Month: September 2006

THE PARLIAMENT TURNED DOWN THE "DANGEROUS" LAW

A1+
[01:04 pm] 27 September, 2006

Today the RA draft law on "Alienation of property for the needs of
state and society". By the way, the law was put to the vote twice.

During the first vote 62 deputies voted for the draft.

But when Arshak Sadoyan put together the number of the votes and the
number of the deputies present in the hall and expressed doubts about
the results of the vote, the draft was put to vote a second time.

The second vote has the same results. Once again the necessary
amount of votes was not gathered in order to adopt the draft. So,
the Parliament turned down the draft law which had caused much hubbub.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ADOPTS NEGATIVE REPORT ON TURKEY

Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran
Sept 27 2006

The European Parliament adopted Wednesday a report which is critical
of the slow reform process, religious discrimination and free speech
and the role of the army in Turkey.

The report adopted by 429 votes in favor 71 against with 125
abstentions reiterates the EP’s position that membership negotiations
with Turkey are an ‘open-ended process, and do not lead a priori and
automatically to accession’.

The EP report comes a day after the EU announced that Bulgaria and
Romania will join the European bloc on January 1, 2007.

MEPs called on Turkey to recognize the Republic of Cyprus, withdraw
its forces from the island and lift its embargo on Cypriot vessels
and aircraft.

The report warns Turkey that a lack of progress in implementing the
Ankara protocol ‘will have serious implications for the negotiation
process, and could even bring it to a halt’.

The EP, however, rejected a para in the report that called the
acknowledgement of the ‘Armenian genocide’ a ‘precondition’ for
Turkey’s EU accession.

The report noted that, although the recognition of the Armenian
genocide as such is formally not one of the criteria for EU membership,
it is indispensable for a country on the road to membership to come
to terms with and recognize its past.

MEPs urge Turkey to take the necessary steps, without any
preconditions, to establish diplomatic and good neighbourly relations
with Armenia, to withdraw the economic blockade and to open the land
border at an early date.

MEPs urged Turkish authorities to ‘fulfill their commitments regarding
freedom of religion’, since they noted an ‘absence of progress’
in this area.

It notes that an important discussion on headscarves is going on
within Turkish society; points out that there are no European rules
in this matter, but expresses its hope that a compromise will be found
in Turkey on the wearing of headscarves by students at universities.

The House welcomed ‘the opening of broadcasting in Kurdish’ while
nevertheless noting the continued intimidation of civil society
representatives in the southeast of the country.

The report ‘strongly condemns the resurgence of terrorist violence
on the part of the PKK’ and ‘calls on the PKK to declare and respect
an immediate ceasefire’.

It also pleads for ‘a democratic solution to the Kurdish issue’.

The Parliament also expressed its ‘serious concern’ about the
‘non-respect for women’s rights’ and the high role of the military
in Turkish public life.

DEPUTIES REVOLT

A1+
[02:00 pm] 27 September, 2006

The National Assembly finished the discussion of the drafts about
"Amendments to the RA Law on Television and Radio and Amendments to
the RA Regulations of the National Commission on Television and Radio"
which was represented by the RA Government.

During the discussions which lasted two days the oppositional deputies
called on everyone to vote down the draft. According to Viktor
Dallakyan, the law gives punitive functions to the National Committee
of TV and Radio against private TV Companies. And Arshak Sadoyan
announced that the draft is "anti constitutional, wrong and criminal".

Gegham Manoukyan spoke on behalf of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun faction. He
introduced himself as a person who has worked in the television field
and called on all the deputies to reject the draft. He wondered why
they try to make amendments in such a rush, taking into account the
fact that Constitution demanded to change the staff of the National
Committee of TV and Radio and not the law itself. The ARF deputy
also assumed the draft gives the monopoly of TV commercials to the
Public Television.

NA Speaker Tigran Torosyan was perhaps the only one who called on
everyone to vote for the draft saying "Let’s adopt it, and amend
it later".

By the way, in his final speech Minister of Justice David Haroutyunyan
too asked to vote for the draft claiming that there was no rush. "If
we tried to adopt it in a rush, we would organize the second hearing
in the special session at once".

"A LITTLE PRESSURE, AND THE TARIFFS WON’T BE RAISED"

A1+
[02:38 pm] 27 September, 2006

"The daughter of RF President Vladimir Putin might become the owner of
"ArmenTel"". This supposition is not grounded, but RA deputy Arshak
Sadoyan has suspicions in this respect. He thinks that the tariffs
are being raised not for "ArmenTel" but for the next potential owner
of our telecommunication network.

Arshak Sadoyan has no doubts that "ArmenTel" will be sold to a Russian
company and not to an Arabic one which offers a larger sum. According
to Sadoyan, in order for a Russian company to offer more money they
must have guarantees for high income in Armenia. The deputy thinks that
"the millions resulting from the raise of tariffs will be earned by
the next owner".

