Month: April 2007

ILLOGICAL GAMES

KarabakhOpen
19-04-2007 13:09:50

The pre-election period in Karabakh is interesting, somewhat
controversial and illogical. The parliament forces are still
negotiating over the principles of agreement on naming a single
candidate, all the parties believe that the negotiations are not over
and there is no final decision yet.

At the same time, the Azat Hayrenik Party, which has the second
faction in the parliament by the number of its members, announced some
days ago that they had decided to support Bako Sahakyan. It allows
concluding that the Azat Hayrenik Party has made a decision and does
not need negotiations, because they say nothing can influence their
decision. Moreover, the initiative group to name Bako Sahakyan is
already being formed.

The logical question that occurs is what the point of negotiations
on a single candidate is.

Arthur Mosiyan, the representative of the Central Committee of the ARF
Dashnaktsutyun Artsakh, stated on April 18 that Dashnaktsutyun has not
made a final decision because the negotiations among the parties over
the main principles are not over. It is also illogical that the Azat
Hayrenik Party, which has already endorsed Bako Sahakyan (of course,
if the latter is named), is also one of the negotiating forces. If it
is so, ostensibly the political forces are most probably negotiating
over the likely candidate Bako Sahakyan.

If it is so, it is possible that another candidate is also under
consideration, who logically will not be supported by the Azat Hayrenik
Party. And if there is no other candidate, the other three forces will
have to support the candidate preferred by the Azat Hayrenik Party. It
appears that this party sets the rules of the game in Karabakh.

We only need to understand what these illogical games are for and
who wants to avoid remorse through agreement on the principles.

THE JOINT STATEMENT BY THE NKR PARLIAMENT FORCES

KarabakhOpen
19-04-2007 13:09:25

In preparing for the presidential election on July 19, 2007 the NKR
parliament forces – the Democratic Party of Artsakh, the Azat Hayrenik
Party, the ARF Dashnaktsutyun and Movement 88 – held consultations. The
parties agreed that.

Since the proclamation of NKR serious steps have been made towards
laying the foundation of the independent state, creating a legitimate
and effective government through presidential, parliamentary and
local elections in different years, an effective army to defend
the sovereignty of the country and security of people, which helped
prevent the danger against the regular development of the country
and adopt a line of democratic reforms, creation of a civil society
and dominance of human rights, provide definite economic progress,
implement a number of social programs, enact legislation for fostering
liberal market economy, increasing investments. The experience of the
independent state and the tendencies of its development were set down
in the NKR Constitution adopted by a popular voting.

Nevertheless, there are a number of unsolved problems in the
country. The parties have discussed the situation and agreed on
proceeding from the following priorities in drawing up the agenda
for the upcoming years:

– International recognition of the independence of NKR; – Legislative
reforms necessitated by the Constitution; – Further democratization of
the system of public administration, promotion of the mechanisms of
division and counterbalance of the branches of power, establishment
of institutions of public control over the government; – Drafting
of an entitlement social policy and a national strategy of poverty
reduction; – Drafting and introducing a new concept of finance and
loan policy to foster economic development; – Improvement of the
demographic state through resettlement and support to villages.

Proceeding from this agenda, the parties think they can support a
common presidential candidate, including a candidate nominated on a
civil initiative, on the basis of agreement on the principles of his
election program and the abovementioned priorities.

The statement is open to all the other political forces to join:

Democratic Party of Artsakh Chair of the Central Council Ashot Ghulyan

Armenian Revolutionary Federation Representative of the Central
Committee of Arsakh Arthur Mosiyan

Azat Hayrenik Party Chair of the Central Council Arayik Harutiunyan

Movement 88 Chair of the party’s administration Edward Aghabekyan

URGENT APPEAL TO SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE SURVIVORS
Jean Eckian

KarabakhOpen
19-04-2007 13:06:14

4000 years of history reduced to nothing in a matter of months by the
most heinous crime that a population could experience. A genocide. A
genocide that does not finish wreaking havoc until reaching the very
core of the diaspora by the aggression of a state that does not want
to accept the truth. A genocide that wants to reduce to nothing not
just the words like those of the late Hrant Dink, but also the ancient
Armenian culture, as if these people had never lived in Asia Minor. As
if they had never even existed… since according to certain Turkish’s
intellectuals, a majority of the local population never learnt about
their history from school books…

For several years, the diaspora has already been fighting from all
angles the Turkish state and small extremist group revisionism that
would like to silence the just demands of the descendants of those who
survived the first genocide of the 20th century. To do this, they are
going to great lengths in referring to them in the politics of the free
states and confronting those who recognize that one day back in 1915,
April 24, following the 1894-1897 massacres, a plan was implemented
to exterminate the Armenians under cover of the First World War.

Why this reminder that each one of us, by transference, has been
living a life of sorrow for almost a century?

Because, like all Armenians, we long for nothing else than to bring
victory to an irrefutable truth. The great majority of our population
must participate in the struggle started by the representative
organizations, who are testifying to the tragedy that they suffered
first hand themselves by making the honorary gesture of creating a
memorial to bear the Names of the Martyrs eternally on

This contribution is a moral obligation for those who can bring
together by number and name those members of their families who
suffered this unspeakable crime against humanity, termed "genocide"
by Raphael Lemkin.

Thanks to its database and its internal messaging service, about
dispersed people have been able to retrace members of their family
since this website was set up. It is also one of the sources with
the most information on the diaspora’s activities to raise awareness
about the Armenian Genocide.

Furthermore, you can download an exclusive slide show rendering an
account of the tribute paid to journalist Hrant Dink, three months
after its murder, by Armenians from more than 20 countries.

In 2015 we hope to have registered one million names of those who
suffered the ultimate sacrifice and to whom we simply must pay
tribute. It is time for each one of us to realize that by hiding
our nation’s past, it will sooner or later become obscured in the
consciences of our descendants in centuries to come. The time is here
and now for the Armenian people to act in order to stop the violence.

I solemnly ask you to ensure the memory of our martyrs lives on in the
memorial on (www.) inhomage.com and to pass on this appeal by all means
possible so that every Armenian on our planet testifies and actively
takes part in it. To refrain would be to abandon your own identity
by leaving a gaping hole to swallow up the most grievous abuse.

"Don’t let’s ask what others can do for us, but rather let’s ask what
we can do for the memory of our Martyrs."

Each name registered is a cry from the depths (the source of the
truth).

Thank you for those awaiting liberation by our actions.

is supported by Charles Aznavour and many leaders
of the diaspora around the world.

Take part now!

AZERBAIJANI DIASPORA INTENDS TO "EXERT PRESSURE" ON THE ARMENIAN DIASPORA

ArmRadio.am
19.04.2007 13:55

Azerbaijani Diaspora must "exert pressure" on the Armenian
Diaspora, said Avda Abramov, member of Milli Majlis, Head of the
Azerbaijani-Israeli Interparlaimentary Friendship Group, reports
Day.az.

In the Deputy’s words, for this purpose the efforts of several
Diasporas should be unified. "To exert pressure on the Armenian
Diaspora possessing powerful political and information recourses the
Azerbaijani Diaspora should work jointly with Turkish and Israeli
Diasporas," Abramov declared.

THREE CHRISTIANS MURDERED IN TURKISH CITY
By Vincent Boland in Ankara

FT
April 18 2007 18:44

Three people, including a German citizen, were killed in a savage
attack on a Turkish publishing company with ties to the country’s
Christian community, in the latest in a series of bloody assaults on
its tiny religious minorities.

Separately, in a development that could inflame Turkey’s simmering
ethnic tensions still further, four police officers were acquitted of
any wrongdoing in the shooting deaths of a 12-year-old Kurdish boy
and his father in 2004. The incident caused anguish in the country
and attracted the attention of international human rights activists.

Both developments highlight the precarious nature of religious and
other minority freedoms in Turkey, which is 99 per cent Muslim and
prone to chauvinistic nationalism. They follow the murder in January
of Hrant Dink, a prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist, and coincide
with continuing unrest and separatist feeling in the Kurdish provinces
in the east and southeast.

The attack on the Zirve publishing house, which reportedly was involved
in distributing bibles, occurred in Malatya, a city of about 1m in
eastern Turkey. The three victims were found with their hands and feet
bound and with their throats cut in an assault that bore hallmarks
of the attacks carried out by Islamist extremists. The German embassy
in Ankara said one of the victims was a German citizen.

Four people were being questioned about the incident late on Wednesday,
and Turkish television reported that a link was being investigated
to an organisation called Turkish Hezbollah, which seeks to establish
an Islamist state in Kurdish Turkey.

Any motive for the attack, the worst on a Christian target for many
years, was not clear. But Malatya has an unusual history that would
give the incident some context. It used to be home to a large community
of Armenian Christians. Most of them fled or were massacred as the
Ottoman empire collapsed during the first world war.

Since then its population has become a mix of Turks and ethnic Kurds.

Both communities identify their separate and often warring nationalisms
with Islam. Malatya is the hometown of Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish
man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, and of Mr Dink.

The four police officers were acquitted of all charges relating to
the murders of Ahmet Kaymaz and his son Ugur in Kiziltepe, a Kurdish
village close to Turkey’s border with Syria. The case was seen as a
test of Turkey’s willingness to hold its security forces to account in
the decades-old war between the Turkish state and Kurdish separatism.

A judge at the trial found on Wednesday that the officers acted
in self-defence. Murat Yapmaz, an uncle of the dead boy, said in a
telephone interview that the family felt it had not got justice.

"We will never accept this decision. It is very bad for Turkey,"
he said.

OFFICIAL ANKARA WORRIED ABOUT GENOCIDE DRAFT

ArmRadio.am
19.04.2007 14:55

Official Ankara is worried that Armenia may use to its benefit the
EU law on penalizing the negation of the Holocaust and the Rwanda
Genocide. The Justice and Home Affairs Council may reach a general
approach on this Framework Decision today.

Zaman writes that despite the fact that the law does not envisage
criminal responsibility for the negation of the Armenian Genocide,
the Turkish authorities do not exclude that in the future the Armenian
Diaspora may comment it to its own benefit.

Let us remind that the bill envisages criminal responsibility (up to
three years in prison) for denying the Holocaust and the Genocide in
Rwanda. It will supposedly work all over Europe. Unknown diplomatic
sources told "Zaman" that the above-mentioned law "has nothing to do
with the Armenian Genocide."

"Even if the French Senate adopts the law on criminalizing the negation
of the Armenian Genocide, it will not apply to all European states. I’m
not confident the Armenian lobby will be able to have the law work
in all 27 EU member states," the source noted.

RA FM: ARMENIA STRIVES FOR HOLDING PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION IN LINE WITH INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS

Arminfo
2007-04-19 14:07:00

Armenia makes efforts to hold the forthcoming parliamentary elections
in line with the international standards, RA FM Vardan Oskanyan said
at the session of OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna (Austria).

Many of us in and out of government are deeply committed to improve our
score, to strive for elections in line with international norms. While
past mistakes are undeniable, we should not be presumed guilty for the
future. We have changed our election law, we’re moving from a strong
presidential system to a system where the role of the parliament is
being enlarged. This is a serious change, there are now new checks
and balances in our government, it enhances the role of parliament
and through them the role of political parties.

Therefore, during these elections, each party will struggle for votes,
defend its vote, and watch others in order to assure their share of
power, V. Oskanyan stressed.

"But fair and free elections require the good will and good intentions
of everyone: not only government, the elections commission, the
ruling party, but the entire society, and also the opposition
parties. Unfortunately, those with great doubt about their own
electability are more than eager to convince outsiders that their
political weaknesses are solely due to the machinations and insincerity
of those in the majority. To avoid this, we need to make monitors
vigilant and aware of this fact, as well as generally aware of the
Armenian reality. As I meet with members of the observation team,
I have noticed that those now involved in observation issions in
Armenia as well as in monitoring of the media situation are more aware
than before of the problems with reliance on hearsay and mechanistic,
quantitative methods, without an understanding of the cultural and
political realities on the ground. Of course, in Armenia, as well as
everywhere East and West of Vienna, incumbency has its privileges and
advantages that cannot be reduced to simple calculations of candidates’
airtime. And, in Armenia as elsewhere, there is a curious correlation
between rising standards of living and the cost of financing electoral
campaigns.

Of course, these elections are a serious challenge for Armenia to
demonstrate its determination to consolidate through free and fair
elections its progress towards democratization and the rule of law",
V. Oskanyan said.

Armenia’s economy is doing well. This is the 7th year of double-digit
growth. The inflation rate is low, around 3%, our exports are
increasing, foreign investment is increasing, our foreign reserves
are increasing. Such positive macroeconomic achievements allow us to
address the more problematic issues in our economy – unemployment,
low incomes, poverty. There’s one other major problem we need to
address and that is the gap between rural and urban areas, RA FM said.

THE OSCE MG CO-CHAIRS SUBMITTED REGULAR NEW SUGGESTIONS TO THE ARMENIAN AND AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN MINISTERS

Arminfo
2007-04-19 12:19:00

Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers Vardan Oskanyan and
Elmar Mammadyarov met in Belgrade, April 18. The OSCE MG co-chairs
and personal representative of the OSCE acting chairman-in office,
ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk were also taking part in the meeting.

As Arminfo was informed in the FM press-service, over the meeting the
main accent was put at the agreed points around the principles of the
Karabakh conflict settlement. In connection with this the co-chairs
submitted to the parties the ideas for discussion. As a result of
the meeting an arrangement was made about the visit of the OSCE MG
co-chairs to the region, during which they will learn positions of
the parties and will discuss the possibility of the next meeting of
the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents.

To recall, Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers were taking
part in the 16th session of Foreign Ministers Council of Black Sea
Economic Cooperation Organization in Belgrade.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON COSPONSOR ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

Arminfo
2007-04-19 12:14:00

Senator Hillary Clinton and Senate majority leader Harry Reid
cosponsor the Armenian Genocide Resolution, ANCA told ArmInfo. "We’re
very gratified that two prominent national leaders – Hillary Clinton
and Harry Reid – agreed today to join with a growing number of their
Senate colleagues in supporting the passage of the Armenian Genocide
Resolution," said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.

"As the growth in cosponsors demonstrates, this anti- genocide measure
clearly enjoys the support of a broad, bipartisan majority in both
houses of Congress." In a powerful speech today on the Senate floor,
Senator Bararba Boxer, a long-standing and energetic champion of
Armenian Genocide recognition, stressed that she is "proud to be an
original co- sponsor of Senator Richard Durbin’s Senate Resolution
106. The California legislator, speaking to her Senate colleagues,
argued forcefully that, "We must recognize the genocide because
it’s the right thing to do. We must recognize the Armenian Genocide
to help shed light on the darkness and move toward a more humane
world." Last week, during remarks at a Washington, DC breakfast for
Illinois constituents, Senator Barak Obama, fielded a question from
ANCA Eastern U.S. Executive Director Karine Birazian about his support
for the Armenian Genocide Resolution.

In his response, he explained to the audience the basic facts about
the Genocide and promised to give careful consideration to cosponsoring
the measure.

Senator Obama serves on the Foreign Relations Committee and is among
the top contenders for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination. His
remarks can be viewed on YouTube: The increase in Senate and House
support for the Armenian Genocide resolutions follows an intensive
two-day Capitol Hill advocacy program in March, organized by the ANCA
and the Genocide Intervention Network, dedicated to ending the cycle
of genocide. Over 100 anti-genocide advocates from across the United
States participated in the grassroots campaign, reaching out to all
535 Senate and House offices.

The Washington, DC component of the program was followed by local
activist meetings in Congressional districts across the U.S. during
the recently-concluded two-week April district work period. Armenian
American grassroots efforts are being opposed by successive waves
of Turkish parliamentary delegations who are seeking to convince
Representatives and Senators to reject Armenian Genocide recognition
by threatening a break in U.S.-Turkey relations. This week’s six-member
Turkish lobby team included former Turkish Ambassador to the U.S. Sukru
Elekdag, and former Ambassador to Germany Onur Oymen.

NUMBER OF VOTERS DECREASED AS A RESULT OF VOTING LIST CLEAN-UP

ArmRadio.am
19.04.2007 15:49

2,318,493 citizens of Armenia can vote in 1916 precincts in the
parliamentary elections due on May 12, Head of the Police Department
on Passports and Visas, Colonel Alvina Zackaryan said in Yerevan today.

She noted that the data has been received as a result of clean-up
of voting lists carried out April 2-18 based on the applications of
political parties, NGOs and citizens and mass media reports.

As a result of clean-up the number of franchised voters was reduced
with 10 258. Alvina Zackaryan informed that names of 1,720 dead
citizens were found in the lists. 3,558 have changed the place of
residence. Another 3,283 are on compulsory military service.

The process of clean-up of voting lists continues.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress