Indeed, it has to be said that such signs were already there given that Serzh Sargsyan had a blog established on his behalf even before he was sworn in as the new president in April. The blog collected several hundred questions from readers on the shaky political situation after the disputed presidential elections held in February and the violent clashes between radical opposition supporters and the police in Yerevan on 1 March. Initiated by Akunamatata_Ser [RU], who remembered that Sargsyan had promised to answer questions from bloggers again on the 100th day of his presidency, around 50 questions were collected.

The blogger reports on the historic occasion.

It turned out that the people on the helms of government actually look after us and even follow us. Today akunamatata_ser and pigh were invited to the presidential palace!!!!!! It turned out the fact that we remember and don't forget the promises to bloggers hasn't slipped the eye of the ‘big brother'

In an excited entry, RealArmenia welcomes the participation of Armenian bloggers in the press conference, noting that “Armenia so far becomes one of the rare country where the bloggers are going to be equal to journalists” and congratulates Sergey Chamanyan (akunamatata_ser) and Tigran Kocharyan (pigh) as a result.

However, not all bloggers welcomed the news and there was also much criticism in the Armenian blogosphere. Pro-opposition blogger Nazarian, for example, remarked that “The invited were palace bloggers serving the needs of the regime. The questions they asked obviously were pro-regime..” Unzipped went further, wondering if “the real intention behind recent close engagements of presidential staff with few pro-government bloggers is to discredit blogs/blogging in the eyes of population, in general, from the beginning, without even allowing their further development.”

Tumanyan [RU] takes a more satirical approach and looks forward 70 years with a short story in the best traditions of Orwell's 1984.

Veteran journalist Mark Grigorian [RU] instead initiated a more theoretical discussion on the acceptability of inviting bloggers, i.e. non-professional journalists to a press-conference even if his argument presupposes that journalists in the country maintain a certain degree of professionalism. Grigorian speculates that although the invited bloggers have around the same numbers of readers as some newspapers, they should not be considered as representatives of the mass media.

The blog is not updated regularly (one day a blog might have several entries, on another days - none at all), the blogger might not necissarily be the author of information published on the blog, and the blog might not always contain inormation — we know that often blog entries are just photos or a link to a music video on YouTube, etc.

Hence blogging requires other skills, then those necessary for working in Mass Media. And that was perfectly illustrated on Armenian president's press conference.

Former journalist and media professional Ogostos [RU] was also not impressed.

There is no logic in the appearance of bloggers in a presidential press-conference […]. If presidential spin-doctors consider bloggers full-fledged players in the information field and want to demonstrate their “transparency” by inviting bloggers, they should be aware, that this “transparency” is fully blown-up by the absence of pro-opposition journalists - who are undoubtedly NO LESS FULL-FLEDGED PLAYERS. If the presidential spin-doctors view bloggers as civil-society, they should also invite other members of civil society and call it public consultations or something else, instead of inviting a press-conference.

In response to the wave of criticism, one of those bloggers invited to the press conference — Pigh [RU] — makes some valid points in his defense, saying that he doesn't respect most journalists because of their “unscrupulousness, non-professionalism and venal practices.” Instead, he paints the picture of experienced bloggers being those with no editors slowing down or even preventing certain information from being published.

The blogger says that his motivation to attend the press-conference was to promote blogging and blogosphere, and believes that this objective was achieved. “Take it easy, people,” he tells his critics, summarizing the achievements of the event.

Dear bloggers. It is so cool that we, positionists and oppositionsists, have stepped on the feet of journalists with our blogs. And even with our professionalism. I personally am flattered to see, that the number of my blog's pageviews surpasses 90 percent of printruns of Armenian newspapers. It is great to be able to enter the blog, see a post and be able to express your agreement disagreement (instead of running to the courts and demanding refutation in the newspapers). […] Virtual reality is slowly, but surely stepping on the feet of printed press. Progress, has slowly but surely penetrated here as well.

Many things happened yesterday. Among those probably the most important was Serzh Sargsyan’s inauguration. For a lot of people though the important was that 40 days have passed since the deaths of 1 March riots.

While people lay flowers at the Myasnikyan monument, close to which the riots began, one could hear Jazz music coming from the Republic Square, where a balloon festival was going to happen later on.

Regardless, with the area around the Yerevan Opera in almost total lock down, prime minister Serge Sargsyan was inaugurated as president in a ceremony and military parade that few citizens could get close to. Instead, most were only only able to cover protests by the opposition rather then the grand inauguration ceremony itself.

Raffi N at Life in Armenia noticed the extra security on the streets.

Today was the official swearing in of Mr. Serge Sarksian as the new President of the Republic of Armenia. It really felt like an important event because ALL the streets were blocked… lots of police escorts…

Photos: © Artur Papyan / The Armenian Observer blog 2008

Global Voices Online Caucasus Editor and photojournalist Onnik Krikorian reports how he was prevented from photographing the inauguration ceremony, despite showing a press pass and the fact that the event was held in a public area. Even so, if there was no opportunity to cover the day's events there, he says that other possibilities existed.

Prevented from covering that event, as was the case for almost every other photographer in Yerevan, there was always the opposition memorial to the eight killed during post-election clashes on 1 March occurring adjacent to the French Embassy. Somewhat unfortunately for Sargsyan, not only did 9 April mark the day of the start of his presidency, but it was also the traditionally observed 40th day after the deaths.

Photo © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008
Ogostos (RU) looked at the moral aspect of holding a lavish inauguration ceremony while so many people were mourning the death of their relatives 40 days after the 1 March riots while Ahousekeeper (AM) was amazed at just how shortsighted the Armenian authorities were.

Although the two events were tragically coincidental and the inauguration date dictated by the constitution, the blog says that it was inappropriate to a) hold it on the 40th day after the deaths (the traditional day of mourning in Armenia), b) to block the Republic Square, the Opera and several other streets making many citizens, regardless of their political orientation, curse the authorities, and c) stage “stupid” events in Republic Square, which “Levon supporters will try to interfere with.” Veteran journalist and analyst Mark Grigorian (RU), however, says that the protests are not likely to affect the situation because the fact is that Serge Sargsyan is now the President of Armenia.

