Post-election scars still open in Armenia

Post-election scars still open in Armenia

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Vercihan ZİFLİOĞLU

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Journalist Aramazd Ghalamkarian suffered a serious head wound during clashes on March 1 against the 2008 presidential election results.

Post-election violence following a controversial presidential vote remains fresh in many Armenians’ minds two years later as critics accuse the authorities of negligence in the investigation of the deadly events.

Masses of people poured into the streets to protest alleged electoral fraud in the wake of the Feb. 19, 2008, elections. Supporters of unsuccessful presidential candidate and first Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrossian staged peaceful protests in Yerevan’s Opera Square for nine days. Deadly clashes, however, erupted after authorities imposed a state of emergency and sent the military into the streets to disperse the protesters March 1.

Official reports said 10 people died that night; according to representatives of non-governmental organizations, however, the official number of injured civilians may have been underreported. They say several of those injured were turned away from hospitals and medical clinics.

With many Armenians holding the administration of President Serge Sarkisian responsible for the deadly clashes, the Armenian parliament has established a committee to examine the events. Many, however, are suspicious of the investigation.

Journalist Aramazd Ghalamkarian, who witnessed the protests and suffered a serious head wound during them, is one who said he has no trust in the parliamentary committee. “The real offenders have not been revealed and punished for two years. It is being said the orders came from higher levels and the ones who argue that are hiding in their superiors’ shadow,” he told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review in an e-mail interview.

“There were a plenty of reasons [behind the violence]: the collapsing economy of the last nine years, unemployment, the silencing of the opposition and many other countless reasons,” added Ghalamkarian, who formerly worked with the United Nations Development Programme, or UNDP’s, country office in Armenia and currently serves as deputy director of the daily Haikakan Zhamanak (Armenian Times). “The election added salt to the wound because the elections were not legitimate.”

Greatest pain

“I was in great physical pain because I was seriously wounded. The physical pain notwithstanding, the greatest pain I felt was for my country,” Ghalamkarian said. “Blood might be spilled in order to defend the country against an enemy, but we were spilling our own blood with our own hands. That was a true betrayal to the spirits of our ancestors and the future of our children.”

Arman Musinian from the Armenian National Congress voiced concerns similar to Ghalamkarian’s. He told the Daily News in a phone interview that Yerevan did not want the world to know about the March 1 events because “a big crime was committed and it was a violation of human rights.”

Like Ghalamkarian, Musinian also believes the parliamentary committee could not act independently due to pressure from the ruling party. “However, the inspection board – founded by international human rights foundations – made significant process in shedding light on the events,” he said. “The conscience of Armenia will reveal the murderers who killed innocent people. I have complete faith in that.”

Professor Ruben Safrastian, the director of the Republic of Armenia’s National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Oriental Studies, meanwhile said he believes the parliamentary committee will fulfill its task.

“The committee is looking into things very carefully; I believe the truth will be revealed soon,” Safrastian told the Daily News. “These types of events could occur in many countries. Armenia is a young republic and, yes, it is experiencing tremors, but it is also taking fast steps on the path to democracy and human rights – we should not ignore that.”

Still, Ghalamkarian said the dark side of the March 1 events would be revealed when the current administration is removed from power. According to him, the inspection boards will not be independent and free until there is a change in administration.