Month: November 2006

LEVON TER-PETROSYAN SAID: GO AHEAD!

Lragir, Armenia
Nov 27 2006

The Alternative Political Initiative set up two months ago is said to
be ensuring the political return of Levon Ter-Petrosyan. This question
is almost inevitable in almost every appearance of the Alternative to
the public, which was raised November 27 during the news conference
at the Friday Club hosting Vahagn Khachatryan and Nicol Pashinyan,
members of the Alternative. Like we are seeking supporters among
the public, we showed our project and goals to the first president
of the Republic, said the members of Alternative. In answer to the
question what Levon Ter-Petrosyan had said after seeing the project,
Vahagn Khachatryan said with a smile, "He said go ahead."

The Alternative goes and is not denying relation to the former
government. "We are an inheriting political force and if you want,
nobody denies and can deny that there were and there are problems in
our country. But the problem is the following. We are saying that
we are assuming responsibility for the activity of the political
team based on the ideas of the movement of 88, but we claim that the
dividents of this government also belong to us," Nicol Pashinyan says.

According to him, there were disadvantages, but Nicol Pashinyan says an
objective environment should be established for speaking about these
disadvantages because the public perceptions and approaches of the
public about the former government were forged under the influence
of propaganda.

ELECTION AT THE SQUARE OF FREEDOM

Lragir, Armenia
Nov 27 2006

"We don’t want to tempt our potential supporters, in the sense that we
should not have anyone to think that this is a political project which
pursues solving the problem of the mandate of one or two people." On
November 27 Nicol Pashinyan, a member of the Alternative Political
Initiative made this statement on November 27 at the Friday Club,
answering the question regarding the parliamentary election in
2007. Nicol Pashinyan stated that the Alternative is not likely to
run in the parliamentary election in 2007, if the public and political
atmosphere does not change.

"The existing electoral system in the republic offers to the citizens
of Armenia the following choice: whose slave do you want to be, the
Republican Party’s or the Bargavach Hayastan Party’s, in other words,
Serge’s or Gagik’s?" says Nicol Pashinyan, adding that their purpose
is to do everything to check this election out of the agenda.

"In other words, we the citizens of the Republic of Armenia should be
able to reject this election, and state that we do not want to be a
slave, we want to be free citizens. Meanwhile, the election of freedom
should take place in the Freedom Square," stated Nicol Pashinyan.

MEETING IN MINSK WILL NOT BE A PROGRESS

Lragir, Armenia
Nov 27 2006

The meeting of Kocharyan and Aliyev in Minsk in the framework of the
CIS summit on November 28 and 29 will not make an essential progress
towards the settlement of the conflict, says Vahagn Khachatryan, one
of the initiators of the Alternative Political Initiative. On November
27 he stated at the Friday Club that "today’s government is carrying on
with a policy that there will be no settlement of the Karabakh issue."

"Although there is information that the Azerbaijani side should
express certain views connected with the referendum, accept the
timing of holding a referendum, but at any rate I believe that no
important decisions will be made during the meeting in Minsk, I
cannot see willingness, at least on behalf of the Armenian party,"
Vahagn Khachatryan says.

He also mentions that Aliyev’s militaristic statement preceding the
meeting in Minsk shows that Azerbaijan’s stance is not flexible either,
and Vahagn Khachatryan says it confirms that there is no possibility
of progress.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CITIZENS DO NOT REMEMBER CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM

Lragir, Armenia
Nov 27 2006

"If in a year after the Constitutional Reform you ask a citizen what
positive things happened in real life, you are sure not to hear any
answer or explanation," stated Aram Karapetyan, the leader of the
Nor Zhamanakner Party during the discussion at the National Press
Club in a year after the referendum on Constitution on November 27,
2005. He thinks that the citizens do not remember what amendments
were made to the Constitution a year ago.

According to him, the political consequence of the referendum on
Constitution is that it made clear to the society and the international
community that it is impossible to reach real changes in Armenia
through ballot. The second consequence, according to Aram Karapetyan,
is that the possibility of ensuring real progress in the country was
wasted, because the amendments to the Constitution were not the will
of people. The third important consequence is, according to Aram
Karapetyan, the unanimous approval of the society for the call of
the opposition to boycott the referendum.

"It is another problem that the opposition failed to use this support
for objective and subjective reasons," Aram Karapetyan says.

According to him, the current internal political processes, especially
in the government camp, when political parties are set up on money, and
politics is confined to distributing potatoes, are also a consequence
of the falsified referendum. "When the Constitution is raped, the
other laws can be raped as well," said Aram Karapetyan describing
the behavior of the government and pro-government forces.

