Month: November 2006

GALUST SAHAKYAN IS GOING TO DEMAND EXPLANATION FROM TIGRAN TOROSYAN
Lragir, Armenia
Nov 17 2006
The leader of the Republican faction Galust Sahakyan stated November
17 that he has a draft electoral code providing for 76 parliament
seats under the proportional system and 55 under the majority system.
However, he will not circulate it because the leader of the Republican
Party Andranik Margaryan announced that there is political agreement
on the 90/41 correlation and it will not be broken.
Andranik Margaryan also announced that Tigran Torosyan’s decision to
cancel the voting to the law on expropriation was right. Meanwhile,
Galust Sahakyan announced that he would demand explanation from
Tigran Torosyan as soon as he returns to Armenia. In answer to our
question whether Andranik Margaryan’s statement would eliminate the
desire to demand explanation Galust Sahakyan said his statement and
the statement of the prime minister do not contradict. “We are not
going to fight with Tigran Torosyan. I wanted to say that it is wrong
to yield to the opposition.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

DRAFT STRATEGY OF NATIONAL SECURITY WAS DISCUSSED AT THE ACADEMY
Lragir, Armenia
Nov 17 2006
The Draft Strategy of National Security rounded up the defense minister
Serge Sargsyan and the Council of the National Academy of Sciences
at the round hall of the Academy on November 17, or Serge Sargsyan
rounded up the scientists and academicians for the draft strategy
of national security to discuss it. It fitted into the logic of the
ceremony of public debates on the process of adoption of this document.
The defense minister Serge Sargsyan opened the ceremony, saying that
like in the discussion at Yerevan State University, he again expects
serious debates and proposals on the improvement of the document. To
make the proposals definite, the defense minister conveyed the
importance of the document to the academicians. Perhaps the scientists
perceived it and in their speeches they highlighted its importance to
a degree that all of them spoke longer than 5 minutes provided for
by the bylaws. However, considering that their views and proposals
were invaluable, they can be forgiven for speaking long.
The content of their speeches made their long speeches feel like
a wink.
There were rather valuable thoughts in the speeches that counted over
a dozen. For instance, the scientists believed that the draft strategy
should include a provision on the even development of Yerevan and
the regions, because the present difference threatens the national
security. The academicians were dissatisfied that the document does
not dwell duly on Islam and East Asia among our external political
priorities. For instance, Vladimir Barkhudaryan offered to specify
how to battle corruption threatening the national security, and Azat
Yeghiazaryan mentioned that it is necessary to clarify the mechanism
of achieving social justice and specify the requirements that the
government should meet to deserve the trust of the population of
Armenia. Academician Alexander Manasyan stated that Armenia needs
doctrines of food, energy, cultural and information security.
After the speeches the minister of defense summed up the discussion
and invited the scientists, who are mostly retired, to present their
proposals in written form and promised if not to accept them fully, at
least to discuss them at the meeting of the task force on the Strategy
of National Security he heads. Serge Sargsyan also gave explanations
on some proposals of the scientists. Certainly, he did not speak
about corruption, the mechanisms of sustaining social justice and
establishing government-society confidence. Instead he logically
explained why the Strategy starts with Georgia. “If we ask someone
which of our neighbors we should start with, will it occur to anyone
to say Iran or Azerbaijan? Of course,Georgia, because they are our
closest neighbor, and we must begin with our closest neighbors and
express our attitude,” Serge Sargsyan says. He also mentions that
Iran and the countries of East Asia have not been ignored, in fact.
In answer to the observation about the priorities of the foreign
political problems in the document of strategy the minister of defense
stated that the Armenian government considers the physical security
of the small nation as core and primary in terms of security.
“China, Russia, the United States may not discuss such a problem,
whereas there are only three million people in our country. Average
armies can cross the territory of our country in a single day. This
is the reason. And the major threat for our physical existence is the
external threat. Therefore, I do not know if we did the right thing
or the wrong thing, at least we tried to draw up this document in
this way,” Serge Sargsyan says.
He also says that Armenia is not pro-American or pro-Russian, but
conducts a balanced foreign policy, which is based on the public
interest and is based on a complementary principle, so this principle
is stressed in the document.
