National, International, Armenia, and Community News and Opinion

16 The Armenian Reporter | March 7, 2009
Armenia
Armenia marks first anniversary of March 1 events
Ter-Petrossian
strikes a conciliatory
tone
Thousands of
candles and
thousands of flowers
in Miasnikian
Square
by Tatul Hakobyan
ld.
YEREVAN – A year after security
forces clashed with demonstrators
in the streets of Yerevan, and
10 Armenian men were killed, Armenia
solemnly remembered the
events of March 1, 2008.
About 20,000 people gathered
near the Matenadaran in central
Yerevan to hear Levon Ter-
Petrossian speak. Striking a conciliatory
tone, he suggested that he
would be open to entering a coalition
with the governing parties.
Following the rally, the protesters
marched along Mashtots Avenue
to Miasnikian Square, in the vicinity
of which the deaths had occurred
last year. They approached
the statue of Miasnikian, placed
flowers, bowed, and departed.
A day earlier, on February 28, in
the same square, Tigran Karapetian,
leader of the People’s Party,
and his supporters paid tribute
to the memory of the 10 victims.
Within a few moments, thousands
of candles were lit on the podium
of Miasnikian’s statue and thousands
of flowers were laid.
“I find each victim, the shedding
of each drop of Armenian blood,
wherever it may occur, but particularly
in Armenia, unacceptable.
We first of all criticize the authorities,
as they should have prevented
and not allowed the atmosphere to
reach that level,” Mr. Karapetian
said.
Meanwhile, President Serge
Sargsian on March 1 lit 10 candles
at the St. Sarkis Church in Yerevan
in memory of the 10 victims.
On the same day Karekin II, Catholicos
of All Armenians, conducted
a requiem service at Holy Etchmiadzin
for the souls of the victims.
Representatives of Armenia’s different
political forces could be seen
among those present. Robert Kocharian,
during whose presidency
the tragic events had occurred, did
not make any public appearances.
“The only luminous spot
in this nightmare is the
unbreakable will of the
nation”
Former president Levon Ter-Petrossian on March 1, 2009, at an opposition rally.
Photos: Photolure.
On the eve of March 1, 2009, thousands of candles were lit at Miasnikian Square
to honor the memory of those killed a year earlier.
Last autumn Mr. Ter-Petrossian had
announced that he was suspending
his protest rallies, in which participation
had been dwindling. He had
explained that unwanted developments
were awaiting Armenia in
the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement
process and because of that he did
not want to cause additional problems
for the authorities.
During the rally on March 1, 2009,
Mr. Ter-Petrossian did not refer to
the Karabakh settlement at all and
instead mostly concentrated on domestic
economic issues. “We have
to commemorate the tragic events
of March 1 in an oppressed atmosphere,
as prisons continue to be
full of dozens of our friends who
have been criminally prosecuted
based on false accusations. The administration
has done nothing toward
uncovering the true perpetrators
of the tragedy: the murderers,
the snipers, and the looters,” said
Armenia’s first president.
“The only bright spot in this nightmare
and the only circumstance
saving Armenia’s disgraced reputation
is the unbreakable will of the
nation and the establishment of a
strong opposition, headed by the
Pan-National Movement and the
Armenian National Congress,” he
proclaimed. “Despite the brutal
massacre of March 1 and the total
and daily violence that followed, it
is obvious that the authorities did
not manage to intimidate or bring
our nation to its knees and force it
to stop participating in the struggle
aimed at restoring its civil rights,”
he said to his supporters.
Mr. Ter-Petrossian strongly condemned
the economic policy of
the government, saying that the
authorities are “taking steps inadequate
to the crisis.” He criticized
the sale of foreign-currency reserves
to artificially maintain the
exchange rate of the dram. He was
also critical of the government’s actions
to enforce tax laws by forcing
all retailers, including those in flea
markets, to use cash registers. Mr.
Ter-Petrossian also said the government
tolerates monopolies in the
import of goods, allows large-scale
entrepreneurs to avoid taxes, fails
to enforce customs laws evenly,
and refuses to fight corruption. He
also faulted the government for
not cutting expenses even though
revenues are falling.
Mr. Ter-Petrossian said the government
should have prepared the
nation for the economic crisis.
The economic crisis
Mr. Ter-Petrossian said the current
crisis will be deeper and harder
to overcome than what Armenia
had to face at the beginning of
the 1990s. Back then the domestic
crisis took place during a healthy
international economy, when international
financial organizations
President Serge Sargsian lights ten candles on March 1, 2009, at the St. Sarkis
Church in Yerevan. Photo: Press Office of the President of Armenia.
Thousands of people march peacefully along Mashtots Avenue on the anniversary
of the deadly clashes of March 1, 2009.
and wealthy states were able to extend
a helping hand to those states
in need.
“In the coming few months, thousands
of manufacturing enterprises
will end their activity. Parallel to the
decrease in exports, the volume of
imports will also abruptly decrease.
Budget revenues will inevitably decrease.
The unemployment rate will
increase enormously. Wages will
be frozen or fall. Delays in paying
wages will become frequent. The
true income of the population will
decrease. Students will be unable
to pay their educational fees. Creditors
will be unable to repay their
debts. Thousands of shops and enterprises
in the service sector will
close down. The strata of small and
medium entrepreneurs, in essence,
will no longer exist,” he said.
An olive branch?
“I do not rule out the possibility that
in the near future the administration
might find itself in such a hopeless
situation that it will be forced
to resign. I also do not rule out the
possibility that they will suggest
that we reach a national accord or,
to be more precise, establish a government
of national salvation. If
they do make such a proposal, then
the decision to accept or not accept
it will be of course be taken not by
the Congress but by the nation,” Mr.
Ter-Petrossian said.
Unlike his speeches in previous
rallies, this time Mr. Ter-Petrossian
was more civil and moderate in his
characterizations of the governing
authorities. He avoided inflammatory
term kleptocracy and said
the concepts of “attack, rebel, and
revolution” have and will continue
to be completely absent from the
vocabulary of the Pan-National
Movement or the Armenian National
Congress.
“The old ideologies of revolt or
revolution must finally be elimi-
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