Yesterday the Armenian National Congress made a statement, which particularly reads, “On March 1 a rally will be held in commemoration of the victims, who were killed during the protest actions one year ago. For the first time in the history of the newly independent state the government shed the blood of its own people by violating the constitutional order, organizing state revolution and slaughtering innocent citizens. Since that day the government launched a wide-scale wave of repression, aimed at breaking the will of people, destroying democratic freedoms and existence of opposition. That is the reason why the government keeps 58 political detainees in prison, holds courts trails which rape the justice system of the country, forbids and disperses rallies and demonstrations and persecutes businessmen based on political motives. Despite this fact the Movement only gets even more powerful. It is time for the government to understand that it is impossible to restrain the pan-national movement, suffocate the will of the Armenian people to live in favorable conditions and build a democratic country. The only right way is the release of political prisoners and cease of repression, after which the government and the opposition must find joint solutions to overcome the internal political crisis. Only through reconciliation will it be possible to overcome the issues, which the country encounters, particularly the economic and the social crisis. March 1 could have become the beginning of national reconciliation. Unfortunately the government missed the wonderful opportunity. But it’s the duty of all of us to conduct the March 1 rally in a way to keep it open for the society. Our goal is to conduct a civilized and peaceful rally. We request the government and the police once again to jointly provide warrants for the conduct of a peaceful rally and march in commemoration of the victims of March 1.”