It is natural, that celebrations are held on the day of president's inauguration.

It is also quite frequent, that the opposition uses that day to stage protest actions and bring to the attention of the international community the problems of the country.

All of this happened today in Armenia. News agencies are reporting, that protest actions took place also outside of Armenia.

Nevertheless, Ter-Petrossian activist Bekaisa (RU) reports that there were eight small simultaneous protest actions staged in Yerevan in front of the Constitutional Court, Central Electoral Commission, OSCE office in Yerevan, European Union, General Prosecutor's Office, and the Embassies of the U.S., Russia, and France. There were also other protests in the regions of Armenia as well as outside the Embassies of the Republic of Armenia in Russia and Ukraine.

Ahousekeeper also reports that supporters of opposition candidate Levon Ter-Petrossian attempted to disrupt the balloon festival staged in Republic square later the same evening, but were prevented from doing so by police forces who quickly rounded them up. The Blue Sky Festival did take place, and The Armenian Patchwork has photos to prove it.

Photo © Anush Babajanyan, Armenian Patchwork 2008

And while Akunamatata_ser (RU) rejoices and greets the first day of a new president coming to power as well as the start of the regime with an uncertain present and future built on fear and blood, Nazarian (AM) pays tribute to the seven civilians and one policeman who died 40 days earlier. Notes From Hairenik contemplates the new president's chances of bringing change to Armenia:

President Sargsyan has a lot to do in a short amount of time. He has to win over the confidence of the vast number of citizens who have no faith in him whatsoever and who regard him as being a petty oligarchic-tyrant.

[…]

[…] he has to prove that he can surpass in leaps and bounds everyone’s expectations and, most noteworthy, ensure that the downtrodden — namely those living in far-off rural parts of Armenia—start living better, fruitful lives. […] Cracking down on corruption is something that is high on most everyone’s list of things for him to do. […]

However, the F5 blog (AM) is more skeptical. The new president won't be able to change anything, it speculates, while Unzipped considers it hard to believe that Serge Sargsyan will be able to stay in power for long:

You just can’t stick to the power relying on a physical force. Well, you may for a while, but only for a while. No lasting solution could be based on force and violence. There is no alternative to democracy in Armenia.

Some bloggers are more pragmatic though. Martuni or Bust!!!, for example, is sure of the opposite:

Though there are still many unanswered questions regarding the legitimacy of the election which landed him the post of President and the events that followed that he was directly behind, I really believe that as usual and in a very short period of time, most will forget what happened and it will be business as usual.

“Aravot” newspaper has discovered the Armenian Blogosphere. Talking to Uzogh [RU], and later searching through our journals, they have come to the conclusion that Armenian Bloggers “don't like political games and disdain homosexuals”. So now you know what questions journalists are most interested in, don't you?

And while some Bloggers appreciate the fact that the Armenian media has finally entered the 21st century, others are wondering [RU] why of all issues discussed in the Blogosphere the Aravot journalist was so interested only in the attitude of bloggers towards homosexuals? At any rate, despite the strange conclusions made by the journalist and the obviously “provocative” headline, it was a pretty good article, the Armenian News Blog [AM] concluded. It's also worth pointing out again that two media outlets, A1+ and Radio Hay, not only love bloggers more, but appreciated them earlier and also set up their own blogs.

The A1+ blog is located at http://a1plus.blogsome.com [AM], and the Radio Hay blog is at http://www.radiohay.am [AM].

Regarding the “reciprocal” love of bloggers for the Armenian media, here's what Ogostos' [RU] journal says about about ALM, a TV company widely regarded by the more educated young part of the population in Armenia as disgraceful TV channel which only be regarded as a joke.

The “ALM” channel went on air on metric frequency, which means - it was broadcast all over Armenia.

A most incredible TV channel was thus created in the world. Different from all others. Television, who's owner has the right to do everything. He can broadcast 24 hours of a party held at the “ALM” for New year if he likes. Or, if he likes, he can show a boy singing 24 hours of traditional Yezidi songs. He can talk politics 24 hours in the most awkward key… if he likes. And if he likes, he can announce to the whole wide world “darned Yezdis, I invite them here to sing, and in return, they don't vote for me! this means, they won't sing on my channel any more!”.

Another interesting discussion on the mass media in Armenia was started on Uzogh's [RU] blog. The blogger had placed a news video from the Haylur news program of Public TV of Armenia covering the recent pre-election meeting of Levon Ter-Petrossian with voters in the town of Talin, during which a man from the crowd was beaten up by the supporters of the presidential candidate in response to his yelling, “Talin people are not supporting you!”.

The blogger asked other Armenian Bloggers working in the sphere of media what they thought about the news item and whether it was ethical or not. In response, Mark Grigoryan [RU] came up with a detailed analysis pointing out that:

Generally speaking, the material could have been done much more professionally. I think, that the Public TV of Armenia, undoubtedly, should provide news coverage of much higher quality than that.

The other respondents to Uzogh's[RU] inquiry also noted, that the news item wasn't balanced enough.

To conclude, we can state that while the Armenian mass media are taking the first steps towards discovering the Armenian Blogosphere, Bloggers have been already been analyzing, assessing and criticizing the media for quite some time now. Looking at recent trends during the media coverage of the pre-election period in the country it looks like they'll have much more to dwell upon in the coming week or two as well.

The audio version of this article [AM] will be broadcast on Radio Hay FM 104.1 on Saturday, 11:00

The start of the week was marked by yet another scandal surrounding the Constitutional Right Union (CRU) party[AM] with its chairman, Hrant Khachatryan, slapping the deputy chairman, Haik Babukhanyan, in public for the second time in a year after the latter invaded the party headquarters with a group of supporters backed by police.

Another picturesque moment came as the head of People's Party Tigran Karapetyan visited Gyumri [AM] and lit special candles, painted in the tricolors of the Armenian flag.

