Month: November 2006

“THERE ARE ALL PREREQUISITES FOR ESTABLISHING PROTECTORATE OVER HISTORICAL ARMENIAN LANDS IN THE TERRITORY OF TURKEY”: ARMENIAN PRESS DIGEST
Regnum, Russia
Nov 23 2006
The CIS is 15 years old
Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Tigran Torossyan and Speaker of
the Federation Council of Russia Sergey Mironov met in St. Petersburg
on Nov 16, in the framework of the 27th plenary session of the CIS
Inter-parliamentary Assembly. The press service of the Armenian
Parliament has informed REGNUM that Torossyan and Mironov discussed
the questions concerning the work of the CIS IP, the meeting of the
Caucasian Four and the forthcoming visit of Torossyan to Moscow. The
speakers of the parliaments of Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Russia
(the Caucasian Four) met in St. Petersburg the same day.
The CIS is an active and successful organization, the speaker
of the Armenian Parliament Tigran Torossyan said during the 27th
plenary session of the CIS Inter-parliamentary Assembly. “After the
collapse of the USSR, the post-Soviet republics faced a very difficult
situation and were forced to create new state and inter-state systems,
to establish new economic ties, to develop democracy, to solve serious
problem,” Torossyan said. And the CIS proved to be very useful as it
helped them to effectively legislate and to solve the post-Soviet
problems. “So, we can say that the CIS is an active and successful
organization,” Torossyan said.
He said that the CIS IP has become so strong that it can already be
a good arena for the CIS countries to discuss their problems. “For
this purpose, we should develop new mechanisms and new opportunities,”
Torossyan said. He pointed out the role of the CIS IP in the life of
the CIS, in drafting national legislation, overcoming confrontations,
establishing peace in the region. Torossyan said that the CIS IP has
good prospects for deepening its role and wished it success in its
further activities. (ARKA).
Elections in the US and the “Armenian Cause”
“During the last elections the Hay Dat (Armenian Cause) Committee of
America supported 198 candidates: 18 for the Senate, the rest for the
Congress. Almost 93% of them have been elected. The basic argument
for Hay Dat was a candidate’s position on number of crucial issues: if
he supports the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, the protection
of Nagorno-Karabakh’s right to self-determination, the provision of
US financial assistance to Armenia and NK, etc.,” says Kiro Manoyan,
“Armenian Cause” officer of the ARFD Bureau (in the program of the
ARF Dashnaktsutiun the “Armenian Cause” is a complex of measures for
attaining the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and compensation
for the relevant damage and for returning the territories historically
populated by Armenians – REGNUM)
Manoyan says that Hay Dat hopes that the Democrats they have supported
will justify their expectations (concerning the recognition of the
Armenian Genocide). True, formerly too the Democrats were in the Senate
and the Congress, but now the situation is quite different: “This
time some Democrats not only spoke and promised but also acted. In
two years the Democrats and the Republicans will run in presidential
elections and neither of them would like the well-organized Armenian
community of America to act against them.”
Meanwhile, Hayots Ashkharh daily reports the co-chairs of the Armenian
Caucus, congressmen Frank Pallone and Joe Knollenberg to say that,
together with their colleagues Adam Schiff and George Radanovich,
they will draft and submit to the new Congress a resolution for the
recognition of the Armenian Genocide. They hope that the resolution
will be adopted to once and for all confirm the historical truth
about the crime committed by Ottoman Turkey against Armenians in
1915-1923. The congressmen point out that the recognition of this
horrible fact will be the first step towards preventing such crimes
in the future and will give sense to the phrase “never again.” Pallone
and Knollenberg are glad that 90% of the Armenian Caucus members have
been reelected.
Armenian Ex FM Alexander Arzoumanyan has commented on the statement
of Manoyan that after the parliamentary elections in the US Hay Dat
asked the US Senate to appoint somebody else but Richard Hoagland
as US Ambassador to Armenia and that ARF Dashnaktsutiun is against
the candidacy of Hoagland because he does not pronounce the word
“genocide.” Hayk daily reports Arzoumanyan as saying: “It’s strange
that a 116-year-old party has focused its whole potential on this
problem while there are plenty of other unresolved problems in the
country.” At the same time, Arzoumanyan notes that even Kiro Manoyan
as US Ambassador would hardly recognize the Armenian Genocide.
The Armenian Genocide topic is in no way a taboo in the American
press. One of the editors of Associated Press says that AP always calls
spade a spade. It has always said that the Armenian Genocide did take
place, while the US administration keeps denying this fact and just
says that there were tragic events during the WWI. AP has never put
this term in quotes. Most American politicians link this term with
US-Turkish relations. Most of them give priority to Turkey’s entry
into the EU and therefore keep silence about the Armenian Genocide. One
electoral technologist says that the Democrats will hardly adopt a law
on the Armenian Genocide. “The Armenian Genocide took place long ago
on some other planet, and ordinary Americans don’t care for it. They
care much more for the problem of abortions and the war in Iraq –
exactly in this sequence.”
Will Turkey file a claim?
Turkey is drafting new initiatives in the context of the correspondence
between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan and Armenian President
Robert Kocharyan, Turkish FM Abdullah Gul said in the Turkish National
Assembly. Referring to Zaman daily (Turkey), ArmInfo news agency
reports Gul as saying that Turkey is going to advance new initiatives
concerning Erdogan’s proposal to set up a joint Armenian-Turkish
historical commission for studying the events of 1915. Gul notes that
Turkish and foreign experts are already studying this issue.
The claims of Armenians and the influence of this issue on Turkey’s
relations with other countries are one of the key problems of
Ankara in the coming decade, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah
Gul said, while speaking with Turkish MPs about the Armenian
Genocide. Gul took interest in the proposal by the MP from the
opposition National-Democratic Party, former diplomat Sukru Alakdag
for preventing the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Alakdag
demanded that Ankara address the Hague Court: “Turkey should say
in the court that it is ready to investigate the events of 1915 in
line with the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the
Crime of Genocide. If the Armenians reject this proposal, this will
prove Turkey’s legal and moral rights and will substantially curb the
attempts to manipulate this problem for political purposes.” Gul noted
that the Turkish authorities give much importance to the opinion of
the experienced diplomat and assured that they will do their best for
“the triumph of the truth”: “We are thinking about addressing the
Hague Court and are consulting not only our own but also foreign
lawyers.” (Respublika Armenii).
