| March 1 |
The head of the Self-Determination
Union (SDU), Paruir Hairikian, announces that he will not resign from
his post as chairman of the presidential commission on constitutional
reform. Hairikian threatened to resign last month after the commission
rejected a proposed amendment to the constitution allowing for dual
citizenship. |
| March 2 |
Armenian foreign ministry
official Armen Gasparian, in published comments in a Russian newspaper,
calls on the Azerbaijani government to enter into direct talks with
the government of Nagorno Karabagh. Gasparian states that the "territory
of Azerbaijan is the homeland of two peoples, Azerbaijanis and Armenians,
and relations between them are not a question of majority or minority
but a partnership of equals." The Armenia officials adds that
real progress in the ongoing peace talks seeking a solution to the
Nagorno Karabagh is only possible once direct Azerbaijani-Karabagh
talks are established. |
| March 3 |
Armenian state prosecutors
announce that additional charges will soon be filed against former
Interior Minister Vano Siradeghian for involvement in politically-related
murders. Siradeghian, who recently fled the country, is already facing
charges related to five murders he allegedly planned while serving
as Interior Minister. Much of the evidence for the charges comes from
the testimony of former associate Armen Ter-Sahakian. Ter- Sahakian
admitted his role in heading an armed group working under Siradeghian
which was empowered to conduct various politically- related crimes
including the murders and assaults of leading government and opposition
figures.
Following a meeting with representatives of the three co- chairing
nations of the "Minsk Group" of the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE Chairman-in-Office Knut Vollebaek
issues a unanimous statement calling for the immediate establishment
of direct talks between the parties to the conflict in order to find
"a mutually acceptable basis for a comprehensive settlement to
the conflict." The OSCE statement also calls on Armenia and Azerbaijan
to enter into "a regular dialogue" and urges all sides to
"demonstrate restraint in their official declarations and public
statements so as not to complicate the negotiating process."
The Minsk Group is the OSCE's working group empowered to mediate the
Nagorno Karabagh conflict and is chaired by France, Russia and the
United States. |
| March 4 |
Senior leaders of the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (ARF) call on President Robert Kocharian
to ensure that the coming parliamentary elections, scheduled for May
30th, will be free and fair. ARF leader Vahan Hovanessian adds that
the new parliament "must be legitimate" and its deputies
elected by open and fair democratic means. The sole ARF member in
the current parliament, Roupen Hakopian, also affirms his party's
agreement with the opposition in calling for new amendments to the
country's recently adopted election law and confirms that the ARF
is working closely with the opposition Armenian Communist Party, the
Republican Party and the National Democratic Union (NDU) to coordinate
steps necessary to guarantee that the legislative elections will be
transparent and free from fraud and other voting irregularities which
have plagued past Armenian elections.
President Kocharian forms a new presidential commission to investigate
allegations of high-level corruption among executives and former government
officials involved in the privatization of the national telecommunications
firm ArmenTel. The announcement follows unsuccessful attempts by the
opposition last month to form a similar parliamentary commission.
The allegations center around documented reports by a former ArmenTel
executive charging that senior Armenian government officials received
several million dollars in bribes and payoffs from the U.S. Trans
World Telecom (TWT), a former majority shareholder in ArmenTel which
sold its ninety percent share of ArmenTel to the Greek telecommunications
firm OTE for $142 million in December 1997. Public criticism of the
privatization has been compounded by the decision by OTE to significantly
raise telephone charges last December.
The World Bank announces a new $21 million loan package to assist
in the modernization of the country's electric power sector. The new
loan package is the first element of a larger $53 million World Bank
program seeking to transform the electrical energy sector by making
it more efficient and self-sufficient and ending state subsidies. |
| March 5-8 |
Some 350 delegates of the
former ruling Armenian National Movement (ANM) participate in the
party's 11th congress to revise the party platform and elect a party
leader. The ANM congress adopts a resolution criticizing the Kocharian
government's rise to power as "illegal and leading to the criminalization
of government and the establishment of a military-police system."
The delegates pledge to fight the government's "plan to form
a puppet parliament" by manipulating the coming legislative elections.
