Month: March 2007

WE NEED FORCEFUL PROPAGANDA

Azat Artsakh Daily, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]
01 March 07

On February 26 the parliamentary factions and groups of the NKR
National Assembly held a news conference on the anniversary of the
tragedy in Sumgait.

All the parliament forces condemn this horrendous crime. "Sumgait was
the picture of Azerbaijan of the early 20th century displayed late in
the 20th century, " said Armen Sargsian, ARF-Movement 88 group. Arthur
Tovmassian, Hayrenik faction, said: "The events in Sumgait are the
continuation of the Armenian genocide in the beginning of the past
century." According to him, the Azerbaijani authorities had tried
to stage similar acts in other areas but failed. The leader of the
Democratic faction Vahram Atanessian emphasized that the events in
Sumgait were perpetrated a week after the February 20, 1988 decision
of the NKR Soviet of Deputies. It was the reaction of Azerbaijan to
the constitutional claims of the Armenians of Karabakh. There were also
proposals. "We intend to mark this day not only as the day of memory of
victims of Sumgait but also as a day of protest of Armenians against
the anti-Armenian policy of Azerbaijan," said Armen Sargsian. The
other parliament forces agree on this evaluation of these events. And
not only on these events. The leaders of the parliament factions
assured that the political forces are unanimous on all the important
issues of the Armenians of Artsakh. As an example, they pointed to the
hearings at the NKR parliament on the Karabakh issue and the document
adopted during these hearings. However, the political forces are not
enough, the entire society should act unanimously, they say. The
leaders of the factions touched upon the events of Khodjalu, more
exactly the false information the Azerbaijani propaganda machine is
constantly supplying. The parliamentary forces agree that Sumgait and
Khodjalu are not equal. In the end the leaders of the factions made a
statement. "The massacres perpetrated by the Azerbaijani authorities on
February 27-29 in 1988 were not given an adequate political and legal
evaluation, the organizers were not punished, and the international
community never learned their names," the statement runs. As a result,
the Azerbaijani authorities went on with ethnic cleansing in Khanlar,
Kutkashen, Vardashen and Shamkor regions and Mingechaur in November
and December 1988, Kirovabad in 1989, Baku in 1990, the members
of parliament announced. With regard to the events in Khodjalu, the
representatives of the parliament forces stated that by falsifying the
reality in Khodjalu the Azerbaijani authorities first of all deceive
their people hiding the truth that the village had become a theatre
of internal political struggle for power in Azerbaijan. However, it is
necessary to be able to convey this to the international community. "
Unfortunately, we do not have established propaganda," said Vahram
Atanessian, adding that some efforts are nevertheless made.

PROBLEMS OF REFUGEES WERE DISCUSSED IN ROUND-TABLE MEETING
Anahit Gabrielian

Azat Artsakh Daily, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]
01 March 07

Recently the NKR organization of refugees has held a round-table
meeting in Stepanakert. Besides refugees, representatives of
government agencies had been invited, namely Serge Amirkhanian, head
of the Department for Migration, Refugees and Resettlement, head
of the political department of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Margaret Karapetian, the deputy rector of Artsakh State University
Valery Javadian, as well all as reporters. The round-table was on
the problems of refugees displaced from Azerbaijan in 1988-1992, who
live in NKR. The problem of housing of refugees remains urgent. 33
families have been living for 18 years now at one of the dormitories
of Artsakh State Universities, which lacks conveniences. In Ajapniak,
a suburb of Stepanakert, 14 houses were built for refugees but these
families refuse to move into new houses, because there is no transport
and conveniences they say. On the eve the representative of the
organization of refugees and the head of the government agency which
deals with the problems of refugees had visited the new residential
area with a group of refugees, and the disadvantages of the new houses
frustrated the refugees who long for moving into new houses. Margaret
Karapetian, a senior official of the foreign ministry, says settling
people in bad conditions means violating their rights. The participants
heard with interest the representative of the foreign ministry that
the international organizations are interested in a peace settlement
of the issue and possible cooperation between NKR and the EU. Serge
Amirkhanian, the head of the NKR department for migration, refugees
and resettlement, said soon the conditions in the new residential
area will be improved, and another 13 houses will be built this year.