According to many bloggers, although they were hardly serious about this, burning the candles was the equivalent of burning the Armenian flag — something very offensive for the state. On the other hand, some noted, if the red colour stripe burned down, the remaining part of the candle would resemble the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag.

The Kornelij Glas blog is surprised with the stance of the opposition Heritage party [RUS]. After their leader was denied registration as a presidential candidate, the party sent out questionnaires to other opposition forces in order to determine which candidate they would support instead.

Now, the party announces that they won't support anyone unless at least two opposition candidates join forces. The blogger wonders for how much longer the party will linger with their decision: “Till April perhaps?”.

Dildoyan has many questions for government candidate Serzh Sargsyan [RUS] about the infamous Armenicum drug which was supposed to be a cure for HIV/AIDS in the late 90s and which would have made the country rich, the terrorist act in the Armenian parliament on 27 October 1999 when Sargsyan was the minister of State Security, and also the surrender of strategic industrial complexes to Russia.

The blogger also has some suggestions to improve the speeches of the opposition candidate Levon Ter-Petrossian, saying that he should include the following in his texts:

To the Authorities: Let My People Vote!

You are putting my people under constant pressure - offering bribes in exchange for their vote, intimidating them, using your proxies to bully them, blackmailing them, threatening them with the loss of their jobs and livelihoods. Your pundits are bombarding the air with their phony prognoses of the win in the first round. Leave my people alone! Let my people vote! Move out of their way! Remember - you will not get away with your machinations, not this time. I will not let you.

To the voters: You've gotta fight for the right to party!

People, be vigilant. Do not trade in your vote, and with it your integrity and dignity, for the money they have stolen from you in the first place. Get out to the voting stations and vote! For me or against me - not important. Cast your vote, do not let the crooks steal it or stuff those boxes with their fakes. Wake up! Stand up! You will remember the day for years to come and feel proud. I am with you. We are in this together.

With one paragraph, A1plus blog sums up the start of the official pre-election campaign(AM):

The campaign begins with Artashes Geghamyan's formula of bringing people into the mainstream and the presentation of his “Program of Genesis”, Vazgen Manukyan's meeting with youth and motto of taking charge of the country, Levon Ter-Petrossian's announcement about “sacrificing his head to save the country during his trip to the provinces, Vahan Hovhannisyan's festive singing and dancing with “his friends”, and Rule of Law speculations on divisions in government as a clear sign of a possible second round where the opposition can also join forces…

Regardless, the former president, Levon Ter-Petrossian, remains the most discussed person in the Blogosphere with the F5 blog joining the electorate of this candidate [AM] and urging everyone to “Help each other destroy this corrupt pyramid weighing on our future and the future of our children”.

On the other hand, Gazan2008 explains why he hates Ter-Petrossian so much [AM].

“I hate him because of all those numerous brilliant young people, who made me proud not so long ago. For those, who were “sksela”, “alternative”, “rock” and who smelled of freedom and freshness. I hate him, because his appearance broke that mind-set and sprit once again, turning a large crowd of free young people into puppets of his insatiable arrogance”.

Following the Armenian elections from the UK via satellite TV, Unzipped notes some balanced media coverage on the first of official presidential election campaign, contrasting it with the pre-official campaign period:

“In December on the Armenian air the negative references to the first RA President Levon Ter-Petrosian continue to dominate. In other words, during the last month of 2007 the unprecedented phenomenon, recorded in November, continued when the share of neutral editorial coverage of an Armenian politician quantitatively fell behind that of negative: 103 negative references to Levon Ter-Petrosian versus 100 neutral ones and 4 positive ones. At the same time the share of negative ones in the total number of references has somewhat gone down in December - 49.8% versus 58.7% - in November. “

[…]

Anyway, today was a different story - Armenian media behaved as it should have behaved always. If it only continues this trend over the whole election period and beyond… Media monitoring by international and local agencies played important role in putting pressure on government and Public TV via mainly European/US influential bodies, and is as vital as ever to ensure continuous fair coverage of presidential campaign.

Civilized discussions finished on this. Following the publication of the list of presidential candidate websites on The Armenian Observer blog, an outburst of interest towards those sites by the Armenian Internet community followed. Reporter_arm found a section of personal photos [AM] on the website of the prime minister, presidential candidate Serzh Sargsyan's website, which became the dominant topic of blog discussions for the rest of the week.

Viewing the childhood photos of the prime minister made Samvel Martirosyan finally realise that Sargsyan is also human [AM]. However, photos of the prime minister playing chess, with a book entitled “Napoleon” specifically brought to foreground, and a number of other photos in the unofficial photo series brought about a highly sarcastic response.

The choice of symbolisms picked by the prime minister made bloggers comment, and usually comment with humor.

The mockery of Prime Minister's photos further strengthened after the unofficial website in support of opposition candidate Levon Ter-Petrossian posted a sideshow where with appalling negligence of all ethical norms and morality the photos taken from Serzh Sargsyan's website were edited and commented out in a way as to present the government presidential candidate as a “mafia” boss, gambler and a devilish personality.

To balance it out, the Nothing Else Matters… blog posted Ter-Petrossian's photo which, according to the blogger, is so scary that there is no need to further edit it.

The week concluded with the appearance of the Levonator and Serzhadevil (see photos posted at the start of this article) which completely frustrated some of the more balanced Bloggers. Ogostos was one of them and called for bloggers to stop making fun of the photos of candidates and to return to a more acceptable level of debate.

“Before the last parliamentary election, the Armenian blogosphere gained serious strength and politics became the driving force behind blogs,” wrote local analyst Samvel Martirosyan on his new Armenian-language blog [ARM]. The blogger is already widely known for his Russian language blog, Kornelij Glas [RUS].

On the one hand, the upcoming elections had the same effect on the Armenian network. On the other, the development of blogs introduced a fresh (for Armenia), but not pleasant “novelty.”