The idea of Turkey’s addressing international courts, particularly,
the Hague Court, is not new. Its author is the retired Turkish
diplomat Gunduz Aktan, who was Turkish Ambassador to different
European structures for a long time, the director of the Institute
for Oriental Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia
Ruben Safrastyan says in an interview to PanARMENIAN.Net. At that time,
Turkey had two scenarios: “They were going either to continue denying
the Armenian Genocide or to address the Hague Court in hope that the
Armenians will not be able to prove that the events of 1915 were a
genocide. The General Staff chose to continue the policy of denial,”
says Safrastyan. At the same time, he reminds PanARMENIAN.net that
Aktan is one of the toughest Turkish politicians and, when a member
to the Armenian-Turkish Reconciliation Commission, he always spoke
against the Armenia Genocide.
Following the proposal of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan,
Yeni Safak daily (Turkey) suggests that the Turkish authorities
should first examine their own archives. Noyan Tapan reports the
daily to say that there are a number of documents proving that the
events 1915 were not a genocide but just a deportation. “But, on the
other hand, there are hundreds of thousands (let’s not say million)
of lost ordinary people who did not take part in wars or revolts,
and nobody says anything about documents concerning those people. By
such one-sided documents we will not convince anybody of anything,”
says the daily. “If we can’t open the archives that may contain such
documents, if we prefer opening only convenient archives, we can’t
be convincing in the matter; but that’s exactly what we are doing,”
says the daily.
Reanimation of the Treaty of Sevres?
The former ambassador of Armenia to Canada Ara Papyan believes that
there are all prerequisites for establishing legal protectorate over
historical Armenian lands in the territory of Turkey. He says that
Armenia should address the UN courts. “Our country should seek to
attain the acknowledgement of the Treaty of Sevres as this is the
only document signed by the Armenian authorities at the time when
Armenia was a subject of the international law,” says Papyan. “If the
international community recognizes Armenia’s legal protectorate over a
part of the territory of present-day Turkey, Armenia will get access
to the transit routes running via its historical lands and will also
be able to sue British Petroleum for its failure to coordinate with
the Armenian Government the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
oil pipeline,” says Papyan. (ArmInfo).
“Ara Papyan’s approach is quite realistic,” says the “Armenian Cause”
officer of the ARFD Bureau Kiro Manoyan. “Article 89 of the Treaty of
Sevres empowered US President Woodrow Wilson to draw a border between
Armenia and Turkey and he gave Armenia a territory of 160,000 sq km,”
says Manoyan.
Armenia-EU
Two events took place in Brussels on Nov 14 and one of them may
become historic, says Novoye Vremya daily, meaning the EU-Armenia
New Neighborhood Policy Action Plan. “The singing of the Action
Plan means new quality of relations with the EU. It is opening up
good opportunities for integration into the EU,” says Armenian FM
Vardan Oskanyan. Meanwhile, the daily notes that the EU has its
own priorities: human rights, democracy, supremacy of law – this is
the “price” the Caucasian states have to pay for the New European
Neighborhood.
EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy
Javier Solana says that to the new neighbors the EU will apply
the same mechanisms as it applied to candidate-states. If the
signatory-governments fail to comply with the agreements, the
cooperation with them will be minimized and, vice versa, if they show
commitment to reform their states and societies, they will enjoy
growing cooperation and support. Solana says that the EU prefers
dealing with the region as a whole. The EU wants the South Caucasian
states to cooperate with each other. The EU wants to cooperate with
the region as a whole, which means that the regional conflicts must be
resolved. “We want to see joint progress… And I very much hope that
we will catalyze this process for the sake of peace…” says Solana.
PanArmenian.Net reports EU Special Representative in the South
Caucasus Peter Semneby to say that the European Neighborhood Policy
provides for financial assistance, but Armenia and Azerbaijan should
use the money for reforms in order to become more European. The EU
will closely follow the forthcoming parliamentary and presidential
elections in Armenia – it will be an acid-test for the country.
Some political figures and experts say that the EU-Armenia Action Plan
signed in Brussels may not only fail to give any profit to Armenia
but may even pose a threat to it, says Lragir daily. MP Shavarsh
Kocharyan says that after the USSR collapse Armenia was expected to
be the fourth post-Soviet republic after the Baltic states to become
EU member. “However, in the past 15 years Armenia has gone very far
from the European standards,” says Kocharyan. He noted that, today,
Armenia should have been an EU candidate, at least. On the other
hand, the country still has a chance for effective democratization
and for becoming the locomotive of Euro-integration in the South
Caucasus. Unless it goes this way, it will get into total isolation,
says Kocharyan.
Expert Armen Manvelyan says that that EU-Armenia Action Plan is just
a lever of influence for Europe. He says that “the only difference
between Bolshevik Russia and democratic Europe is their levers
of influence, while their goal is common – to have a controllable
Armenia.” Manvelyan believes that blind imitation of the European
values may throw Armenia back at the bottom of the ladder.
American political expert Richard Kirakossian says that the EU’s entry
into the South Caucasus serves the interests of the US. Of course,
there is a rivalry between the US and the EU but, on the other hand,
for the US, the EU in the region is a desirable counterbalance
to Russia. Kirakossian says that Armenia is facing the threat of
isolation. Today, Georgia is moving into the EU the quickest of all,
while Azerbaijan may be interesting for the EU in terms of its energy
potential. This all can put Armenia into a total isolation unless the
country starts doing something about its internal situation rather
continues catering for external forces.
If the elections in Armenia fail to comply with the international
standards, the EU may decide to strengthen its relations with Georgia
and Azerbaijan only, leaving Armenia behind, American political expert
Richard Kirakossian said during a press-conference on Nov 18.
REGNUM reports him to say that gross violations during the elections
may result in the stoppage of the Millennium Challenge program and
general disappointment in Armenia. In fact, the international community
has set higher standards for Armenia and will be more intolerant
to electoral fraud there than in some other countries. If Armenia
conducts unfair elections, it will lose one more chance, Kirakossian
said. Asked if Armenia may hope that, if democratic, it will be
admitted into the EU irrespective of its neighbors, Kirakossian said
that the key obstacle in this matter is Armenia’s excessive dependence
on Russia. Kirakossian does not insist that Armenia should turn 100%
towards the EU, but it should be more self-sufficient and should stop
imitating relations with Russia or the EU.
The Economist (UK) notes that despite war, economic collapse and
devastating earthquake, Armenia seems to be overcoming its problems.
However, this is a limited process: after definite progress in the
late 90s, the reforms in Armenia stalled. The famous Armenian brandy
exclusive, the country’s export is very insignificant. Armenia
heavily relies on foreign aid and transfers from the gigantic
Diaspora. Because of migration, the country’s population is much
smaller than officially stated 2.9 million. As if rivaling with
his patrons in the Kremlin, President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan
curbs mass media and rigs elections. Corruption is thriving. You
will hardly find any politicians in Armenia who would not like to
replace Kocharyan after 2008 and you find it even harder to find
anybody believing that the elections 2008 will be fair. Just like
Ilham Aliyev, who has inherited his power from his father, Kocharyan
is promising reforms in order to calm down the United States, and
no surprise that most Armenians have become so cynical in the past
years that they no longer expect anything more than that from their
authorities, says the Economist. (Radio Liberty Armenia)

AMBASSADOR OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC AT NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
National Assembly of RA, Armenia
Nov 23 2006
On November 21 the President of the National Assembly of the Republic
of Armenia Mr. Tigran Torosyan received the newly appointed Ambassador
of the Republic of France to Armenia Mr. Serge Smessow.
The President of the National Assembly wished the Ambassador success
in his ambassadorial mission noting, that his officiating both in
Armenia, France and Europe coincides with a period full of interesting
events. Mr. Serge Smessow qualified his appointment as a difficult
and honorable one considering the high level of French-Armenian
relations in all spheres, the maintenance and development of which
the Ambassador considers his main purpose. He noted that the Action
Plan of the European Neighbourhood policy opens new perspectives for
South Caucasian countries. This is an important political and economic
step. The Ambassador highly appreciated the successes of Armenia in
European integration processes noting, that this assessment is shared
also in the European Union. Mr. Smessow assured, that from now on
too France is ready to support Armenia. He especially stressed the
importance of perspectives of regional cooperation, creation of free
trade zone and settlement of conflicts included in the Action Plan
considering those real opportunities of development.
The President of the National Assembly Mr. Tigran Torosyan touched upon
the European integration processes and noted, that the signed document
eventually has to prepare the country for joining the European Union,
but a long and serious work is needed for that. Mr. Torosyan mentioned
the economic successes of Armenia, but noted that political and
social reforms yield to the economic reforms. Meanwhile in order to
reach success in harmonic development these two processes have to go
in parallel. For the regional cooperation the NA President stressed
the importance of a clear position of the international community,
without which the settlement of conflicts is impossible.
For example, Azerbaijan finds, that first we have to solve the Nagorno
Karabakh issue, then discuss the perspectives of cooperation, while
Armenia prefers the creation of an atmosphere of mutual confidence and
cooperation, which in its turn, will facilitate the settlement of the
conflict. The NA President noted, that the European Union also has been
established in this way. Upon the Ambassador’s request, Mr. Torosyan
also touched upon the constitutional reforms and the Electoral Code. It
was noted, that the reform of the Constitution is an important step on
the way of democracy development, and that these reforms have already
started producing positive results in the social-political life in the
sense of deepening democracy. However, they will start to fully act
after the parliamentary and presidential elections. The NA President
said, that the Electoral Code with amendments to over 100 articles in
conformity with the recommendations of CE and OSCE experts would be
adopted through second reading after the made amendments about five
months before the elections. In order to hold elections in compliance
with the European standards, the NA President stressed the importance
of not only the Electoral Code and the existence of legislation,
but also the political will and the aspirations of political forces.
During the meeting the parties also touched upon the regulations of
the Nagorno Karabakh issue. Mr. Smessow, noting that the Co-chairmen
of OSCE Minsk Group are in Yerevan, expressed hope that it will mark
a new positive stage. However, the Ambassador noted that in Armenia
they refer to the perspectives of the settlement of the issue with
pessimism. The NA President Mr. Tigran Torosyan qualified the position
of the Armenian party not pessimistic, but realistic. He evaluated
the work of Co-chairmen positively, especially in the latest period,
when the principles of self-determination of nations and territorial
integrity are not opposed, but compared. However, the NA President
expressed doubt that Azerbaijan really wants to see the conflict
settled, as the policy of deepening hatred towards Armenia and
Armenians, the warlike declarations and the astronomical increase
of military expenses continue there. According to the President of
the National Assembly, the international community has to be more
demanding towards fulfillment of undertaken obligations.
During the meeting issues of inter-parliamentary relations were
also discussed.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ANDONIAN TAKES OUTSIDE SHOT WITH EVANS TIRE
By: Andrew Peterson – For The North County Times
North County Times, CA
Nov 23 2006
ESCONDIDO — In the scramble and scrap of schoolyard basketball,
quickness and drive can nullify the advantages of size and height
— a good thing for someone like John Andonian, who stood 5 feet 5
inches tall when he played guard for Hoover High in Los Angeles in
the early 1970s. Then as now, what he lacked in height he made up
for with desire.
“I had some basic talents and then my ambition to win,” Andonian,
chief executive officer of Evans Tire Co., said by phone recently.
“My strength was my quickness and my defense. I (also) had a good
outside shot.”
More than 30 years later, Andonian still prefers the David role to
that of Goliath. Defying the odds and tire industry giants such as
Costco and Firestone, he has grown revenues at Evans from $9 million
to $22 million in six years.
A family-run business based in Escondido, the company’s fortunes were
sagging when Andonian took the helm. He was, in effect, buying the
nine-store chain from himself, as Evans was owned by AKH Discount
Tires, which was run by Andonian and his brothers.
The franchise was a fixer-upper.
“Even though we had been in the market for almost 20 years, the name
identity was very low,” he recalled.
He found the stores in need of remodeling and the work force in need
of motivating.
He made other changes, too — such as a bold new purple and yellow
color scheme for the stores, which now number 16, and a higher
marketing profile in print and radio. But Evans needed more to draw
attention to itself in the competitive San Diego market. Andonian
realized that it couldn’t just be price.
“If it’s just about price, you’ve got the Wal-Marts of the world and
the Costcos, and you just can’t compete with them,” he said.
The differentiator, he saw, was customer service, or “value-added
programs.” Evans offers free alignment on purchases of selected tire
brands, as well as free tickets to such places as the San Diego Zoo
or Legoland California.
In recent years, the tire business has changed, he said, with customer
demand pushing auto companies to offer more tire options for their
cars. “Ten to 15 years ago, 20 tire sizes hypothetically covered 60
percent of the market,” Andonian said. “Now, you need maybe 40 or 50
sizes to cover 40 percent of the market.”
