Month: April 2007

TURKISH OBJECTION POSTPONES RWANDA GENOCIDE SHOW

Pravda, Russia
April 10 2007

An exhibition on the 1994 Rwanda genocide, scheduled for Monday
was to be opened by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. But it has been
postponed because of Turkish objections to a reference to the murder
of a million Armenians in Turkey during World War I.

James Smith, chief executive of the British-based Aegis Trust, which
works to prevent genocide and helped organize the photo exhibition,
said the U.N. Department of Public Information approved the contents
and it was put up on Thursday.

A Turkish diplomat complained about the reference to the Armenian
murders, he said, and Armenia’s U.N. Ambassador Armen Martirosyan
went to see the new Undersecretary for Public Information Kiyotaka
Akasaka and they agreed to remove the words "in Turkey."

Martirosyan said Akasaka invited him to the exhibition’s opening,
but late Sunday "I was informed that the opening would be postponed,
or delayed, or even canceled." He blamed Turkish "censorship" and
the country’s refusal "to come to terms with their own history."

On Monday, the exhibition in the visitor’s lobby had been turned around
so it could not be seen by the public. Smith said he was still hoping
for a diplomatic solution to the dispute.

"We are very disappointed about it because for us, this was meant to be
about the Rwandan genocide, and the lessons from the Rwandan genocide,"
and to engage the secretary-general on the pledge by world leaders to
protect civilians from genocide, war crimes and ethnic cleansing, which
Smith said was not happening in Sudan’s conflict-wracked Darfur region.

U.N. associate spokesman Farhan Haq confirmed Turkey complained about
the exhibition, but he said "the basic concern" was that the review
process for U.N. exhibitions, which takes into account "all positions,"
was not followed. He said there were other concerns which he refused
to disclose.

"The exhibition has been postponed until the regular review process
is completed," Haq said.

Smith told The Associated Press the exhibition refers to the Armenian
murders to help explain the word "genocide," which was coined
by Raphael Lemkin, a lawyer of Polish-Jewish descent. Lemkin was
inspired by what happened to the Armenians and other mass killings,
and campaigned in the League of Nations – the precursor of the United
Nations – against what he called "barbarity" and "vandalism."

Historians estimate up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by
Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed
by genocide scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century.

Turkey, however, denies the deaths constituted genocide, saying that
the toll has been inflated and that those killed were victims of
civil war and unrest.

Smith said a small panel on Lemkin in the exhibit "says that during
World War I a million Armenians were murdered in Turkey." It goes on
to explain that Lemkin first used the word genocide in 1943, and then
focuses on the Rwanda genocide, lessons from it, and the responsibility
of the international community to prevent future genocides, he said.

Haq said "the U.N. hasn’t expressed any position on incidents that
took place long before the United Nations was established" after
World War II.

"In any case, the focus during the anniversary of the Rwanda genocide
should remain on Rwanda itself," he said.

Rwanda’s genocide began hours after a plane carrying President Juvenal
Habyarimana was mysteriously shot down as it approached the capital,
Kigali, on April 6, 1994. The 100-day slaughter, in which more than
500,000 minority Tutsis were killed by Hutu extremists, ended after
rebels ousted the extremist Hutu government that orchestrated the
killings.

Smith said the panel on the origin of genocide could have been done
without referring to the Armenians.

But once the Armenian reference "was there and approved, we felt as a
matter of principle you can’t just go around striking things out. It
is a form of denial, and as an organization that deals with genocide
issues, we couldn’t do that on any genocide, and we can’t do this,"
he said.

"If we can’t get this right, it undermines all the values of the U.N.

It undermines everything the U.N. is meant to stand for in terms
of preventing (genocide)," Smith said. "You can’t learn the lessons
from history if you’re going to sweep all of that history under the
carpet. And what about accountability? What about ending impunity
if you’re going to hide part of the truth? It makes a mockery of all
of this."

Haq said Ban planned to meet with Rwanda’s U.N. ambassador late Monday,
and he read a message from the secretary-general who recalled the
"personal impact" of his visit to Rwanda last year to pay his respects
to victims and survivors of the genocide.