“The goal of the foreign policy is to find and combine the interests
of the country and people, and if these interests contradict,
the foreign policy should have more than one pole. This is what we
meant,” the defense minister says. The meeting with the scientists
marks the end of the stage of public debates on the draft strategy of
national security. It included debates at Yerevan State University
and the National Academy of Science. On November 27 the National
Assembly will discuss the document and extend it to the president
of Armenia. If the president approves the document, it will be sent
to the government. Serge Sargsyan informed the scientists as well
that the Strategy will not be adopted as a law because the law is
for everyone, whereas the document is not.
“This is a strategy for the government, this is a political document,
and, in fact, it is going to become the only document which will
underlie the plans of our actions,” Serge Sargsyan says, adding that
the opposition or the NGOs do not have to establish their actions on
the Strategy of National Security.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTER HAS TO THINK FIRST
Lragir, Armenia
Nov 17 2006
Even if the personal representative of the OSCE CiO Andrzej Kasprzyk
offers the defense ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan to have another
meeting by the end of the year, and Kasprzyk has already stated about
the possibility of the meeting, the defense minister of Armenia may
turn down the offer.
Serge Sargsyan told the news reporters on November 17 that he did not
get any offer to meet, but if he gets such an offer, he will have to
consider it. “I did not get any offers, even if there is one, I will
have to think because the defense minister of Azerbaijan made other
statements on our previous meeting,” said Serge Sargsyan.

GENOCIDE DES ARMENIENS: LES JURISTES DE LA CONFEDERATION DANS LE FLOU
Le Temps, Suisse
14 novembre 2006
LOI. Le directeur de l’Office federal de la justice suggère de se
referer a une instance internationale pour decider quels evenements
meriteront la qualification de genocide.
Une instance internationale pour definir les genocides dont la
contestation serait passible des tribunaux en Suisse? C’est ce qu’a
suggere Michael Leupold, le nouveau directeur de l’Office federal
de la justice (OFJ), dans une interview parue dimanche dans la
SonntagsZeitung. Ce n’est pas aux juges de faire l’histoire et
de decider si des evenements historiques doivent etre qualifies
de genocide ou non, a-t-il releve. Pour resoudre le problème,
on pourrait s’en referer a une instance internationale, a explique
Michael Leupold. Tout en soulignant qu’il reste difficile de savoir où
finit la liberte d’expression et où commence la negation reprehensible
d’un genocide, il n’a pas exclu non plus l’hypothèse d’un abandon pur
et simple de la repression du negationnisme – d’ailleurs reclame en
France par nombre d’intellectuels de renom.
La revision de la norme penale contre le racisme, amorcee par
Christoph Blocher en visite officielle a Ankara avec le fracas que
l’on se rappelle, est le premier dossier politiquement chaud pour le
haut fonctionnaire tout juste en place depuis le mois de juillet.
Michael Leupold n’a pu se montrer extremement precis, tant la
reflexion semble en etre a ses debuts au sein du departement de
Christoph Blocher. “Le but est d’eviter aux tribunaux d’avoir a faire
eux-memes oeuvre d’historiens, developpe Folco Galli, porte-parole
de l’OFJ. Il serait imaginable de s’appuyer sur le jugement d’une
cour internationale, ou l’avis d’une commission internationale
d’historiens.”
Pour l’heure, meme la question de la presence du president de la
Commission federale contre le racisme, Georg Kreis, au sein du groupe
de travail charge de preparer la reforme, reste floue. Souhaitee par
Pascal Couchepin, elle n’a pas encore fait l’objet d’instructions
que Michael Leupold aurait recues, a declare ce dernier a la
SonntagsZeitung. Le groupe de travail evoque a plusieurs reprises
par Christoph Blocher n’est constitue pour l’heure que d’une seule
personne, a indique Michael Leupold. Mais les superieurs de ce
fonctionnaire reflechissent egalement au problème de manière intensive,
a souligne le directeur de l’OFJ.
De la Shoah au genocide des Armeniens
En acquittant 12 accuses turcs, en 2001, la justice bernoise avait
releve qu’il etait difficile pour un tribunal de se prononcer sur des
evenements dont le caractère de genocide n’etait pas officiellement
admis ni par le parlement federal, ni par le gouvernement, ni
d’ailleurs par l’Assemblee generale de l’ONU ou le Conseil de securite.
L’article 261 bis du Code penal, entre en vigueur en 1995 après avoir
ete accepte en votation populaire l’annee precedente, erige en delit
le fait de nier, minimiser grossièrement ou chercher a justifier
un genocide ou d’autres crimes contre l’humanite. A la difference
de la legislation d’autres pays, les Chambres federales n’ont pas
limite le delit de negationnisme a la Shoah, meme si c’est bien la
contestation de l’existence des chambres a gaz qui est l’origine,
dans de nombreux pays europeens, de lois reprimant les negateurs.