For the past few weeks, a number of anonymous blogs have been launched which are directed towards throwing mud at various presidential candidates. Bloggers that had traditionally taken a more moderate approach, also became “infected” with unrestrained politics. As a result, those taking their first steps in the Armenian blogosphere felt as if they had instead materialized in a psychiatric hospital.

New blogger, Gazan2008, describes the situation [RUS].

For a few days I have been trying to find sensible people in LJ. Even those individuals that I have made friends with are lacking sensibility and balanced arguments. As I managed to see, in Armenian LJs, throwing mud over those who disagree with you has become very popular, as well as demonstrating that “I am against everybody - see how cool I am!!!

Another new blogger, Azat2008, categorizes the Armenian blogosphere [RUS] in the following way:

1. Apolitical female diaries… Run by complete fools thinking only about losing weight, their complexes and surrounding males. Other female owners of such diaries consider themselves above such vain things and thinking only about their “world outlook and related emotions” and belching them up in LJ.

2. Similar males. Designers, programmers, photographers or just flooders, or those that have gone completely nuts and have the same emotions as females…

3. Harshly politicized. Zombied supporters of LTP, their opponents, students, journalists, lawyers, patriots and everybody that is not indifferent to the fate of the country and the region…

4. Informational. There are not so many informational blogs, and recently all of them have become too politicized.

Probably, both established and new bloggers are being fair in describing the situation. Armenian blogs are extremely politicized these days. However, that politicization is not an artificial phenomenon, but a reflection of our daily reality “offline.” Indeed, it has almost become a pattern for blogs to actively respond to significant political events, which are also headline news in the traditional local media, such as the recent presidential election in neighboring Georgia, the publication of Levon Ter-Petrossian’s electoral platform, and the following press conference.

The elections in Georgia were actively followed by Oneworld Multimedia and Mark Grigoryan [RUS]. The first monitored the reaction and feedback of the English-language Georgian blogosphere to the elections, as well as the response of international observers and some foreign media.

The blog came to a sad conclusion:

Actually, the international community, especially the U.S. and Europe, should be quite vocal in condemning some of the dirty tricks Saakashvili’s team resorted to.

[…]

However, as Christine Quirk concludes, “with a strategic pipeline located on Georgian soil, [that] is probably wishful thinking.”

Mark Grigoryan also posted a comprehensive digest of coverage of the Georgian elections by the international media [RUS], but was more interested in the Georgian opposition [RUS] and the characteristics it featured typical of opposition groups elsewhere in the former Soviet space, including Armenia.

The opposition in post-Soviet countries doesn’t know how to lose.

Sometimes it seems to me that it is kind of included in the rules of the game – never to acknowledge the defeat, to go “to the end,” as the oppositionists say, to go on with the struggle, to convene people to rallies and meetings of protest.

In practice, such a behavior leads to a more marginalization of the opposition.

In reality, the interest in Armenia towards the Georgian election was conditioned by one main question that occupies everybody here these days. Basically, how will the coming presidential election be conducted in Armenia? No sooner had the Georgian election passed when former president Levon Ter-Petrossian published his electoral program and the discussions it provoked were then followed at the end of the week by a press conference.

It was no surprise to discover that Armenian bloggers such as Nazarian mainly focused on that. Others, such as JLiving Notes offered some interesting analysis [RUS]:

The first thing that is striking is the fact that the platforms cover a rather wide range of topics that sometimes have nothing to do with our presidential institute.

[…]

The most important thing is that ensuring the constitutional order and, consequently, the civil rights, legitimacy, sovereignty, etc (which, in general, is one of the main functions of a president) is hardly ever mentioned, and even if it is, it has the form of slogans, such as providing equality in front of the law or ensuring/reinforcing independence of the judicial power.

The most fascinating thing is that none of my acquaintances has been appealing to the candidates’ programs while arguing about them. That is, everybody has his /her own motives of choosing a certain candidate. More often people abide by their personal sympathy based either on stereotypes or on their own understanding of the role of a certain politician in the history of the country. Even if people read election programs, they abide not by what the presidential candidates offer. Simply speaking, the people are again attracted by a populist falsification.

At the time of elections, perhaps only humor can save an extremely politicized blog community. Ending with the same blog that we started this post with, Kornelij Glas offers his own sarcastic view of the pre-election field in Armenia [RUS].

LTP wrote a a school composition .

SS goes for the elections with a marvelously creative slogan that could attract Abramovich to his headquarters: Go ahead, Armenia!

Geghamyan’s slogan is stunningly extraordinary. The leader of the party National Unity goes for the elections with the slogan For the sake of National Unity. Johnson meets Johnson.

Nicol Pashinyan and other members of “Impeachment” party were unjustly imprisoned for 8 hours on 23 October in Yerevan. After the meeting with the 1st president Ter-Petrosyan, police finally freeds them at 3:20am. A large group of people was chanting “Battle,battle until the end” and applausing president Levon Ter-Petrosyans and others.

I find it very significant to note that the police freed the prisoners after meeting with the first president, Levon Ter Petrosian (or LTP as most bloggers call him), who is currently the considered to be the most likely opposition candidate to be able to stand a chance in the presidential election early next year.

The Armenia 2008 Election Monitor blog covered the story at length yesterday:

RFE/RL reports that “at least a dozen” opposition activists supportive of former president Levon Ter Petrosian have been detained. Their crime? In lieu of having access to the broadcast media to advertise Friday’s rally at which Ter Petrosian is due to speak, the activists used megaphones to announce the meeting on the streets of the Armenian capital, Yerevan. One of those detained is believed to be the outspoken editor of the pro-Ter Petrosian Haykakan Zhamank newspaper, Nikol Pashinian.

[…]

Given that the capital is full of people setting up loudspeakers at kiosks or even simple tables selling CDs on street corners even though they deafen passer-bys and local residents, as well as the dozens of entertainment complexes opened by corrupt officials and their relatives in public parks, the action does not appear at first glance to warrant such a response. It is unknown so far whether the activists obstructed traffic or otherwise “disturbed the peace.”