Some things haven’t changed. Evans is still very much a family
enterprise. Andonian, married 20 years to his wife, Cynthia, says
all three of their children have shown an interest in working in
the business — particularly his son Alex, 20, who attends Southern
Methodist University in Dallas: “My theory is go to school. Graduate.
Go work somewhere for a couple years — then let’s talk about it.”
It’s an attitude Andonian’s parents would recognize and respect. “My
parents wanted more for their kids,” said Andonian, whose Armenian
family immigrated to the United States in 1969.
For his part, he has thrived and prospered on the slopes of uphill
battles. He said stepping in to run an already-successful company
wouldn’t be the same.
“Keeping the status quo would be OK,” Andonian said. “But certainly
fixing (a company) and growing it would be more challenging for me. I
like to run companies, I like to make them successful. I like to make
them winners.”
ESCONDIDO — In the scramble and scrap of schoolyard basketball,
quickness and drive can nullify the advantages of size and height —
a good thing for people like Evans Tire CEO John Andonian, who stood
5’5″ when he played guard for Hoover High in Los Angeles in the early
70s. Then as now, what he lacked in height he made up for with desire.
“I had some basic talents and then my ambition to win,” he said by
phone recently. “My strength was my quickness and my defense. I (also)
had a good outside shot.”
More than thirty years later Andonian still prefers the David role
to that of Goliath, defying the odds and tire industry giants like
Costco and Firestone by growing Evans revenues from $9 million to
$22 million in six years.
A family-run business based in Escondido, Evans Tire’s fortunes were
sagging when Andonian took the helm, in effect buying the nine-store
chain from himself, since Evans was owned by AKH Discount Tires,
which in turn was run by Andonian and his brothers.
The franchise was a fixer-upper.
“Even though we had been in the market for almost 20 years, the name
identity was very low,” he recalled.
He found the stores in need of remodeling and the workforce in need
of motivating.
He made other changes too — like a bold new purple and yellow color
scheme for the stores (which now number 16), and a higher marketing
profile in print and radio. But Evans needed more to draw attention
to itself in the competitive San Diego market. Andonian realized it
couldn’t just be price.
“If it’s just about price you’ve got the Wal-Marts of the world and the
Costcos, and you just can’t compete with them. They’re just too big.”
The differentiator, he saw, was customer service. To do this he used
what he called “value-added programs”.
“We include free alignments (on purchases of selected tire brands),”
he said. “And we’re always offering things like free zoo or Legoland
tickets OWe’re offering a one-stop shop where you can buy your tires
and brakes and alignments O
If you go to Costco or WalMart you’re just going to get the tires.”
The changes, while effective, took time to boost the company’s
bottom line.
“At the beginning of the second year, it started,” Andonian said.
In the meantime the tire business has changed; customer demand has
pushed auto companies to offer more tire options for their cars.
“Ten to fifteen years ago, twenty tire sizes hypothetically covered 60%
of the market,” Andonian said. “Now you need maybe 40 or 50 sizes to
cover 40% of the market.”
Some things haven’t changed. Evans is still very much a family
enterprise. Andonian, married twenty years to his wife Cynthia, says
all three of their children have shown an interest in working in
the business — particularly his son Alex, 20, who attends Southern
Methodist University in Dallas.
“My theory is go to school. Graduate. Go work somewhere for a couple
years — then let’s talk about it.”
It’s an attitude Andonian’s parents would recognize and respect.
Andonian’s family history includes his Armenian grandparents’ flight
from genocide at the hands of the Turks in 1915 into Syria. The family
immigrated to the United States in 1969.
“My parents wanted more for their kids,” said Andonian, who attributes
his competitive nature to his father, who passed away ten years ago.
For his part, he’s thrived and prospered on the slopes of uphill
battles. He said stepping in to run an already-successful company
wouldn’t be the same.
“Keeping the status quo would be okay,” Andonian said. “But certainly
fixing (a company) and growing it would be more challenging for me. I
like to run companies, I like to make them successful — I like to
make them winners.”

WHAT HAPPENED IN 1915: GENOCIDE OR FATE?
Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
Nov 23 2006
Turkish researchers argue that most of the Armenians died during
the First World War years due to the bad war conditions. According
to the Turkish sources most of the Ottoman Armenians died in famine,
bad weather conditions and epidemic diseases. The Ottoman documents
and modern Turkish exports accept that many Armenians were killed
in communal clashes. Kurds and Circassians in particular attacked
the Armenian villages in order to get valuables. Mostly the Kurdish
tribes also organized counter attacks against the Armenian civilians
to take revenge. However most of the loses were due to the bad
war circumstances. The Armenian historians generally do not accept
‘bad war circumstances’ and they argue that “epidemic diseases cannot
remove hundred and thousands of Armenian people. They tend to believe
in that Turks massacred all the Armenian population. However the
scholarly articles prove the reverse. For instance researcher Ellen
Marie Lust-Okar describe the circumstances the Armenians faced when
they arrived in Syria, one of the Ottoman provinces at that time:
“Diseases spread rapidly. In Aleppo, more than 35,000 persons were
said to have died from typhus between August 1916 and August 1917
alone. In almost all villages between Aleppo and Mosul 50 percent
of the population is believed to have died, and in the district of
Ra’sal-‘Ayn, this was to have reached 88 per cent. That thousands
of Armenians and Arabs alike perished during the first years of
immigration…” (Ellen Marie Lust-Okar, ‘Failure of Collaboration:
Armenian Refugees in Syria’, Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 32, No. 1,
January 1996, pp. 53-68, p. 57).
Not only the Armenians and Arabs but also the Turks and the Kurds
were also deeply affected by the bad weather, epidemics and famine.
The Ottoman documents clearly show that more Muslim people died that
the Armenian people due to these reasons during these years. Of course
the Ottoman Government was responsible for all these loses, yet we
have to accept that they were not able to provide the basic needs
under the military attacks from almost all directions. The Armenian
collaboration with the occupying Russians in the Eastern Anatolia
and with the French armies in the Cilicia and the south worsened
the security of the state. Thus the Istanbul Government decided to
relocate the Armenian population to the remote part of the Empire. As
a result, most of the Armenians from the Eastern and south eastern
part of the State were forced to locate in the Syrian province in
order to cut the link between the Armenians and the Russians. The
decision obviously made the immigrating Armenians more vulnerable to
the diseases, famine and weather conditions. However all these cannot
be classified as systematic slaughter or genocide.