La loi Gayssot de 1990 en France, de meme que la loi belge adoptee
quelques annees plus tard ont chacune limite la repression du
negationnisme au genocide perpetre par le regime nazi.
En 2005, un projet de loi a ete discute en Belgique pour elargir
cette norme a d’autres crimes de masse, dont le genocide des
Armeniens. Cette disposition renvoyait notamment aux genocides reconnus
par l’Assemblee generale ou le Conseil de securite des Nations unies,
ou par un Etat membre de l’Union europeenne. Mais il n’a pu etre
adopte encore, les discussions se poursuivant. En octobre dernier,
l’Assemblee nationale, en France, approuvait en première lecture,
contre l’avis du gouvernement, une loi reprimant specifiquement la
negation du genocide des Armeniens. Mais ce texte ne peut entrer en
vigueur avant que le Senat se prononce, et il est peu probable qu’il
le fasse avant l’election presidentielle du printemps prochain et la
nouvelle legislature.
–Boundary_(ID_0ndZJFiZLYq1LhismeiyR A)–

STATE CRIME COMMITTED UNDER THE SLOGAN OF “BAD FAVORS”
Haik Aramyan
Lragir, Armenia
Nov 17 2006
While NKR President Arkady Ghukasyan has left the country again to
raise money for Nagorno Karabakh from the Diaspora, his adviser Arman
Melikyan stated that everyone who does not believe Ghukasyan and is
skeptical about his statement that he will not run a third term is
mistaken. Melikyan assured that Ghukasyan honors principles and laws,
and if he said something, he knew what he was doing.
However, the adviser failed to explain why this statement of the
president was not respected by his aides who went on more energetically
to provide the necessary conditions for the president to run a third
term. He did not explain why on November 1 the parliament majority,
silently like in a crucial plot, under the keen surveillance of
Attorney General Armen Zalinyan and with the backstage direction of
Speaker Ashot Ghulyan, voted during a record short meeting for the
final draft of the NKR Constitution.
In addition, the final draft was kept secret for the “defiant” members
of parliament not to demand again clarifying the point which had
enabled the Attorney General to manipulate the possibility of Arkady
Ghukasyan to run a third term. In other words, people knew what they
are doing and they did everything to prevent anyone from foiling their
“cause”.
We will not speak about General Isagulov, the politician, because the
adviser did not have any official information about the initiative
of the latter. He did not have information but he knew who did “bad
favors” to the president. He also knows that there are more of them
than they thought. Perhaps, they have not had an opportunity yet to
do a favor.
An interesting picture is outlining which is not new, however. It
is not the first time in Armenia and Karabakh when high-ranking
officials condemn such things as corruption, electoral fraud, while
their “brothers-in-arms” are busy doing the contrary, proving to the
society that the word of the leaders is not a decree yet. And then
other brothers-in-arms appear who say it was not the boss, the boss was
good; these are the people who do not want it to be good for all of us.
So, now the “good boss” has perhaps advised his adviser from a far
away place to calm everyone who worry that in Ghukasyan’s absence
his team carries on the policy of “bad favors”. Perhaps the boss
worries in a far place that they will not raise any money with this
fuss going on. For they need the money, and it is not important that
the adviser has to lie to the public once again. The advisers can be
appointed to other positions, far from curious eyes.
This would be funny if this were not dangerous. It appears that
the practice of our leadership to plan and commit state crimes is
upgraded to the level of a state policy, which worries the Armenian
society. It appears that the cynicism of the high-ranking officials
goes beyond appropriateness. By condemning their own plans and denying
them publicly they have mastered the methods of forcing government
officials to implement their secret decrees. And those who somehow
appeared in government agencies and, therefore, are up for every task
away from the eye of the public to stay in their offices are found
everywhere. It is only necessary to guarantee protection from the
law and ascribe everything to “bad favors”.
However, the bosses and people fond of such actions should remember
how the wily old fox gots caught, and in this case no favor is be
helpful. Otherwise, these people are the first to shout “it wasn’t me”
and fall to the feet of the new bosses. Although, advice and fables
never teach anything here. Or they teach when it is too late.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKEY MULLS PUTTING GENOCIDE CLAIMS TO INTL ADJUDICATION
The New Anatolian, Turkey
Nov 16 2006
Behind-the scenes efforts are underway to find a method to bring the
Armenian genocide claims before international adjudication, Turkish
diplomatic sources said yesterday.
