Today we live in a society, which can not imagine life without expressing views on social media. Probably it does have certain advantages. Nevertheless, many participants of active discussions have already forgotten or do not even know about the developments, which unfolded in Armenia 5, 10 or 15 years ago.  

To fill the gap Mediamax presents 5/10/15 project, which introduce developments in Armenia 5,10 and 15 years ago.

•    15 YEARS AGO: MARCH 12-18, 2003

“I will never be an insecure president”

“I have never been and never will be an insecure president,” Armenian President Robert Kocharyan said in Yerevan on March 12.

While speaking at the briefing, he noted, “I do not want to link the difference between the CIS and OSCE assessments with the difference of geopolitical interests.”

“There are things related to big politics, which we better not discuss. It's more helpful to the country. But that doesn't mean we have nothing to say,” Robert Kocharyan stated.

Sargsyan’s arrest

On March 17, businessman Armen Sargsyan, the younger brother of Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan killed by the terrorists in the attack on Armenian parliament in October 1999, was arrested. The General Prosecutor’s Office named him as the main contractor of the assassination of Tigran Naghdalyan, the Chairman of the Public Television and Radio Council.

On the same day the businessman’s mother Greta Sargsyan started a sit-down strike near the Armenian presidential residence.

“We will continue the sit-in until the authorities release Armen Sargsyan and all opposition activists arrested before the second round of presidential elections in Armenia,” said Greta Sargsyan.

Greta Sargsyan

Photo: Photolure

“I consider my son’s arrest an attempt to put political pressure on my third son Aram, who is an opposition leader,” added Greta Sargsyan. According to her, Armen Sargsyan’s arrest “is the continuation of the terrorist act of 27 October 1999.”

The Election Justice Bloc, set up by Armenian opposition forces for the participation in the forthcoming parliamentary elections of May 25, issued a statement, which read that “by arresting Armen Sargsyan, Armenian authorities gave all necessary guarantees to the perpetrators of the terrorist act in the Armenian parliament on 27 October 1999”.

•    10 YEARS AGO: MARCH 12-18, 2008

Almost sanctions

While speaking at the hearings in Appropriations Committee of the U.S. Congress House of Representatives on March 12, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated that the United States had interrupted a number of programs on assistance to Armenia due to the state of emergency in the republic.

After reminding that the USA assisted Armenia also within the framework of Millennium Challenge Account, the Secretary of State warned that its realization might also suffer as a result of the state of emergency.

Armenian MFA is “stunned”

Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was “stunned” by the “arbitrary” statements of the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza, Armenian MFA Spokesperson said on March 12.

In the interview with The Associated Press, Matthew Bryza said that the reaction of Armenian government to the civil unrest on March 1-2 was “rough and cruel”. He also noted that USA was disappointed with arrests of the opposition leaders in Armenia. “We are disappointed not only because the government has imposed sanctions against independent media and retained the state of emergency, but also because the authorities has started arresting opposition leaders,” stated Matthew Bryza.

Photo: Photolure

“We are stunned that the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State could make such arbitrary statements after visiting Yerevan and receiving information from multiple official and unofficial sources,” said Tigran Balayan.

“We feel responsible for what happened”

On March 14, Armenian Prime Minister, President-elect Serzh Sargsyan stated he felt responsible for the events of March 1.

According to him, those developments were repeatedly forecasted in the process of the pre-election campaign, but “we did not manage to suppress them, and that is why we responsible for what happened”.

At that, the head of the state noted that “it is time not to assess the level of guilt of individuals, but to think about elimination of the consequences of the mass unrest”.

Serzh Sargsyan also remarked that some people were happy with that situation. “We hear that on March 2 Levon Ter-Petrosyan admitted in his phone talks that he had never slept so calmly before,” said the president-elect.

“Moving Forward in Armenia”

On March 17, Armenian President-elect Serzh Sargsyan and Leader of Orinats Yerkir Party Artur Baghdasaryan published a joint article “Moving Forward in Armenia” in The Washington Post.

They noted in the article, “The two of us were competitors in the presidential election. But we are united in our desire to end the current crisis and put Armenia back on track.”

Photo: Photolure

“Our priority is to run a transparent government and have a clear agenda, which we will announce. We will fight corruption head-on. We have no time to waste - there is a lot of work to do. Despite recent events, our country is still moving forward. The international community has everything to gain through supporting a stable, transparent and elected government in Armenia,” Serzh Sargsyan and Artur Baghdasaryan wrote.

•    5 YEARS AGO: MARCH 12-18, 2013

Cases rejected

On March 14, the Constitutional Court of Armenia rejected the cases of former presidential candidates Raffi Hovhannisyan and Andrias Ghukasyan, which challenged the official results of the presidential elections.

The court decided in favor of the decision of the Central Electoral Commission of Armenia, according to which Serzh Sargsyan was elected President of Armenia on February 18.

Ara Tadevosyan