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2011 top ten events in Armenia

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  • 2011 top ten events in Armenia

    news.am, Armenia
    Jan 1 2012


    2011 top ten events in Armenia


    January 01, 2012 | 00:27

    Armenian News-NEWS.am presents 2011 top ten events in Armenia.

    1. Members of the ruling coalition sign new memorandum

    Leaders of the Armenian ruling forces - Republican Party of Armenia
    (RPA), Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) and Orintas Yerkir (the Rule of
    Law), signed a new coalition memorandum on February 17.

    RPA leader Serzh Sargsyan, PAP leader Gagik Tsarukyan and Arthur
    Baghdasaryan, leader of the Orinats Yerkir Party signed the memorandum
    on Thursday. All of the coalition members agreed to support Serzh
    Sargsyan's nomination during the 2013 presidential elections.

    2. Hunger strike of Armenian Heritage Party leader

    Leader of Heritage Party, former Armenian FM Raffi Hovannisian went on
    hunger strike on March 15. He spent fifteen days in Liberty Square in
    the center of Yerevan. Hovannisian said his move can be characterized
    as an `ode to freedom'. He put forward fifteen demands among them:
    power to people, free citizen, secure state, and `no' to injustice,
    poverty, emigration, corruption and others.

    3. Off-parliamentary opposition returns to Liberty Square

    Many thousand people gathered to the rally of the opposition Armenian
    National Congress (ANC) on March 17 marked new format of relations
    between the main political powers. During the rally ANC leader Levon
    Ter-Petrosyan stressed dialogue with authorities is possible if three
    demands of the opposition are fulfilled.

    He said the authorities must release political prisoners, give the
    opposition right to hold rallies in the Liberty Square and set up an
    independent committee to investigate cases of those killed in the
    March 1 events.

    4. Amnesty declared

    Armenian parliament voted for amnesty bill with 91 votes `for' and 1
    abstained on May 26. The amnesty was proposed by President Serzh
    Sargsyan on 20th anniversary of Armenia's independence. MP Sasun
    Mikaelyan and newspaper editor Nikol Pashinyan convicted in connection
    with the March 1 events were also released under an amnesty.

    5. Karabakh peace process

    The year marked active participation of Russia in mediating between
    Armenia and Azerbaijan. Two meetings of the Armenian and Azerbaijani
    leaders were held in Russia's Sochi and Kazan cities under the
    mediation of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

    Experts forecasted the Kazan meeting held on June 24 was supposed to
    fix the progress in the Karabakh issue, but the meeting did not
    justify hopes of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. Efforts of the OSCE
    Minsk Group focused on persuading the parties to finalize the basic
    principles on conflict settlement.

    In June Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in the region
    to hand over to the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan Serzh
    Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev offers of the Russian leader regarding
    resolution of the conflict. However, the process did not move forward.
    At the meeting in Vilnius on December 6 Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk
    Group and Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan adopted a
    declaration stating that the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan are
    ready to meet again in the near future to negotiate a settlement.

    6. Political dialogue: authorities vs. off-parliamentary opposition

    Working groups representing the government and off-parliamentary
    opposition - Armenian National Congress (ANC) kicked off a dialogue on
    July 18. The meetings hardly resulted in crucial changes but eased
    tension in the society.

    However, the initiative failed after the August 9 incident involving
    ANC young activists and law enforcers. Seven opposition activists were
    arrested. Three were arrested, while the rest were released by the
    court. Later two of the arrested were released with the exception of
    Tigran Arakelyan. ANC demanded immediate release of its activists but
    the authorities claimed they could not press law enforcers. Finally,
    opposition quitted the dialogue.

    7. Dismissals of high ranking officials

    2011 was marked by a number of dismissals of high ranking officials.
    The first to leave his post was head of presidential staff Karen
    Karapetyan. Mayor of Yerevan, also Karen Karapetyan, Chief of Police
    Alik Sargsyan, parliament speaker Hovik Abrahamyan and deputy head of
    presidential staff Mikael Minasyan resigned as well.

    8. Armenia marks 20th anniversary of Independence

    Armenia marked 20th anniversary of Independence by holding large-scale
    military parade on September 21.

    9. Spiritual leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan meet in Yerevan

    Caucasus Muslim Board (CMB) Chairman, and spiritual leader of Caucasus
    Muslims, Allahshukur Pashazade arrived in Armenia to attend CIS
    (Commonwealth of Independent States) Interreligious Council Presidium
    session in late November.

    Spiritual leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia spoke for the
    peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the OSCE
    Minsk Group. The three spiritual leaders (Armenian Catholicos Karekin
    II, Russian Patriarch Kirill and Head of the Caucasus Muslims
    Allahshukur Pashazade) adopted a joint statement during their meeting
    in Yerevan.

    10. French National Assembly approves bill criminalizing Armenian
    Genocide denial

    France's National Assembly passed on December 22 the bill
    criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial.

    The bill introduced by MP Valerie Boyer supposes a year in jail or
    45,000 euro punishment for those who will challenge or extremely
    minimize the fact of the 1915 Armenian Genocide officially recognized
    by France on January 29, 2001. Later the text was changed to
    `punishment for denial of legislatively recognized genocides.'

    The bill will be submitted for French Senate's confirmation. In
    response Turkey launched anti-French campaign recalling Ambassador and
    freezing the ties.


    From: Baghdasarian
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