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Armenia marks the 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

Published: Friday March 06, 2009

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. Photolure

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 said 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"

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 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.