SYMBOLIC BURNING OF PROTOCOLS

miacum
09:13 pm | October 06, 2009 | Politics

The Turkish-Armenian protocols were symbolically burned in the eternal
flame at the Armenian Genocide memorial with the accompaniment of
a prayer.

Mrs. Parandzem, who is a member of the "Miatsum" national initiative
and the mother of the first victim of the Karabakh war Edik Torozyan,
also burned the photo of Serzh Sargsyan along with the protocols. The
photo wasn’t entirely burnt because police officers stole it from
the mother and this caused the frenzy of the participants.

Police officers started pushing the people and called on them to leave
the memorial. Disregarding the police officers’ demands, the members of
"Miatsum" left the memorial only after ending the ceremony.

"This means that we are not only against this or that point in the
protocols, but the protocols in their entirety. We will symbolically
burn these protocols in all districts and will engage all Armenians in
the ceremony. This process must be stopped through combined efforts,"
said member of "Miatsum", commander of the Shushi squadron Jirair
Sefilyan who called on everybody to not lose hope, even if Serzh
Sargsyan signs the protocols on October 10.

Mrs. Paranzem asked Serzh Sargsyan to leave calmly before the Armenian
people face new hardships. "I burned his photo and I did the right
thing. I didn’t vote for him, he is illegitimate. He doesn’t have
the right to donate the lands that my son fought for to the Turks."

Film director Tigran Khzmalyan doesn’t see any anti-government step
in today’s protest and had the following to say in regard to the
policemen’s charges.

"This is neither the beginning nor the end. We burned the weakness and
the fear that the authorities are trying to instill in us. Everyone
has the right to express their protest in a way that they see fit. If
it continues at this rate, people may even start burning themselves."

Members of "Miatsum" went up to the Armenian Genocide memorial and
came down with a march.