168 Zham, Armenia
April 1 2010

Armenian war veterans condemn government’s policies on Turkey, Azerbaijan

A group of Armenian war veterans have issued a joint statement
strongly criticizing the government’s foreign and economic policy,
urging it to reveal more about the ongoing Armenian-Turkish and
Armenian-Azerbaijani talks.

"We strongly believe that the ruling Armenian government, which has
suspicious legitimacy, lacks high-level trust that could allow the
Armenian nation to believe it blindly," said a statement by the
Armenian Fraternity for Liberation Struggle, the Karabakh War Veterans
and the Council of Field Commanders. "Since such settlement processes
may cause long-term negative consequences, we are not going to wait
until facts which will already be recognized by the international
community finally appear," the paper quoted the statement as saying.

Criticizing the government’s foreign policy, the statement said: "A
just and effective domestic policy is the basis for a stable and
independent foreign policy. However, we believe that the path the
government has adopted in this field is bringing our motherland closer
to a precipice, as a result of which we believe that this government
has no right to represent the general interests of the Armenian nation
abroad."

The statement also said that imposing a heavier tax burden on a nation
already weakened by poverty, was an "unforgivable display of the
adoption of an anti-national policy by the government and its total
neglect of public demands".

"We call on the president and senior officials once again to come to
their senses and recognize that there is no other alternative for
ensuring justice in Armenia. The country should get back onto the
track of development. The government should consider this (statement)
to be a final demand and should remember that even ultra-tyrannical
regimes are helpless in the face of public rage," the statement
concluded.

BBC Monitoring notes that the joint statement comes amid opposition
criticism of the process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish ties and
the process of the Karabakh settlement.