Month: March 2007

OPPOSITION PARTIES DIVIDED OVER JOINT CONTROL OF VOTE CONDUCT
By Astghik Bedevian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
March 14 2007

Having failed to form election alliances, Armenia’s main opposition
forces look too divided to also closely cooperate with each other
in trying to avert massive fraud in the forthcoming parliamentary
elections.

Some of them have called for the creation of an umbrella structure
that would enable the opposition to jointly monitor the Armenian
authorities’ conduct of the election and counter attempts to falsify
their results. Only one top opposition leader, Artashes Geghamian,
has backed the idea so far, however.

"The issue of joint opposition oversight [of the electoral process] is
becoming imperative," Gagik Tadevosian, a senior member of Geghamian’s
National Unity Party (AMK), said on Wednesday.

In his words, that would mean ensuring close interaction among members
of election commissions affiliated with opposition parties.

The proposed structure would also have to organize joint opposition
rallies and coordinate other "post-election processes," said
Tadevosian.

But other opposition heavyweights have serious misgivings about the
wisdom of such an arrangement. "We are against setting up structures
that won’t work," said Stepan Zakarian of the People’s Party of Armenia
(HZhK). "What powers should that structure have?"

Another, more radical opposition party, Hanrapetutyun (Republic),
rejected the idea out of hand, saying that Geghamian should have
shown greater willingness to join opposition alliances in the first
place. "United is a nice word," Aram Sarkisian, the Hanrapetutyun
leader, told RFE/RL. "The people making such a proposal are trying
to capitalize on the effect of that word."

"A joint campaign headquarters would make sense only if the opposition
acted in a united front," Sarkisian said. "When the opposition is
acting in a divided manner, that means we are all rivals."

Hanrapetutyun is angry at both the AMK and the HZhK for rejecting
its repeated calls for the formation of a broad-based opposition bloc.

Geghamian and HZhK leader Stepan Demirchian, who were President Robert
Kocharian’s main challengers in the 2003 presidential election, seem
to have concluded that they are popular enough to do well on their own.

NO PROGRESS IN FRESH ARMENIAN-AZERI TALKS
By Harry Tamrazian in Prague

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
March 14 2007

Armenia and Azerbaijan failed to move closer to resolving the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict during their latest high-level negotiations
held in Geneva, Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian told RFE/RL on
Wednesday.

Speaking by telephone shortly after the talks with his Azerbaijani
counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov, Oskanian said the two sides still have
"deep differences" over unspecified key details of a peace accord
drafted by international mediators. He said they agreed to meet again
next month in another attempt to lay the groundwork for a potentially
decisive meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents.

"I thought that these negotiations should take place in a bit more
smooth manner, but this was not the case. They were quite difficult
and complicated," Oskanian said without elaborating.

"But this is understandable as we are increasingly going into the
details of the basic principles [proposed by the mediators.] That is
why new complications keep emerging," he added.

Mammadyarov did not immediately comment on the Geneva talks.

The American, French and Russian mediators want Presidents Ilham
Aliev and Robert Kocharian to meet and cut a framework peace deal
shortly after Armenia’s upcoming parliamentary elections. The three
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group hoped that Oskanian and Mammadyarov
will minimize the conflicting parties’ remaining differences on the
basic principles of a Karabakh settlement.

Oskanian insisted that this may still happen at the next meeting of
the foreign ministers, arguing that the parties have already created
"quite a solid base" for reaching agreement. "There is a document on
the table," he said. "We believe it is a fairly serious document that
allows for a solution to the problem."

The proposed peace deal calls for a gradual settlement of the Karabakh
dispute that would culminate in a referendum of self-determination
in Karabakh. Baku and Yerevan are believed to disagree, among other
things, on practical modalities of that referendum.

Oskanian and Mammadyarov met the day after attending and trading fresh
accusations at a meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council
in Geneva. Mammadyarov repeated Azerbaijani allegations of "Armenian
aggression" against his country, while Oskanian said Azerbaijan "lost
the political and moral right to govern people they considered their
own citizens."