At any rate, with Friday’s rally looming ever closer, tensions seem to be rising. In part this is because however unpopular Ter Petrosian might have been, he is seen as the lesser of two evils by a significant number of people when quizzed about their voting preference for next year’s presidential election. Quite simply, they say, anyone is better than Serzh Sarkisian.

No wonder then, that the authorities and the ruling Republican party of the prime minister, presidential hopeful Serzh Sarkisian, are taking Friday’s rally very seriously indeed. Some would argue that they’re reacting in a manner that does not befit any country supposedly on the path towards democratization.

Mark Grigoryan [RUS] says the opposition has great hopes on the rally scheduled for October 26th, which is likely to mark the start of Ter-Petrossian's presidential campaign. The blogger notes that although the Yerevan authorities haven't prohibited the rally, the Republican party is organizing a free concert to coincide with it, and says that there preparations by police are already underway.

“Are they really so scared of them [the opposition]?” he asks with surprise to conclude his analysis of the situation.

Other reports of the story can be found on Bekaisa [RUS], Armenianewsblog [RUS], Armenian Breaking News, Narjan [RUS], and in a really interesting eyewitness account by David_Sand [RUS] with a second post detailing his opinion on the latest developments:

Honestly speaking, it is hard to imagine better PR for an oppositionist than his arrest not long before a scheduled rally. I can't find an explanation to the arrest of the editors of “Armenian Times” and the “Forth Power”. This might be a result of police stupidity or carefully prepared PR. At any rate, this is how it all looked:

- Police arrest editors of opposition newspapers who were making public calling in the street for citizens to attend Friday's opposition rally,

- Opposition supporters gather at the police department (and by the way, representatives of the parliamentary opposition minority were also there) together with human right defenders, journalists and inhabitants of houses close to the police department,

- Levon Ter-Petrosian arrives, and everybody starts shouting “Levon, Levon” as if the savior has come with the key to all the problems faced by the opposition,

- After a couple of hours, the detainees are released, which in the eyes of the public raises the authority of Ter-Petrosian.

The blogger also notes that TV has ceased to serve as a source of information because from his observations, there was no coverage of the events in TV news reports. However, I can state that there was pretty good coverage on Yerkir Media TV, but that is the exception, proving the point made by David_Sand.

One of my most favorite of bloggers, Pigh [RUS], is as outraged by Ter Petrosian as ever:

Everything, everything, everything is done to make sure they have something to talk about at the rally. Perhaps tomorrow they’ll get somebody's head smashed so that there is a fresh topic to discuss…

[…]

There is the impression that Levon has lots of support among the oligarchs although, if you look at it soberly, why not? Grzo, Lfik, and Tsarukyan were all created by Vanik Smbatovich… (former Minister of Internal Affairs Vano Siradeghian during LTP's rule in the 90s).

Interestingly, Pigh connects the recent increase in the price of sugar, which added to considerable public discontent with the current authorities, with LTP and the desire of those oligarchs supportive of the ex-president's return to help him by sudden price rises on the eve of the presidential election.

Elaborating on the situation, whereby a senior American diplomat has voiced concerns, that Armenia’s deepening economic relations with neighboring Iran might run counter to international sanctions imposed on Tehran over its controversial nuclear program Armenia Blog comments:

Iran has always been our neighbor and if the U.S. wants greater support for its actions, perhaps it can only be warranted by further aid to Armenia to help offset the natural losses that would occur by turning against our friend. Then again, should a conflict arise in the future, Russia and Iran are Armenia’s two true allies and the United States could not be counted upon, in my opinion, to help matters in our favor.

The world is flat, reiterates Thomas Friedman’s concept Nazarian, looking for Armenia’s place in the globalized world.

I am still unsure of Armenia’s role and contribution to the global economy. It’s a tiny market. Yerevan is a small city of 1 million people; there are dime a dozen of such cities around the world. Add to that the middle class is a small segment of the population that can afford a lifestyle of a Western citizen, and you see why a foreign corporation may not be interested to have an official presence in Armenia let alone have manufacturing operations.

Notes from Hairenik is even more concerned about Armenia’s economy, despite continuous growth rates recorded here, ensuring annual average real GDP growth rates of more than 10% since the late 90’s, quoting the June 19 edition of ArmeniaLiberty.org about statements by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on continued appreciation of the Armenian national currency (dram) and the dire consequences it will have on the economy sooner or later:

I have concluded, although I do not claim to be an economist by any means, that Armenia’s economy is dollar based and probably always has been. Even though dram is being exchanged on the street people still think in dollars and even quote figures keeping the US currency in mind. In the meantime, money I suppose will keep pouring in from foreign remittances but it won’t circulate here. The continued shortage of dollars on the market is a clear indication that something is dreadfully wrong somewhere. And I would not be surprised if Armenia sees a depression in its “booming” economy in the short-term, God forbid. In fact I am expecting it.

Not all Armenian bloggers are pessimistic however. Levon who has just arrived in Armenia after a couple of years of absence, is deeply impressed upon arrival with rapid changes at the aiport as well as in the center of capital Yerevan.

Narjan has reposted extracts from the Reuters article on “tiny Armenia” being the world leader in natural gas vehicles.

Well, even in a “tiny” country people want to live well, and with all these international pressures on Armenia, when all the big guys, including US, Russia, EU and Iran have too much interest in strengthening their influence on this highly strategic location, all we can do is sit and watch our country being tossed about… or is there something we can actually do?

No surprise to discover that mediators from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) were in Yerevan earlier in the week before moving on to Baku. According to RFE/RL’s report posted on the day of their departure, the OSCE Minsk Group mediators have said they hope that the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents will meet on the sidelines of a summit to be held in St. Petersburg on 10 June. With presidential elections set to take place in both Armenia and Azerbaijan next year, there really is very little time and only a small window of opportunity for a long anticipated breakthrough framework agreement.

While Oneworld Multimedia is looking for possible solutions to the conflict, Armenian Breaking News reports that Turkey is inciting Azerbaijan to war in Karabakh:

«The Nagorno Karabakh conflict cannot be settled peacefully. Everyone should know that lands which were seized with bloodshed cannot be returned bloodlessly,» said lieutenant general Yasak Demikbilek, former chief of Turkish intelligence agency.

As noted also by Onnik Krikoryan in the post referenced above, the problem of seven regions in Azerbaijan currently under the control of Armenian and Karabakh forces, continues to bother politicians and activists in Armenia. Via Ahousekeeper (ru) I learned that Anaid1708 (am) has posted some video extracts from the presentation of the book “Liberated Areas of Armenia”, where Armen Ayvazyan (political scientist) and Zori Balayan (publicist, writer) speak about the importance of keeping these lands in the Armenian hands and putting this issue in the context of solving the Armenian Question, which is a diplomatic term, referring to the protection and the freedoms of Armenians from their neighboring communities.

The new wave of discussions seem to have started at OpenArmenia forum, after which Kornelij Glas (ru) posted about the petition signed by a number of internet resources (ru) against the surrender of the liberated territories, saying that the negotiations currently in progress are based on “the readiness of Armenia to surrender already all seven (!) liberated territories around NKR, living only the Lachin corridor (not the region).” In exchange Karabakh would gain the right to conduct a referendum on its status after about 5-15 years. Kornelij Glas (ru) says that his opinion — that this will definitely lead to a new war in which Armenia will be on the losing side — is only shared by a few people, and of those few, most think, that Robert Sedrakovich (president of Armenia) is from Karabakh and would never make concession on the issue.

Ahousekeeper (am) here, here and here as well as the Freedomfight777 (am) and Hayblog (ru) are also joining the petition and urging everybody to sign the petition “AGAINST THE SURRENDER OF THE LIBERATED TERRITORY” at http://www.miacum.ru. Armenia Breaking News is writing that according to Vahram Atanesyan, chair of the NKR Parliamentary Committee of External Relations, all the issues discussed during the talks must become subject of public debates:

I think the people of NKR are to solve the question of status of NKR and the territories surrounding former NKAR[Nagorno Karabakh], because only people are empowered.

Looking at all the polemics in the blogosphere Uzogh (ru) is stating that there is no way to go without Kharabakh conflict resolution and is asking - what are the options?

I know 2 [positions in circulation currently]: the position of Jirayr Sefilyan (which can be described in short as: “the hell do we care about resolution, we are OK as we are now”), which rejects the concept of resolution per se, and we have vague suppositions, that can be reduced to the phrase “surrender of 7 regions”.

Uzogh’s (ru) post has definitely generated a lot of interest: 103 comments when I last checked it, which by Armenian blogging standards is pretty big deal.

Pigh (ru) says he won’t sign the petition. This is all pointless noise the blogger says: “Serge and Robert [Prime Minister and President] would never surrender Karabakh - 100%”.

One thing is sure - if Armenia wants peace and integration in this region, we have to be prepared to surrender something. But what will be the true price?

Unzipped has video and information: “A1+ just reported that police and security forces brutally oppressed peaceful demonstration of opposition movement using force, beating demonstrators and using tear-gas towards journalists and demonstrators.”

Aramazd (am), a blogger as well as one of the opposition leaders from the Impeachment block was perhaps the first to report the news:”Today, after the rally organized by the IMPEACHMENT bloc, REPUBLIC and NEW TIMES parties, the special police forces beat participants of the rally and march to KGB, where the hero of Shushi, Zhirair Sefilyan, was jailed.”

Pigh(ru) has a completely different perspective of the event:

“I never judge anybody, I don't have the right to it, and I respect the points of views of people, if they are genuinely honest, and I don't want the blood of people, who're just pushed forward by the provokers, no matter what side they come from: “Impeachment” or government. The whole business stinks, but someone needs this stink… And yesterday it once again became obvious for me, that wherever you have HHSh(former ruling party) - it will always stink…

Guys, take care of yourselves, neither Serge (Armenian PM), nor Robert (Armenian president), nor Nikol (leader of Impeachment opposition block) are worth even the smallest scratch on your bodies…”

There's a lot of controversy Kornelij Glas(ru) says, and its hard to understand who really provoked whom, however, looking at the overall context of the elections Kornelij Glas (ru) is amazed just how stupid the authorities are behaving by arresting Alexandr Arzumanyan and beating people at the rally like that. “This is just a pointless annoyment of the people”, without having any reasons to behave like that, as the main contenders for the parliament are the two big pro-government parties anyway. And now, as a result of such actions the atmosphere will overheat and people will get over their apathy, which can lead into far reaching consequences, the blogger concludes.

Anarchists from the ALS Movement are also looking at the global picture:

It all has a simple historically-materialist explanation: when a businessmen makes an investment, he must also take care of protecting his business interests. [] What we saw yesterday is nothing less then the Armenian rulling elite trying to protect its business interests. I expected police brutality after the elections, but hardly 3 days before. At stake is not Impeachment’s ideology, but a much more basic right to be able to hold peaceful rallies and to voice protests in contemporary capitalist Բարգավաճների Հայաստան Armenia belonging to the prosperous. Last night the Armenian state has demonstrated its paranoia, and where its fears are. It fears when people take to the streets in numbers. A paradoxical irony: Armenian state fears its own people.

Photo from A1plus, used with permission.

ICHD blog (am) is literally disgusted by how predictable these elections are going laying out the scenario of just how everything will look in Armenia on May 13, 2007 - the day after elections:

Rulling elite: a couple of cosmetic changes []

TV: soap opera; soap opera; news: a couple of reports on official meetings and news from abroad; some scare movie

Public life: troubled faces thinking of making a living[] …and slumber: steady and absorbing.

“Not much happening” says Notes from Hairenik, “political climate is pretty boring” - and gives an account of what the biggest Pro-Government parties are up to:

The Republican Party of Armenia is being very arrogant in its confidence that it will by far win the majority of seats. Prosperous Armenia also feels it will win a sizable share, but seems to be more humble in its claims as its leader, Gagik Tsarukian, who is arguably the richest man in Armenia, is a fairly down-to-earth guy. []The ARF-Dashnaktsutiun had another rally yesterday in front of Moscow Cinema claiming that it promises to raise the minimum wage and the average monthly pension…

Oneworld Multimedia is of course much more eloquent on reporting the elections, covering all sides of the political spectrum with stunning photos and commentary, although I don’t think all these boring talking heads of different parties are worth any of Onnik’s efforts. Some of the recent campaign trails covered by the blogger are On The Campaign Trail — Heritage [party] - about which Onnik says “Given the small number of people in attendance it’s hard to believe that Raffi Hovannisian or Heritage could become the controlling party in the National Assembly after 12 May”; On The Campaign Trail — Republican Party - where the blogger notes, that “as the 12 May poll draws ever closer, we’re still not sure as to the real level of support for the ruling party in Armenia with some polls indicating it might be as high as 34 percent, while others say 13 percent”; Radical Opposition Rally Attracts Thousands - remarking about this joint rally of Impeachment block, Republic and New Times parties: “RFE/RL says that the event, held to prepare opponents of the government for post-election street protests, was the largest held by any party to date”. This last rally surely did attract a lot more attention also from other bloggers, some sounding exalted like Aramazd(am), some unimpressed like the freedomfight777(am) and E-channel(am).

Joint Opposition Campaign Rally, Liberty Square, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia for EurasiaNet 2007

So, here’s the last, but not least from Oneworld Multimedia campaign trails: Thousands Attend Another Opposition Rally - about the “Orinats Yerkir” party, which calls itself opposition, and about which Onnik Krikoryan has a lot of kind words:

Although many opposition and civil society activists dislike him, the party led by former National Assembly Speaker Artur Baghdasarian managed to attract thousands.

More significantly and unlike those opposition parties calling for revolution instead of trying to campaign, most of those attending were young.

Probably it is the only genuine pro-Western political party in Armenia.

Well, looks like even the recent spy scandal didn’t hurt Orinats Yerkir. The last word belongs to the voters: May 12, 2007 - is the deadline and let the best win.

One day out of the entire year motivates Armenians to get off their butts and do something for their people: April 24th. On the 24th of every April, Armenians the world over - but especially in the Los Angeles area - take to the streets to protest the Turkish embassy for recognition of the Genocide. The younger generation especially goes out to protest.

If you’re planning on doing the same, I have some tips for you:

1. April 24th is not a happy day. In fact, it marks the tortures and deaths of over 1,500,000 of our ancestors. Understand this thoroughly.

2. Don’t wear your latest hot pink top or fluffy mini skirt to the protest. This isn’t your bachelorette party, it’s a solemn occasion. Ask yourself, “Can I wear this to a funeral?” If the answer is no, then pick something else. You will have 364 other days in that year to wear what you want.

[…] visit the original post for more […]

If I sound a little bitter, it’s because I am. Every year I see this and every year it seems to get worse. I understand: you’re too young and not very bright. Kudos to you for deciding to dedicate one day out of your life to a cause greater than your own, but don’t use it as an excuse to make a mockery out of everything we’re fighting for. (Armenia blog)

Teaktak has an interesting observation at Ahousekeeper’s journal:

the saddest part is… … that the beamer driving music blasting punks don’t usually log into the net to read blogs, How to’s or informational sources for that matter. Besides, people have different understandings of the word “scream”, which is becoming mainstream for the cause.

Bekaisa(ru) brings in a whole new dimension to the Genocide discussion with her post, which has sparked a wave of comments too:

At yesterday’s meeting with the director of the film Screamers, I said, that if I were to go for a march on 24 April with some sort of symbolics, I would have gone with a banner saying “I forgive”.

The point is “not to forget, but to forgive”, Bekaisa(ru) speculates further, although she will most likely refrain from attending the traditional march to Tsitsernakaberd [the Armenian genocide memorial in Yerevan], but that’s a whole different issue, the blogger says.

The replies to the post are mostly highly critical (Orientalian(ru), Dmboshka(ru)), calling the post “cynical” and contesting various other points of view - all in the same spirit.

Narjan(ru) has taken the discussion over to his blog with the question:

Dear people, why don’t you tell me something, hah? What does it mean to forgive turks in general? Who alone, or which group of people can claim that they represent one and a half millions of genocide victims, to have the authority of forgiving or not forgiving?

However all the mentioned posts and comments to them prove an important point - we need a lot more discussion here in Armenia about the Armenian genocide, the quest for its recognition and our attitudes towards Genocides in general.

“2 offices of ‘Prosperous Armenia’ [one of the most powerful pro-presidential political parties running for parliament in the elections on May 12, 2007] were blown up” reported Kornelij Glas (ru) about the blasts that rocked in Zeytun and Avan districts of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia on the night of April 12. This report was soon followed by more detailed posts by other bloggers: Oneworld Multimedia, Hyelog. Soon Onnik Krikoryan of Oneworld Multimedia followed up with photos from the site of bombings and more comments:

Indeed, almost everybody in Yerevan is already pointing the finger at the Republican Party although a few say that either the incident was manufactured to make believe a serious rift between the two exists or that Prosperous Armenia staged the incident themselves. However, as I said, most believe it was the work of the Republicans although the ruling party effectively denies the accusation.

The bloggers can’t stop wondering just how far the assassinations will go; Armenia Blog is comparing Armenia these days with Chicago 80 years ago and quoting ArmeniaNow, listing some of the recent high profile assassination attempts and killings:

The assassination attempt against the Mayor of Gyumri Monday night, leaving three dead and three wounded, is the eighth high-profile and public attack within just over a year. In all the cases, only two arrests have been made, and none brought to justice

JLiving notes (ru) writes about attacks on Parliment candidates: shootings at Hakob Hakobyan’s (Choit) car past midnight and the arson attack at the election office of Sousanna Haroutyunyan.

Well, as Kornelij Glas (ru) puts it in his election leaflet #7, the “Kalashnikov guns have already become the number one brand of the pre-election campaign” in Armenia.

The terrible statistics make this pre-election campaign seem like the most dangerous one since Armenia’s independence in 1991 …and the official campaign has just started on 8th April!!!

Photo by E-channel. Used with permission.

When politics is predictable, apathy abound. Supposedly we just have to take things as they are reported by the Armenian media or by word of mouth. There’s nothing else to be done except to let it happen, at least that is the vibe I have been getting.

Despite the overall mode, the blogger insists, that it is the Armenian citizens who will ultimately determine the course of the elections. Still in another post here, Notes from Hairenik quotes The Armenian Weekly newspaper on the topic of political apathy, especially among the Armenian youth:

Indeed, the trend of people in their twenties is to leave, mostly because of the common belief that “Armenia is not a country” or that “there’s nothing here” to keep them. … Even if someone does have a well-paying job, for instance as a software programmer, leaving the country is nearly always considered a better option.

Still, the blogger is optimistic, and the youth movement Sksela which has been covered extensively in the Armenian blogosphere over the last couple of months has a lot to do with the fact it seems:

However, this is not entirely the case. Although they are a minority, some youth are clearly trying to become involved in civil society and build the democratic process. And they are trying to get the message out to those who are for the most part unaware.

Interestingly, EurasiaNet has recently published Onnik Krikorian’s article on Sksel a and attempts to target youth in Armenia by political parties such as Prosperous Armenia.

Youth in newspaper hats stand on street corners and read aloud from Armenian dailies. Masked young people march by parliament yelling “Don’t Eat Too Much!” at deputies. It’s election season in Armenia, and with the parliamentary vote just over a month away, one unconventional youth group is waging weekly war on widespread political apathy.

The reaction in the Armenian blogosphere is reserved. “It's not the most quiet time in the country for the Premier to die” Kornelij Glas (ru) notes. Life in Armenia, Blogrel and others limit themselves to speculation, as to how much PM's death will strengthen the role of Armenia's Defense Minister, next Presidential hopeful Serge Sargsyan, while according to the Armenia Breaking News blog “[Republican] party’s board convened a sitting yesterday evening with the participation of Serge Sargsyan, head of the board“. All the major developments are reported by the Oneworld Multimedia, Onnik Krikoryan there doing a most professional journalistic work of covering events as they happen:

Regardless, the coming week or two will be full of reminiscing about Armenia’s longest serving Prime Minister. Although unintended, his role in the ruling Republican Party will probably be the main topic for discussion through the media ahead of the May parliamentary election.

[…]

It is uncertain how this will affect the [Republican] party in the run up to the vote, although all eyes will probably be on who is now named the next Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia.

Pigh (ru) is somewhat frustrated by reactions in the Russian language Armenian blogosphere at the LiveJournal, demanding more respect towards the late Prime Minister:

The Prime Minister, the second highest official in the country has died. The leader of the ruling party has passed away… the man is no more… when many of us weren't even born yet, he was already dreaming of a free and independent Armenia - and that man has died.

Words of respect and admiration are heard from the True lies & False facts (am) and Notes from Hairenik:

He always appeared to be a gentle, peaceful man who would never deliberately harm anyone. On the contrary, he was known to do whatever he could to help those that petitioned him. Critics have scrutinized his policies and failures to tackle one issue or another, but that is to be expected of any politician.

There were some attempts to circulate conspiracy theories in the blogosphere, but those were neglected or discarded:

Like I said, I have no reason to suspect that it wasn’t a heart attack, and as I’ve mentioned in most or all of the posts so far, the news that it was a heart attack comes as no surprise to anyone. (Oneworld Multimedia)

All in all, the country has not run out of track. Following Prime Minister's death “the president of the Republic of Armenia has accepted the resignation of the government, assigning the resigned members to continue their work until the formation of the new government.” (E-channel)

Later on 22nd March via CRD / TI Armenia Election Monitor 2007 and JLiving notes (ru) we learn, that Armenian newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak has a cover story article about the incident:

HJ says (with picture) that yesterday the President of RA had meeting with security ministers. The meeting is called because expression “DOD” was written on the walls of President’s residency on Bagramian street. It is obvious that the action aimed at stating an association of the President with the head of Prosperous Armenia, Gagik Tsarukayn, whose nickname is DODI GAGO. In addition, Tsarukyan’s picture on Hayastan Trade House was spoiled by red paint. (CRD / TI Armenia Election Monitor 2007)

The same blogger offers the following explanations of political terms (ru).

[…]

Explanations for friends from abroad

* “DOD” (slang) translates into Russian as “stupid”, “feeble-minded”, “imbecile”
** Gagik Tsarukyan (nicknamed Dodi Gago) – is an Armenian oligarch, leader of “Prosperous Armenia” party created by him not long ago. Unofficial sources claim that the party is supported by the President of Armenia.
*** “prosperous” (shorthand by author) – is the “Prosperous Armenia”.

While bloggers enjoy the paint on presidential walls, The Armenian Odar suffers from the “banner for Bargavats Hayastan (Prosperous Armenia - Dodi Gago's party) on the building opposite” hers, saying “I guess I'll have to put up with it at least until the elections on May 12. :-(”.

Indifference & Democratic Deficiencies

While only 15 years of democratic development might not be enough to build a vibrant democracy, “…the processes going on in our country are heading towards distortion of values and return to modern feudalism, which might be irreversible…“, speculates Bekaisa (ru) at her blog and defines the attitude of indifference by those who understand the negative tendencies, but who “DECIDE to keep silent and refrain from action” as the root of democratization problems in Armenia.

While people like Ahousekeeper (ru) in response to Bekaisa's (ru) post doubt the very necessity of building democracy in Armenia by questioning the validity and quality of democracy in the USA, David_sand (ru), Narjan (ru) advocate strongly for democracy.

The discussion is still ongoing, and I suspect, the influence of the Russian model of “sovereign democracy” has a lot to do with the fact, that in Armenia today anybody would be willing to question the importance of building democracy.