YEREVAN, Oct 28
(AFP)
Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkissian and at least four other politicians were gunned down in the Armenian parliament Wednesday by a group of armed men who burst into the chamber and opened fire.
The four-man commando took some 50 hostages and proclaimed a coup before entering into negotiations with officials several hours later to end the standoff.
Sarkissian, 40, parliamentary speaker Karen Demirchian, his deputy Yury Bakshian and Emergencies Minister Leonard Petrosian were killed in the attack.
Police later said that deputy Mikl Kotanian had also been killed, Armenian television reported.
Television footage showed four unidentified gunmen bursting into parliament as Sarkissian delivered an address from the podium at 5:15 p.m. local time (1215 GMT).
One of the assailants approached the premier and opened fire from close range. Deputies dived for cover as the gunmen fired indiscriminately into the chamber.
The bodies were recovered from the parliament building, where some 50 people were still being held hostage inside the chamber late Wednesday.
Nauri Unalian, the leader of the armed gang, told private A1+ television that the attack on the legislature was aimed at triggering a popular revolt.
“In this country, it’s impossible to create a political organisation,” Unalian said. “The people are in a dead-end situation.”
Unalian said negotiations were under way with Armenian officials and that they would probably result in a “peaceful settlement” in the coming hours.
President Robert Kocharian was holding negotiations with the gunmen to try to secure the hostages’ release, a presidential spokeswoman said.
Armenian journalist Konstantin Petrosyan, who was in parliament during the attack, quoted one of the gunmen as saying “we have come to avenge those who have drunk the blood of the nation” before demanding a film crew be sent to the building and announcing they were carrying out a coup.
A group of 15 deputies and a number of journalists were allowed to leave the building after the shootout.
Local television station A1Plus said a total of eight people died and 30 were wounded in the attack.
ITAR-TASS earlier reported that a second deputy speaker, Ruben Miroyan, had also been killed. But this could not be confirmed independently.
The United States, Russia, Britain and France condemned the attack.
President Boris Yeltsin expressed his “profound indignation” at the shooting, Interfax news agency reported quoting the Kremlin.
Yeltsin condemned the “terrorist actions” and told the Russian ambassador to Yerevan to pass on his condolences to the families of the victims, said the president’s office.
US President Bill Clinton said the Sarkissian’s death was a “real blow to that country and that region.”
He added: “We have a good relationship with Armenia and we have done a lot of work with Armenia and Azerbaijan to try to resolve the difficulties surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh.”
The attack took place as US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott ended a brief visit to Armenia on Wednesday for talks on Yerevan’s conflict with Baku over the Nagorno Karabach enclave.
French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin sent his condolences to the Armenian president, the parliament’s deputies and the families of the victims.
The French government stood by them in the struggle against terrorism, he said.
In London, a spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Downing Street office said the attack was “horrifying. We are appalled by what we have seen and by the whole incident.”
Foreign Secretary Robin Cook wrote to his Armenian counterpart, Vardan Oskanian, expressing his “horror at the senseless attack against the parliament, and extending his sympathy to the families of those killed and wounded,” a foreign office spokeswoman said.
Sarkissian, 40, was appointed prime minister by Kocharian on June 11 after serving as defence minister and joint leader of the Unity coalition that won parliamentary elections two weeks earlier.
As defence minister, he played a key role in the political crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, the ethnic-Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan, that led to the resignation of Kocharian’s predecessor Levon Ter-Petrossian in February 1998.
January 18, 1998 – a car of the head of the President’s security Roman Kazaryan shot. The general unharmed.
January 19, 1998 – a grenade blown near the building of the local Erevan Administration. The city mayor Ruben Arapetyan was safe.
January 21, 1998 – an unidentified man shot the deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and National Security. The general Arzron Markaryan severely wounded.
August 6, 1998 – the General Prosecutor of Armenia Genrih Hatcharyan killed by an officer of the Office of Public Prosecutor. The killer committed suicide right after the attack.
December 10, 1998 – the deputy Defense Minister the colonel Vagram Horhoruni was killed near his flat.
