EARLY ELECTIONS: WAY OUT OF MARCH CRISIS TO ANC

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.03.2010 16:11 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian National Congress’ rally signaled the start
of a new process. The Congress presented its scheme on overcoming the
March crisis to Armenian people, also intending to take legal action
against the increase of gas prices, ANC spokesman Arman Musinyan said.

As he told a news conference in Yerevan, in near future the opposition
will start active public discussion on ANC’s "100 steps" economic
program.

Commenting on the question of PanARMENIAN.Net reporter , whether it
would be advisable to restrict themselves to specific date for early
parliamentary and presidential elections in Armenia, Arman Musinyan
stated that the date was already submitted to EC consideration,
so little digressions from the date specified are of little importance.

Dwelling on discussion of Armenian Genocide Resolution at U.S. House
Committee on Foreign Affairs, Armen Musinyan expressed doubts
over US agreeing to sacrifice its vital regional interests to the
recognition of Genocide. "The issue of international recognition of
Genocide exhausted itself, after RA President agreed on formation of
Armenia-Turkey intergovernmental historic subcommittee," he emphasized.

Armenian National Congress: Before February19, 2008 elections, an
alliance of more than 20 political parties and initiatives formed
the all-national movement around presidential candidate, Levon
Ter-Petrossian, Armenia’s first President. On May 2, 2008 at the 2nd
Congress of all-national movement, Levon Ter-Petrossian put forward
the idea of establishing the Armenian National Congress. On August 1,
2008 the Armenian National Congress was formally established.

Among the basic requirements of ANC are the release of political
prisoners, restoration of the constitutional rights of citizens and
holding of early elections.

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic
destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during
and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres, and
deportations involving forced marches under conditions designed to
lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths
reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the
Genocide survivors.

To date, twenty countries and 44 U.S. states have officially recognized
the events of the period as genocide, and most genocide scholars and
historians accept this view.