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Glendale News Press, CA
March 8 2008
Violence in Armenia hits home
Glendale residents are left wondering whether loved ones are alive
amid unrest in nation's capital.
By Ryan Vaillancourt
GLENDALE - Ongoing post-election strife in the Republic of Armenia
has rocked some Glendale immigrants who fear they have loved ones
among the dead and imprisoned.
Government authorities reportedly clashed on March 1 with thousands
of demonstrators who had been camped out for days in downtown Yerevan
in protest of the Feb. 19 election, which they allege was rigged in
favor of Prime Minister and President-Elect Serge Sarkissian.
The clashes have reportedly claimed eight lives, including one police
officer, and Glendale resident Alvard Margaryan believes her second
cousin Armen Isakhanyan, 24, is among a number of unconfirmed deaths.
Isakhanyan and his father had been camping out in an area known as
Freedom Square for seven days when tension between civilians and
authorities turned violent on March 1, Margaryan said. The pair were
separated, but other demonstrators who had been with Isakhanyan later
found the father and reported that his son had been shot and taken
away by authorities while still bleeding, she said.
Family members have since failed to determine Isakhanyan's condition
or whereabouts, but they fear the worst. advertisement
`The family is in mourning, and they have been to all the hospitals
and they couldn't find him anywhere, and the only presumption is that
he's dead,' said Margaryan, who struggled to hold back tears. `And
they still haven't identified his body.'
Rouben, a Glendale man who declined to give his last name for
security reasons, is similarly on edge.
A Glendale resident for seven years, Rouben keeps in close contact
with his brother Levon, who remains in their native Armenia.
But that contact has ceased since Sunday when Levon was allegedly
apprehended by `men in uniform,' Rouben said. Family and friends
believe he was apprehended as punishment for supporting the political
forces that oppose the current regime.
Since the news of his brother's abduction, Rouben has been repeatedly
calling friends and family in Yerevan for updates, but to no avail,
he said.
`I'm very nervous at the moment, very anxious,' he said through a
translator. `I'm calling every hour to find out if there's any
update, and I'm very distressed not only about my brother, but about
the country.'
President Robert Kocharian instituted a 20-day state of emergency on
March 1, a move that some say allows the regime to crack down on the
press and keep protesters off the streets.
Thousands of Armenian immigrants marched the streets of Hollywood on
Sunday in solidarity with those who have denounced the election and
continue to demand a reassessment of the voting process, said Harry
Sarafian, co-chair of the Glendale-based Coalition for a Democratic
Armenia.
The coalition plans to send a petition to the U.S. State Department
calling on the United States to urge Kocharian to lift the state of
emergency, pull armed forces off the streets, end political
persecution of demonstrators and annul the election results, Sarafian
said. The petition has 10,000 signatures so far, he said.
While many opposition supporters insist that candidate and former
President Levon Ter-Petrossian was the true victor, voting
irregularities reported by international observers don't point to a
clear winner, said Levon Marashlian, an Armenian historian and
professor at Glendale Community College.
`I believe that there were a certain degree of violations or
irregularities, but the question is, was it enough?' Marashlian
asked. `How bad was it? I'm unhappy with the election process too,
but at the same time, the opposition is convinced that they won. That
would have to be confirmed.'
And as long as the current regime tries to cement the election
results, opposition forces will continue to press for another vote,
Margaryan said.
`Justice can be wounded,' she said. `But it cannot be killed.'
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
March 8 2008
Violence in Armenia hits home
Glendale residents are left wondering whether loved ones are alive
amid unrest in nation's capital.
By Ryan Vaillancourt
GLENDALE - Ongoing post-election strife in the Republic of Armenia
has rocked some Glendale immigrants who fear they have loved ones
among the dead and imprisoned.
Government authorities reportedly clashed on March 1 with thousands
of demonstrators who had been camped out for days in downtown Yerevan
in protest of the Feb. 19 election, which they allege was rigged in
favor of Prime Minister and President-Elect Serge Sarkissian.
The clashes have reportedly claimed eight lives, including one police
officer, and Glendale resident Alvard Margaryan believes her second
cousin Armen Isakhanyan, 24, is among a number of unconfirmed deaths.
Isakhanyan and his father had been camping out in an area known as
Freedom Square for seven days when tension between civilians and
authorities turned violent on March 1, Margaryan said. The pair were
separated, but other demonstrators who had been with Isakhanyan later
found the father and reported that his son had been shot and taken
away by authorities while still bleeding, she said.
Family members have since failed to determine Isakhanyan's condition
or whereabouts, but they fear the worst. advertisement
`The family is in mourning, and they have been to all the hospitals
and they couldn't find him anywhere, and the only presumption is that
he's dead,' said Margaryan, who struggled to hold back tears. `And
they still haven't identified his body.'
Rouben, a Glendale man who declined to give his last name for
security reasons, is similarly on edge.
A Glendale resident for seven years, Rouben keeps in close contact
with his brother Levon, who remains in their native Armenia.
But that contact has ceased since Sunday when Levon was allegedly
apprehended by `men in uniform,' Rouben said. Family and friends
believe he was apprehended as punishment for supporting the political
forces that oppose the current regime.
Since the news of his brother's abduction, Rouben has been repeatedly
calling friends and family in Yerevan for updates, but to no avail,
he said.
`I'm very nervous at the moment, very anxious,' he said through a
translator. `I'm calling every hour to find out if there's any
update, and I'm very distressed not only about my brother, but about
the country.'
President Robert Kocharian instituted a 20-day state of emergency on
March 1, a move that some say allows the regime to crack down on the
press and keep protesters off the streets.
Thousands of Armenian immigrants marched the streets of Hollywood on
Sunday in solidarity with those who have denounced the election and
continue to demand a reassessment of the voting process, said Harry
Sarafian, co-chair of the Glendale-based Coalition for a Democratic
Armenia.
The coalition plans to send a petition to the U.S. State Department
calling on the United States to urge Kocharian to lift the state of
emergency, pull armed forces off the streets, end political
persecution of demonstrators and annul the election results, Sarafian
said. The petition has 10,000 signatures so far, he said.
While many opposition supporters insist that candidate and former
President Levon Ter-Petrossian was the true victor, voting
irregularities reported by international observers don't point to a
clear winner, said Levon Marashlian, an Armenian historian and
professor at Glendale Community College.
`I believe that there were a certain degree of violations or
irregularities, but the question is, was it enough?' Marashlian
asked. `How bad was it? I'm unhappy with the election process too,
but at the same time, the opposition is convinced that they won. That
would have to be confirmed.'
And as long as the current regime tries to cement the election
results, opposition forces will continue to press for another vote,
Margaryan said.
`Justice can be wounded,' she said. `But it cannot be killed.'
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress