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08/03/2006
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1. Sen. Coleman Becomes First to Reject Hoagland Nomination
2. ARF Leader Says Dual Citizenship Bill Will Pass in Fall
3. Key Suspect In Murder Of Armenian State TV Chief Set Free
4. Mediators Signal New Karabakh Proposals
5. Russia Registers Armenicum
6. French Soccer Legend Visits Armenia
1. Sen. Coleman Becomes First to Reject Hoagland Nomination
WASHINGTON (AP)–Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman said Wednesday he will vote
against President George W. Bush’s selection to become the next ambassador to
Armenia because the nominee refuses to describe the deaths of 1.5 million
Armenians as genocide.
According to the Armenian National Committee of America, Coleman is the first
senator to say publicly that he will vote against the nomination of
Ambassador-designate Richard E. Hoagland. Several other senators have
expressed
misgivings.
"My problem isn’t with Hoagland," Coleman, a member of Bush’s Republican
Party, said in a telephone interview. "I continue to be troubled by our policy
that refuses to recognize what was a historical reality."
On Tuesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on which Coleman serves,
postponed a vote on Hoagland’s nomination until next month. The committee has
10 Republican members and eight Democrats. Elizabeth Chouldjian, a spokeswoman
for the Armenian committee, said nine of the 18 have misgivings over the
Hoagland nomination.
"We welcome Mr. Coleman’s action, because quite frankly, it’s a question of
effectiveness for a US ambassador," she said. "Is it effective for an
ambassador to Armenia to deny the Armenian genocide? It is effective for
him to
be taken seriously as a diplomat in Armenia? The answer is no."
"As someone of the Jewish faith, I bring a heightened sensitivity to the
reality of genocide and mass murder and the importance of recognizing it for
what it is," Coleman said. "I was brought up believing you never forget the
Holocaust, never forget what happened. And I could not imagine how our
ambassador to Israel could have any effectiveness if he couldn’t recognize the
Holocaust."
In May, the White House announced the recall of the current ambassador to
Armenia, John Evans, two years into the normal three-year diplomatic term.
Last
year, Evans told Armenian-Americans, "The Armenian genocide was the first
genocide of the 20th century." Sixty members of the House of Representatives
sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice protesting that Evans was
being punished for his reference to "genocide." In a separate letter,
Democratic Senators Edward Kennedy and John Kerry of Massachusetts demanded an
explanation from Rice for Evans’ recall.
"It absolutely was cut short because of that," Coleman said, referring to
Evans’ use of the word genocide. "That I also found to be troubling. Evans was
a good ambassador. To me, it’s almost bizarre diplospeak that you have barred
our ambassadors from using a single word; that in effect you had the
removal of
an ambassador who used that single word, genocide, even though it’s true."
Asked whether Evans was recalled for using the word genocide, State
Department
spokesman Edgar Vasquez would only say, "US ambassadors serve at the pleasure
of the president."
At a Foreign Relations Committee hearing in June, senators failed to get
Hoagland to use the word genocide. "I have not received any kind of written
instruction about this," Hoagland said at that hearing. "I simply have studied
the president’s policy. I’ve studied the background papers on the policy. And
my responsibility is to support the president."
2. ARF Leader Says Dual Citizenship Bill Will Pass in Fall
YEREVAN (Armenpress)–Armenian Revolutionary Federation Bureau member and
deputy Parliament Speaker Vahan Hovanessian Thursday told a visiting
delegation
of 150 ARF Juniors (Badanegan) that a bill that would legalize dual
citizenship
in Armenia is expected to pass during the parliament’s fall session.
The ARF Juniors, representing nine countries, are participating in the first
annual pilgrimage to Armenia. They met with Hovanessian in the parliament
chambers.
The ARF leader added that the ARF will take part in the 2008 presidential
elections with its own candidate. He added that by then the 2007 parliamentary
elections will have taken place the climate would be ripe to conduct fair
elections in 2008 as mandated by the European Union and its affiliate bodies.
Hovanessian also added that Azerbaijan had not implemented its commitments in
regards to elections, but stemming from certain political interests, European
countries have punished Azerbaijan.
3. Key Suspect In Murder Of Armenian State TV Chief Set Free
YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–The man whose testimony formed the basis of a politically
charged murder case against the brother of radical opposition leader Aram
Sarkisian has been set free after serving only half of his seven-year prison
sentence, it was confirmed on Thursday.
Hovannes Harutiunian was among 13 men convicted in the December 2002
assassination of Tigran Naghdalian, former head of Armenia’s state television
and radio. A court in Yerevan accepted prosecutors’ claims that younger
Sarkisian’s brother Armen was the mastermind of the contract murder,
sentencing
him and another suspect, who confessed to shooting and killing Naghdalian, to
15 years in prison. The controversial verdict handed down in November 2003 was
upheld by the Armenian appeals courts.
Armen Sarkisian, backed by his family and friends, protested his innocence
throughout the year-long trial, rejecting the charges as politically
motivated.
Prosecutors insisted, however, that the businessman ordered Naghdalian’s
killing because he believed the state TV chief, a staunch supporter of
President Robert Kocharian, had a hand in the October 1999 assassination of
his
second, more famous brother, Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisian. At the heart of
their case was Harutiunian’s pre-trial testimony in which he claimed to have
received $75,000 from Armen Sarkisian, a distant relative of his, to organize
the crime. Sarkisian claimed that he paid the sum because he was "blackmailed"
by Harutiunian shortly after the killing.
A spokeswoman for the Armenian Justice Ministry, Anahit Voskanian, told
RFE/RL
that Harutiunian, who allegedly had links with the criminal underworld, was
released from jail on parole by the same Yerevan district court on July 12.
She
said this was made possible by a June 27 decree by Kocharian which reduced his
jail term by 18 months.
Under Armenian criminal code, individuals convicted of "especially grave"
crimes must complete at least two-thirds of their prison sentences before they
can apply for parole. Kocharian’s decree meant that Harutiunian, who was
arrested in January 2003, technically has spent five out of the required seven
years in jail.
Harutiunian’s erratic behavior during the high-profile trial undermined the
credibility of the charges leveled against Armen Sarkisian. During a court
session on September 24, 2003 Harutiunian said he has "something to add" to
what he had told the investigators in a series of interrogations following his
arrest. But the man nicknamed Aper (Brother) mysteriously refused to speak up
at the next hearing a week later, saying only that he stands by his earlier
written deposition. His public questioning had been repeatedly and
controversially delayed by the presiding judge, Saro Aramian, fueling
speculation that the Armenian authorities fear he might retract his pre-trial
account.
The authorities announced the arrest of Harutiunian and five other Naghdalian
murder suspects late on March 5, 2003 just hours after the closure of polls in
the second round of a hotly disputed presidential election. Sarkisian was
arrested ten days later.
Armenia’s main opposition Justice alliance, of which his brother Aram is a
leading member, denounced the arrest, saying that it is part of Kocharian’s
efforts to cling to power in the wake of serious vote irregularities that
marred his reelection. Justice party’s top leader Stepan Demirchian still
claims to be the rightful winner of the vote.
4. Mediators Signal New Karabakh Proposals
PARIS (RFE/RL)–The American, French and Russian mediators signaled on
Thursday
their intention to make new proposals to Armenia and Azerbaijan that are aimed
at breaking the deadlock in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.
"Proceeding from the St. Petersburg G8 [summit] Chairman’s statement on
Nagorno-Karabakh, the Co-Chairs considered different options to achieve its
objectives, which will be proposed to the parties, and await them for their
thoughts," the three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group said in a statement
issued after their meeting in Paris on Wednesday.
The meeting followed US co-chair Matthew Bryza’s visit to Yerevan,
Stepanakert
and Baku. The mediators said they discussed its results and assessed the
"current stage in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict." They gave
no details.
Speaking to RFE/RL in Yerevan after talks with President Robert Kocharian on
Saturday, Bryza indicated that the troika will initiate no further
Armenian-Azeri peace talks unless the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan
display greater commitment to mutual compromise. "We are just waiting for a
sign from the presidents as to whether or not they would like to restart a
formal process," he said, arguing that it is still unclear "whether or not
there is enough will on both sides to eliminate or to resolve the distance
that
still stands between them."
The G8 statement cited by the co-chairs was issued by the leaders of the
world’s eight leading industrialized nations on July 17 at the end of their
three-day meeting in Russia’s second largest city. They urged the conflicting
parties to reach a framework agreement on Karabakh before the end of this
year.
5. Russia Registers Armenicum
YEREVAN (Armenpress)–The Russian pharmaceutical agency (equivalent of the US
Food and Drug Administration) recently registered Armenicum in Russia as an
immune regulating and anti-viral medicine.
An official from the Armenicum office told Armenpress that the medicine has
already been registered in Congo and Liberia.
Armenicum gained considerable attention in the mid to late 1990’s.
Commissioned to be developed by Armenia’s current defense minister Serj
Sargsyan, Armenicum was to have been an effective drug against HIV/AIDS.
6. French Soccer Legend Visits Armenia
YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–Michel Platini, one of the world’s best known former
football
players, ended on Thursday a two-day visit to Armenia apparently linked to his
bid to become the new head of UEFA, the game’s European governing body.
The former France international, who had inspired his nation to its
first-ever
victory in European championships in 1984, held talks with the chairman of the
Armenian Football Federation, Ruben Hayrapetian, and inaugurated new
UEFA-funded soccer pitches for children in Yerevan. He was also received by
Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan who thanked him for supporting the
"development of football in Armenia."
Platini said he urged the Armenian government to pay "particular
attention" to
children and youths practicing the sport. "Armenia means a lot to a Frenchman
like me because a number of soccer players of Armenian descent have played for
the French national side and helped it win the World Cup [in 1998,]" he said.
"There are also Armenian journalists, singers and other famous people in
France."
Platini, who is now deputy chairman of the French Football Federation, faces
an uphill in trying to unseat UEFA’s incumbent president, Lennart
Johansson, in
elections scheduled for next January. The Armenian Football Federation, a
member of UEFA, will also take part in them and its chairman announced that it
will back the 51-year-old Frenchman.
"I think it is clear to everyone that the relationship between Michel Platini
and Armenians is not only businesslike but friendly, Hayrapetian told a joint
news conference with Platini. "The Football Federation of Armenia will
definitely vote for Michel Platini."
Platini is still revered by the French as well as millions of supporters of
Italy’s most popular soccer club, Juventus, for which he successfully
played in
the early 1980s.
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