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 21-27, 2007

Margaryan’s death

On March 25 Armenian Prime Minister, President of the Republican Party of Armenia Andranik Margaryan passed away at the age of 55 from heart attack.

Andranik Margarian was appointed a Prime Minister of Armenia in May 2000. He became the first head of the government in the history of Armenia, who for such a long period of time occupied the position of the Prime Minister.

Photo: Photolure

Andranik Margarian underwent a heart surgery in autumn 1999.

In October 2001, after the checkup of the heart system of the Prime Minister in Paris, it was suggested that Andranik Margarian underwent urgent medical treatment. As the press service of the Armenian government noted then, “the French physicians resorted to non-surgical operation to increase the patency of the heart blood vessels of the Prime Minister.”

Photo: Photolure

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan described Margaryan’s death as “a painful loss for the whole Armenian people.”

On March 26 Armenian President Robert Kocharian accepted the resignation of the Armenian government in accordance with the 55th article of the Constitution. Robert Kocharian chaired a special session of the government. The participants of the session honored with a minute of silence the memory of the Prime Minister Andranik Margarian.

 

“We lost a statesman, a colleague, a friend, who for 7 years headed the government, and those 7 years were the best years of our state. Occupying a high state position, he remained a modest, tolerant and a decent person. In our memories Andranik Margarian will remain just as that, first of all, due to his personal qualities. Andranik Margarian left at a very responsible moment, and the authorities should make the right decisions to find a way out from this situation,” Robert Kocharian stated.

•    10 YEARS AGO: MARCH 21-27, 2012

Clinton, Lavrov and Juppé’s urge

On March 22 Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov, Secretary of State of the United States Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Foreign Minister of France Alain Juppé, issued the statement on NK Conflict which runs as following:

"On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the formal request to convene a conference on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, we, the Foreign Ministers of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries, call upon the sides to demonstrate the political will needed to achieve a lasting and peaceful settlement. As Presidents Medvedev, Obama, and Sarkozy reiterated in their joint statement at Deauville on May 24, 2011, only a negotiated settlement can lead to peace, stability, and reconciliation, and any attempt to use force to resolve the conflict would bring only more suffering to a region.”

Heads of OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries recalled that any delay in reaching a settlement will only prolong hardships of the peoples of the region which suffered due to the war.

The mediators urged the sides to prepare their populations for peace, not war.

“We urge the leaders of the sides to complete work as soon as possible on the framework agreement and subsequent final settlement – based on the Helsinki Final Act principles of non-use or threat of force, territorial integrity, and self-determination and equal rights of peoples; the United Nations Charter; and norms and principles of international law – which will allow the entire region to move beyond the status quo toward a more secure and prosperous future."

•    5 YEARS AGO: MARCH 21-27, 2017

Ter-Petrosyan: “The key to NK settlement is in Russia’s hands”

On March 22 First President of Armenia, leader of Armenian National Congress Levon Ter-Petrosyan attached importance to the role of external powers in the settlement of NK issue.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan expressed an opinion that escalations, registered on the Line of Contact during the recent years, were conditioned by the fact that “international community agreed on the frozen conflict and did not put serious efforts.”

“There are new circumstances right now, which inspire some positivity,” Levon Ter-Petrosyan said on the air of Beyond the Agenda program, Armenian Public TV. In particular, ex-President of Armenia says that the key role in the settlement of NK issue belongs to Russia, which is currently involved in the developments in the Middle East.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan

Photo: Photolure

“As Russia has been involved in the Middle East, it cannot stand this kind of explosive back in that frontline. It is already accepted by everyone that the key to resolution of Artsakh issue is in Russia’s hands. All co-chairing states approach this matter with understanding and without any jealousy. The West would even be thankful to Russia for solving the issue. If there is a super-power more interested in solving this problem, that should be Russia, first of all taking into considerations its interests,” Levon Ter-Petrosyan said.

“It is not about us and Azerbaijan; the issue is geopolitical. Armenia and Azerbaijan are involved in international structures, and those structures, not Azerbaijan or Artsakh, will determine the ways of solving this issue,” First President of Armenia added.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan also said that if the disagreements between the sides were enormous in the beginning, we speak more about “a couple or two objections” today.

“If Armenian side expresses clear determination for signing the document, the pressure from mediators will be directed towards Azerbaijan,” Levon Ter-Petrosyan said.

Babayan’s detention

On March 22, 3 persons, including former Defense Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Samvel Babayan, have been detained in the criminal case of the smuggling of Igla portable surface-to-air system into Armenia from Georgia.

Leaders of Ohanyan-Raffi-Oskanyan election bloc Seyran Ohanyan, Raffi Hovhannisian and Vartan Oskanian issued a joint statement, noting that “they view these actions of the authorities as an attempt to form an atmosphere of fear in our country and to affect the results of the elections in an illegal manner.”

Samvel Babayan

Photo: Photolure

On March 27 Seyran Ohanyan stated:

“Samvel Babayan is our comrade-in-arms and ideological partner. He supported us within his abilities in different times. We must be resolute in protection of his rights and fight till the end.”

Vartan Oskanian and Raffi Hovhannisian stressed that “Samvel Babayan is a political prisoner.”

Sargsyan’s prophesy

On March 24 President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said that CSTO countries “could provide more active support to Russian Armed Forces in the fight against the Islamic State”.

“Russia makes a very large contribution to that fight, and we should bear some responsibility too. It’s important for Armenia also because high numbers of our compatriots used to live in the Middle East. As we know, the Islamic State treats national minorities with particular cruelty, especially the Christians. My brothers and sisters suffered greatly from that in Syria and Iraq. Of course, the sooner ISIS fighters are wiped out, the better for the entire human race,” the President stated in the interview to Mir TV.

Serzh Sargsyan

Photo: Former President’s office

“Armenia is located approximately 400km away from the ISIS operation zone. That means that developments in the Middle East are directly related to our security. Given that many citizens from CIS member states are involved in ISIS activities, sooner or later, people with military experience will appear in our region. Unfortunately, we can already detect Arabic speech and other voices on the other side of the Line of Contact. We think that people who left the Middle East become gradually involved in the conflicts in our region. Undoubtedly, that is very dangerous,” Serzh Sargsyan stated.

Ara Tadevosyan