"On this 13th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda, two messages
should be paramount," Ban said. "First, never forget. Second never
stop working to prevent another genocide."

ld/10-04-2007/89376-genocide_show-0

UN EXHIBITION POSTPONED AFTER TURKEY OBJECTS TO REFERENCE TO ARMENIANS
Associated Press Writer Lily Hindy contributed to this report

The Associated Press
International Herald Tribune, France
April 9 2007

UNITED NATIONS: A U.N. exhibition on the 1994 Rwanda genocide,
scheduled to be opened Monday by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, has
been postponed because of Turkish objections to a reference to the
murder of a million Armenians in Turkey during World War I.

James Smith, chief executive of the British-based Aegis Trust, which
works to prevent genocide and helped organize the photo exhibition,
said the U.N. Department of Public Information approved the contents
and it was put up on Thursday.

A Turkish diplomat complained about the reference to the Armenian
murders, he said, and Armenia’s U.N. Ambassador Armen Martirosyan
went to see the new Undersecretary for Public Information Kiyotaka
Akasaka and they agreed to remove the words "in Turkey."

Martirosyan said Akasaka invited him to the exhibition’s opening,
but late Sunday "I was informed that the opening would be postponed,
or delayed, or even canceled." He blamed Turkish "censorship" and
the country’s refusal "to come to terms with their own history."

On Monday, the exhibition in the visitor’s lobby had been turned around
so it could not be seen by the public. Smith said he was still hoping
for a diplomatic solution to the dispute.

"We are very disappointed about it because for us, this was meant to be
about the Rwandan genocide, and the lessons from the Rwandan genocide,"
and to engage the secretary-general on the pledge by world leaders to
protect civilians from genocide, war crimes and ethnic cleansing, which
Smith said was not happening in Sudan’s conflict-wracked Darfur region.

U.N. associate spokesman Farhan Haq confirmed Turkey complained about
the exhibition, but he said "the basic concern" was that the review
process for U.N. exhibitions, which takes into account "all positions,"
was not followed. He said there were other concerns which he refused
to disclose.

"The exhibition has been postponed until the regular review process
is completed," Haq said.

Smith told The Associated Press the exhibition refers to the Armenian
murders to help explain the word "genocide," which was coined
by Raphael Lemkin, a lawyer of Polish-Jewish descent. Lemkin was
inspired by what happened to the Armenians and other mass killings,
and campaigned in the League of Nations – the precursor of the United
Nations – against what he called "barbarity" and "vandalism."

Historians estimate up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by
Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed
by genocide scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century.

Turkey, however, denies the deaths constituted genocide, saying that
the toll has been inflated and that those killed were victims of
civil war and unrest.

Smith said a small panel on Lemkin in the exhibit "says that during
World War I a million Armenians were murdered in Turkey." It goes on
to explain that Lemkin first used the word genocide in 1943, and then
focuses on the Rwanda genocide, lessons from it, and the responsibility
of the international community to prevent future genocides, he said.

Haq said "the U.N. hasn’t expressed any position on incidents that
took place long before the United Nations was established" after
World War II.

"In any case, the focus during the anniversary of the Rwanda genocide
should remain on Rwanda itself," he said.

Rwanda’s genocide began hours after a plane carrying President Juvenal
Habyarimana was mysteriously shot down as it approached the capital,
Kigali, on April 6, 1994. The 100-day slaughter, in which more than
500,000 minority Tutsis were killed by Hutu extremists, ended after
rebels ousted the extremist Hutu government that orchestrated the
killings.

Smith said the panel on the origin of genocide could have been done
without referring to the Armenians.

But once the Armenian reference "was there and approved, we felt as a
matter of principle you can’t just go around striking things out. It
is a form of denial, and as an organization that deals with genocide
issues, we couldn’t do that on any genocide, and we can’t do this,"
he said.

"If we can’t get this right, it undermines all the values of the U.N.

It undermines everything the U.N. is meant to stand for in terms
of preventing (genocide)," Smith said. "You can’t learn the lessons
from history if you’re going to sweep all of that history under the
carpet. And what about accountability? What about ending impunity
if you’re going to hide part of the truth? It makes a mockery of all
of this."

Haq said Ban planned to meet with Rwanda’s U.N. ambassador late Monday,
and he read a message from the secretary-general who recalled the
"personal impact" of his visit to Rwanda last year to pay his respects
to victims and survivors of the genocide.

"On this 13th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda, two messages
should be paramount," Ban said. "First, never forget. Second never
stop working to prevent another genocide."

UN EXPERT: "THERE WILL BE NO PEACEFUL SOLUTION IN THE NEAREST FUTURE"

Today, Azerbaijan
April 10 2007

"I am leaving Azerbaijan with a mixed picture," said Walter Kalin,
the UN Secretary-General’s Representative for the Human Rights of
Internally Displaced Persons at the end of his mission to Azerbaijan.

As APA reports, the Representative left with the impression that
their basic needs had been addressed to a significant extent, but
"what we need to do is really to refocus on this situation and take
joint action at the international level to finally reach a peaceful
resolution to the conflict."

Azerbaijan suffers from one of the most serious displacement problems
in the world. Tens of thousands of displaced Azerbaijanis continue
to live in run-down, overcrowded collective shelters with completely
inadequate sanitary facilities. So many people have been displaced for
so long, and "unfortunately it doesn’t look like there will be peaceful
solution to the conflict in the very near future," noted Kalin.

The Representative said he was satisfied that some of the worst camps,
where the displaced had spent over a decade in misery, had finally
been closed, and that more dignified conditions had been constructed
in new settlements. He welcomed the Government’s plan to shut down
the remaining tent camps by the end of the year.

"Although to date, the efforts and achievements of the Government of
Azerbaijan in addressing the problem of internal displacement are
impressive, a number of challenges still lie ahead to improve the
living conditions of the displaced populations," said the UN expert
after visiting Baku, Sumgayit, Bilasuvar, Imishli and Sabirabad from
April 2-6, 2007.

The main challenge now lies in the creation of livelihoods. Jobs
were even more difficult to find than in the rest of the country,
because settlements are often isolated from local markets, and
employment in agriculture was not always an option. For this reason,
Mr. Kalin stressed the importance of continued Government support,
through monthly allowances and subsidies, for the victims of forced
displacement.

After the visit Mr. Kalin will present a report on his findings
and recommendations to the Human Rights Council and to the General
Assembly.

"This is very important because the situation of the IDPs in Azerbaijan
is no longer in the headlines and many IDPs feel forgotten and
neglected and to a certain extent it’s true," Kalin said.

"I hope the first impact [of my report) will be that the Government
will take up some of my recommendations and that it will get assistance
and support from the international community in implementing these
recommendations."

The displacement in Azerbaijan is linked to the still unsettled dispute
over Nagorno Karabakh region, fifteen years after the conflict with
Armenia.

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NATIONAL NGO FORUM APPEALS TO OSCE CHAIRMAN FOR CAPTURED AZERBAIJANI SOLDIER

Today, Azerbaijan
April 10 2007

President of National NGO Forum (NNGOF), parliamentarian Azay Guliyev
has appealed to OSCE Chairman-in-Office Miguel Anhel Moratinos for
release of the captured Azerbaijani soldier Samir Mammadov, the
forum told.

The appeal says that Samir Mammadov was captured by Armenians four
months ago, but Armenian side does not want to hand him over.

The parliamentarian noted that the negotiations of Azerbaijan’s
relevant bodies and international organizations have no results.

The NNGOF, which has 422 member organizations, asked the OSCE
Chairman-in-office to assist the solution of the problem through
influencing Armenian side.

The copy of the appeal has been sent to the Council of Europe Secretary
General Terry Davis and International Committee of the Red Cross
president Jacob Kellenberger, APA reports.

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SERGE SARKISIAN: "FOR ME THE MAJOR PRIORITY IS TO REACH PEACE AGREEMENT WITH AZERBAIJAN"

Today, Azerbaijan
April 10 2007

"The aim of my government is to reach peace agreement with Azerbaijan
on the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict," the new Prime Minister of Armenia
Serge Sarkisian told "The Financial Times".

Saying that he is going to attach great importance to the respect for
human rights, Sarkisian pointed out the priorities of foreign policy.

He said Armenia will not support US military base deployment in the
Caucasus but will be a friend with Russia.

Serge Sarkisian said his country intends to be the member of the
European Union but never think to join NATO even in the perspective,
APA reports.

He added parliamentary elections to be held in May will be the most
transparent and fair in the history of Armenia.

