Today we live in a society, which can not imagine life without expressing views on social media. Probably it does have certain advantages. Nevertheless, many participants of active discussions have already forgotten or do not even know about the developments, which unfolded in Armenia 5, 10 or 15 years ago.   

To fill the gap Mediamax presents 5/10/15 project, which introduce developments in Armenia 5, 10 and 15 years ago.

•    15 YEARS AGO: MARCH 15-21, 2006

Armenia’s interest “will be carefully studied”

On March 16 U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried said in Yerevan that Washington would carefully study Armenia’s interest in “new safe and commercially viable sources of nuclear energy”.

When asked by Mediamax’s correspondent about the USA’s potential interest in the construction of a new nuclear power plant in Armenia, Daniel Fried said that “in the light of new developments with the diversification of energy sources, the European Union and the USA again began to consider the prospects of using nuclear energy.”

Daniel Fried, US Ambassador John Evans and Armenian President Robert Kocharyan

Photo: Photolure

“I cannot say anything concrete about the conclusions we will make after these discussions in general and about Armenia in particular. My interlocutors in Armenia spoke about Yerevan’s interest in new, safe and commercially viable sources of energy security. I will take this with me to Washington and we will carefully study these issues,” said Daniel Fried.

“Armenia can never compete with us”

On March 16 President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said today that “neither in 10, nor in 100 years will we allow Nagorno-Karabakh to tear away”.

He stated that Azerbaijan reinforced its military might each year and in 2006 the country’s military budget totaled USD 600 million.

“I have set a task to make so that the military budget of Azerbaijan equals to Armenia’s state budget. Armenia can never compete with us. The sooner the leadership of Armenia realizes this, the better will it be for them,” said Ilham Aliyev.

Commenting on these remarks on March 17, Armenian FM Vardan Oskanyan stated that “in the civilized world, peoples and states don’t compete over the size of their military budget.”

“The size of the military budget is not what they take pride in when they compare themselves with their neighbors. Today, the spheres of competition are elsewhere - economy, culture, education. And in all those spheres, Armenia is ahead of Azerbaijan, which Azerbaijan knows well. Beginning with the UN’s Human Development Index, Armenia is ahead of Azerbaijan. Despite the fact that for many years now that Azerbaijan produces 400,000 barrels of oil per day, the per capita income in Azerbaijan still hasn’t reached Armenia’s. These are the latest data endorsed by the World Bank,” he said.

•    10 YEARS AGO: MARCH 15-21, 2011

Aliyev: “Armenians killed a 9-year-old boy”

On March 15 Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated that “Armenians killed a nine-year-old boy.”

“A meeting, organized by President Medvedev, took place in Sochi. Following its results a joint declaration, concerning confidence building measures and intensions to try to solve any issue peacefully, was signed. Unfortunately, three days after that Armenians killed a nine-year-old boy. A nine-year-old boy is not a soldier, but a child. In this case, how can we trust the side, which takes up such an act of violence?! In this case, civilians, in particular, an ordinary child, are aimed at. This means that the Armenian side does not respect its own signature and declaration,” Aliyev said.

Sargsyan says Azerbaijan’s accusations are “slander”

On the following day, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan stated at the meeting with OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs that the claims of Azerbaijan, according to which an Armenian sniper killed a nine-year-old child, were an “absolute slander”.

Serzh Sargsyan meets the mediators on March 16, 2011

Photo: Armenian President’s press office

On March 17 Sargsyan reacted to the appeal of the Azerbaijani parliament’s Vice-Speaker Bahar Muradova, who personally addressed the Armenian President and his wife, in particular, and said: “Do not allow your people to kill children”.

His response read in particular:

“Yes, we face a problem and we need to deal with that problem together. Indeed, together. We must solve it and not burden with it our children. But to do that first and foremost we should be able to transform the social atmosphere leading to destruction, we should reject mechanisms nourishing it, we should be able to remake the environment that gives birth to violence bringing about irretrievable losses of young men, an environment where a child’s life may undergo speculations with suspicious stories serving the mere primitive goal of stigmatizing the whole nation”.

Raffi Hovhannisyan’s hunger strike

On March 15, leader of the opposition party “Heritage” Raffi Hovhannisyan announced an indefinite hunger strike.

