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SECURITY SERVICE LEADERS ASSURED KOCHARIAN THEY COULD CLEAN OUT LIBERTY SQUARE ON MAR. 1 IN MINUTES: WIKILEAKS
epress.am
09.02.2011 19:45
According to a secret cable dated Mar. 10, 2008, and released
by WikiLeaks on Aug. 30, 2011, national security adviser to then
president Robert Kocharian Garnik Isagulyan conceded that the Mar. 1
(2008) morning crackdown was authorized by Kocharian the day before,
contrary to the government's official line. "Isagulyan believes that
[then PM, now president] Sargsyan - bolstered by hardline advisers
and the security services - is likely to imprison opposition rival
Levon Ter-Petrossian (LTP) in coming days, and in general treat the
current situation as a security problem rather than a political one.
Isagulyan commented that such a strategy would lead only to further
unrest," writes then US Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) to Armenia
Joseph Pennington in the cable.
In Pennington's view, Isagulyan is "loyal to President Kocharian, and
claims friendship with PM Serzh Sargsyan, though it is clear that he
is closer to Kocharian than Sargsyan and thinks more highly of the
current president than the president-elect. He is dismayed by the
path that both leaders have chosen in recent weeks, almost to the
point of resigning from his position."
"He is idealistic, pro-American, and with a somewhat romanticized
view of the Armenian nation," Pennington sums up his characterization
of Isagulyan.
"Isagulyan was bitter about his own government's role in the Mar.
1-2 violence, for which he deemed the authorities completely
responsible. He said that Kocharian had been swayed by the police and
security service leaders' confidence that they could clean out Freedom
Square in minutes, with a minimum of casualties, and had authorized
the operation. Kocharian had been so confident it would go smoothly,
he had planned to go skiing in the Armenian ski resort of Tsakhadzor
that day. Isagulyan commented that the leaders of both services should
have resigned afterward, but of course the regime would never endorse
such a step, believing it would signal error or weakness. Isagulyan
was pained by the brutality the police had employed in
gratuitously beating non-violent protesters in Freedom Square. This
and the subsequent clashes later the evening of March 1, as well as
the State of Emergency, were devastating blows against public trust
and confidence in the government.
"Isagulyan felt that Public Television's relentlessly and transparently
partisan broadcasts were further deepening public cynicism of the
government. He commented that '90 percent of the people in the square
were good people,' who not only did not deserve to be so violently
handled by their government, but who represent a critical constituency
that the PM needs to win over in order to govern effectively. But
the PM does not seem to recognize this reality."
Pennington notes that the national security advisor told them he had
recommended in writing, as well as during a meeting the week of Mar.
3 with the president, prime minister and deputy prime minister, a way
to regain the public trust and gain legitimacy. "He advised lifting
the press ban (which he said only fuels outrageous rumors), putting
an end to the egregious pro-governmental partisanship on public
television, granting the opposition access to television airtime,
releasing from jail the vast majority of pro-LTP political figures,
and starting work setting up a new cabinet whose composition would
signal to the Armenian public a pro-reform orientation. He said he
was very pessimistic, however, that this advice would be followed."
The cable notes that Isagulyan also touched upon "the cynical
ploy of buying off" Orinats Yerkir ("Rule of Law") party leader
Artur Baghdasaryan by bringing him into government. "Isagulyan
commented 'Everybody knows 80 percent of Artur's voters hate the
government.' Co-opting Baghdasaryan into government only fueled
popular disgust."
"The one bright spot in the fiercely nationalistic Isagulyan's mind was
his confidence that Sargsyan is now so irrepairably damaged politically
that he will never dare to negotiate away one inch of Nagorno-Karabakh
(NK) or the surrounding occupied territories (OT).
Isagulyan said that if he tried to do so
now, he would be instantly toppled from power, just the way that LTP
had been," writes Pennington.
The US Deputy Chief of Mission concludes by stating that they take
Isagulyan's words with due caution -"recognizing his biases and his
desire for self-aggrandizement."
"However, this is a man who has known both the president and
president-elect for a long time, and we would be wrong to dismiss out
of hand his portrayal of the PM as determined to solve his political
problems with force and criminal prosecutions, rather than the more
democratic methods he has advanced with international envoys. The
genuine evidence is slender for the 'Sargsyan as frustrated democrat'
theory, which holds that if only the muscular Kocharian were not still
president and calling the shots, things would be very different. We
have urged the PM repeatedly over the past two weeks to take bold
steps to reassure the public of his commitment to democratic reform
and to distance himself from Kocharian's draconian measures. We remain
hopeful that he will move in that direction.