Besides, if there are families who own land in any other area, a
house will be built for them on that plot. He also said the refugees
who can afford to buy an apartment may get assistance. As for the
suburb of Ajapniak, Serge Amirkhanian says hopefully there will be
people who will wish to live in the new neighborhood. The chair of
the organization of refugees Sanasar Sarian said the organization
was set up to protect the refugees and their rights. At the same
time, he called on the refugees for active participation in the
political and economic life of the country. In cooperation with
the International Alert the organization of refugees of NKR makes
efforts to restore confidence between the conflict parties, which
is an important precondition for the settlement of the problem. The
participants endorsed the goal of the organization, at the same time
they pointed to the dual standards in solving their problem.

Namely, we are made to agree to the return of the Azerbaijani refugees,
meanwhile, the number of Armenian refugees and their status is never
discussed.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FATE OF MANY "GHOST PRISONERS" STILL UNKNOWN
by Eli Clifton

Inter Press Service
Thursday, March 1, 2007

WASHINGTON – The U.S. government should account for all "ghost
prisoners" detained by the Central Intelligence Agency in secret
prisons around the world, urges a new report by Human Rights Watch
(HRW). The report, "Ghost Prisoner: Two Years in Secret CIA Detention,"
contains detailed descriptions from a Palestinian detainee of his
experience in a secret CIA prison before his release last year.

On Sep. 6, 2006, U.S. President George W. Bush said that all CIA
prisoners have either been released or sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,
but HRW claims that many other prisoners were simply "disappeared"
by the CIA.

"The question is: what happened to these people and where are they
now?" said Joanne Mariner, terrorism and counterterrorism director
at HRW, in a statement.

Marwan Jabour, the former CIA detainee, says that a number of these
"disappeared" individuals are still in CIA prisons and that he
personally saw one of these men, Algerian terrorism suspect Yassir
al-Jazeeri, in July 2006 in CIA custody.

The location of the missing detainees is unknown but one possibility
is that they have been moved from CIA "black sites", U.S. prisons
rumoured to be present in Thailand, Afghanistan, Jordan, Pakistan,
Morocco, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Armenia,
Georgia, Latvia, and Bulgaria, to foreign prisons where they remain
under CIA control, and may face torture at the hands of U.S. or
local interrogators.

In May 2004, Marwan Jabour was arrested by Pakistani authorities and
held for more than a month at a "black site" in Islamabad staffed
by both U.S. and Pakistani personnel, during which time he was badly
tortured.

In June, he was taken to a secret prison, believed to have been in
Afghanistan, where the personnel were nearly all U.S. nationals.

Upon arrival at the secret prison, he says he was left completely
naked for a month and a half, during which time he was questioned by
female interrogators and filmed.

He was chained to the wall of his cell so he could not stand up, placed
in stress positions so that he had difficulty breathing and told that
if he did not cooperate he would be put in a suffocating "dog box".

Jabour says he worried incessantly about his wife and three young
daughters but was not allowed to send a letter to reassure them he
was alive during his more than two years spent in a windowless cell.

"It was a grave," Jabour told HRW, "I felt like my life was over."

The report not only calls attention to the trauma experienced by the
detainees but also addresses the hardships and confusion faced by
the families of detainees whose husbands, fathers and sons have been
"disappeared".

HRW offers recommendations for how the U.S. and foreign governments
should confront the human rights failures posed by the CIA rendition
of terrorism suspects.

It urges the U.S. to repudiate the use of secret detention and coercive
interrogation as counterterrorism tactics and permanently discontinue
the CIA’s detention and interrogation programme, and to disclose the
identities, fate and whereabouts of all detainees previously held at
the facilities operated or controlled by the CIA since 2001.

Other governments should refuse to assist or cooperate in any way with
CIA detention, interrogation and rendition operations, and disclose
any information that they have about such operations, HRW says.

The release of the report was accompanied by a letter to President
Bush, expressing the group’s concern over the use of secret prisons
to hold people suspected of involvement in terrorism.

"By holding such people in unacknowledged, incommunicado detention, the
United States violated fundamental human rights norms, in particular,
the prohibition on enforced disappearance," the letter states.

