DATE=10/27/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ARMENIA SHOOTING (L)
NUMBER=2-255533
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Gunmen who broke into Armenia's parliament
killed Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisian and several
prominent lawmakers (Wednesday). Thirty people were
wounded. V-O-A's Peter Heinlein in Moscow reports the
gunmen are still holding dozens of hostages inside the
Armenian parliament building.
TEXT: Prime Minister Sarkisian was delivering a
nationally broadcast speech to lawmakers when several
gunmen stormed into the chamber and began firing
automatic weapons. The transmission was cut shortly
after shots rang out, but television pictures show the
Prime Minister being shot and falling to the floor.
At last report, the gunmen were still holding scores
of hostages inside the building and were demanding
direct access to the national television channel.
Outside, security forces are surrounding the
parliament building, and Armenian President Robert
Kocharian is said to be personally directing
operations.
Yerevan journalist Emil Saakyan told V-O-A the
attackers said they were staging a coup.
/// SAAKYAN ACT ///
The gunmen said that they were making revolution.
They also said that it is time that the government
officials, the government of Armenia, stop sucking the
blood of the population. They also urged the
population of Armenia to gather in front of the
building of the National Assembly.
/// END ACT ///
One of the gunmen was identified as a former
journalist associated with an extreme nationalist
group.
In addition to Prime Minister Sarkisian, others killed
included the Speaker of Parliament Karen Demirchian,
who was Armenia's last Soviet-era leader. The two
headed a political movement that forced the
resignation of former President Levon Ter-Petrosian a
year-and-one-half ago, accusing him of pursuing
"defeatist" policies on the issue of independence for
the Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia and neighboring Azerbaijan have been talking
about a settlement of their long-running dispute over
Nagorno-Karabakh, including recent meetings at the
presidential level. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe
Talbott had visited Yerevan earlier in the day, and is
believed to have held talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh
issue. Mr. Talbott previously made a similar visit to
Azerbaijan's capital, Baku.
The proposed deal reportedly would have Armenia give
back a portion of Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan, a
move fiercely OPPOSED BY ARMENIAN NATIONALIST GROUPS.
(SIGNED)
NEB/PFH/JWH/RAE
27-Oct-1999 14:14 PM EDT (27-Oct-1999 1814 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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