In a press conference rendered today Sadoyan called on the journalists
to join him and to organize a protest action on October 6 near the
Matenadaran against the offered tariffs. Sadoyan advised everyone
to phone about 15-20 friends and relatives a day and to invite them
to the action. "A little pressure", and the tariffs won’t be raised,
Sadoyan claimed.

SWITZERLAND AND ARMENIA MEET IN FRANCE

Planet Rugby, UK
Sept 27 2006

FIRA Championship starts

The FIRA-AER Championship starts with a Division 3A match between
Armenia and Switzerland in Vienne, France.

It is actually an Armenian home match, but because most of their
players are Armenians of the diaspora and play in France the match
is just down the Rhône in the ancient town of Vienne.

Armenia was part of the USSR and then rugby flourished because of
government functions, such as the army and the police. Since Armenia
has obtained independence from Russia rugby has declined to a degree
but the Federation has gone to lengths to find players of Armenian
origin to play for the national side, and the plan has worked.

In 2004, Armenia played its first Tests – in FIRA’s Division 3C and
easily beat Norway and Israel to gain promotion, by beating Luxembourg
easily, to Division 3B where, in 2005, Armenia easily beat Bulgaria,
Hungary, Slovenia and Lithuania. Now it is kin Division 3 A along
with Switzerland, Serbia & Montenegro, Denmark and Sweden.

The competition will again be played over two years. The team ending
top will go to Division 2B, the team ending fifth to Division 3B.

Both Armenia and Switzerland would have ambitions. The first part of
the competition will run till the first week of November after which
there will be a break till March while rugby hibernates.

Switzerland’s coach Patrice Philippe has named his 23-strong squad
to play Armenia. He has included 20 of the squad which lost 40-10 to
Germany a fortnight ago, brining in three players who play their rugby
in France – Pierre Dubost, Mathieu Guyou-Kreis and Nicolas Guyou. The
flyhalf against Germany, Ian Mowat, is away at the European Under-20
tournament in Poland.

Switzerland have prepared well but they know Armenia will not be easy
pickings at all.

Swiss squad:

Forwards: Schelte Betten (Zurich), Alfredo Burgener (Nyon), David Da
Silva (Neuchâtel), Pierre Dubost (Champery), Yohann Mazza (Hermance),
Pedro Dubois (Nyon), Steven Lazarus (Basel), Sergio Hosel (Zurich),
Nicholas Guyou (Rumilly), Urs Zimmerli (Zurich), Gareth Jones (Nyon),
David Mossiere (Geneva), Arnaud Vincent (La Seyne)

Backs: Geoff Johnson (Hermance), Anthony Carriere (Geneva), Iain Wise
(Hermence), Jean-Claude Porte (Nyon), Mathieu Guyou-Kreis (Racing),
Celien Mundler (Geneve), Arnaud Blaszczyk (Geneve), Alberto Giuliani
(Ticino), Benjamin Faudot, Olivier Dumerliat (Hermance)

Kick-off: 15.00 Referee: Akim Hadj Bachir (France).

–Boundary_(ID_MAlehmHmVT5IES0cRDj+FQ)- –

VENICE COMMISSION STARTED DISCUSSING THE ELECTORAL CODE

A1+
[05:06 pm] 27 September, 2006

The discussions of the amendments to the RA Electoral Code started
in the NA today with the participation of the representatives of
the NA political powers, and experts from the Venice Commission,
the OSCE/ODIHR, international organizations and the Central Electoral
Committee.

Opening the works of the session NA Speaker Tigran Torosyan thanked
the experts for participating in the discussions. He mentioned that
the joint conclusion of the Venice Commission and the representatives
of the OSCE/ODIHR lies in the basis of the draft amendment to the
Electoral Code which has been introduced into circulation by several
political powers.

During the discussion the sides agreed to include the joint conclusion
of the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR into the draft except
for provisions N 28, 42-45 and 56. In the joint conclusion there were
questions about the order of voting and appeal. These two issues plus
the above mentioned six provisions will be the subject for discussion.

Mr. Torosyan mentioned that the draft which takes into account all
the offers was sent to the experts a week ago. He voiced hope that
the discussions will take place in an atmosphere of mutual agreement.

AMENDED BILL CALLS FOR GREATER COMPENSATION TO OWNERS OF ALIENATED PRIVATE PROPERTY

Armenpress
Sept 27 2006

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS: By a vote of 62 to 0 the parliament
has turned down today a government-designed bill on alienation of
private property for the needs of the state and society that was put
on the third and final reading.

The bill was presented yesterday by justice minister David Harutunian
who said the bill has incorporated a set of proposals suggested by
the United Labor Party, the human rights defender’s office and a
parliament committee.

The Republican Party and the United Labor Party have suggested that the
amount of compensation to the owners of private property alienated for
the needs of the state must be 15 percent higher than the property’s
market price.

