Thousands Demand Council Of Europe Action On Armenia

Thousands of opposition supporters marched to the Council of Europe office in Yerevan on Tuesday to demand that the Strasbourg-based organization press for snap elections in Armenia and other government measures sought by the opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK).

The PACE’s Monitoring Commission is due to look into the Armenian authorities’ response to its calls for sweeping political reforms that would ease lingering political tensions in the country. Its two Armenia rapporteurs, Georges Colombier and John Prescott, urged the authorities in Yerevan in January to draw up a “clear timetable for these reforms” before the Paris meeting.  Read more... (521 words)

Two years on: Armenian Opposition Says Still Seeking Fresh Elections

All speakers at the opposition rally in Yerevan Monday evening offered words of sympathy to the families of ten people who were killed in street battles between demonstrators and security forces two years ago that day.

Ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosyan, whose supporters staged nonstop street demonstrations in the wake of a disputed presidential election in late February 2008, once again accused the government of murdering innocent people.

“Hadn’t the election been rigged, the government would not have had to attack people on March 1. That murder had been planned and carried out by the authorities from beginning to end,” said Ter-Petrosyan, who currently leads the opposition alliance Armenian National Congress (ANC), addressing a crowd of supporters in front of an ancient manuscripts depositary, Matenadaran, in downtown Yerevan. (This was ANC’s first rally since last September).  Read more... (660 words)

Armenian Opposition Bloc Unveils New Economic Manifesto

The main opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) unveiled on Tuesday a detailed plan of actions which it said are necessary for a “radical transformation” of Armenia’s flawed economic system.

The opposition bloc led by former President Levon Ter-Petrosian specifically wants to shift the main tax burden from small and medium-sized enterprises to a handful of government-linked “oligarchs” whom it accused of “strangling free enterprise” in the country. This would be done through the introduction of a progressive income tax scale as well as sharp increases in other taxes paid by the wealthiest Armenians.  Read more... (354 words)

Armenian Opposition Activists and Police Clash in Yerevan

Youth wing of the Armenian National Congress (HAK) launched a rally in Yerevan today. A few hundred participants of the protest action complained of the rigged presidential election of 2008. At the intersection of Abobyan and Sayat-Nova streets the protesters made an attempt to break through a police cordon.

As the pavements of Abovyan street are narrow the protesters marched along the street which aroused policemen’s indignation. Chaining the street and forming a barrier they demanded that the marchers walk along the pavements. To avoid a clash with policemen the marchers sat on the ground, stretched out their hands and began signing and shouting out “Freedom.” Just at that moment policemen and red hats forced them off the street truncheoning and beating.  Read more... (180 words)

Opposition Bloc Again Slams Armenian Foreign Policy

The opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) on Tuesday denounced President Serzh Sarkisian’s policy on Turkey, saying that it has given Ankara a say in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process and left Armenia under “unprecedented” international pressure to make more concessions to Azerbaijan.

“Instead of having normalized relations, we have even more hostile relations,” he told journalists, referring to the latest accusations traded by Armenian and Turkish leaders.  Read more... (572 words)

Armenian Opposition Parties Trade Accusations

Leaders of the two opposition parties represented in Armenia’s parliament exchanged on Monday bitter recriminations stemming from a controversial change in the composition of the Armenian delegation in the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE).

Parliament speaker Hovik Abrahamian decided last month to replace Postanjian by a pro-government deputy in the PACE on the grounds that Dashnaktsutyun left the country’s governing coalition in April and is now in opposition to President Serzh Sarkisian. Abrahamian argued that the presence of two opposition deputies in the delegation does not reflect the balance of forces in the National Assembly.  Read more... (587 words)

Armenian Opposition ‘In Decline’

The January 10 parliamentary election in Yerevan exposed a glaring decline in the popularity of the main opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK), the ruling Republican Party (HHK) claimed on Friday.

“The 20 percent turnout shows that the Armenian National Congress’s approval rating has declined all over Armenia, including the center of Yerevan, which is the country’s most politicized part,” Sharmazanov told journalists.  Read more... (282 words)