ELECTION 2007 IS ALREADY ILLEGITIMATE

Lragir, Armenia
Nov 27 2006

Felix Khachatryan, the representative of Ardarutiun Alliance to the
Central Electoral Commission, stated during the discussion at the
National Press Club today that even if the parliamentary election in
2007 is held without ballot stuffing, it can already be considered
as illegitimate. Felix Khachatryan mentioned that when the Electoral
Code provision on including judges in the electoral commission was
defined as unconstitutional, possibility for illegality multiplied.

According to the representative of the Central Electoral Commission,
now the judges must be replaced by members, who will be appointed by
another force. According to the law, the members of the commission
must be trained. Meanwhile, the deadline for applying for training is
over, says Felix Khachatryan and concludes that the new force cannot
appoint members with training to 2000 commissions. Meanwhile, the
decision of the Constitutional Court that it is unconstitutional to
include judges in the electoral commissions shows that the ministry of
justice of Armenia is not competent, because it approved the provision
on including judges, despite the warnings of the opposition that it
is unconstitutional.

Besides, Felix Khachatryan touched upon the referendum on Constitution
held last year, which was falsified severaly, and stained this
government, he says. In a year after the referendum Felix Khachatryan
presented the final record he had refused to sign, saying that
there were 1 million false votes. This record contains information
about 10 thousand ballots which were printed but were not taken to
the polling stations. "Where did they go?" Felix Khachatryan asks a
year later. Besides, he refers to a record of two polling stations
in Yerevan about 1700-1800 irregularities, whereas the final general
record states only 1500 irregularities.

ARBITERS OF MORALITY: FRANCE AND THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
by Vinay Lal

The Daily Star, Bangladesh
d611281502114.htm
Nov 28 2006

The French have long believed in themselves as one of the supreme
arbiters of the moral history of humanity, as exercising a unique
civilizing mission on less fortunate parts of the world, and the
ardor with which they cling to an exalted vision of themselves as
moral legislators has clearly not diminished over the years.

On October 12, the French Assembly approved, by a vote of 106-19,
legislation that would make it a crime in France to deny that the mass
killings of Armenians which took place between 1915-17 in Ottoman
Turkey constitute "genocide." The Senate vote is still awaited,
but following in the wake of legislation from 2001 under which the
mass killings of Armenians are recognized as genocide, the present
legislation seems headed for approval.

France has nearly 500,000 Armenians, more than any other country in
Western Europe, and it would be idle to pretend that politicians do not
court minorities. However, Turks too number over 300,000 in France,
and one can be certain that the recent legislation will aggravate
their mood of discontent. Whatever the appeals to the Armenian-French
constituency, this legislation must clearly be located within the
vortex of a more complex geopolitics.

Among the considerations that weigh most heavily, one must number the
strained relations between Turkey and the European Union, the suspected
alienation of Muslim minorities from the dominant European cultures
amidst which they find themselves, the growing tensions within the
Muslim ummah, and the wave of Islamophobia which has swept European
countries. The bill will doubtless convey to Turks the message that
they have not yet attained that state of enlightenment which might
warrant their admission into the European Union.

Among the critics of the French legislation is the Turkish writer
Orhan Pamuk, who last year admitted in an interview that Turkey
should be held responsible for the genocide. He was put on trial
for, in effect, insulting the nation and denigrating "Turkishness,"
but immense pressure, largely from the European Union, contributed
to his acquittal by the court. It is altogether likely that the
bill may have been partly motivated by the desire to strengthen the
hand of Turkish secularists and "moderate Muslims," such as Pamuk,
who are viewed as being locked in battle with Muslim extremists and
nationalist hard-liners.

Pamuk nonetheless has criticized the French legislation as an
attempt to stifle freedom of speech and as a betrayal of the ideals
championed by France for over two centuries. In Pamuk’s critique,
framed very much by the parameters of Western liberal thought, when
two or more interpretations vie for attention the more sound position
always prevails.

In 1972, France passed a law which makes it a crime to deny the
Holocaust. Though the Holocaust is far from being the only genocide in
a violence-filled century, it occupies in the West a singular status
as furnishing the paradigmatic instance of genocide and crimes against
humanity. The obsession with the Holocaust has, so to speak, obscured
the recognition of other equally horrific atrocities. The Socialist
legislator, Christophe Masse, in his defense of the bill described it
as helping to "ease the unhealthy rivalry that exists among victims
of genocides and that is fueled by their inequality before the law."

Ironically, this, the only defense of the legislation of any merit
that one might invoke, is also the one that will be categorically
rejected in Europe and the Anglo-American world, and even adduced as
an expression of support for anti-Semitism. Whatever else might be
permitted in the West, any interpretation of the Holocaust which merely
questions its canonical status as the ultimate form of victimhood
opens itself to vicious attack and ridicule.

That a genocide of Armenians took place under Ottoman Turks is
beyond question. Succeeding Turkish governments have not only fudged
the numbers, but claim, astoundingly, that Armenians died mainly on
account of war, disease, and hunger. In Turkey, by way of contrast with
France, the admission of an Armenian genocide can lead to criminal
prosecution. However, not only is there overwhelming evidence to
establish that the death of Armenians was the consequence of a policy
of deliberate policy, but the Turkish government at the conclusion of
World War I itself court-martialed, before the world, the Young Turks
(or CUP leaders) by whose orders a genocide was perpetrated.

As Peter Balakian has so amply demonstrated in The Burning
Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America’s Response (2003), the
government-appointed Commission of Inquiry gathered insurmountable
evidence of the massacres and it became part of the official record.

If the Turkish government of that day set an example to the world
in creating the model for war crimes trials, the present Turkish
government has unfortunately chosen to make a foolish spectacle of
itself by its denial of the genocide.

But what of France? The history of French colonial rule in Algeria,
Indochina, Haiti, the Ivory Coast, Congo Brazzaville, and elsewhere
is littered with corpses of colonized people. The assassinations
of Algerians settled in France remain unpunished more than four
decades after Algeria’s declaration of independence, and it is no
more shocking that the French National Assembly in February 2005
passed a law requiring school children to be taught "the positive
role of the French presence overseas, notably in North Africa."

As the unrest of recent years suggests, France’s treatment of its
own North African minorities leaves much to be desired. If France
wished to be daring, it might consider enacting legislation that
would make it an offence to deny French colonial atrocities. That is
exceedingly unlikely. Colonizing nations can be stripped of their
colonial possessions, but they find it exceedingly difficult to
shed their past and their habits of evasion of responsibility. The
passage of the recent legislation on the Armenian question, far from
signifying any enlightened view, is the most decisive indicator of
France’s inability to own up to its wretched colonial past.

BROADCASTER SHUT-DOWN, OFFICE EVICTIONS STIR FREE-SPEECH CONCERNS IN AZERBAIJAN
Rovshan Ismayilov

EurasiaNet, NY
Nov 27 2006

An Azerbaijani state commission’s November 24 decision to suspend
broadcasts by independent television and radio station ANS, followed
within hours by the court-ordered eviction of pro-opposition media
outlets and an opposition party from their offices in Baku, has raised
concerns of freedom of speech in Azerbaijan. While the government
has not yet commented on recent developments, Western embassies and
international organizations have strongly condemned the moves.

The decisions bring to a head two long-standing tussles between
the government and independent media outlets. The first, with ANS,
Azerbaijan’s first privately owned broadcaster, focused on the
company’s right to rebroadcast foreign-produced news items. [For
details, see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The second involves a
long-standing fight between the State Property Committee and several
pro-opposition tenants of a building in downtown Baku, including the
opposition Azadliq (Freedom) newspaper, the pro-opposition news agency
Turan and the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan, the country’s largest
opposition party, over their right to occupy a downtown building free
of charge. [For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive].

The ruling on ANS came first. The National Radio and Television Council
(NRTC) decided not to prolong ANS TV and ANS CM radio’s broadcast
licenses. An NRTC press release cited "systematic violations by ANS of
the requirements of the law on broadcasting and not paying fines" as
the reason for the decision to suspend the company’s broadcast license.

Despite their ongoing dispute with the NRTC, ANS executives say that
the decision was unexpected. The council did not issue an official
warning to ANS executives that it was considering suspending the
stations’ broadcast licenses. Both ANS television and radio continued
to broadcast until 3:20 pm on November 24, when all satellite and
regular broadcast frequencies were cut off. The decision to stop ANS’
broadcasting was taken two days before the company’s 15th anniversary
as Azerbaijan’s first independent television and radio broadcaster.

Several hours after the decision, law enforcement agency and Ministry
of Communications representatives appeared at ANS offices and began
to dismantle the company’s transmitters and antennas. Access to ANS’
satellite broadcasting equipment was also blocked, while policemen
surrounded the company’s headquarters.

In response to the NRTC’s decision, ANS argued that the failure
of a court to rule on the broadcast suspension makes the NRTC’s
license suspension illegal. "Such actions by the NRTC cause damage to
Azerbaijan’s international image as a democratic state," a statement
issued by the media company read. The company said that it intends
to use "all means" to restore its broadcasts, and expressed hope
that President Ilham Aliyev would intervene on ANS’ behalf to find
"a fair solution."