ARMENIAN BUSINESSMEN ‘HURT’ BY STRICTER EU VISA RULES
By Irina Hovannisian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
March 14 2007

Armenian businessmen and top company executives complained on Wednesday
that traveling to the European Union has been far more difficult
for them over the past year due to what they see as an unjustified
toughening of EU visa rules.

The mostly wealthy individuals affiliated with Armenia’s main business
association claimed that the stricter requirements are increasingly
hampering their commercial ties and other transactions with EU
companies. They were particularly critical of the German consulate in
Yerevan, which also issues visas for other, smaller European states
making up the Schengen zone.

"We have no problem getting a visa from the American, Indian and
other embassies," said Georgi Avetikian, director of the Yerevan-based
aluminum foil plant Armenal. "At the German embassy, you have to wait
for hours just to get interviewed by a consulate official."

"Also, a businessman had to hold seven-day negotiations in an
EU country but was granted only a five-day visa recently," said
Avetikian. "I can’t understand that either."

Gagik Abrahamian, who runs a local jewelry company trading with
Belgium, complained that he was recently denied a Schengen visa
despite submitting a written invitation from his Belgian partners.

"Our partners from a famous Belgian company applied to their foreign
ministry but did not get a reply," he told a roundtable discussion
with officials from the Armenian Foreign Ministry.

According to Abrahamian and other participants, until last year
Armenian business travelers were easily granted Schengen visas if
they presented supporting letters from the Union of Industrialists
and Manufacturers of Armenia. Many were even spared the need to be
interviewed by relevant consulates in person, they said.

"In the past year this system has not functioned properly,"
the union’s chairman, Arsen Ghazarian, told RFE/RL. "In our view,
there are too many undue delays and refusals, especially concerning
[company] managers who have to often travel abroad to negotiate and
sign agreements."

Tigran Seyranian, head of the Foreign Ministry department on consular
affairs, blamed the apparent toughening of visa procedures on the high
rate of illegal emigration from Armenia to Europe. He argued that in
France alone at least a hundred Armenian citizens apply for asylum
every month. Seyranian also suggested that some Armenian business
people may have had "problems" with EU immigration authorities in
the past.

Ghazarian insisted, however, that no member of his association has
ever overstayed an EU visa or lived in an EU country illegally. "The
union has existed for ten years and there hasn’t been a single case of
a union member staying illegally or breaking the law there," he said.

FOREIGN MINISTERS OF AZERBAIJAN AND ARMENIA AGREED TO CONTINUE NEGOTIATIONS IN APRIL

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
March 14 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / corr. Trend S.Agayeva / The next meeting of the
Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan, Elmar Mammadyarov and Armenia,
Vardan Oskanyan, will take place in April. The Press Secretary of
the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan, Khazar Ibrahim, said that such
agreement was reached during 14 March meeting of the Foreign Ministers
of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Geneva.

The meeting was also attended by the Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group and Special Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office.

The sides expressed their positions and it was decided to continue
the consultations. The Co-chairs will agree the next meeting of
the Ministers, taking into consideration their working schedule,
Ibrahim said.

ARMENIA IS NOT PLANNING TO JOIN NATO TODAY – MKRTCHYAN

ITAR-TASS, Russia
March 14 2007

YEREVAN, March 14 (Itar-Tass) – Head of the Armenian Mission to NATO
Samvel Lazarian has stated here that his republic was not planning
to join the Atlantic Alliance but would be compelled to reconsider
it stand if Georgia were to accede to NATO.

"We deem it necessary for our relations with NATO to fit into
the framework of the individual partnership plan. We regard this
voluminous document as a bulwark of our national security, Lazarian
stated, speaking on Wednesday at the "Urbat" (Friday) press club
here. "Partnership with NATO does not pursue the goal of membership
in the Alliance and it is country’s right to independently assess
the forms of its national security," he noted.

"It depends on the tendencies of regional development" whether Armenia
will be a member of the North Atlantic Alliance or not," Lazarian
believes. Georgia is in a hurry to join NATO, and if this happens,
"Armenia will have to reconsider its attitude" to membership to
the Alliance," he added. This is even more obvious "since we have
proclaimed the course of European integration as our foreign policy
priority," he noted.

"Armenia’s relations with NATO have notably developed in the past 2-3
years" and this is testified by the opening of an Armenian mission
at NATO," Lazarian stated.