Serge Sarkisian called Armenian Diaspora to invest in Armenian economic
saying that national share of investment make up only 1 percent of
the investments in the country.

The interview in "The Financial times" included a note where emphasized
that the Nagorno-Karabakh is still under Armenian occupation, and
thousands of people have became internally displaced.

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AZERBAIJAN HOPING TO HOST 2016 SUMMER OLYMPICS

Sporting News
April 9 2007

MASALLY, Azerbaijan — Azerbaijan wants to host the 2016 Summer
Olympics, President Ilham Aliev said Monday.

"A few years ago we would not have thought of this, but today
the country’s sports potential and the growing economic might of
Azerbaijan allows us to do so," said Aliev, who was in Masally to
open a sports complex.

Azerbaijan has built 11 Olympic-grade sports facilities since 2000
and is building or planning 14 more, Aliev said.

The nation receives revenue from abundant oil and gas resources from
the Caspian Sea, but is locked in a dispute with neighboring Armenia
over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous area controlled by Armenian
forces since the end of a six-year war in 1994.

Bid cities must submit a letter of interest to the International
Olympic Committee by Sept. 15. The host city will be chosen in 2009.

Other expected bidders are Chicago, Rome, Tokyo, Madrid, Spain and
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (AP)

ic.php?t=195616

NOBEL LAUREATES URGE TURKISH-ARMENIAN DIALOGUE
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep
April 9 2007

More than fifty Nobel laureates from around the world appealed to
Armenia and Turkey on Monday to unconditionally establish diplomatic
relations, open their border, and step up contacts between their
civil societies.

In an open letter, they also implicitly urged the Turkish government
to acknowledge that the 1915-1918 mass killings and deportations
of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire constituted a genocide. They
endorsed a 2003 independent study which concluded that the slaughter
of an estimated 1.5 Ottoman Armenians fits into the internationally
accepted definition of genocide.

"An open border would greatly improve the economic conditions for
communities on both sides of the border and enable human interaction,
which is essential for mutual understanding," read the joint appeal
signed by 53 prominent academics, writers, economists, and scientists
who have won a Nobel Prize in their respective fields in the last
three decades. Among them is Elie Wiesel, a world-famous Holocaust
survivor, and Frederik de Klerk, a former South African president
who presided over the collapse of apartheid in his country.

The signatories said the Turkish and Armenian governments should ease
their lingering tensions "through additional treaty arrangements
and full diplomatic relations" which they believe would facilitate
bilateral academic links and student exchanges. They also called for
the abolition of an article of the Turkish Penal Code which makes it
a crime to "denigrate Turkishness" and has been used against dissident
intellectuals questioning the official denial of the Armenian genocide.

"Armenia also should reverse its own authoritarian course, allow free
and fair elections, and respect human rights," the laureates added.

Their letter, addressed to "the peoples of Turkey and Armenia,"
was initiated and drafted by David Phillips, a U.S. scholar who runs
the New York-based Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. He is also
known as the former chairman of the U.S.-backed Turkish-Armenian
Reconciliation Commission that operated from 2001-2004.

Speaking to RFE/RL from New York, Phillips said the open letter was
prompted by what he sees as an anti-Armenian nationalist backlash
in Turkey that followed the January 19 murder of Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink. "Whereas initially there was an overwhelming
popular response in support of Turkish-Armenian rapprochement, the
blowback from ultranationalists gives rise to really serious concern
about political trends in Turkey," he said. "So we thought it would
be important for Nobel laureates to join their voices in support of
Turkish-Armenian reconciliation, to acknowledge that the events [of
1915] constitute genocide, and to suggest steps that the governments
of Turkey and Armenia can take to improve their bilateral relations."

The outpouring of popular sympathy in Turkey for the slain editor of
the bilingual newspaper Agos raised hopes for a rapprochement between
Ankara and Yerevan. However, the government of Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan made it clear that a normalization of bilateral ties
remains conditional on an halt to the Armenian campaign for genocide
recognition and a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Like many other observers, Phillips linked the Erdogan government’s
refusal to drop those preconditions with Turkey’s upcoming presidential
and parliamentary elections. "The trends in Turkey right now are
negative, and I hope that after they get through this political cycle
cooler heads will prevail and that Turkey’s leaders will take a deep
breath and reflect carefully on what’s in their nationalist interests,"
he said.