Istanbul Armenians continued their normal life and many Armenians
were among the richest and most powerful Ottoman citizens in Istanbul
and some other parts of the State. Ten thousands of the Armenians
continued to live in Turkey even the Ottoman Empire was collapsed and
modern Turkey was established. Even some of the relocated Armenians
in 1915 returned later to their own towns.
Another reason made the life worse for the ordinary Armenian people in
the Ottoman Empire was the Armenian nationalist fanatics. The extremist
Armenian nationalist fist hit the Armenian population. The armed
Armenians killed more Armenian than the Turks between 1900-1911. They
terrorized the relations between the Muslims and the Armenians. The
extremist attacks against the Turkish, Kurdish and Circassian
villages caused counter attacks. Many Muslim women were raped,
killed and tortured. The conservative Kurdish villages were provoked
by these Armenian attacks, and the security forces were not able
to stop the communal attacks under the world war conditions. The
clashes reached its peak when the Armenian extremists occupied the
Van province. The Armenians were uniformed and armed. They had an
independent Armenia flag and they handled the city to the occupying
Russian forces. Though most of the Armenian population were not
extremist and not in co-operation with the occupying forces, the
irregular Kurdish gang counter-attacks, defense attacks and revenge
campaigns badly affected the ordinary Armenians as well. At the end
of the day more than 520,000 Muslims were slaughtered by the armed
Armenian groups and many Armenians were killed by the Kurdish and
Circassian tribes (asirets).
Today there are more than 100,000 Armenians in Istanbul. They have
their own churches, schools and newspapers. They can freely educate
their people in Armenian language, and the Armenian Patriarch provide
many services special to the Armenians. Of course the Turkey Armenians
also have problems like any other Turkish citizen, yet the European
Union membership process has helped a lot in improving the rights. Even
the Armenia citizens now prefer Turkey to live and work instead of
Republic of Armenia. More than 70.000 Armenia citizens work in Turkey,
mostly in Istanbul city with no serious problem.

DUTCH CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS TO KEEP POWER-EARLY COUNT
By Emma Thomasson
Reuters, UK
Nov 23 2006
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The Dutch Christian Democrats were on course to
retain power in an election on Wednesday but faced a struggle to form
a government as voters rewarded parties on the far-left and far-right,
preliminary results showed.
Forecasts based on almost a quarter of the votes counted projected
that Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende’s Christian Democrats (CDA)
would win the most seats in the 150-seat parliament, comfortably
ahead of the opposition Labour party.
But the far-left Socialists (SP) soared to third place ahead of the
liberal VVD, Balkenende’s coalition partner, making his job of forming
a strong government much more difficult.
Who joins the next coalition will determine how closely Balkenende
sticks to his business-friendly policies and tough line on immigration,
long a major concern of Dutch voters.
The other big winner was the new party of anti-immigration maverick
Geert Wilders, who says the Netherlands risks being flooded by Muslims
and wants an immediate halt to new migrants.
“The CDA has promised to do nothing, the SP wants to go back to the
70’s and Wilders wants to put a fence around the Netherlands,” said
economics lecturer Bas Jacobs.
“All the parties in the Netherlands that want change lost, and those
parties that don’t want change, gained.”
Dutch politics has become much more unstable since the murder of
anti-immigration populist Pim Fortuyn in 2002, with three elections
in four years and last year’s rejection of the European constitution,
opposed by both Wilders and the SP.
Neither Balkenende’s current alliance with the VVD liberals nor a
Labour-led coalition with the far-left Socialists and environmentalist
Green Left was on track for a parliamentary majority, making long
coalition talks likely.
“GRAND COALITION”
The CDA and Labour could try to form an uneasy right-left partnership
like the one governing Germany despite likely produce discord over
tax, pensions and immigration policy. But even that combination lacked
the 76 seats needed for a majority.
“Frankly it’s chaos. The real winner is the only party that actually
did not participate, which is the party of the anarchists,” said
Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm from the VVD.
Balkenende, 50, took credit for a strong economic recovery in the
last year that he said was supported by unpopular welfare reforms
which he and Zalm pushed through early in his term.
Labour leader Wouter Bos, 43, who had a bad start to the day when
he turned up to vote without the right papers, accuses Balkenende
of pandering to big business and the wealthy while failing to fight
inequality.
He has pledged to slow corporate tax cuts and lift spending on
childcare and job-creation programmes. Labour has also promised an
amnesty for some who have waited years for asylum.
Balkenende has implemented some of the toughest immigration and
integration laws in Europe since the meteoric rise of Fortuyn in
2002 and the killing of Islam critic and filmmaker Theo van Gogh by
an Islamist militant in 2004.
His government has also said it will ban Muslim women wearing face
veils in public, a demand made by Wilders.
The election, originally scheduled for May 2007, was called after the
centre-right coalition collapsed in June in a row over the government’s
handling of the disputed citizenship of Somali-born Dutch politician
and Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
Back then, Labour had a strong lead in the opinion polls, but that
evaporated as the economy rebounded and as Balkenende went on the
offensive, portraying Bos as superficial.
Labour had hoped for strong backing from the almost 10 percent of
the electorate of immigrant origin, although Turkish voters were
angered after it dropped an election candidate for not accepting
Ottoman Turkey’s killing of Armenians as genocide.

OFFICIAL VISIT OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA TO RUSSIAN FEDERATION
National Assembly of RA, Armenia
Nov 23 2006
At the invitation of the President of the Council of Federation of
the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Mr. Sergey Mironov on
November 23-24 a delegation headed by the President of the National
Assembly Mr. Tigran Torosyan will leave for Moscow with an official
visit. Chairwoman of the NA Standing Committee on Science, Education,
Culture and Youth Mrs. Hranush Hakobyan, member of the same Committee
Mr. Ararat Malkhasyan, Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on
Social Affairs, Health Care and Environment, Mr. Mnatsakan Petrosyan,
member of the same Committee Mr. Gagik Mkheyan, members of the NA
Standing Committee on Defence, National Security and Internal Affairs
Mr. Spartak Seyranyan, and Mr. Grigory Margaryan, member of the NA
Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs Mr. Vardan Lazarian
are in the delegation.
During the visit it is envisaged to have meetings with the Chairman of
Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation
Mr. Sergey Mironov, with the Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian
Federation Mr. Boris Grizlov. There will be meetings also in the
Standing Committees of State Duma.