February 9, 1999 – the deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and National Security Arzron Markaryan shot. He died because of serious wounds.
Pyotr NOVIKOV
ALMATY, Oct 28
(THE GLOBE)
The events in the Armenian Parliament may be caused by the opposition of the President Robert Kocharyan on one hand and the head of the government Vazgen Sarkisyan and the Parliament Speaker Karen Demirchan, on the other hand.
According to experts, the reason for the opposition is the Nagorny Karabah conflict, as well as the internal political rivalry.
Besides, some analysts consider the reason to be the struggle between regional elite. The point is, the President Kocharyan originates from Nagorny Karabah and hence, he lobbied interests of this region. His mild position in negotiations with official Baku is explained by the same reason.
Both the Prime Minister and the Speaker are from Armenia.
The President’s position was criticized by the PM and Speaker. They blamed Robert Kocharyan as if he was ready to give all Karabah to Azerbaijan for the sake of friendly relations with Baku.
At the same time the conflict was caused by the political opposition between two most influential groups represented by the PM and Speaker and the President.
Worsening situation in the nationalistic circles, which, according to observers, are concerned in the evident happened in the Parliament could be also connected with a suspected compromise with Azerbaijan.
The Russian electron newspaper .ru states that the President Kocharyan has to struggle against local ultra-nationalists (Dashnaks’ party). Dashnaks uncompromisingly treat Azerbaijan, and are not friendly to Russia. Robert Kocharyan tried to fight against them and was going to close their organization officially. But he failed to annihilate their wide network and divisions. It is supposed that shooting in the Parliament was organized by Dashnaks. Person headed the groups of gunmen was before a member of the Dashnaks’ party.
In fact, the event destabilizing the situation in Armenia is to dismiss the present leaders of the republic and to prevent any compromises with Azerbaijan, may draw a new escalation of tension in Caucasus. Obviously, today a compromise on Karabah is impossible.
By Wallace Kaufman
ALMATY, Oct 28 (The GLOBE)
In a move that could upset regional peace prospects, three men with automatic rifles rushed into the Armenian parliament building Wednesday and opened fire on Prime Minister Vazgen Sarksyan and others as he was giving a speech wounding him fatally, killing at least eight others, and declaring a coup. The presidential press service estimated the gunmen had 50 hostages tho other sources said fifteen.
“Our main demand is air time on national television,” the coup leader Nairiu Unanyan told Reuters news service by telephone. Unanyan was active in nationalist politics and expelled from his party in 1990. On A1Plus he said “this is the only way to avoid the destruction of our nation.” He apologized for all the deaths except Sarksyan’s.
Both America’s Bill Clinton and Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said the attack could upset regional stability. Ecevit called it an “extremely sad and worrying event” while Clinton called it “a real blow to the region.” Iran also condemned the attack.
The Armenian presidental press secretary dismissed any notion of a coup, saying, “This is just a handful of terrorists . . who don’t have any affiliations with any political party or organizations, at least they don’t claim any.”
President Robert Kocharian rushed to the scene to consult with security officials. On national television he said, “The authorities control the situtiona and as president I assure you that everything is being done to normalize the situation and free the hostages.”
Kocharian appointed Karksyan, a 40 year old former Soviet propaganda offical, as premier in June. Sarksyan and speaker of parliament, Karen Demirchyan, who was also reported killed, co-chaired the hard line Unity Party.
In February 1998 their movement forced President Levon Ter-Petrosyan to resign, accusing him of giving away the Armenian dominated Ngorno-Karabakh territory inside the republic of Azerbaijan. They opposed all negotiations with Azerbaijan over the enclave.
Kazakhstan perceived with sincere bitterness the news of the awful tragedy happened in Erevan on October 27, 1999. Both the Kazakhstan government and population present their condolences to Armenian people and share sorrow of died people’s relatives.
The Kazakhstan population is indignant at this barbarian crime. Organizers and executors of the same cannot be acquitted. The tragedy in Erevan once again demonstrated that terrorism is menacing the humanity. It is necessary to take urgent and touch measures to struggle against it.
Astana, October 28, 1999
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