According to Phillips, Armenia’s government is also to blame for the
strained ties. "Clearly, the corruption and incompetence of Armenia’s
current political leaders makes it difficult for Armenia to progress
or for Armenian-Turkish relations to develop constructively," he said.

The Nobel prize winners pointed out that the biggest obstacle to
Turkish-Armenian rapprochement is a "huge gap in perceptions over the
Armenian Genocide." They said that in order to address this gap the
two sides should look into a study commissioned by TARC from another
New York-based institution, the International Center for Transitional
Justice (ICTJ), in 2002.

The ICTJ concluded in a February 2003 report that the Armenian
massacres "include all of the elements of the crime of genocide" as
defined by a 1948 United Nations convention. It said at the same time
that the Armenians can not use the convention for making territorial
and other claims against Turkey.

President George W. Bush has repeatedly cited the ICTJ study in his
April 24 messages to the Armenian community in the United States.

John Evans, the former U.S. ambassador to Armenia, likewise pointed to
it when he declared in a February 2005 speech in California that the
"Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the 20th century."

"The analysis offers a way forward, which addresses the core concerns
of both Armenians and Turks," agreed the signatories of the open
letter.

While stating that their calls will be "noticed" in Armenia and Turkey,
Phillips was pessimistic about prospects for a major improvement in
Turkish-Armenian relations sought by Washington. "It’s hard to envision
dramatic progress given the mediocrity of political leadership in
Yerevan and in Ankara," he said.

ARMENIAN PARTIES KICK OFF ELECTION CAMPAIGN
By Ruzanna Khachatrian and Astghik Bedevian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep
April 9 2007

Three of Armenia’s leading political parties presented their manifestos
to the public on Monday one day after the official start of campaigning
for the May 12 parliamentary elections.

The governing Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) and
the opposition Orinats Yerkir (Country of Law) and the National Unity
(AMK) parties pledged to strengthen the rule of law and pay greater
attention to socioeconomic problems facing Armenians if they do well
in the vote.

Dashnaktsutyun leaders unveiled their election platform to hundreds of
supporters who gathered in central Yerevan. Many buildings in the city
center were already plastered with placards carrying the nationalist
party’s campaign motto: "Our old friend is Dashnaktsutyun." The
Dashnaktsutyun-controlled Yerkir-Media television began airing video
of the party’s campaign song on Sunday evening.

Dashnaktsutyun’s senior partner in the governing coalition, the
Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), avoided any public events and
contented itself with airing campaign advertisements on television.

The HHK is widely regarded as the campaign frontrunner.

Its new leader, Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian, received Catholicos
Garegin II in his office on Monday. According to the government’s
press service, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church "blessed"
and congratulated Sarkisian on his appointment as prime minister.

Gagik Tsarukian, the leader of the pro-presidential Prosperous Armenia
Party (BHK), another top contender, reportedly visited Garegin and
received a similar blessing on Sunday. Tsarukian was due to deliver
a televised address to voters late on Monday.

Both the HHK and the BHK are accused by their rivals of having
kicked off their election campaigns several weeks ago in violation
of Armenia’s Electoral Code. But their leaders deny this.

Meanwhile, about 300 Orinats Yerkir activists gathered in a conference
hall in Yerevan to attend the high-profile presentation of their
party’s platform to the accompaniment of its official campaign
song. The song assures Armenians that Orinats Yerkir’s founding leader,
Artur Baghdasarian, "will lead us to a country of law."

Orinats Yerkir promises, among other things, to cut taxes, combat
corruption, and introduce mandatory healthcare insurance and student
loans. The program also supports Armenia’s eventual membership in the
European Union but stops short of calling for its accession to NATO.

Baghdasarian advocated NATO membership in a newspaper interview
last year.

"I’ve never spoken about Armenia’s membership in NATO," the former
parliament speaker claimed on Monday. "I’ve only spoken about deepening
our ties with NATO."

Baghdasarian also said his party is popular enough to win a "very
serious percentage" of votes but avoided making more specific
forecasts.

Another major opposition contender, the AMK, held a news conference to
present its "anti-crisis program" that calls for a swift passage of
43 laws. Its leader, Artashes Geghamian, said they are essential for
improving what he called a severe economic situation in the country.

