helped him move to Nagorno-Karabakh where he stayed until August 20. He
was forced to leave for Paris on August 21 due to his parents’ poor
health conditions. He returned to Yerevan on October 9 and found out
that Robert Kocharian had decided to deny Hatspanian RA residency
status when Yerevan was still in a state of emergency on March
10. Police chief of the Kentron police division Arthur Mehrabian handed
Kocharian’s decision to Hatspanian without a stamp. As an attorney,
Hatspanian stressed that he still doesn’t have the original copy of
Kocharian’s decision, which means that the decision is illegitimate
and nobody has the right to exile him from Armenia.
In 1997, when Kocharian came to Armenia and took the post of Armenian
Premier, Hatspanian also came to Armenia and applied to receive RA
citizenship; however, three months later he received a denial. In
1995, Hatspanian got married to RA citizen Hasmik Poghosian and has
two children and, according to RA legislation, he may always reside
in Armenia.