Wednesday, February 29, 2012

It’s the end of the world as we know it…

... and I feel fine (or so goes the popular song by REM). Except I don’t. Feel fine, that is.

In case you haven’t been following the latest round of political machinations in Armenia, let me enlighten you. First (well maybe not first, but this is where I’ve decided to begin this story), Vartan Oskanian, Armenia’s foreign minister during Robert Kocharian’s presidency and chair of the Yerevan-based think tank Civilitas Foundation, declared his intention to return to politics. And not just any politics — but to join the ranks of the Prosperous Armenia Party (the junior partner in the country’s ruling coalition).
A little bit of background: It was Kocharian who declared a state of emergency in March 2008 and called in the troops to quash the mass protests against alleged electoral fraud, organized by supporters of unsuccessful presidential candidate, first president of the Republic of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrossian, and it was Oskanian who stood before the public and defended the actions of this administration. Actions, let me remind you, which international actors have billed “the use of excessive force and violence” and which resulted in the death of 10 people on Mar. 1–2, 2008 —murders, which till today remain unsolved.

And now Oskanian, the founder of a “civil society institution”, is making a comeback, initially deciding to leave it up to the Civilitas Foundation board to “make a decision about his future status.” In the two weeks since he declared his intention to join the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), however, he submitted an official resignation to the board, saying “Armenian law does not mandate such resignation. But I have decided to do so in order that my political activity not restrict Civilitas’ work."

However, as fellow blogger ArtMika points out, no surprises here, right? So how, pray tell, does this translate to the world coming to an end?

Well, there’s more.

The Armenian National Congress (HAK), the extra-parliamentary opposition bloc led by the same Levon Ter-Petrossian mentioned above, has made it clear that it doesn’t rule out cooperating with the BHK. WHAT?!

“If the Prosperous Armenia Party demonstrates in the coming months and on election day that it is really interested in free and fair elections, I think there will be large room for cooperation,” said HAK spokesperson Arman Musinyan at a press conference on Monday.

You mean to tell me the unsuccessful presidential candidate (Ter-Petrossian) whose supporters were essentially attacked in March 2008 is now ready to cooperate with a party associated with the same president (Kocharian) who ordered said attack and who now includes the foreign minister of that administration (Oskanian) who till today not only hasn’t apologized for the actions of those fateful days, but also defends them?

And finally, the icing on the cake, the introduction of a bill on emergency rule, which was passed at its first reading in parliament (though has since been withdrawn and amended, to be voted on again), allowing the president “to turn to the armed forces for help if police and other security forces are unable to enforce emergency rule. In that case, military personnel would be allowed to use riot equipment and live ammunition in accordance with an Armenian law on the police."

In short, as ArtMika puts it: “It is not impossible to suspect that this looks more like preparations for a version of 1-March-part-2.”

14 comments:

  1. Adrineh, one thing that doesn't make sense to me are the people who work for Civilitas and Civilnet (I believe these 2 companies are related to one another, no?) I've seen some of the bios of the employees, and I've followed a lot of their "liberal pieces". With that in mind, how can they work for someone like Oskanian after the events that unfolded March 1 and thereafter. And, not to mention, Oskanian has close ties with Kocharian. I can go on about Kocharian, but I'm pretty sure we all are on the same page when it comes to that man, his family, and the people around him. So my question is, how, how are these so called liberal citizens working for/with Oskanian? I'm flabbergasted with the politics in Armenia. I just... I'm so pissed I can't even put my two cents in

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    1. Good question, Anonymous, and an observation that not many have ignored. I, for one, know of at least one person who decided to pull out of working with Civilitas (and CivilNet, which is a project of Civilitas) for the reason you mention above. Also, the ArmComedy duo Narek and Sergey have announced that they will be migrating from CivilNet to ArmNews TV (in essence, moving from broadcasting their satirical series from the web to television) — though I cannot say for sure that their reason for doing so is because of Civilitas' affiliation with Oskanian and Kocharian. See here for the story: http://media.am/en/Armcomedy-Armnews

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    2. I remembered this post as new revelations unfold about Vartan Oskanian.

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    3. Eerie, isn't it? However, under the current conditions, though re-reading this post I was quite tough on Oskanian (and I still have my doubts) what is happening against him and Civilitas nothing short of persecution. I recently read an article on Washington Post (perhaps you did too, Anonymous) calling what's happening a "backward step" for Armenia and stifling political debate. Though I don't agree with the author's comparison of Armenia with Russia, the article does give some background to what's happening now. Here's the link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/curtailing-an-ngo--and-political-debate--in-armenia/2012/09/28/3b3b918a-0976-11e2-afff-d6c7f20a83bf_blog.html

      Oh, and incidentally, today, Civilitas celebrates its 4th birthday...

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    4. You were not tough about what you wrote. A lot of people are forgetting who this man has been for almost a decade. I'm actually ecstatic all this is happening. I hope he goes down swinging, and at the same time takes down whoever he can with him. I guess Karma's a bitch.

      I'm just not understanding why all of a suddenly people are feeling pity for him.

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  2. Realizing the inherent danger of completely geeking out by posting this quote, I will anyway: "There's a reason you separate the military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people." - William Adama

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    1. Thank you for confronting the "inherent danger of completely geeking out" and posting a lovely quote in what I believe to be your first comment on my blog, non? It's spot on :)

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  3. missing you. you rock my world! <3

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    1. Thank you, Maral! I miss you too. Glad to see that you're writing too :)

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  4. It seems Director of the Central Hai Dat office of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Bureau in Yerevan (whew! That's a long title!) Giro Manoyan read my mind — though in relation to a different matter. He assures us it's not the end of the world as we know it :) http://www.epress.am/en/2012/02/29/turkeys-bribes-and-sarkozys-risk-manoyan-convinced-french-court-ruling-not-end-of-the-world.html

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  5. Sireli Adrineh,

    I am happy to see such an excellent example of democratic practice as you are displaying through exercising your voice and participating in the political process through dialogue. I see the main point you make in the final paragraph. Its certainly something everyone should be mindful of and I hope the citizenry is preparing for the days ahead as well.

    About the individuals and parties and their relationships, perhaps these are all signs we should be wary of, however it is not apparent why the actions you describe above are so outrageous. for a party to say it hasn't ruled out cooperation with the coalition only says that the coalition has a chance to show that it will give them reason to cooperate. It also doesn't mean that the party IS going to cooperate, it just implies its open to the idea.
    Another thing is to say a party is associated with Kocharian doesn't show definitively what that party will do. unless you are trying to leave it to us to draw conclusions, please be more explicit and direct in what youre alluding to.

    That said, we all need to pay closer attention to how all this will play out and prepare for anything.

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    1. Thanks, Anonymous, for your comment and apologies for replying later than I would've liked :) You're right, of course, to raise doubt and questions and it is not certain at this point what the cooperation (and a possible cooperation at that) will lead to and nothing is definitive. I was simply pointing out various recent events and expressing my surprise as well as drawing some conclusions, which at this stage are too early to be drawn. It was (is) my personal feeling that things are not getting better but worse, and unfortunately my feelings resulted in a rather fatalistic blog post. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and I hope my ramblings didn't put you off and you will continue to read my blog and leave comments :)

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  6. I've heard Oskanian clarify what he has said about the riots. He didn't advocate the violence but it was the presidents decision. Not to defend him but he is affiliated with policies that he may or may not agree with. I wouldn't expect Hilary to publicly go against Obama's decisions either.

    Also, I don't understand why would LTP's ANC party all of a sudden wants to work with Prosperous Armenia when Oskanian came?

    Prosperous Armenia has been on worsening terms with the Republican Party these past couple months. They may serve as an opposition very soon. This is why I thought Oskanian chose to be in the party rather than the Republican Party which he technically served for ten years.

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    1. It's true Oskanian didn't advocate the violence but he gave the press conference in which he defended the administration (and you're right, a state official wouldn't publicly go against the president's decision) but still, he's affiliated with that administration and with what happened at that time...

      As for the HAK-BHK marriage, it's all politics and apparently, not a surprise if you consider it from that angle. Funny, I was talking to someone who's been in the news industry in Armenia since 1997 and he's not the least bit surprised with how things are going. Basically, LTP is encouraging the rift between HHK (Republican Party) and BHK (Prosperous Armenia) because he knows it's his only real shot to getting his guys into parliament... i.e. use the rift to get HHK out so HAK can get in. Or in any case, at least to make it so that HHK doesn't get the parliamentary majority (which apparently is what BHK wants as well). Anyway, perhaps I'm simplifying things but really it's all part of a game and apparently, nothing new. But I do find all this politiking disgusting. I feel tricked somehow and at the end of the day, it's always the people, the common folk, who suffer...

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