The bill was supported by lawmakers from the Republican Party, United
Labor Party and the ARF, all making the ruling coalition, but MPs
from the opposition Ardarutyun (Justice) block, Orinats Yerkir and
the National Unity did not participate in the vote.

Under a Constitutional Court ruling the bill must be passed before
October 1. It is likely to be put on the vote again.

GENOCIDE DENIAL CAUSES DUTCH ELECTION UPSET
by Andy Clark

Radio Netherlands, Netherlands
Sept 27 2006

It might seem a little strange but the Armenian genocide of 1915 has
become an issue in the run up to the Dutch elections. The two leading
parties in the opinion polls have kicked out prospective MPs because
they deny that the genocide took place. The candidates, one from the
opposition Labour Party and two from the biggest coalition party –
the Christian Democrat CDA – are Dutch/Turkish politicians.

It made the headlines after questions were raised by the Armenian
community in the Netherlands when the names of the candidates were
made public on the party lists for the November elections, and a
heated discussion soon followed.

Official policy The candidates in question had clearly stated in the
past that, in their view, the genocide of Armenians in Turkey in 1915
had not taken place. This view is contrary to the official policy of
the Dutch government and of the parties themselves.

Tineke Huizinga is from the Christian Union – a small party in the
parliament which introduced an initiative in 2004 saying that the
government has to push for recognition of the genocide in Turkey as
part of the negotiations for Turkey’s desired accession to the EU.

That initiative was unanimously accepted. Ms Huzinga explains the
official Dutch position:

"More than one and a half million people were murdered during the
time of World War I by Turkey and this was a genocide and you can
absolutely compare this with the Holocaust."

Never took place It was a clash with this position that brought the CDA
candidates Ayhan Tonca, Osman Elamci and Labour Party candidate Erdinc
Sacan into problems with their parties. Ayhan Tonca has constantly
denied the genocide occurred:

"The genocide that people talk about never took place."

Although he doesn’t deny that hundreds of thousands of people died,
he argues that there needs to be further investigation to see if the
killings were consciously carried out by the Turkish government at that
time. Deliberate and conscious persecution would constitute genocide.

Newspaper interview His explanation was not in line with the
recognition of genocide called for by his party, and events that
followed the initial uproar made things even harder for the CDA to
accept. Under pressure following the discussion in the Dutch media,
the two CDA candidates signed a declaration saying they had changed
their minds and would now recognise the genocide. But then followed
an interview with a Turkish newspaper in which they repeated their
original denials – and this left the CDA with little choice but to
remove them from the list of candidates.

The Labour Party decided to scrap its candidate from the list after he
refused to stand by the official party policy recognising the genocide.

Naive Experts accuse the parties of being somewhat naive in not
carrying out more thorough checks before putting the candidates up
for election. Professor of Turkish studies at Leiden University Erik
Jan Zurcher says the parties were so anxious to have ethnic minority
candidates on their lists that they didn’t carry out the checks.

In Turkey itself it is official policy to deny the genocide and those
saying it did take place are liable to prosecution. Just this week
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink made it known that he is being
prosecuted for the second time for saying that the genocide took place.

ARMENIA WALKS OUT OF CIS ECONOMIC COURT

Armenpress
Sept 27 2006

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS: Justice minister David Harutunian
told the parliament today that president Robert Kocharian has suggested
that Armenia walk out of the CIS Economic Court.

Harutunian explained that Armenia joined the CIS Economic Court in
1993 and throughout its 13 year membership it neither acted as a
plaintiff nor as a defendant.

"Over these 13 years we had a representative in the CIS Economic Court,
but after analyzing its performance we have arrived at a conclusion
that the Court has failed to perform what it was supposed to do and
actually it plays no role in settling economic disputes among CIS
members," he said. A parliament committee on foreign relations has
backed the proposal.

SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL CENTER OPENS IN DALARIK COMMUNITY, ARMAVIR PROVINCE

Armenpress
Sept 27 2006

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS: By the co-financing of the Children
of Armenia Fund (COAF) and UNICEF a social-psychological center is
functioning in the Dalarik community of the Armenian province of
Armavir. The services of the center are also available for the people
of Argina, Lernagog, Myasnikian, Shenik and Karakert communities
which are included in the COAF’s program of "Model Villages".

The center will help children with special needs and their families
to integrate into society.

During the opening ceremony of the center a representative of the
UNICEF Sheldon Yett said that the cooperation of teachers, parents,
doctors and community is very important for carrying out an effective
work.

Naira Avetisian, the head of the children’s rights protection programs
at the UNICEF Armenian Office, said that the most important thing is
the increase of the awareness of the public about children’s rights.

The Executive Director of COAF Arpi Balian said that the cooperation
with different organizations is very important for the implementation
of the COAF’s all-embracing program directed towards the development
of Armenian rural areas.