Without such steps, however, betting on Sargsyan as a future reformer
will be little more than a leap of faith."
http://www.epress.am/en/2011/09/02/security-service-leaders-assured-kocharian-they-could-clean-out-liberty-square-on-mar-1-in-minutes-wikileaks.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
epress.am
09.02.2011 19:45
According to a secret cable dated Mar. 10, 2008, and released
by WikiLeaks on Aug. 30, 2011, national security adviser to then
president Robert Kocharian Garnik Isagulyan conceded that the Mar. 1
(2008) morning crackdown was authorized by Kocharian the day before,
contrary to the government's official line. "Isagulyan believes that
[then PM, now president] Sargsyan - bolstered by hardline advisers
and the security services - is likely to imprison opposition rival
Levon Ter-Petrossian (LTP) in coming days, and in general treat the
current situation as a security problem rather than a political one.
Isagulyan commented that such a strategy would lead only to further
unrest," writes then US Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) to Armenia
Joseph Pennington in the cable.
In Pennington's view, Isagulyan is "loyal to President Kocharian, and
claims friendship with PM Serzh Sargsyan, though it is clear that he
is closer to Kocharian than Sargsyan and thinks more highly of the
current president than the president-elect. He is dismayed by the
path that both leaders have chosen in recent weeks, almost to the
point of resigning from his position."
"He is idealistic, pro-American, and with a somewhat romanticized
view of the Armenian nation," Pennington sums up his characterization
of Isagulyan.
"Isagulyan was bitter about his own government's role in the Mar.
1-2 violence, for which he deemed the authorities completely
responsible. He said that Kocharian had been swayed by the police and
security service leaders' confidence that they could clean out Freedom
Square in minutes, with a minimum of casualties, and had authorized
the operation. Kocharian had been so confident it would go smoothly,
he had planned to go skiing in the Armenian ski resort of Tsakhadzor
that day. Isagulyan commented that the leaders of both services should
have resigned afterward, but of course the regime would never endorse
such a step, believing it would signal error or weakness. Isagulyan
was pained by the brutality the police had employed in
gratuitously beating non-violent protesters in Freedom Square. This
and the subsequent clashes later the evening of March 1, as well as
the State of Emergency, were devastating blows against public trust
and confidence in the government.
"Isagulyan felt that Public Television's relentlessly and transparently
partisan broadcasts were further deepening public cynicism of the
government. He commented that '90 percent of the people in the square
were good people,' who not only did not deserve to be so violently
handled by their government, but who represent a critical constituency
that the PM needs to win over in order to govern effectively. But
the PM does not seem to recognize this reality."
Pennington notes that the national security advisor told them he had
recommended in writing, as well as during a meeting the week of Mar.
3 with the president, prime minister and deputy prime minister, a way
to regain the public trust and gain legitimacy. "He advised lifting
the press ban (which he said only fuels outrageous rumors), putting
an end to the egregious pro-governmental partisanship on public
television, granting the opposition access to television airtime,
releasing from jail the vast majority of pro-LTP political figures,
and starting work setting up a new cabinet whose composition would
signal to the Armenian public a pro-reform orientation. He said he
was very pessimistic, however, that this advice would be followed."
The cable notes that Isagulyan also touched upon "the cynical
ploy of buying off" Orinats Yerkir ("Rule of Law") party leader
Artur Baghdasaryan by bringing him into government. "Isagulyan
commented 'Everybody knows 80 percent of Artur's voters hate the
government.' Co-opting Baghdasaryan into government only fueled
popular disgust."
"The one bright spot in the fiercely nationalistic Isagulyan's mind was
his confidence that Sargsyan is now so irrepairably damaged politically
that he will never dare to negotiate away one inch of Nagorno-Karabakh
(NK) or the surrounding occupied territories (OT).
Isagulyan said that if he tried to do so
now, he would be instantly toppled from power, just the way that LTP
had been," writes Pennington.
The US Deputy Chief of Mission concludes by stating that they take
Isagulyan's words with due caution -"recognizing his biases and his
desire for self-aggrandizement."
"However, this is a man who has known both the president and
president-elect for a long time, and we would be wrong to dismiss out
of hand his portrayal of the PM as determined to solve his political
problems with force and criminal prosecutions, rather than the more
democratic methods he has advanced with international envoys. The
genuine evidence is slender for the 'Sargsyan as frustrated democrat'
theory, which holds that if only the muscular Kocharian were not still
president and calling the shots, things would be very different. We
have urged the PM repeatedly over the past two weeks to take bold
steps to reassure the public of his commitment to democratic reform
and to distance himself from Kocharian's draconian measures. We remain
hopeful that he will move in that direction.
Without such steps, however, betting on Sargsyan as a future reformer
will be little more than a leap of faith."
http://www.epress.am/en/2011/09/02/security-service-leaders-assured-kocharian-they-could-clean-out-liberty-square-on-mar-1-in-minutes-wikileaks.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress