Daily Archives: February 27, 2009

There’s something in the air…

Posted on February 27, 2009 by | 4 Comments

As one year anniversary of March 1, 2008 deadly clashes between the opposition protesters and military police forces looms closer, there’s growing tension in the society. Police and opposition mutually warned each other today not to stir further tension.

Snapshot from RFE/RL website on February 27, 2009

Snapshot from RFE/RL website on February 27, 2009

Major-General Alik Sargsian, chief of the national police, made clear that the police will not try to disperse thousands of people who are expected to rally on Sunday to mark the first anniversary of the 2008 post-election clashes in Yerevan. “The police are very calm,” he said. “Nothing [bad] is expected on March 1. Our people understand everything.” Continue reading →

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Sumgait: videomaterials from Armenian National Archive Released

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The Sumgait pogrom (also known as the Sumgait Massacre or February Events) was an Azeri-led pogrom that targeted the Armenian population of the seaside town of Sumgait in Soviet Azerbaijan during February 1988.  The massacre came in light of the Nagorno-Karabakh movement that was gaining traction in the neighboring Armenia SSR. The official death toll released by the Procurator General (tallies were compiled based on lists of named victims) was 32 people (26 Armenians and 6 Azeris). However, eyewitnesses reported a much larger number. Many insist that at least 200, not 30, people were killed.

Videomaterial below comes from the Armenian Natinal Archive. Continue reading →

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US State Department Human Rights Report Criticizes Armenia

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The U.S. State Department has released it annual survey of human rights conditions around the world. Examining human rights in more than 190 countries during 2008, the report criticizes its usual targets, including Russia, Iran, Uzbekistan, North Korea, and China, among many others. The report says “the most serious human rights abuses tended to occur in countries where unaccountable rulers wielded unchecked
power or there was government failure or collapse.”

The section on Armenia of the report is unprecedented by it sheer size! – it’s full of 67 page-long criticism of the Armenia.

For those who don’t have the time and patience to read the whole thing, RFE/RL offers a short account here. Some quotes below: Continue reading →

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