Raffi Hovhannisyan on March 15, 2011

Photo: Photolure

He urged the President of Armenia to resign and said that the people had to unite “for the sake of freedom and justice”.

“Sanctions against Iran are a challenge for Armenia’s economy”

On March 16 Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said that “the international sanctions against Iran are a challenge for development of Armenia’s economic potential.”

Speaking at the External Relations Committee of the European Parliament, he said:

“Not aiming at casting doubt on EU’s efforts to achieve peace and stability, I want to invite your attention to the fact that international sanctions against Iran in reality are a challenge for development of our economic potential. Besides Iran, the only corridor, which connects Armenia to the world, passes through Georgia. The tragic events, which took place in our region in 2008, revealed the vulnerability of Armenian economy that is due to great dependence on the only existing transport corridor. In that period, we survived because of organizing transit of main goods through Iran. Toughening of sanctions will reduce the availability of that corridor, while our joint efforts with EU on opening the border with Turkey were unsuccessful.”

Tunisia, Egypt events “will reach Armenia”

On March 17 ex-President of Armenia, Leader of Armenian National Congress (ANC) Levon Ter-Petrosyan said that “it is obviously the time for realization of radical changes, or, in other words, for final dismantling of the “gangocracy” system.”

“I do not doubt that the events of Tunisia, Egypt and other countries will reach Armenia as well and the authorities will finally obey the will of the people. But I am also sure that as opposed to other countries, in Armenia this will happen smoothly and without shocks,” he said.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan on March 17, 2011

Photo: Photolure

Ter-Petrosyan also stated that of Serzh Sargsyan’s resignation “is still on the agenda”.

Armenian President to the Police: “I am ashamed on your behalf”

On March 14 Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan urged the Police to focus on the speed of reforms and achievement of real results.

“I am going to take a more active part in the process of changes in the system of Police. Every day, I am going to assist to the resolution of problems impeding the reforms,” he stated at the Armenian Police Board meeting.

Serzh Sargsyan on March 14, 2011

Photo: Armenian President’s press office

“If the citizens witness delinquency on the street and the Police officer turns his back upon the person who has broken the law, how can we respect or believe the policeman? I can bring about still worse examples. The whole society knows that a murder has been committed and knows who did it, and the policemen turn the case the way as if the crime has been allegedly committed by somebody else, and the criminal is still at large. How can we assess this behavior, how can we assess the whole system? You are all well aware that such a case happened in Arabkir community. I am ashamed on your behalf. If you treat the system seriously, if you treat the honor of the Police as your own, you ought to feel insulted and should be the first to go and tell that high-ranking policeman- why are you disgracing our system?” said the President.

Russia has no intention to interfere in Armenian-Turkish process

On March 18 official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Lukashevich stated that “the Armenian-Turkish rapprochement is an issue of bilateral relations and Russia is not planning to interfere with this process.”

He noted that from the very beginning of the process Russia had been supporting both sides and welcomed Zurich agreements, recalling that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was present at the ceremony of the signing.

“At the same time we believe that the issue of Armenian-Turkish rapprochement is an issue of bilateral relation and Russia does not plan to interfere with that process. But will want in all respects for it to give good results in terms of bilateral relations, consolidation of the spirit of cooperation and interrelations in Transcaucasia,” said Lukashevich.

•    5 YEARS AGO: MARCH 15-21, 2016

Zhirinovsky says it’s “nonsense”

On March 17 Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky called the proposals to denunciate the Russian-Turkish Kars and Moscow treaties “nonsense”.

“This is such nonsense. Let’s denounce the treaty of Brest-Litovsk as well. All treaties are signed a long time ago and are included in other documents. There is no sense in denouncing, this will not cancel them,” said the politician.

Baku wants “standard” arms from Russia

On March 18 Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov noted that Baku and Moscow had no unsettled financial issues related to weapons supply.

“We pay for everything in accordance with contracts. There are problems with their implementation; weapons supplied to Azerbaijan should conform to technical parameters set in the contracts. The main point is that equipment should be compliant with the standards. Dmitry Rogozin came to Baku to clarify the problems with the parameters and received full explanation, no questions are left. Correction of technical parameters for certain types of weapons is necessary. According to Rogozin, it will be done in the nearest future,” he said.

Ara Tadevosyan