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: APRIL 8-14, 2004
The “soap bubble revolution”
On April 8 Armenian President Robert Kocharyan said that “the change of power in Georgia has filled our opposition with ardor and hope”.
He noted that after the events in Georgia “a leadership race has begun among the opposition, which gave a certain direction to the ultimatums as there was also a question of who will be more active and the most extreme opposition stance”.
“This has brought about a situation when the opposition has driven itself into a deadlock it cannot break in a way that would allow it to save face. They will have to either resort to unlawful actions, knowing beforehand what the reaction will be, or to recede, which for them means to lose face. That is how the aggressive political minority has been formed,” Kocharyan said.
Robert Kocharyan in 2014Photo: REUTERS
“The situation reached a point when they are discussing the symbols of change of power in Armenia - rose, carnation, and so on. I would like to suggest a symbol, which I think reflects the current situation most truly both in direct and figurative sense - a revolution of soap bubbles,” added Kocharyan.
The dispersal
In the early morning of April 13, the Armenian police forces broke up the opposition rally staged on Baghramyan Avenue in Yerevan downtown, near the National Assembly of Armenia and the U.S. Embassy.
The police launched a special operation aimed at forcing the demonstrators out of Baghramyan Avenue at about 02:00 am. The police used water-jets and stun grenades to disperse the rally.
After breaking up the rally, representatives of the law-enforcement bodies made arrests in the headquarters of Armenian People’s Party and two other opposition parties, Republic and National Unity.
Policemen beat up two correspondents of Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper, Hayk Gevorgyan and Avetis Babadjanyan, and Channel One Russia cameraman Levon Grigoryan, who were covering the night events on Baghramyan Avenue.
On April 13, leader of the opposition block Justice Stepan Demirchyan said that he considered the dispersal of the opposition rally an “unprecedented crime against the Armenian people”.
“We have become witnesses to a thoroughly planned, despicable military operation aimed at crushing the will of the people who rose against the illegally elected president,” he noted.
Demirchyan qualified as a “barefaced lie” the statement of the Armenian Police that the demonstrators behaved aggressively and provoked the clashes. According to him, the special forces that attacked the demonstrators were hiding in the building of Armenian National Assembly. He placed some of the responsibility on the ruling coalition, which had the majority in the parliament, and Parliament Speaker Artur Baghdasaryan.
Photo: REUTERS
Leader of the National-Democratic Union (NDU) Vazgen Manukyan said that “the authorities took these measures as they understood very well that if the demonstrators had stayed on Baghramyan Avenue the whole night they would have been joined by whole Yerevan, which would have made Robert Kocharyan’s resignation inevitable”.
On April 14 Armenian Defense Minister, National Security Council Secretary Serzh Sargsyan said that “the police had to restore the public order on Baghramyan Avenue”.
“I don’t think that 1, 2 or 4 thousand people had the right to paralyze the normal life of the city with a population of one million,” he added.
While commenting on the statements by several opposition representatives that the rally participants did not do anything illegal and simply “sang and danced”, the Defense Minister noted: “I don’t think that Baghramyan Avenue is designed for dancing on the traffic way.”
On the same day President Kocharyan announced there was a need for a political dialogue, noting at the same time that he considered it unacceptable if the readiness for the dialogue was expressed as an ultimatum.
“Today, the opposition has every opportunity to resume its normal work. If it is not done, the authorities have enough legal potential to defend the people and prevent any manifestations of lawlessness,” stressed Kocharyan.
• 10 YEARS AGO: APRIL 8-14, 2009
“Aliyev does not want a war”
On April 10, 2009 Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said that his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev did not want a war.
He made that remark while commenting on the statements of OSCE mediators that Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents were trying to look at the prospects of Karabakh conflict settlement “from each other’s perspective”.
“When I try to look at the peace process from my counterpart’s perspective, I see a very good future for the South Caucasus. I am sure that President Aliyev, as a normal person, does not want a war, since wars brought a lot of suffering to our peoples. When I look at the prospects of settlement from the perspective my counterpart, I see an optimistic picture,” said Sargsyan.
Serzh Sargsyan on April 10, 2009Photo: Photolure
“Sincere confidence”
On the same day Sargsyan expressed a “sincere confidence” in the necessity to normalize relations with Turkey. Serzh Sargsyan said this at a news conference, answering the question of Mediamax on the motive for Armenian President’s decision to start a dialogue with Turkey.
“I sincerely believe that we have to normalize relations with Turkey, and this confidence had formed long before I was elected President of Armenia. I think that the sophisticated Turkish diplomacy can evaluate the level of my sincerity,” said Sargsyan.
President also noted that a number of international developments also contributed to the start of Armenian-Turkish dialogue. He stressed that Armenia maintained the clear stance on the necessity to establish diplomatic relations with Turkey without any pre-conditions.
Serzh Sargsyan on April 10, 2014Photo: Photolure
“If you consider this a compromise on our part, suit yourself. However, I urge you to trust our statements that during the dialogue with Turkey we do not consider the issue of Armenian Genocide and the process of Karabakh conflict settlement,” added Sargsyan.
He did not rule out the possibility that “we may have been wrong in our assessments and Turkey might take a step back and renounce the reached agreements”. “However, I am sure that even in that case we will come out of the situation stronger, as the international community is now certain of our readiness to establish relations without preconditions,” said Serzh Sargsyan.
• 5 YEARS AGO: APRIL 8-14, 2014
Ter-Petrosyan, Tsarukyan, and Hovhannisyan
First Armenian President, leader of Armenian National Congress (ANC) Levon Ter-Petrosyan, leader of Prosperous Armenia Party Gagik Tsarukyan and Heritage Party leader Raffi Hovhannisyan had a meeting on April 10.
The joint statement of the three parties read that Ter-Petrosyan, Tsarukyan and Hovhannisyan “discussed issues related to the establishment of a joint political agenda and action plan on the background of the newly-formed political situation”.
Sargsyan’s promise and Abrahamyan’s appointment
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan made an announcement on April 10:
Serzh Sargsyan on April 10, 2014Photo: President’s press office
“I officially state that I will never run for the position of President of Armenia again. If final discussions result in a way I don’t agree with - I mean the parliamentary form of government, I will not stand for the post of the Prime Minister either.” Serzh Sargsyan added that he believed no one should run for presidency more than 2 times.
On April 14, Sargsyan introduced new Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan to the members of the cabinet.
Serzh Sargsyan and Hovik Abrahamyan on April 11, 2014Photo: President’s press office
Ara Tadevosyan
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