Within the framework of the visit Days of Armenian Parliament will
be held in the Council of Federation.

TARIQ ALI DIARY ON DIYARBAKIR AND MORE
Kurdish Info, Germany
Nov 23 2006
Bianet-The PKK decision offers the possibility of genuine reforms
and autonomy, but this will happen only if the Turkish army agrees
to retire to its barracks. Economic conditions in the Kurdish areas
are now desperate.
It was barely light in Istanbul as I stumbled into a taxi and headed
for the airport to board a flight for Diyarbakir, the largest Kurdish
city in eastern Turkey, not far from the Iraqi border. The plane was
full, thanks to a large party of what looked like chattering students
with closely shaved heads, whose nervous excitement seemed to indicate
they’d never left home before.
One of them took the window seat next to my interpreter. It turned out
he wasn’t a student but a newly conscripted soldier, heading east for
more training and his first prolonged experience of barrack-room life,
perhaps even of conflict.
He couldn’t have been more than 18; this was his first time on a
plane. As we took off he clutched the seat in front of him and looked
fearfully out of the window. During the flight he calmed down and
marvelled at the views of the mountains and lakes below, but as the
plane began its descent he grabbed the seat again. Our safe landing
was greeted with laughter by many of the shaven-headed platoon.
Only a few weeks previously, some young soldiers had been killed in
clashes with guerrillas belonging to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party
(PKK). It used to be the case that when Turkish soldiers died in the
conflict, their mothers were wheeled on to state television to tell
the world how proud they were of the sacrifice. They had more sons
at home, they would say, ready and waiting to defend the Fatherland.
This time the mothers publicly blamed the government for the deaths
of their sons.
Diyarbakir is the de facto capital of the Turkish part of Kurdistan,
itself a notional state that extends for some six hundred miles through
the mountainous regions of south-eastern Turkey, northern Syria, Iraq
and Iran. Turkish Kurdistan is home to more than 14 million Kurds,
who make up the vast majority of the region’s population; there are
another four million Kurds in northern Iraq, some five million in
Iran and a million in Syria.
The Turkish sector is the largest and strategically the most important:
it would be central to a Kurdish state. Hence the paranoia exhibited by
the Turkish government and its ill-treatment of the Kurdish population,
whose living conditions are much worse than those of the Kurds in
Iraq or Iran.
Kurdish language and culture were banned at the foundation of the
unitary Turkish Republic in1923. The repression intensified during the
1970s, and martial law was imposed on the region in1978, followed by
two decades of mass arrests, torture, killings, forced deportations
and the destruction of Kurdish villages.
The PKK, founded by the student leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1978, began a
guerrilla war in1984, claiming the Kurds’ right to self-determination
within (this was always stressed) the framework of a democratised
and demilitarised Turkish state. By ‘democratisation’ Kurds mean
the repeal of laws used to harass minorities or to deny them basic
political rights. The constitution, for example, established in 1982,
requires a party to get 10 per cent of the vote nationally before it
can win parliamentary representation – the highest such threshold in
the world. Kurdish nationalists consistently receive a majority of
the votes in parts of eastern Turkey but have no members of parliament.
When, in 1994, centre-left Kurdish deputies formed a new party to
get over the 10 per cent barrier, they were arrested on charges of
aiding the PKK and sentenced to 15 years in jail.
An estimated 200,000 Turkish troops have been permanently deployed in
Kurdistan since the early 1990s, and in 1996 and 1998 fierce battles
resulted in thousands of Kurdish casualties. By February 1999, when
the fugitive Ocalan was captured in Kenya – possibly by the CIA –
and handed over to Turkey, more than 30,000 Kurds had been killed and
some 3000 villages burned or destroyed, which resulted in a new exodus
to Diyarbakir; the city now has a population of more than a million.
At the end of 1999, after heavy American lobbying, the EU extended
candidate status to Turkey, with further negotiations conditional
on some amelioration, at least, of the Kurdish situation. The pace
of reforms accelerated after the election of Recep Tayyip Erdogan
‘s government in November 2002. In 2004, the Kurdish deputies
who had been arrested ten years earlier were finally released,
and a Kurdish-language programme was broadcast for the first time
on state television. In line with EU cultural heritage provisions,
restoration work began on the old palace in Diyarbakir – even while
Kurdish prisoners were still being tortured in its cellars.
My host, Melike Coskun, the director of the Anadolu Cultural Centre,
suggested a tour of the walls and the turbot-shaped old town. We picked
up Seymus Diken, cultural adviser to the recently elected young pro-PKK
mayor. He took us to a mosque that was once a cathedral and before that
a pagan temple where sun-worshippers sacrificed virgins on large stone
slabs in the courtyard. It was a Friday during Ramadan and the mosque
was filling up. The majority belonging to the dominant Sunni Hanafi
school occupied the main room while the Shafii prayed in a smaller one.
We then visited three empty Christian churches. The first was Chaldean,
built in 300 ad, and its brick dome was exquisitely held in place by
intertwined wooden arches. The second, which was Assyrian, was square,
and even older, with Aramaic carvings on the wood and stones. The
caretaker lives in rooms attached to the church and grows vegetables
in what was once the garden of the bishop’s palace.
Hens roamed about, occasionally laying eggs beneath the altar. The
Armenian church was more recent – 16th century – but without a roof.
It was a more familiar shape, like a Roman Catholic church, and the
priest confirmed that the Armenians who had once worshipped here
were Catholics. Seymus began to whisper something to him. I became
curious. ‘It’s nothing,’ Seymus said. ‘Since my triple bypass the only
drink I’m allowed is red wine and there is a tiny vineyard attached
to a monastery in the countryside. I pick up a few bottles from this
church. It’s good wine.’ This was strangely reassuring.
We walked over to the old city walls, first built with black stone
more than 2000 years ago, with layers added by each new conqueror.
The crenellated parapets and arched galleries are crumbling; many
stones have been looted to repair local houses. From an outpost on
the wall, the Tigris is visible as it makes its way south. Seymus
told me that he had been imprisoned in the palace cells by the
Turkish authorities.
‘The next time you come,’ he promised, ‘this building will be totally
restored and we will sip our drinks and watch the Tigris flow.’ In
a large enclosed space below the wall there was an exhibition of
photographs of Diyarbakir in 1911. The images, of a virtually intact
medieval city, seemed to have little interest in the people who lived
there but concentrated on the buildings.