Following days of heated debate, the 41-person ruling ANM executive,
in the second round of voting, reelects its present party leader Vano
Siradeghian over his main challenger, former Parliamentary Speaker
Babken Ararktsian. Revealing new internal dissent within the ANM,
former President Levon Ter Petrosian lobbied unsuccessfully for Ararktsian. |
| March 7 |
Former Armenian President
Levon Ter Petrosian announces that since there has been no progress
toward the settlement of the Nagorno Karabagh conflict since he left
office, Armenia and Karabagh must make additional concessions. Ter
Petrosian adds that despite the promising new draft peace plan by
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the
fact that the negotiations remain stalled calls for new concessions. |
| March 8 |
A newly formed coalition
comprising the Union for Constitutional Rights, the Scientific-Industrial
and Civic Union (GAKM) and the "Miabanatyun" (Accord) group,
announce a collective party list of their candidates for the parliamentary
elections slated for May 30th. Union for Constitutional Rights party
chairman Hrant Khachatrian states that he will also seek to invite
the Democratic and Ramkavar-Azatakan (ADL) parties, both with senior
officials in the Kocharian government, to join the new grouping.
Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian meets with senior Cypriot government
officials during an official visit to Nicosia. Oskanian discusses
the planned expansion of bilateral cooperation in economic and political
areas.
During a visit to the United States to meet with senior U.S. government
officials and Members of Congress, Nagorno Karabagh President Arkady
Gukasyan meets with the U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Donald Keyser, to discuss the status
of the OSCE mediation effort. The Karabagh president reaffirms his
commitment to the OSCE peace plan and calls on Azerbaijan to accept
the latest draft peace proposal advocated by the OSCE's Minsk Group.
Spokesmen for Nagorno Karabagh President Arkady Gukasyan refute recent
Azerbaijani press reports alleging that Gukasyan met with Azerbaijani
opposition Musavat Party Chairman Isa Gambarov and former Parliamentary
Speaker Rasul Guliev during Gukasyan's visit to Washington. Azerbaijani
press reports contend that the Karabagh president sought the Azerbaijani
opposition figures' support for a plan to route the planned oil pipeline
necessary to transport oil from Azerbaijan through Nagorno Karabagh
and Armenia. Although Guliev admits to meeting with Gambarov in the
United States, he denies meeting with Gukasyan. |
| March 9 |
Prominent opposition journalist
and editor of the "Nor Ughi" publication, Tigran Hayrapetian,
dies as a result of injuries suffered from being run over by a car
in Yerevan. Hayrapetian was the campaign manager for failed presidential
candidate Ashot Bleyan last year and his death is rumored to be linked
to his journalistic investigations into corruption within senior levels
of the Armenian government. |
| March 10 |
The presidential commission
on constitutional reform issues a new proposal restricting the parliament's
power to overturn a presidential veto. The proposal calls for replacing
the current majority vote minimum with a two-thirds vote requirement
allowing for a parliamentary override of a presidential veto. The
commission also restricts some presidential powers by allowing the
president to dissolve the parliament only in the case of the legislature's
"inactivity." According to the current constitution, the
presidential may dissolve parliament virtually at will except during
the first year and last six months of the presidential term.
Nagorno Karabagh Foreign Minister Naira Melkoumian, in an interview
with journalists during her visit to Washington, states that she sees
a significant shift in the U.S. position regarding the Nagorno Karabagh
conflict. The Foreign Minister, accompanying Karabagh President Gukasyan
on a visit to the United States, adds that recent meetings with senior
U.S. government officials suggest that the U.S. will adhere to the
present peace plan proposed by the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE) calling for the creation of a new "common state"
comprising Karabagh and Azerbaijan proper. Both Nagorno Karabagh and
Armenia have accepted the plan as a basis for further specific negotiations
but the Azerbaijani government continues to reject the plan as a threat
to its territorial integrity and national sovereignty.