Asked about his electoral chances, Geghamian pointed to a recent
U.S.-funded opinion poll which he said put his public approval ratings
at between 54 and 58 percent. "I told my colleagues that if we don’t
get at least half of that support [in the elections] it will mean
that we have performed very badly," he said.

Geghamian was also unexpectedly upbeat about the freedom and fairness
of the polls. He said the authorities realize that the opposition
will be "unable to restrain our people" if their results are falsified.

GROWTH ‘MORE IMPORTANT FOR ARMENIA THAN RIGHTS’
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep
April 9 2007

Ensuring Armenia’s continued economic growth is more important than
improving its government’s human rights record, Prime Minister Serzh
Sarkisian indicated in a newspaper interview published on Monday.

"It is hard to talk about democratic and human rights when you need
to solve the social and economic needs of the population," Sarkisian
told the Financial Times. "We would not like to be a state stuck in
our transition."

Sarkisian was interviewed by the paper during a visit to Brussels
last week that coincided with his appointment as prime minister. He
was cited as saying that he will put economic development ahead of
human rights improvements.

Still, the new Armenian premier insisted that Yerevan will do its
best to ensure the freedom and fairness of next month’s parliamentary
elections in line with promises given to the West. "We have made
commitments to different programmes and we think compliance is in our
interest," he said. "We want to become part of the European family."

The Armenian opposition claims that the former defense minister is
one of the main architects of reported fraud that marred the previous
parliamentary and presidential elections held in the country.

Opposition leaders dismiss government pledges to ensure the proper
conduct of the May 12 vote.

RETIRED GENERAL ACCUSED OF BULLYING RIVAL CANDIDATES
By Ruzanna Stepanian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep
April 9 2007

Tensions were rising on Monday in an electoral district south of
Yerevan where the top pro-government candidate, the recently retired
General Seyran Saroyan, was implicated in attacks against his two
challengers reported over the weekend.

Hakob Hakobian, a controversial member of Armenia’s outgoing
parliament, claimed that unknown gunmen shot at his car while he
dined in a restaurant in the town of Echmiadzin on Sunday. The other
challenger, Susanna Harutiunian, reported an arson attack on her
campaign headquarters in Echmiadzin on the same day.

Both candidates pointed the finger at Saroyan, who has been endorsed
by the governing Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). But Saroyan
strongly denied the allegations, saying that his rivals themselves
stage-managed the attacks in order to discredit him.

"We suspect that police officers were among the shooters," Hakobian
told RFE/RL. He alleged that they acted on orders from the regional
governor who in turn received instructions from Saroyan. "The governor
is doing everything to create an atmosphere of fear in the area ahead
of the elections," Hakobian said.

"He is trying to throw mud at me without feeling ashamed," countered
the feared general, who holds sway in Echmiadzin and the surrounding
area. "I guess even you won’t believe that I could have done such a
cheap thing," he told RFE/RL.

"Seyran Saroyan has once again proved that he is nuts," shot back
Hakobian. "How can someone shoot at himself?"

Police in Echmiadzin said they have launched a criminal investigation
into the reported shooting. They were also conducting forensic tests
at Harutiunian’s office to determine whether it was damaged by fire
or an arson attack.

Saroyan resigned as commander of Armenia’s Fourth Army Corps and was
discharged from the armed forces earlier this year to be able to run
for parliament. The move provoked speculation that the HHK is trying to
make sure that Hakobian, who joined the ruling party last year, is not
reelected to the National Assembly. Hakobian, better known as Choyt,
was charged with assault and tax evasion after allegedly instigating
a mass brawl outside a gas station near Echmiadzin last October.

In a further blow to the disgraced parliamentarian, the district
election commission has registered another candidate affiliated with
the HHK and named Hakob Hakobian. The latter is currently trying to
ensure that his influential namesake is disqualified from the race,
accusing him of forging voters’ signatures to win registration.

A court in Echmiadzin continued to consider the obscure candidate’s
complaint, endorsed by Saroyan, amid tight security on Monday.

Special police units from Yerevan were deployed in and round the
court house to prevent possible clashes between supporters of the
rival sides. "We have made commitments to different programmes and
we think compliance is in our interest," he said. We want to become
part of the European family."