Although 14 CIA detained terrorism suspects were transferred to
Guantanmo Bay, after Bush acknowledged the transfer and said there
were no more secret CIA prisoners, Director of National Intelligence,
John Negroponte, publicly acknowledged there were three dozen people
in detention in April 2006, three months before Bush’s announcement.

HRW does not believe satisfactory information has been released about
every person detained since 2001 in CIA prisons, states the letter.

The message to Bush concludes with a list of 16 people believed to
have once been held at CIA prisons and whose current whereabouts are
unknown and a separate list of 22 people who were possibly once held
in CIA prisons and whose current whereabouts are unknown.

Earlier this month, the European Parliament released a report accusing
Britain, Germany, Italy and other European nations of tolerating CIA
flights transporting terrorism suspects to secret prisons, a practice
known as "extraordinary rendition", in an apparent breach of EU human
rights standards.

STATE BUDGETARY REVENUES OF RA GROW BY 44.7% IN JANUARY 2007 ON SAME MONTH OF LAST YEAR

Noyan Tapan
Mar 01 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, NOYAN TAPAN. In January 2007, the state budgetary
revenues of the RA made over 40.4 bln drams (about 111.1 mln USD),
while budgetary expenditures – 18.6 bln drams. The programmed annual
indices on revenues approved by the Armenian government were fulfilled
by 8%, expenditure indices – by 3.5%. According to the RA Ministry of
Finance and Economy, state budgetary revenues grew by 44.7% or 12.5 bln
drams on the same period of last year. In this sum, taxes and duties
grew by 5.1 bln drams, non-tax revenues – by 6.1 bln drams, revenues
from capital operations – by 1.6 bln drams, whereas official transfers
declined by 373.1 mln drams. Most of the state budgetary revenues –
69.6% was formed at the expense of taxes. State duties made up 2.8%
of budgetary revenues, non-tax revenues – 17.7%, and revenues from
capital operations – 9.9%.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA DRAM APPRECIATES BY 2.1% AGAINST US DOLLAR IN FEBRUARY 2007

Noyan Tapan
Mar 01 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, NOYAN TAPAN. A 0.2% inflation registered in the
Armenian consumer market in February 2007 was accompanied by a 2.1%
decline in the settlement exchange rate of the Armenian dram against
the US dollar (the dram appreciated). According to the RA National
Statistical Service, a 0.2% growth in consumer prices was regsitered
in February 2006, which was accompanies by a 0.4% decline in the
exchange rate of the Armenian dram. In February 2007, the average
settlement exchange rate of the Armenian dram against the US dollar
made 356.14 drams, which is lower by 20.9% than the respective index
of February 2006 (450.11 drams).

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PARTIALLY SANE CRIMINAL SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS’ IMPRISONMEMT FOR MURDER OF DISABLED FREEDOM FIGHTER

Noyan Tapan
Mar 01 2007

KAPAN, MARCH 1, NOYAN TAPAN. The court of first instance of Syunik marz
sentenced resident of the city of Kapan Vrezh Barseghian to 15 years’
imprisonment. At about 2:30 pm on September 10, 2006, V. Barseghian
killed disabled freedom fighter Alexander Hayrapetian in the city
lavatory of Kapan children’s park after Vazgen Sargsian. The court took
into account the facts that V. Barseghian has under-age children and is
partially sane. During a talk with NT correspondent, deputy prosecutor
of Synik marz Petros Hayrapetian said that law enforcement bodies had
been lenient twice towards V. Barseghian. First, he was not convicted
for theft because of his illness, in the second case he was released
under an amnesty after spending two months in prison for robbery.

However, this time the criminal may be released ahead of his term
only after 12 years in prison.

BIRTH RATE DECLINES IN ARMENIA IN PARALLEL WITH INCREASE IN NUMBER OF WOMEN OF REPRODUCTIVE AGE

Noyan Tapan
Mar 01 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, NOYAN TAPAN. The number of births has declined
almost twice in Armenia compared with 1998, while the mortality
rate has increased by 32.3%. Karine Kuyumjian, Head of the Census
and Demography Unit of the RA National Statistical Service, stated
this during the February 28 discussion of the draft concept on
state demographic policy of the RA. According to her, about 80
thousand babies were born annually in the 1990s in Armenia, whereas
37 thousand were born in 2006. She noted that birth age coefficient
is important in terms of an increase in births. It was pointed out
that in recent years the number of women of reproductive age (15-45
years) has grown in parallel with a decline in birth rate. In 1990,
there were 909 thousand women of this age in the country, while
today their number makes 922.7 thousand. "So the number of women of
reproductive age has not decreased and we have a birth rate problem,"
K. Kuyumjian noted. It was mentioned that in 2006, 27 thousand deaths
were registered in Armenia against 19 thousand deaths in 1990. In the
words of K. Kuyumjian, the number of deaths among persons aged 60
and over has increased in the total number of deaths. Deaths among
babies up to one year make up 80-85% of the number of deaths among
children aged up to 4 years. By the way, in 1990, the number of deaths
of babies up to one year made 1,465 cases, while in 2006 – 520 cases
(preliminary data).

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HUNAN AVETISIAN MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT TO START ON MARCH 6

Noyan Tapan
Mar 01 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, NOYAN TAPAN. Soviet Union hero Hunan Avetisian’s
traditional football memorial tournament will start on March 6
at Armavir jubilee playing field. Shirak, Kilikia, Ulis, Pyunik-2,
Banants-2, Ararat-2, Dinamo and Yerevan United have put in applications
for participating in the competitions.

The teams will divide into two subgroups and the winners will compete
for the challenge cup at the March 13 final match.

CHAIRMAN OF NATIONAL REBIRTH PARTY SECOND ON PPA’S PROPORTIONAL LIST

Noyan Tapan
Mar 01 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, NOYAN TAPAN. The People’s Party of Armenia (PPA) that
will run for the parliamentary elections on its own will introduce its
proportional list to RA CEC on March 2. Noyan Tapan correspondent was
informed about it by Secretary of Party Board Stepan Minasian. PPA’s
list is headed by party leader Stepan Demirchian and the second is
Chairman of National Rebirth Party Albert Bazeyan. RA MPs Grigor
Haroutiunian and Stepan Zakarian, then Stepan Minasian follow them
on the list. The number of women registered in PPA’s proportional
list makes nearly 30%. Party Spokesperson Ruzan Khachatrian is N
6 on the list, member of Party’s Political Board, Head of Alaverdi
territorial organization Larisa Paremuzian is N 8. For the present,
only RA MP Vardan Mkrtchian has expressed willingness to nominate
his candidature by majoritarian system from PPA.

AS SHAVARSH KOCHARIAN AFFIRMS, OPPOSITION’S DIVISION WAS PREDETERMINED

Noyan Tapan
Mar 01 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, NOYAN TAPAN. The opposition failed to unite on the
threshold of the forthcoming parliamentary elections, as there was
no iedological axis necessary for unification. Shavarsh Kocharian,
Chairman of National Democratic Party, made such a statement at the
March 1 press conference. In his words, the Ardarutiun (Justice)
bloc formed before the 2003 elections included forces with different
ideologies, which were united by the idea of necessity of system
reforms. But when the opportunity to implement real reforms in the
country through constitutional amendments was created, the opposition
stepped back "being afraid of protecting their own achievement." As
NDP Chairman affirmed, starting from that moment the opposition’s
division was predetermined.

S. Kocharian reminded that the draft constitutional amendments
submitted to NA in first reading strengthened authoritarianism
for even more, which was prevented and the principles of power
differentiation was deepened and this was done thanks to opposition’s
pressure as well. As regards the power camp, in S. Kocharian’s words,
it is always consolidated, irrespective of the fact in what way
it presents itself to the public. The NDP Chairman said that power
forces will never permit the competition among them to endanger the
common interest: that is, to reproduce themselves and to retain the
power. S. Kocharian refuted the rumors that preelection agitation
of NDP, as well as other opposition forces running for the elections
independently is financed by the authorities. In his words, by this
logic all opposition forces in Armenia are mercenary, as all of them
will take part in the elections on their own. The NDP Chairman said
that all talks about the election results’ being predetermined and
opposition leaders’ being mercenary have the goal to deepen public’s
disappointment and to incite people not to go to elections.