The photographer was Gertrude Bell,who later boasted that she had
created modern Iraq on behalf of the British Empire by ‘drawing lines
in the sand’. These lines, of course, also divided the territory of
the Kurdish tribes, which claim an unbroken history in this area,
stretching back well before the Christian era.
The first written records come after the Arab Muslim conquest. In the
tenth century, the Arab historian Masudi listed the Kurdish mountain
tribes in his nine-volume history, Meadows of Gold. Like most of the
inhabitants of the region they converted to Islam in the seventh and
eighth centuries, and were recruited to the Muslim armies.
They were rebellious, however, and took part in such uprisings as the
Kharijite upheavals of the ninth century. (The Kharijites denounced
the hereditary tradition as alien to Islam and demanded an elected
caliph. They were crushed.) The Kurds settled around Mosul and took
part in the epic slave revolt of the Zanj in southern Mesopotamia in
875. This, too, was defeated. Subsequently Kurdish bands wandered the
region as mercenaries. Saladin’s family belonged to one such group,
whose military skills soon propelled its leaders to power. During the
16th-century conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and the Safavids
who ruled Iran, Kurdish tribes fought on both sides. Inter-tribal
conflicts made Kurdish unity almost impossible.
When Gertrude Bell visited Diyarbakir in 1911, Muslims (mostly Kurds)
constituted 40 per cent of the population. Armenians, Chaldeans and
Assyrians, groups that had settled in what is now eastern Turkey
well over a thousand years before the Christian era, remained the
dominant presence. Istanbul was becoming increasingly unhappy with
the idea of such a mixed population, and even before the Young Turks
seized power from the sultan in 1909, a defensive nationalist wave
had led to clashes between Turks and Armenian groups and small-scale
massacres in the east.
The Armenians began to be seen as the agents of foreign countries
whose aim was to dismember the Ottoman Empire. It’s true that various
wealthy Armenian (and Greek) factions were only too happy to cosy up
to the West during the dying days of the Ottoman Empire, but much
of the Armenian population continued to live peacefully with their
Muslim neighbours in eastern Anatolia. They spoke Turkish as well as
their own language, just as the Kurds did. But Armenian nationalist
revolutionaries were beginning to talk of an Armenian state and the
communities increasingly divided along political lines.
Kurdish militia was set up by the sultan to cow the Armenians,
and then Mehmed Talat, the minister for the interior (who would be
assassinated by an Armenian nationalist), decided to get rid of them
altogether. The Kurdish irregulars carried out the forced expulsions
and massacres of 1915 in which up to a million Armenians died.
Melike told me that her grandmother was Armenian, and that Kurdish
families had saved many lives and given refuge to Armenian women and
children who had converted to Islam in order to survive. Two years ago
Fethiye Cetin, a lawyer and a historian, published a book about her
grandmother, who in old age had confessed to Cetin that she wasn’t
a Muslim, but an Armenian Christian. The book was launched at the
cultural centre Melike runs. ‘The hall was packed with women who had
never been near our centre before,’ Melike said. ‘After Fethiye had
finished so many women wanted to speak and discuss their Armenian
roots. It was amazing.’ Cetin writes that her grandmother was a
‘sword leftover’ child, which is how people whose lives had been
spared were described: ‘I felt my blood freeze. I had heard of this
expression before. It hurt to find it being used to describe people
like my grandmother. My optimism, which was formed with memories of
tea breads, turned to pessimism.’
The political logic of ultra-nationalism proved deadly for both
victim and perpetrator. The aim of the Young Turks had been to expel
the non-Muslim minorities with a view to laying the foundations of a
new and solid unitary state. The exchange of populations with Greece
was part of this plan.
In 1922 Ataturk came to power and made the plan a reality under
the slogan ‘one state, one citizen and one language’. The language
was Latinised, with many words of Arab and Persian origin cast aside
very much like the unwanted citizens. Given that virtually the entire
population was now Muslim, the secular foundations of the new state
were extremely weak, with the military as the only enforcer of the
new order. The first blowback came with the 1925 Kurdish uprising.
Then, as now, religion could not dissolve other differences. The
rebellion lasted several months, and when it was finally put down
all hopes for Kurdish autonomy disappeared. The Kurds’ culture and
language were suppressed. Many migrated to Istanbul and Izmir and
other towns, but the Kurdish question would never go away.
I had been invited to give a lecture in Diyarbakir on the Kurdish
question and the war in Iraq. Four years ago, while the war was
still being plotted in Washington, Noam Chomsky and I were invited
to address a public sector trade-union congress in Istanbul. Many of
those present were of Kurdish origin. I said then that there would
be a war and that the Iraqi Kurds would whole-heartedly collaborate
with the US, as they had been doing since the Gulf War, and expressed
the hope that Turkish Kurds would resist the temptation to do the same.
Afterwards I was confronted by some angry Kurds.
How dare I mention them in the same breath as their Iraqi cousins?
Was I not aware that the PKK had referred to the tribal chiefs in
Iraqi Kurdistan as ‘primitive nationalists’? In fact, one of them
shouted, Barzani and Talabani (currently the president of Iraq)
were little better than ‘mercenaries and prostitutes’. They had sold
themselves successively to the shah of Iran, Israel, Saddam Hussein,
Khomeini and now the Americans. How could I even compare them to the
PKK? In 2002 I was only too happy to apologise. I now wish I hadn’t.
The PKK didn’t share the antiwar sentiment that had engulfed the
country in 2003 and pushed the newly elected parliament into forbidding
the US from entering Iraq from Turkey. But while Kurdish support for
the war was sheepish and shame-faced in Istanbul, no such inhibitions
were on display in Diyarbakir.
Virtually every question after my talk took Kurdish nationalism as
its starting point. That was the only way they could see the war.
Developments in northern Iraq, or southern Kurdistan, as they call
it in Diyarbakir, have created a half-hope, half-belief, that the
Americans might undo what Gertrude Bell and the British did and give
the Kurds their own state. I pointed out that America’s principal
ally in Turkey was the army, not the PKK.
‘What some of my people don’t understand is that you can be an
independent state and still not free, especially now,’ one veteran
muttered in agreement. But most of the people there were happy
with the idea of Iraqi Kurdistan becoming an American-Israeli
protectorate. ‘Give me a reason, other than imperial conspiracy,
why Kurds should defend the borders which have been their prisons,’
someone said. The reason seemed clear to me: whatever happened they
had to go on living there. If they started killing their neighbours,
the neighbours would want revenge. By collaborating with the US,
the Iraqi Kurdish leaders in the north are putting the lives of
fellow Kurds in Baghdad at risk. It’s the same in Turkey. There are
nearly two million Kurds in Istanbul, including many rich businessmen
integrated in the economy. They can’t be ignored.
As I was flying back to Istanbul the PKK announced a unilateral
ceasefire. Turkey’s moderate Islamist government must be secretly
relieved. The PKK decision offers the possibility of genuine reforms
and autonomy, but this will happen only if the Turkish army agrees to
retire to its barracks. Economic conditions in the Kurdish areas are
now desperate: the flow of refugees has not stopped and increasing
class polarisation is reflected in the growth of political Islam.
A Kurdish Hizbullah was formed some years ago (with, so it’s said,
the help of Turkish military intelligence, which hoped it might weaken
the PKK), and the conditions are ripe for its growth. Its first big
outing in Diyarbakir was a 10,000-strong demonstration against the
Danish cartoons. If things don’t change, the movement is bound to
grow. (TA/EU)
* This article of Tariq Ali was published in London Review of Books
on 16 November.
name=News&file=article&sid=4966

ARMENIA HOPES TURKEY’S ACCESSION WILL INFLUENCE RELATIONS
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Nov 23 2006
NICOSIA, Nov 23 (Reuters) – Armenia said on Thursday it hoped Turkish
moves towards EU accession would bring more open debate in Turkey
over accusations Ottoman Turks committed genocide against Armenians
early in the 20th century.
Armenian President Robert Kocharian, talking to reporters during a
visit to Cyprus, said that Turkey’s expressed wish to join the European
Union should lead to normalisation of ties with all neighbours.
“Consequently the issue of Turkey’s accession course interests us
and we’re waiting to see it become what it should become. This will
certainly influence Armenian-Turkish relations,” he said.
Armenians say Ottoman Turks conducted systematic genocide against
Armenians around 1915. Turkey, however, insists thousands of Muslim
Turks as well as Christian Armenians were killed at that time as
part of a general partisan conflict that raged as the Ottoman Empire
collapsed.
Debate of the issue in Turkey is restricted by laws that can
effectively make it an offence to discuss publicly let alone express
support for any notion of a genocide.
“We believe the process of Turkey’s accession to the EU will lead to a
more open and honest debate in Turkish society where people can express
their opinions,” Kocharian said. “I know this a difficult process.”
Turkey is holding formal negotiations for EU membership but progress
is hampered by differences over the Mediterranean island of Cyprus
and over economic and political reforms.

FIRST MEETING OF ‘CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE’ MOVEMENT HELD
By Astghik Bedevian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Nov 23 2006
The first meeting of the so-called ‘Civil Disobedience’ movement
was held in Yerevan on Thursday, with its participants calling for
“removing the current regime and holding free and democratic early
elections.”
Former residents of Yerevan’s North Avenue and Buzand street and
Karabakh war veterans responded to the call of Armenia’s former
foreign minister Alexander Arzumanian to join the movement.
Representatives of the National-Democratic Union (AZhM) and the
“Homeland and Honor” party also attended the meeting.
Chairman of the “Brotherhood of Liberation Struggle” public
organization Arkady Karapetian called for action. “Our guys have no
problem… We call for a force capable of leading the nation to come
and take the leadership role. If there is no, we’ll put our forces
together to do something,” he said.
“We are nothing without you, but you should know that all of our guys
are standing next to you,” said Vladimir Arakelian, a field commander
of the Metsn Tigran volunteer group.
Academician Rafael Ghazarian was among those who came to the meeting.
“We are being led to destruction,” Ghazarian said in his speech. “The
people see what the leaders are doing. The people see that they
have no right. They can be evicted from their homes and get justice
nowhere. They will see violence, beatings, plunder. People begin to
get spoiled as well… There is no justice.”
According to Ghazarian, people are also disappointed with the
opposition, as “they [oppositionists] have failed to overcome the
personal.”
“Only forward, only together! We urge you,” Ghazarian said.
Ex-foreign minister Alexander Arzumanian, who is one of the initiators
of the movement, called upon those present, “all those who cannot
tolerate this arbitrariness” to join the movement, which will stage its
next rally near the Constitutional Court building on November 27, on
the occasion of the first anniversary of the Constitutional Referendum.

EX-PREMIER, EX-FOREIGN MINISTER DO NOT RULE OUT ELECTORAL BLOC
By Ruzanna Khachatrian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Nov 23 2006
Two prominent oppositionists who served as Armenia’s premier and
foreign minister in the early 1990s do not rule out that they may
team up ahead of the next parliamentary elections.
In an RFE/RL interview on Thursday leader of the opposition
National-Democratic Union (AZhM) Vazgen Manukian denied that his
cooperation with Zharangutyun (Heritage) party leader Raffi Hovannisian
is a ‘pro-western bloc established at dictates from abroad’.
Manukian, however, did not rule out that the initiative of the civil
forum will ultimately mount to an electoral alliance with Armenia’s
ex-foreign minister.
“Only a power change does not solve the problem. It is a necessary
but not sufficient condition for the public to become masters of
this country,” Manukian, who served as the country’s prime minister
in 1990-1991, told RFE/RL on Thursday.
The civil forum will meet on Saturday, with its initiators saying that
“the doors will be open for anyone to attend.”
However, neither Manukian, nor Hovannisian gave concrete names of
people or forces that will attend the forum.
“I think that almost all of our compatriots want our country to be
free, fair, and citizens want to feel not alienated from political
processes, they want to rediscover their belonging to the Republic
of Armenia,” Hovannisian told RFE/RL.
Manukian said that he and Hovannisian share common views on some
fundamental issues, such as democracy, freedom, national issues,
including the Karabakh problem.
“We want to establish a structure that would have its own life
irrespective of whether Vazgen Manukian and Raffi Hovannisian are in
this structure or not,” he said.
Manukian denied that this would be a pro-western alliance.
“Knowing me for so long, can you describe be as pro-western
politician?” the AZhM leader said, adding that he can speak both
against the West and Russia whenever the interests of Armenia require
that. “I don’t need to prove it once more that I am what I am,”
Manukian stressed.
“If we participate in elections and seek to establish a bloc I
think naturally that we will see it based on cooperation with Raffi
Hovannisian plus other political figures. But now this question is
not under discussion,” Manukian said.