Armenian Presidential Foreign Policy Adviser Armen Darbinian announces
that Armenia is considering new proposals which it will offer shortly
aimed at restarting the stalled peace talks mediated by the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) seeking a settlement
to the Karabagh conflict. |
| March 11 |
The European Parliament
adopts a resolution on the Nagorno Karabagh conflict affirming the
current peace plan offered by the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE) which calls for a negotiated settlement to the Karabagh
conflict by forming a "common state" comprising Karabagh
and Azerbaijan. The European Parliament praises the acceptance by
Armenia and Karabagh of the OSCE plan and calls on a serious effort
by Azerbaijan to rejoin the mediation talks. The European Parliament
resolution adds that since the October 1998 Azerbaijan presidential
elections were "marked by fraud and irregularities that have
been condemned by international observers," and given the fact
that the March 1998 Armenian presidential elections were plagued by
voting irregularities, all future European Union (EU) aid and assistance
should be conditional on "tangible progress in the areas of human
rights and democracy." |
| March 12 |
Opposition parliamentarians
harshly criticize the dominant Yerkrapah bloc for misconduct and voting
fraud during the legislature's passage of a package of 31 amendments
to the country's new election law. Deputy Ara Sahakian of the opposition
Hairenik bloc, the second largest bloc in the parliament, alleged
that the fraud is evident by the fact that the official electronic
voting display showed 100 votes in favor of the amendments, four more
votes than necessary for its passage, although there were only 106
deputies present at the session and 15 opposition deputies boycotted
the vote. Parliamentary Speaker Khosrov Harutiunian dismisses the
charges of voting fraud but admits that, contrary to parliamentary
rules, two Yerkrapah deputies voted for absent deputies in favor of
passage. |
| March 13 |
Meeting with journalists,
President Kocharian reaffirms his personal commitment to ensuring
that the coming parliamentary elections will be free and fair, adding
that Armenia can not afford the negative international reaction that
would arise from a questionable election. The president also defends
the new elections law, which would provide for 56 seats to be allocated
by a proportional system and 75 seats under a majority system.
Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi announces that Iran is prepared
to offer its services in an attempt to mediate the Nagorno Karabagh
conflict. The Iranian offer comes during a meeting in Tehran with
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Tofik Zulfugarov. |
| March 15 |
A group of over 1000 pensioners
demonstrate in front of the parliament building to protest the government's
30 percent increase in electricity prices last month. The government,
responding to opposition threat's to introduce new legislation lowering
energy prices, remains firm in its decision, citing the need to introduce
price liberalization in the energy sector. |
| March 18 |
During a meeting with British
Foreign Secretary Robin Cook in London, Armenian Foreign Minister
Vardan Oskanian offers a new model to resolving the Nagorno Karabagh
conflict based on New Zealand's unique relationship with several of
the offshore islands off its coast. Oskanian explains that the Niue
Islands are neither independent from nor autonomous within New Zealand,
but instead exist within a "common state" similar to the
OSCE proposal for Nagorno Karabagh |
| March 22 |
Karabagh Foreign Minister
Melkoumian, in comments during a Yerevan press conference, states
that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
is bound to exert renewed pressure on Azerbaijan to accept their peace
plan during the scheduled visit to the region by OSCE Chairman-in-Office
Knut Vollebaek in April. The foreign minister's prediction is echoed
in recent statements by the Armenian foreign minister. |
| March 23 |
German Ambassador to Armenia,
Carolla Mueller-Holtkemper, formally presents President Kocharian
with 56 volumes of German diplomatic archival records from the Ottoman
Empire during 1889- 1920. The archival material, containing valuable
evidence of the 1915 Genocide of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman
Turks, is presented to the Armenian government following Armenia's
transfer of several hundred historical German manuscripts which were
seized by Soviet troops from Germany at the end of World War I.
Armenian Health Minister Haik Nikoghosian holds a press conference
in Yerevan to invite AIDS patients to participate in clinical tests
of the new Armenicum drug which has reportedly exhibited positive
results in 14 AIDS-stricken patients. |
| March 25 |
President Kocharian formerly
invites Pope John Paul II to visit Armenia during a meeting in the
Vatican. Kocharian and Armenian Catholicos Karekin I also attend the
Vatican's special exhibition honoring the 1700th anniversary of Armenia's
adoption of Christianity as its national religion.
Yerevan municipal prosecutor, Ashot Tamazian, announces that criminal
charges have been filed against former Education Minister Ashot Bleyan
on corruption charges based on allegations that Bleyan embezzled some
$120,000 in education ministry funds during his tenure as minister. |
| March 27 |
Russian Deputy Foreign
Minister Leonid Drachevskii states that Russia is prepared to revise
the draft peace plan proposed by the OSCE to "find a normal solution
acceptable to all parties." The Russian official makes the comments
during meetings with Armenian officials in Yerevan following earlier
meetings in Baku during which Drachevskii promised Azerbaijani President
Aliyev that Moscow would advocate amending the OSCE's call for a "common
state" approach to settling the conflict. |