Armenian News - ARMENIAN PRESIDENT-ELECT TO BE SWORN IN ON 9 APRIL

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT-ELECT TO BE SWORN IN ON 9 APRIL
Mediamax
March 18 2008
Armenia

Yerevan, 18 March: The National Assembly of Armenia will hold a
special session on 9 April to inaugurate President Serzh Sargsyan.

The decision to this effect was adopted by the Armenian parliament
by the proposal of Speaker Tigran Torosyan today.

The special session of parliament will be held at 1400 [0900 gmt]
on 9 April at the Spendiarov National Opera and Ballet Theatre.

The session will be attended by foreign guests, Tigran Torosyan said.

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PACE Monitoring Committee concerned about continuing arrests in Armenia

Date: 18 Mar 2008 - 15:42

Meeting in Paris on 18 March 2008, the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) expressed its deep concern about the arrest of more than one hundred people in Armenia and the conditions in which such arrests took place, following the events of 1 March during which eight people died and some two hundred persons were injured.

In the opinion of the committee, the arrest of large numbers of opposition leaders and of three Members of Parliament is inevitably perceived as a crack-down on the opposition by the authorities and will do nothing to ease the tensions in Armenia. The committee called on all sides to refrain from any action that would increase the tensions and to commit themselves to a genuine dialogue to resolve the current crisis.

The committee was informed by its envoy John Prescott of the main conclusions arising from his fact-finding mission to Yerevan, on 7 and 8 March 2008, and called on all sides to accept Mr Prescott's proposals aimed at resolving the current crisis, in particular:

* the recognition by all sidesof the authority of the Constitutional Court and its ruling on the outcome of the Presidential elections;

* the lifting of the state of emergency and the restoring of individual human rights and freedoms;
* the release of all jailed activists who have not committed violent crimes;
* the establishment of an independent inquiry into the circumstances that led to the events on 1 March 2008 and the monitoring of the on-going investigation process;

* the initiation of a dialogue between all political forces, in the following areas:
- reform of the electoral framework with a view to regaining public trust in the conduct and outcome of elections;
- reform of the political system with a view to providing a proper place for the opposition in the decision-making process and governance of the country;

- media reform, especially aimed at the creation of a truly independent public broadcaster.

The Monitoring Committee noted that the dialogue between all political forces could be initiated in the form of round tables under the aegis of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly.

The committee welcomed the fact that all political group leaders in the Assembly have requested that a debate under urgent procedure be held on the functioning of democratic institutions in Armenia during the April part-session of the Assembly (14-18 April 2008).

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PARLIAMENT LIMITS RIGHT TO PROTEST IN ARMENIA
by Natalia Leshchenko
Global Insight
March 18, 2008

The Armenian parliament has passed in two readings amendments to the
law on public rallies and demonstrations that allows local authorities
to ban public protests if they have "reliable information" that they
would threaten public order and security. The term for consideration
of applications for public rallies was also extended from three to
five days. The organisers of the rallies have the right to appeal
against their events being banned, and the law-makers also pledged
to send the amended legislation to international experts to scrutinise.

Significance:Armenian is currently under a state of emergency that
is supposed to last at least until 20 March. This was imposed after
the clashes between the police and the public contesting the official
results of the 19 February presidential election. While the authorities
appeared shaky and vulnerable during the post-election protests,
they resorted to a police clampdown on 1 March that left at least
eight people dead, and have regained their grip over the country. The
opposition is dispersed and defeated, with nearly 100 arrests, and
the presidential position, if tarnished by violence and democracy
limitations, is back in the hands of president-elect Serzh Sargsyan.

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UK AMBASSADOR PRESENTED HIS CREDENTIALS TO ROBERT KOCHARYAN
armradio.am
18.03.2008 15:56

The Ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland Charles Lonsdale presented his credentials to RA President
Robert Kocharyan.

The President congratulated the Ambassador on assuming office and
expressed confidence that during his activity the newly appointed
Ambassador will contribute to the deepening of Armenian-British
relations. According to Robert Kocharyan, Armenia is interested in
the development of both bilateral relations with Great Britain and
expansion of cooperation in the framework of the process of our
country's European integration.

The President highly appreciated the contribution of the United
Kingdom to the reforms of the governance system and underlined the
active work of the British Council.

Speaking about economic processes, the President said although there
are British investments in Armenia, the unused opportunities are
still more and it is necessary to work in this direction.

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AZERI FOREIGN MINISTRY PRAISES COUNTRIES ABSTAINING IN UN VOTE ON KARABAKH
Day.Az
March 17 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry spokesman has said that 100 countries
demonstrated support for Azerbaijan'sterritorial integrity by
abstaining from a vote at the UN General Assembly on 14 March.

In an interview with Day.az website, Xazar Ibrahim said that those
who abstained did not give in to serious pressure by "some forces"
who were opposed to a draft resolution that called for Armenian
withdrawal fromAzerbaijan's occupied territories.

"As you know, not only Armenia but also some other forces had exerted
serious pressure on those countries [whichabstained] to make them vote
against this resolution. However, those countries demonstrated their
position - theirrecognition of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity -
by not attending the vote at all. In doing so, they createdconditions
for the approval of the resolution," Ibrahim was quoted as saying.

Seven countries, including the USA, Russia and France, voted against
the Azerbaijani-drafted resolution, which theycalled an "unbalanced"
document.

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