"ANS was never involved in politics and I believe that the people
who took this decision will change it," commented Vahid Mustafayev,
president of the ANS Group of Companies, at a press conference on the
evening of November 24. "We will appeal to President Ilham Aliyev and
I hope he will be able to restore justice." A source within ANS, who
asked to remain anonymous, told EurasiaNet that the company had turned
down an offer from opposition parties to hold joint demonstrations
against the license suspension.

Other media organizations that have voiced criticism of the government
are now under pressure, too. A few hours after ANS was silenced,
the Azerbaijani Economic Court ordered the immediate eviction of
all tenants from the building involved in the Azadlig newspaper’s
dispute with the State Property Committee. While representatives from
Western embassies and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) looked on, more than 50 policemen, led by Baku Deputy
Police Chief Yashar Aliyev, blocked the building until November 25,
when trucks from the State Property Committee arrived to remove
the organizations’ property to office space on the outskirts of Baku
designated by the State Property Committee. The building is now empty,
sealed up and guarded by police.

The decisions, however, are unlikely to put either dispute to rest.

Already, the NRTC has announced plans to accept bids from other
interested parties for ownership of ANS’ television and radio broadcast
frequencies. "Next week we [the NRTC] will announce a new contest
for the ANS TV and ANS CM frequencies," the council’s chairman,
Nushiravan Maharramov, told the APA news agency on November 25. "Even
if ANS applies for these frequencies again, the preference will be
given to other candidates. The NRTC has the authority to do this."

The international community responded immediately to the NRTC’s
decision. Ambassador Maurizio Pavesi, head of the OSCE’s mission
in Baku, said in a statement that he was "perplexed as to why the
decision, which was issued in the absence of any definitive reasoning,
should come into force immediately." The independent television and
radio company "has always been considered by international observers
as the most objective in the country," he added.

The United States embassy, calling for reconsideration of the decision,
termed the closure of ANS a "serious blow to . . . freedom of the
media" that has placed "Azerbaijan’s commitments on democratic
development and freedom of speech under . . . question." The German
Embassy, speaking on behalf of the European Union, described the EU as
"very concerned," noting that it is "actively seeking an explanation
from the [Azerbaijani] government."

Azerbaijani media and analysts have reacted more strongly, with some
arguing that the decision to shut down ANS and evict the Azadliq
building occupants was made at the highest levels of the government.

"I am shocked by this news. I have no words to explain what is
going on in this country," commented Elchin Shikhlinsky, chairman
of Azerbaijan’s Journalists Union and editor-in-chief of the
Russian-language daily Zerkalo (Mirror), about the ANS decision. "I
did not hear a competent and reasoned explanation for this action. I
have more and more pessimism about the future of freedom of speech
in Azerbaijan."

One observer of the Azadlig building eviction process, which did not
involve the use of force, commented that intervention by a United
States Embassy official was required before police would allow the
pro-opposition Turan news agency to remove their property from the
State Property Committee-designated office space on the outskirts of
Baku to downtown offices already rented by Turan.

"We expected the court’s decision and had already rented another
office in downtown. So, we were going to move our property there. But
the police did not allow it," said Turan reporter Farid Gahramanov.

"They did not allow us to move it until the US embassy representative
called the police. Only after that we were able to rent new trucks
and return our staff back downtown."

Both ANS and parties involved in the Azadlig building dispute have
said that they plan to fight the decisions. A hunger strike conducted
by protestors at the Azadlig building since November 9 resulted in
the hospitalisation of Azadlig Editor Ganimat Zahidov on November 24.

Government officials have not issued statements on either decision
as yet. Speaking with a group of editors from the independent and
opposition press (Zerkalo, Echo, Yeni Musavat, Baki Khabar, Novoe
Vremya, Gun Seher, Azadlig and Turan news agency) on November 24 before
the ANS license suspension, US Ambassador Anne E. Derse stated that
she had discussed freedom of the press issues with President Aliyev
on November 23, and had urged a dialogue between the government and
independent media to resolve existing differences.

While editors at the meeting reportedly expressed interest in the idea,
the government has not responded.

Meanwhile, in the absence of official explanations for the November
24 decisions, observers are struggling to explain the authorities’
hasty actions.

Some conjecture that the measures taken against ANS and the Azadlig
building occupants may be designed to strengthen the government’s
position for taking a potentially unpopular position during the
expected November 28 meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev and Armenian President Robert Kocharian on the sidelines of a
Commonwealth of Independent States summit in Minsk. The two leaders
have agreed to discuss proposals for a resolution to their dispute
over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. [For background see
the Eurasia Insight archive]

"Maybe they [the government] are getting ready to sign any agreement
with Armenia on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution," suggested
journalists’ union chief Elchin Shikhlinsky. "And we know that ANS,
which was the most popular television in the country, always was
strongly against any defeatist peace with Armenia."

Ilgar Mammadov, a Baku-based political analyst, shares this point of
view. "There is no logical justification for these actions [of the
authorities]. The only explanation is an upcoming possible breakthrough
on the Karabakh peace process," he said.

Another analyst, Eldar Namazov, a former opposition movement leader and
former advisor to the late President Heidar Aliyev, holds a different
view, however. "I do not expect the signing of any peace agreement
between Azerbaijan and Armenia," he said. "What happened with ANS and
the Azadlig building is just the reinforcement of authoritarianism
in Azerbaijan."

Instead of Karabakh, Namazov points to a recently floated proposal
that the constitution be amended to extend the president’s term
from five to seven years. [For background, see the Eurasia Insight
archive]. "And the November 24 events are another attempt by the
ruling elite to secure power for a longer period."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER LEAVE FOR MINSK TO PARTICIPATE IN CIS MEMBER COUNTRIES’ PRIME MINISTERS’ SITTING

Arka News Agency, Armenia
Nov 27 2006

YEREVAN, November 27. /ARKA/. The Armenian delegation led by Prime
Minister Andranik Margaryan left for Minsk on Thursday to participate
in the CIS member countries’ prime ministers’ regular sitting, the
press service of the Armenian government reported.

On November 24, the prime ministers will discuss issues of CIS
countries’ cooperation in different spheres and sign over 20 documents
prepared by different CIS structures.

In particular, it is planned to examine issues related to the
implementation plan of the most important activities, aimed at
developing and improving cooperation of CIS countries in the economic
sphere in 2003-2010, implementing the plan of actions on CIS countries’
cooperation development until 2005, studying the report on activity
of the CIS antiterrorist center and the one budget of CIS structures.

It is also planned to sign the CIS strategy on computerization and the
plan of actions on its implementation until 2010, the project of the
CIS program on combat against human traffic for 2007-2010, the CIS
countries’ cooperation project, the document on forming a working
group for elaboration of the project of target intergovernmental
programs on implementation of joint activities aimed at creation of
one system of registering foreigners arriving at the CIS territory,
and the decision on allocation of funds for creation and development
of the integrated air defense system of CIS countries in 2007.

ARMENIAN REGULATORY COMMISSION FOR PUBLIC SERVICES PROPOSES GAS PRICE REDUCTION

Arka News Agency, Armenia
Nov 27 2006

YEREVAN, November 27. /ARKA/. The RA Regulatory Commission for Public
Services is to discuss the "ArmRosgasprom" CJSC’s application for
recalculation of gas prices.

The Commission intends to partially satisfy the application lodged
by the company and its structure, Transgas" Ltd, on November 8, 2006.

As regards industrial enterprises, which consume over 10,000 cubic
meters a month, the Commission proposes a rise from $146.51 to $153.26
(in AMD equivalent) through ArmRosgasprom intended to bring the gas
price to $178.72.

On the other hand, the Commission intends to reduce gas prices for
the population using less than 10,000 cubic meters from AMD 90,000
to AMD 84,000 for 1,000 cubic meters, whereas ArmRosgasprom proposed
leaving the price unchanged.

The Commission proposes a rise in prices for suppliers of natural gas
from AMD 18.03 (VAT inclusive) up to AMD 18.334 (AMD 37.887 in the
application), AMD 5,656.21 to 8,057.945 for distribution of 1,000
cubic meters (AMD 15,383.637 in the application), AMD 3,445.115 to
4,638.841 for transportation (AMD 5,503.441 in the application).

The Commission’s decision is to take effect on January 1, 2007.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT APPROVES REGULATION FOR PROTECTION OF NON-MATERIAL HERITAGE AND ITS SUSTAINABILITY

Arka News Agency, Armenia
Nov 27 2006

YEREVAN, November 27. /ARKA/. The Armenian government approved the
regulation for protection of non-material cultural heritage. The press
service of the Armenian government reported that this regulation will
contribute to protection and redemption from oblivion non-material
cultural values, as well as to increase the efficiency of research
works implemented in this sector by cultural and research institutes
and individual researchers.

The regulation is aimed at preserving and studying folk traditions
of national minorities and development of their cultures.

The objectives and aims of the regulation correspond to the Armenian
public policy on culture, ratified by the government on the basis of
the international convention of UNESCO "On Protection of Non-Material
Cultural Heritage" and the strategic program on poverty reduction.