Retired diplomats, respected Turkish and foreign jurists, and Turkish
officials are behind the efforts.
Both Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and main opposition
Republican People’s Party (CHP) Istanbul Deputy Sukru Elekdag
signaled Ankara’s efforts and willingness to bring the alleged issue
to international adjudication after Turkey’s proposal for the formation
of a joint committee of historians to study the genocide claims failed
to bear fruit.
In a letter to Armenian President Robert Kocharian last year,
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan proposed the formation
of a committee composed of Turkish and Armenian historians, but the
proposal was rejected by Armenian president, stressing that such
joint work could only be done after the two countries establish
diplomatic relations.
Foreign Minister Gul, speaking to reporters ahead of his visit to
the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), stated yesterday that
Ankara is considering bringing the issue to international adjudication
but the final decision will be given following detailed work and
consultations. “However, this work should not be considered a quick,
magic bullet solution to the problem that stems from a period of
history,” Gul added.
CHP Istanbul Deputy Elekdag, in a speech Monday to Parliament’s
Planning and Budget Commission, suggested Turkey’s application to
“international arbitration” to prevent the Armenian genocide claims
from becoming legitimate.
“Turkey should announce that it will evaluate the events of 1915
in line with the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and should apply to international
arbitration to implement it,” Elekdag said. “Armenians will reject
this. However, this action will be an indicator showing Turkey’s
moral and legal just cause and will prevent the political abuse of
the issue against Turkey.”

TOASTS TO TOLERANCE AS A TEENAGER DIES
By Kevin O’Flynn and Nabi Abdullaev, Igor Tabakov
The Moscow Times, Russia
Nov 17 2006
Some 80 people from different ethnic groups and nationalities sat down
to a sumptuous meal at City Hall on Thursday in an attempt to set a
new world record and to celebrate the United Nation’s International
Day for Tolerance.
But as they toasted friendship between peoples, news came that an
Armenian teenager had been battered to death in the Moscow region.
Narek Kocharyan, 15, was assaulted Saturday by a group of young men
who beat him, stabbed him several times and strangled him, the Union
of Armenians in Russia said Thursday.
A bandanna decorated with a skull and crossbones found at the scene
suggested that Kocharyan’s attackers belonged to an ultranationalist
group, the Union of Armenians in Russia said in a statement posted on
its web site. It also complained that law enforcement officials were
investigating the killing as a simple case of manslaughter rather
than a hate crime.
“Our esteemed guardians of law and order believe the killing was
inadvertent after a man was repeatedly kicked in the head, strangled
and stabbed,” the statement said. “And not a word about a racial
motive for the attack.”
Critics say the government’s response to rising extremism has been
inadequate.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Vyacheslav Lebedev, speaking before the
State Duma on Wednesday, said only six criminal cases related to
extremism had gone to court in 2005.
Police and prosecutors routinely disregard racial motives when
investigating such crimes because they can be difficult to prove
in court.
Vladimir Slutsker, deputy chairman of a joint commission on
nationalities policy affiliated with the Federation Council, said
Thursday that the current law on extremism was adequate for dealing
with “any manifestation of ethnic tension and xenophobia.”
The problem, Slutsker said, is that law enforcement avoids enforcing
the law. “This is the most direct path to the disintegration of this
country,” he said.
The Sova think tank says 39 people have died in hate crimes this year,
28 of them in Moscow, and more than 300 people have been injured.
The vast majority of the attacks were carried out by skinheads,
Sova’s director Galina Kozhevnikova said.
Back at City Hall, the organizers of the record attempt did their
best to maintain a festive atmosphere.
State Duma Deputy Speaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky was the guest speaker
at the banquet, which was organized by the Moscow Association of
Entrepreneurs. The event was designed to break the world record for
the most ethnic groups seated around a dinner table, as well as to
highlight Moscow’s multiethnic population.
Zhirinovsky was a somewhat surprising choice, since his Liberal
Democratic Party of Russia has often been accused of inciting racial
hatred, but the politician, a skilled chameleon, was on his best
behavior. When asked about immigration policy, he said: “Anyone who
wants to come to Russia can come.”
Zhirinovsky also apologized to Aslanbek Aslakhanov for comments he
made previously about Chechens. Aslakhanov, an ethnic Chechen, advises
President Vladimir Putin on ethnic relations. Zhirinovsky blamed his
Soviet education. “We weren’t taught that they were also citizens.”
With the tables piled high with food and drink, the event had a Soviet
feel to it as people from a host of countries and ethnic backgrounds
raised their glasses and toasted interethnic harmony.
The event was first held in Sweden in 2002, when 29 different
nationalities shared a sauna together in the town of Halmstaad and set
a world record. Last year, Moscow broke the record with representatives
of 57 ethnic groups and nationalities gathered around a table.
The lighthearted tone of the event could not conceal participants’
concern about the increasing frequency of hate crimes in this country.
“Things have gotten worse,” said organizer Oleg Goryunov, who once
built a giant pyramid out of bottle caps to get into the Guinness
Book of Records. “Last year we had better relations with Georgia.”
Guests bemoaned the lost era of Soviet druzhba narodov, or friendship
between peoples.
Ethnic harmony under the Soviets “was not a toy,” Aslakhanov said.
“It was real. If someone got attacked it was a state of emergency,
because we were all together.”
Now, he said, “it happens every day.”
“My wife is Russian. I fear for my child growing up half-black,
half-white,” said one of the guests, Ugandan Ambassador Sam Barteka
Sakajja.
“Enough is enough. My color does not matter. It is what is in my
brain,” he said. “I appeal to Russia’s youth to grow up and forget
racism.”

ARMENIAN EMBASSY UNVEILED IN BERLIN
PanARMENIAN.Net
16.11.2006 15:00 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian President Robert Kocharian, Bundestag
chairman Norbert Lammert, Armenian FM Vartan Oskanian, German
entrepreneurs and politicians we well as the Armenian community members
took part in the opening ceremony of the new building of the Armenian
Embassy in Berlin. In his speech Vartan Oskanian described as symbolic
the fact that the new Embassy premises opened several days after the
signing of the Armenia-EU Action Plan within the New Neighborhood
Policy. Proceeding with his working visit to Germany President
Kocharian will meet today with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and
address the Berterksnam Fund with a lecture entitled “15 years of
independence. Armenia’s way towards democracy,” reports Mediamax.

ANCA HAS LEGAL RIGHT TO PUT UP CANDIDATES FOR ELECTIONS
PanARMENIAN.Net
16.11.2006 15:30 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA)
is one of the American grassroots organizations that has a legal right
to put up candidates for the legislative bodies, ARF Bureau’s Hay Dat
and Political Office Director Kiro Manoian told a news conference in
Yerevan today. In his words, at the recent election to the House of
Representatives the Armenian community supported about 50 nominees.
“Armenians endorsed not only Democrats but also Republicans. 1/3 of
the total number of ‘our’ candidates were Republicans and 2/3 were
Democrats. In California we supported both nominees for the post
of Governor since both Arnold Schwarzenegger and his opponent enjoy
deep respect of the Californian Armenians. Before the election the
ANCA provided the candidates with booklets containing information on
Armenian problems, specifically the Armenian Genocide recognition,
assistance to Nagorno Karabakh, the Armenian-American economic
cooperation, parity in military aid to Armenia and Azerbaijan,
construction of the Kars-Akhalkalaki railway,” Manoian said.
He also remarked that the American Armenians are aware that the
U.S. foreign policy is targeted at Turkey rather than at resolution
of the Armenian problems.
“However one should not forget that the U.S. Congress has recognized
the starvation in Ukraine as genocide.
It also recognized the genocide in Rwanda and Darfur.
We are hopeful that the Democrats will open the agenda of the newly
elected Congress with the item of the Armenian Genocide recognition. Of
course, we may go phut if the President refuses to sign the document
at the final stage. But this doesn’t mean that we should sit around
twiddling thumbs. We should activate works in this direction,” Kiro
Manoian underscored.
From: Baghdasarian

DRAWING PARALLELS BETWEEN NKR AND SOUTH OSSETIA INCORRECT
PanARMENIAN.Net
16.11.2006 15:51 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The U.S. puts difference between the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict and the South Ossetian problem. Non-recognition of
the referendum in Tskhinvali doesn’t foretell a similar decision on
referendum in NKR, ARF Bureau’s Hay Dat and Political Office Director
Kiro Manoian told a news conference in Yerevan today. He reminded
that unlike the other self-declared republics of the former
USSR Nagorno Karabakh receives annual assistance from the
U.S. government. “The problem of South Ossetia is the issue of the
Russian-Georgian relations and it would be incorrect to draw parallels
between these two conflicts,” he said.