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BAKU: Armenian Opposition Promises Years Of Political Conflict Ahead

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  • BAKU: Armenian Opposition Promises Years Of Political Conflict Ahead

    ARMENIAN OPPOSITION PROMISES YEARS OF POLITICAL CONFLICT AHEAD

    Azeri Press Agency
    March 3 2008
    Azerbaijan

    Armenia's main opposition leader has vowed to continue protesting
    against the result of the presidential election, which he says was
    rigged (BBC).

    The majority of demonstrators in a standoff with police in Armenia's
    capital ended their protest on Sunday but a few dozen refused to go
    home and set fire to abandoned police vehicles.

    Most of the crowd, which numbered about 2,000, headed away from a
    square in the Armenian capital where they had been demonstrating after
    a message was read out from opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan
    urging them to go home.

    Levon Ter-Petrosian made the pledge despite the deaths of eight people
    in clashes between his supporters and riot police on Saturday.

    A state of emergency is in force in the capital Yerevan and the army
    has been patrolling the streets.

    The election was officially won by PM Serzh Sarkisian with a big
    majority.

    International observers judged the election to be generally democratic
    but noted some problems with the vote count.

    Two pan-European bodies, the Council of Europe and the Organisation
    for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), have voiced concern
    about the situation in the ex-Soviet republic.

    The OSCE is sending an envoy to try to arrange talks between the
    government and the opposition.

    The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on Armenia
    to conduct a "prompt and independent investigation into the use of
    lethal force by security forces".

    Mr Ter-Petrosian told reporters there could be years of political
    conflict ahead.

    "Acting within the law...we will struggle... until the removal of
    this hateful, criminal regime... without being afraid of prison and
    without being afraid of their threats," he said.

    Mr Ter-Petrosian expressed regret about the eight people who died on
    Saturday after armed police fought pitched battles with protesters who
    had set up barricades in the city centre, but he said the government
    was to blame.

    The authorities said they had to restore order after 11 days of mass
    demonstrations which they had repeatedly warned were illegal.

    Outgoing President Robert Kocharian declared a state of emergency
    was in force until 20 March.

    Mr Ter-Petrosian was the president of Armenia in the 1990s but recently
    made a dramatic comeback as an outspoken opposition leader, the BBC's
    Matthew Collin notes.

    Mr Ter-Petrosian gave his news conference on Sunday at his heavily
    guarded mansion on a hill-top overlooking Yerevan where he says he
    is being kept against his will by police.

    But the authorities insist he is not under house arrest.

    Official results gave Mr Sarkisian 53% of the vote in the 19 February
    election, with Mr Ter-Petrosian getting 21.5%.

    OSCE special envoy Heikki Talvitie hopes to have talks with all the
    key figures concerned.

    In its preliminary assessment of the election, the OSCE said last
    month that the vote had been "mostly in line with the country's
    international commitments".

    However, it also noted some "problems... particularly during the
    counting".

    HRW reported instances of intimidation at eight polling stations in
    or around Yerevan.

    "Assailants intimidated, threatened, and even violently attacked
    opposition party activists, domestic observers and journalists,"
    it said on 22 February.
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