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Not-So-Random Violence In Armenia

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  • Not-So-Random Violence In Armenia

    NOT-SO-RANDOM VIOLENCE IN ARMENIA

    Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
    Caucasus Reporting #763
    Dec 24 2014

    Assaults on opposition may reflect fears that its strength is growing.

    by Armen Karapetyan

    Opposition groups in Armenia have accused the government of ordering
    attacks on their members. The authorities says they have nothing
    to do with the wave of violence, but analysts warn that the ugly,
    confrontational mood will inevitably heighten political tensions.

    The wave of attacks began in late November when seven cars belonging
    to opposition figures were set on fire in the capital Yerevan. The
    arsonists were not deterred by the fact that one car was parked
    opposite the city police station and another was outside the premises
    of the security detachment that protects the Armenian parliament.

    Six out of the seven cars belonged to an anti-government group called
    Pre-Parliament, which was planning to stage demonstrations.

    "This is true terror," said GagikSarukhanyan, a member of the
    group."The authorities are countering resistance with terror. They
    want to intimidate us."

    The arson attacks were followed by physical assaults on seven
    individuals over the following three weeks. The victims included
    opposition party members, NGO activists and veterans of the Nagorny
    Karabakh war in the early 1990s.

    The first attack, on November 27, was on Pre-Parliament member
    Gevorg Safaryan. On December 8 and 10, masked men assaulted Manvel
    Eghiazaryan, Razmik Petrosyan and Suren Sargsyan, all members of
    the Union of Veterans, a newly-formed opposition group composed of
    ex-Karabakh combatants.

    On December 11, member of parliament Aram Manukyan was attacked near
    his home and had to spend several days recovering in hospital.

    Manukyan is parliamentary secretary of the opposition Armenian
    National Congress (ANC). The same thing happened the next day to
    Ashot Piliposyan, who heads the ANC party branch in the town of Razdan.

    Vaginak Shushanyan, a well-known civic activist who took part in a
    protest outside the government building in Yerevan to press for the
    earlier attacks to be investigated, was himself assaulted and badly
    injured by two men.

    The opposition parties represented in parliament, three of which
    recently formed a coalition called the National Movement, issued
    a statement urging the government to track down and prosecute the
    perpetrators and their accomplices in the string of attacks.

    Analysts note that the wave of attacks comes at a time of heightened
    political activity. The next parliamentary election is not until
    2017, with presidential polls the year after in which Sargsyan is not
    eligible to stand again. But the ruling coalition is already facing a
    mounting challenge from a better-organised, broader opposition. The ANC
    and the Heritage party have teamed up with the second-biggest party
    in parliament, the Prosperous Armenia party led by Gagik Tsarukyan,
    in past years a supporter of President Serzh Sargsyan. (See Political
    Heavyweight Bolsters Armenian Opposition.)

    The new bloc, called the Nationwide Movement, is setting up
    headquarters all over Armenia and building up supporters, including
    among ex-combatants who have joined the Union of Veterans. People
    who fought in the Karabakh conflict against Azerbaijan have enjoyed
    respect and political influence in Armenia since the 1994 truce, and
    their support has been a significant factor in deciding elections. The
    emergence of the Union of Veterans as an opposition-aligned force
    will thus be a matter of concern to the government.

    "The authorities are resorting to open acts of terrorism, and it's
    obvious what their goal is - they're trying to break the expanding
    power of the Nationwide Movement," said Levon Zurabyan, the ANC's
    parliamentary leader.

    The ruling Republican Party insisted the authorities had no hand in
    the attacks.

    "It can't be ruled out that an attempt is being made to turn the
    veterans and opposition members against the authorities through
    violence," deputy speaker Eduard Sharmazanov, a Republican Party
    member, said. "The authorities have less to gain than anyone else
    from any action designed to create instability."

    The police have managed to track down one suspect, a man called Arshak
    Svazyan who gave an interview to the Aykakan Zhamanak newspaper
    admitting he carried out the attack on Manukyan. He said he gave
    the ANC politician a "patriotic slap in the face" because, he said,
    Manukyan had insulted President Sargsyan.

    Many Armenians were disturbed to hear a similar expression
    of aggression coming from the deputy head of Armenia's police
    force.Lieutenant-General Levon Yeranosyan told the Zhogovurd newspaper
    he would "cut off the ears of anyone in this country who tries saying
    anything about the president in my presence, like [docking] a puppy".

    Two of the Karabakh veterans who were attacked, Eghiazaryan and
    Petrosyan,said that shortly before making these remarks, Yeranosyanhad
    met them in a restaurant and told them to stop supporting the
    opposition. They declined, and minutes after leaving the restaurant,
    they were attacked by a gang of young men.

    Yeranosyan refused to confirm or deny whether the encounter took
    place. He has been reprimanded for his newspaper comments by his
    superior, police force chief Vladimir Gasparyan, but the parliamentary
    opposition parties are seeking his dismissal.

    Yeranosyan appears unabashed. He has since given another interview
    to the same paper saying he stands by his word and will "smash in
    the head" of anyone who says anything about the president.

    Avetik Ishkhanyan, the head of the Helsinki Committee of Armenia,
    says the lack of an official response is worrying.

    "The authorities are constantly talking about human rights and
    democracy, but all of this shows we're still living in the Soviet
    Union," Ishkhanyan said. "Crimes of violence committed against
    journalists, activists and opposition members are not being solved,
    and things are only getting worse. The trend is towards intimidation
    and spreading fear."

    Armen Karapetyan is a freelance journalist in Armenia.

    https://iwpr.net/global-voices/not-so-random-violence-armenia

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