The United States expects President Serzh Sarkisian to restore civil liberties
and take other “dramatically positive steps” to resolve Armenia’s grave
political crisis, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza indicated that the Armenian
government has so far failed to address U.S. concerns stemming from its
crackdown on the opposition that followed the February 19 presidential election.
He also said that Washington has revised its initial, largely positive,
assessment of the government’s conduct of the vote.

The authorities in Yerevan have been under pressure from the U.S. and the
European Union to end the crackdown and release more than 100 supporters of
opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian arrested as a result. They lifted late
last month a state of emergency imposed in Yerevan following the March 1 deadly
clashes between security forces and opposition protesters.

“More needs to happen to restore the confidence of the Armenian people that the
country is moving in the right direction and that there is some momentum in the
development of democracy,” Bryza told RFE/RL in an interview. “First of all,
healing has to take place,” he said. “But beyond healing, dramatic steps are
needed to restore a sense of confidence that the country is moving in the right
direction.”

Bryza said those steps should include a dialogue with the opposition, the
release of opposition activists arrested for their political activities as well
as a “full restoration” of freedom of speech and assembly. He warned that
failure to take such steps would cause further damage to U.S.-Armenian ties and,
in particular, call into question continued U.S. economic assistance to Armenia.

“We don’t want to burn any bridges,” he said. “But we do want to be clear in
signaling that we think that the seriousness of the current situation is
profound. We need to see signs that the momentum of democracy and political and
economic freedom is being restored.”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other U.S. officials warned last month
of a freeze on the $236 million aid package promised by Washington as part of
its Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) program. Departing President Robert
Kocharian scoffed at the warnings, saying that Yerevan can find other sources of
funding for rural infrastructure projects covered by the MCA.

According to Bryza, Kocharian’s remarks did not go down well with officials in
Washington. “Armenia will survive fine without American money,” he said. “That’s
not the point. The point is that our program is a sign of friendship and our
approval.

“The Millennium Challenge Account is a symbol of that friendship. You can’t buy
that friendship by finding the money in some place else.”

The U.S. official spoke to RFE/RL just hours before Sarkisian was sworn in as
Armenia’s next president. He attended the inauguration ceremony despite U.S.
President W. Bush’s failure to congratulate Sarkisian on his election victory
challenged by the opposition.

Asked whether Bush may yet send a letter of congratulation to his new Armenian
counterpart, Bryza said, “I think you will see the response from the highest
level in Washington reflecting the course of events here. As the people of
Armenia demonstrate that they are increasingly comfortable with the direction in
which the country is moving, you’ll hear the same sort of statements from
Washington as well.”

Bryza further made it clear that Washington is now more critical of the Armenian
authorities’ handling of the presidential election than it was in the immediate
aftermath of the vote.

The U.S. State Department initially echoed Western observers’ mostly positive
assessment of the election conduct contained in their preliminary report
released on February 20. However, subsequent statements by U.S. officials
painted a more bleak picture.

Bryza attributed this to the fact that “very serious problems” emerged during
vote recounts in some of Armenia’s nearly 2,000 polling stations. He said U.S.
diplomats witnessed “worrisome people coming to polling stations and being
extremely threatening and taking over the process of recount.” “So when you see
those things happening after your initial report, your subsequent reports have
to be more critical,” he said.

By Emil Danielyan