As an Armenian and as a a normal citizen all I can say is:

I am so proud of your highly professional journalism, and the truly neutral yet informative coverage and analysis you have provided, before, during, and after the election period. Brilliant, in one word.

On Good Friday a day of sadness for all christians, I wish to all Armenians peace and forgiveness in the example of Jesus Christ.

Levon Ter-Petrossian, on the other hand, is.

What did you do with the 5,000 drams Serzh’s goons paid you to become their media consultant??

And Ramik, the fact you have to resort to such infantile and retarded statements says a lot about who and what you are. All you people can do is attack, accuse and spread lies when you can’t actually argue your case.

That’s usually more often than not.

Let me say it again. I do not support Serge and I do not support Levon. However, the fact that Levon did attempt to destabilize the country and sow hatred among a minority of the population leading up to the 1 March clashes is reason enough to see him prosecuted and if found guilty of organizing a coup d’etat, locked away.

In any country, even evolved democracies, that is the only course of action to take. Meanwhile, I can only hope that many outstanding issues and problems are resolved and a proper, mature and responsible opposition can emerge rather than one which has nothing to offer the country other than internal conflict.

“not a single member of the LTP-clan/cult has acknowledged even SOME responsibility for the deaths of the Armenians that night…”

To me this is an untenable, divisive, incorrect, and (sadly) consistent position of LTP since his “rebirth.”

The only thing Serzhhas said, by way of guilt, is that they should have crushed the demonstrations much earlier than they did. So in fact Bloody Saturday, March 1st, could have been Bloody Friday of Thursday.. Take your pick!!!!! And of couurse it was LTP who fired on the protestors after he drugged them all!!!! You seem to know alot about the workings of cults????

It is typical of a cult leader to speak in extremes, and Levon is true to his type.

You are a bloody fool to hold LTP more resonsible for innocent deaths than the regime. In the same vein would you hold the Dali Lama ultimately responsible for the deaths in the Tibetan capital or the Chines troops sent in to crush the demonstrations. Take the blinders off and open your eyes to the reality of what’s going on here. What did you do with the 5,000 drams Serzh’s goons paid you to become their media consultant??

I absolutely agree with you that Levon is a hypocrite and demagogue just like many of his supporters.

I agree with you. Don’t pay too much attention to those comments. There are idiots everywhere, as you well know.

very well said

That people are frustrated and unhappy with the situation is true. However, the majority did not see the solution in Ter-Petrossian who is actually as responsible for the situation in Armenia today as anybody else. The man is a hypocrite and a demagogue.

I also consider that any silent protest to mark the 1 March events should identify him as one of those responsible for the deaths as the government. Actually, I’d consider he’s more to blame.

That you don’t agree with my viewpoint is one thing, That I’ve been covering Armenia on and off since 1994 and issues that other journalists didn’t since 2000 even though I instead got loaded questions like yours but from government supporters and the Diaspora is quite another. Again, a knee jerk reaction to an opinion you don’t like. When the Sksela guys did nothing — and when some of those now supporting Ter-Petrossian and “democracy” were attacking me for talking about such issues, I covered it.

Now, however, based on EIGHT years of covering opposition rallies, democracy, poverty etc when most of those journalists now supporting Ter-Petrossian were doing nothing, I say again. Ter-Petrossian divided Armenians, used the language of hate to get pawns to satisfy his ego, and did all he could to prepare the environment for clashes. That there are many outstanding issues to resolve is one thing, that Ter-Petrossian and those around him manipulated the situation to suit their own personal ambitions is another.

I’d also add that while there was a sizeable number of people who supported Ter-Petrossian either out of ideology or mainly out of frustration it did not exceed 20-30 percent of the population. Instead, his supporters in media outlets such as A1 Plus, Hetq Online, RFE/RL etc instead were part of the propaganda machine to invent the myth of a leader with the country behind him. In reality, his rallies never exceeded 50,000 (normal for post-election protests) perhaps once, and otherwise averaged 20-30,000.

This is not a critical mass and contrary to rumor spread, public transport was not stopped in order to prevent people from traveling to Liberty Square in Yerevan nor was anyone arrested for attending a protest demonstration as they were in 2003 until the 1 March events which Ter-Petrossian prepared for as did the government. We all knew it was coming, and how dare you — typically for someone who has no other valid arguments to give — make this personal.

Like I said, since 2000 I did more speaking out about the situation in Armenia than the lot of you combined — and that includes many of those who know preach “democracy” but in 2003 were actually attacking me and saying it was the last thing Armenia needed. The same is true for many heads of international organizations still here too or in absentia.

Fact is, Ter-Petrossian lied and cheated and spread gossip and did all he could to destabilize the situation playing on the weakness of the same people that were out in 2003, 2004 and 2007. He prepared for these clashes as did his team, but contrary to his assurances to those gathered in Liberty Square, the military (as well as the larger mass of the population) was not with him. As someone told me just yesterday, his team hoped they could gain massive support in Yerevan.

They failed.

I don’t think that even if those among Ter-Petrossian’s team wanted to give up Karabakh albeit with a high level of autonomy and cultural/linguistic/religious rights protected that they would get away with it. Instead, I think that Azerbaijan might see in Ter-Petrossian a leader they believe to be genuine in wanting to promote peace and reconciliation between Armenian and Azerbaijani.

However, I do believe Ter-Petrossian would drop Genocide recognition in favor of normalized relations with Turkey. That said, I don’t see too much wrong with that in so much that the Diaspora — and more recently the EU — is more effective in calling for Genocide recognition than Armenia itself. Anyway, while I would favor a more moderate foreign policy from Ter-Petrossian as president, if I were a citizen here I wouldn’t vote for him for many other reasons. I wouldn’t vote for Serge either, but I think again we’re going off the point of this post.

To bring it back on-topic, I’ve been thinking about this silent protest and have decided I couldn’t be part of it although if I can I will photograph it time permitting. My reason for this is that the text is too politicized and doesn’t reflect the real situation, in my opinion. The blame for 1 March does not lie solely with the authorities. It lies with Ter-Petrossian as well who did all he could to divide Armenians and prepare those assembled in Liberty Square as “ground troops” for an eventual confrontation.

Doesn’t mean I condone what happened from the government side on 1 March either, but basically, I do not view many of those who took to rioting and looting on the streets as “peaceful protesters.” Indeed, both sides were guilty for escalation and violence and I expect to see prosecution of those responsible for 1 March (on both LTP and government side) as a result.

This IS what would and should happen in a country hoping to establish democracy and the rule of law. And while I dislike Serge immensely, I also think that Ter-Petrossian was planning a coup d’etat and his campaign had NOTHING to do with democratic elections whatsoever.

Then again, some of the progressive types supporting LEVON TER-PETROSSIAN did tell me that they see no problem in Karabakh being part of Azerbaijan

I think this is a central issue that Onnik has brought up. Nobody has a right to gamble with the fate of Armenian Lands and people leaving there. In light of Levon’s recent political activity, I became absolutely convinced that for him, Karabakh was only a mean of coming to power in 90s. He did not really care about the fate of hundreds of thousands refugees, thousands that lost lives, and millions of sufferers. That is why they see no problem in Karabakh being part of Azerbaijan. And now LTP and his supporters only reinforced my believe by making anti-Karabakh remarks just because RK and SS were born there. Unfortunately some Armenians mix the concept of “&nundavayr” (birth place) and “hayreniq” (fatherland), but LTP knowingly deplores that.