PERINCEK APPEALS SWISS VERDICT ON ‘GENOCIDE’ DENIAL

The New Anatolian, Turkey
March 14 2007

The New Anatolian with AP / Lausanne

A Turkish politician has filed an appeal against a racism conviction
by a Swiss court for denying that the early 20th century deaths of
Armenians was genocide, his lawyer said Monday.

Lawyer Laurent Moreillon said that Dogu Perincek, the leader of the
Turkish Workers’ Party (IP), had lodged the appeal with the Cantonal
Court in Vaud, where he was convicted by a lower tribunal earlier
this week and ordered to pay a fine of 3,000 Swiss francs ($2,450),
along with a suspended penalty of 9,000 francs.

Perincek was charged with breaking Swiss law by denying during a visit
to Switzerland in 2005 that the World War I-era deaths of up to 1.5
million Armenians amounted to genocide. He has since repeated the
claim, including during his trial earlier this week. Perincek accused
the judge of "racial hatred" toward Turkey and said he would appeal
the verdict with Switzerland’s Supreme Court.

Perincek also said that he would take his case to the European Court
of Human Rights if necessary.

The IP leader, who submitted 90 kilograms of historical documents,
argued there had been no genocide against Armenians, but there had been
"reciprocal massacres."

The case was seen as a test of whether it is a violation of
Switzerland’s anti-racism law to deny that the Turks committed
genocide in the deaths. The legislation has previously been applied
to Holocaust denial.

The case has caused diplomatic tension between the Alpine republic and
Turkey, which insists Armenians were killed in civil unrest during
the tumultuous collapse of the Ottoman Empire and not in a planned
campaign of genocide.

In his closing statement, Judge Pierre-Henri Winzap described the
defendant as an intelligent and cultivated person, but added that
to deny the Armenian genocide was an arrogant provocation because it
was an accepted historical fact.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry, in a written statement on Friday,
expressed Ankara’s uneasiness with the Swiss court’s decision.

Saying that the decision would not be accepted by Turkey, the statement
added, "We hope that decision will be corrected by independent Swiss
judicial officials which we believed that there were in Switzerland."

Turkey strongly opposes the claims that its predecessor state, the
Ottoman government, caused the Armenian deaths in a planned genocide.

The Turkish government has said the toll is wildly inflated and that
Armenians were killed or displaced in civil unrest during the empire’s
collapse and conditions of World War I. Ankara’s proposal to Yerevan
to set up a joint commission of historians to study the disputed
events is still awaiting a positive response from the Armenian side.

After French lawmakers voted last October to make it a crime to deny
that the claims were genocide, Turkey said it would suspend military
relations with France.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ISTANBUL MEGA-FLAGS STIR NATIONALIST WAVE

The New Anatolian, Turkey
March 14 2007

Amid rising concern over a nationalist wave gaining ground in Turkey,
Istanbul’s mayor yesterday marked the first step by the municipality
to furnish the city with huge national flags.

Istanbul Greater Municipality Mayor Kadir Topbas, hailing from the
ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party, hoisted a gigantic Turkish
flag at a ceremony in Istanbul’s Sarayburnu district, an elevated
neighborhood that can easily be seen from around the city center.

The municipality aims to adorn the city with 10 flags, each weighing
nearly 50 kilos.

However, several commentators watching these developments with
concern have warned about what they see as a rapid escalation in
nationalist sentiment and demonstrations, while urging authorities
to stop "manipulating" the public.

On the other hand, a great many analysts have explained the rise in
nationalist expression as an expected reaction to increased terrorism
and Armenian genocide claims. It has become common to observe crowds
marching against the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) while
carrying huge flags and shouting nationalist slogans.

Topbas, speaking at the ceremony, said, "The municipality wishes for
all people living in Istanbul to feel the honor of living under the
Turkish flag, the real love of the Turkish people, and that foreigners
setting foot in the city notice these flags."

"The flags, which will be flown from 36 meter poles and be floodlit
around the clock, will be in the sky forever," he added.

He also noted that each flag has an area of 150 square meters.

