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ANKARA: Armenia's New President To Take Office Amid Protests

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  • ANKARA: Armenia's New President To Take Office Amid Protests

    ARMENIA'S NEW PRESIDENT TO TAKE OFFICE AMID PROTESTS

    Hurriyet
    April 9 2008
    Turkey

    Armenia's president-elect Serzh Sarkisian was to be inaugurated
    Wednesday as his opponents gathered to lay flowers in memory of
    protesters killed while contesting his February election victory.

    Representatives of 58 countries were to attend the swearing-in
    ceremony and a military parade in and around the capital Yerevan's
    opera house, said Viktor Sogomonian, outgoing President Robert
    Kocharian's spokesman.

    A seventh-century copy of the New Testament from Armenia's famed
    Matenadaran collection of ancient Christian manuscripts and an original
    copy of the constitution written after the country's independence
    from the Soviet Union was to be used in the ceremony.

    It was to conclude with a blessing of Sarkisian by Catholicos Garegin
    II, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

    Supporters of opposition candidate and former president Levon
    Ter-Petrosian were meanwhile preparing to hold a memorial ceremony
    outside the Yerevan mayors office, where post-election clashes left
    eight dead.

    "While the bloody regime is coronating its ruler, members of society
    will gather to honor the memory of the dead and lay flowers where
    these tragic events took place," Ter-Petrosian's spokesman Arman
    Musinian told AFP.

    Public demonstrations are banned under a presidential decree passed
    following the violence, which erupted after riot police dispersed
    thousands of protesters who had rallied for 11 days to contest the
    result of the vote.

    Seven civilians and one security officer were killed in the unrest
    and dozens were injured, many from gunshot wounds. A 20-day state
    of emergency imposed after the unrest was lifted on March 20, but
    authorities have not said when the ban on protests may be rescinded.

    Police have arrested 90 people in connection with the unrest, including
    many senior opposition figures.

    The opposition claims the election was rigged to ensure Sarkisian's
    victory, but international observers said the vote had mostly met
    democratic standards.

    In his final televised address as president, Kocharian said on Tuesday
    that he was leaving office with no regrets.

    "Progress in the modernisation of the country is obvious, the lives
    of its citizens have fundamentally improved," he said. "At the same
    time, it is obvious that much remains to be done. Quality of life is
    far from a desirable level. This is the task of the next president
    and government," he added.

    Speculation had been rife in Armenia that Kocharian intended to take
    Sarkisian's place as prime minister following the inauguration, but on
    Tuesday the ruling Republican Party nominated Central Bank Chairman
    Tigran Sarkisian to head the new government. Tigran Sarkisian is not
    related to the incoming president.

    A mountainous country of about three million people -- wedged between
    Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran and Turkey -- Armenia has seen repeated
    political violence and post-election protests since gaining its
    independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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