The enormous flags will be flown in the Emirgan Grove, Beylikduzu,
Kartal and the Pendik districts, Camlica Hill and Istanbul’s hilly
Kayisdagi district.

The flag poles are made of a weather-resistant electro-plated material
that can withstand gales and earthquakes.

Sisli district Mayor Mustafa Sarigul from the main opposition
Republican People’s Party (CHP) also said recently that he is planning
to have an extraordinarily large flag made to order.

According to the mayor, one end of the flag could be placed in Taksim
and the other in Sisli, a 15-minute walk away.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IOSIF SHAGAL: ISRAELI KNESSET WILL NOT DISCUSS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
March 14 2007

Khaynmar Aron, parliamentarian from Meres party is expected to make
speech about alleged Armenian genocide at the meeting of Israeli
parliament, MP Iosif Shagal told the APA.

He said that the parliamentarian will make speech at the end of the
meeting and his position will not be debated.

Shagal said Meres Party is left party and has only five mandates in
the parliament.

"I met with the party leader Yosi Beyn and parliamentarian Khaynmar
Aron and told them that it is not right to make speech about it now.

I reminded that according to the official Isarel’s position, issue
on Armenian genocide is not discussed in the country," he said.

Shagal said that MPs has the right to make speech on any theme.

"Khaynmar will say that genocide was committed against Armenians
and note that Israel is indifferent to the fact. No discussions
are expected to be held over this. According to the parliament’s
regulation the member of coalition will respond to the opposition
and says that they have heard their position. Health Minister will
answer to Aron’s speech," he said.

Commenting on making analogous speech on March 31 – Day of Azerbaijani
Genocide, Iosif Shagal said that his country does not discuss issues
on genocide.

"The parliament receives new documents about the genocide committed
against Azerbaijanis, and they have not been analyzed yet. As the
head of Israel-Azerbaijan interparliamentary association I will do
my best for these documents to be analyzed. We will have discussions
with Azerbaijani and Israeli specialists and prominent historians
of the world. If we find documents proving the genocide, I will do
my best for the discussion of this issue in Israeli parliament,"
Iosif Shagal said.

SURGEON OF "ARMENIA" MEDICAL CENTER SENTENCED TO 4-YEAR IMPRISONMENT

Noyan Tapan
Mar 14 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 14, NOYAN TAPAN. The Court of First Instance of the
communities of Ajapniak and Davitashen, Yerevan, sentenced on March
14 Armen Sargsian, the surgeon of the 2nd surgical department of the
"Armenia" medical center to 4-year imprisonment. By this the court
considered reasoned the accusations presented towards him of causing
treated patient Nune Baghdasarian’s (born in 1984) death in the
consequence of improperly implementing his obligations, fulfilling
them carelessly and unconscientiously.

N.Baghdasarian was taken to the hospital on October 19, 2005, with
the diagnosis "acute stomach, acute destructive appendicitis, local
peritonitis."

A.Sargsian operated on her on the same day, the patient was moved to
the therapy department and inspite of the serum production from the
drainage-tube, the drainage-tube was operated. Besides, the patient was
discharged from the hospital with 37.2 degree temperature. No control
or examination was carried out before October 26, the patient’s next
visit to the hospital, though the pathology continued in the stomach
cavity and post-operational peritonitis developed. As a result
the serum peritonitis developed and turned into spreading fibroma
mattery peritonitis. The doctor did not make correct diagnosis on
October 26 and, in conditions of 38.5 temperature, pains in the
region of stomach and existence of swelling, the patient was again
sent home. N.Baghdasarian was re-operated after being examined by
another specialist already on October 27, but in the consequence
of development of difficulties incompatible with life, it was not
managed to save her life, and N.Baghdasarian died on October 28.

GUAM NATIONAL COORDINATORS TO MEET IN KYIV

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
March 14 2007

GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova) national coordinators
will tomorrow meet in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on March 15-16,
Azerbaijani ambassador to Ukraine Talat Aliyev told the APA.

He said that the experts are working on the meeting program at present.

Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov is the national coordinator of
Azerbaijan in GUAM. Araz Azimov is at present in Switzerland. He
participated at today’s meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign
Ministers as Azerbaijani President’s special representative on the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress