Month: April 2007

THE VOTERS HAVE THE LAST SAY
Editorial

Yerkir.am
April 20, 2007

The state is a castle in which the nation lives, and the nation is
a castle in which the elected representatives live, however, these
representatives are not always elected by the nation.

People spend all their money to spend the New Year holidays as nicely
as they can. The same situation is on the political arena – many
political forces are spending lots of money to be able to spend the
upcoming five years as nicely as they can. In this situation, however,
the problem lies not with the one who buys but the one who sells.

The right to vote is every citizen’s constitutional right that is aimed
at forming a government that would take care of the population. If
the citizens sell their right to prosperous life in their country no
political forces or individuals can guarantee the citizens’ security
in a country towards which they have an attitude of merely market
relations. Those who sell their votes also sell the votes of the
coming generations.

Our electoral campaigns are like the Greek Olympic Games – once in four
years the entire Hellada enjoyed a period of peace, wars were stopped
and everyone was engaged in preparations for the Olympic Games. We
have the same situation – everyone is engaged in preparations, but
the difference is that in our situation we have an atmosphere of
intolerance and complete indifference.

Intolerance dominates the electoral campaign while indifference is
prevalent among the population. The elections are rigged, they do not
change anything and cannot give us anything – this is the widespread
opinion prevalent in the society.

Citizens are the ones to be blamed for electoral violations and not
those who perpetrate these violations because the citizens isolate
themselves from the electoral processes by not participating in
the elections. Electoral passiveness is a serious crime that is not
legally punished but constitutes an immoral act against the self and
the country.

Every month we pay taxes. These taxes go to the government in whose
elections we do not want to participate. This means that we are
willing to pay to someone whose services we do not need at all.

Let us not participate in the elections, let us reject our civic duty
of forming a government. Let us put aside our demands and our right
to have social and political justice.

Both the legislative and the executive structures must have the
support of the nation and the nation in its turn must have confidence
in the leadership it has elected. Today there is a huge gap between the
authorities and the people. It is impossible to fill in this gap but it
is still possible that bridges of mutual understanding might be built.

The people must restore their control over the processes undergoing
in the country. The government must see people not as potential
electorate but as a national unity whose confidence it has received
for the coming five years.

Otherwise, who needs elections?

We need elections. No one can determine our future better than
ourselves.

And those who do not participate in the elections are selling their
votes. Do participate in the election, do not allow the vote-stealers
to deprive you of your right to live in freedom.

Do not allow the National Assembly elections to be turned into
a bazaar.

Every single citizen of the country must realize that his vote will
be decisive in the elections.

We must restore the moral value of our votes. Otherwise, the
government will be formed by the people who do not participate in
the elections. No one has the right to determine the future of the
entire nation.

Election bribe is the centuries’ old cancer of the society. All nations
and all state suffer because of this disease. It is incurable even
in our times.

However, we should not think about curing it, we should think about
eradicating it.

The citizens of Armenia have the power to eradicate it. They can
refuse to e bribed. They can struggle for the protection of their
rights giving their votes to individuals and political parties that
are fighting against social injustice.

Both those who sell their votes and those who buy them have an equal
share of guilt. We want justice, and our cause is to defend our right
to justice.

Our choice is for ideas and platforms, and we say no to bribes
and fraud.

MADNESS BEHIND MADNESS IN MALATYA
By Haluk Sahin

Turkish Press
April 23 2007

RADIKAL- Do you remember Hamlet by Shakespeare? Danish Prince Hamlet’s
father is killed and Hamlet starts to pretend to be crazy in order to
find the murderer and everybody gets surprised. While watching him,
Grand Vizier Polonius says to himself that even if it is madness,
there is a method behind it. When I heard the terrible news of murder
in Malatya, I remembered these words. The signs, similarities and
characteristics make us say that this is enough.

Indeed, this is enough. A Catholic priest was killed by a
15-year-old-boy in Trabzon, which is madness! Journalist Hrant Dink
who was one of the communal leaders of Armenians in Istanbul was
killed by a 17-year-old-boy from Trabzon, which is the other madness!

Three persons, one of whom was German (Protestant), were killed by
five young people, as they were dealing with missionary work. This
is terrible and pure madness! However, don’t you see that even if
it’s madness, there is a method behind it! I won’t say that those
who have actually killed them aren’t important. They are important
for various reasons, but the method behind them and those who have
planned and implemented that method are even more important. It’s
impossible not to receive the message. Some people want to give the
message that Turkey is an intolerant country which couldn’t pass its
own Dark Ages. These people want to create the impression that Turks
are bloody enemies of all the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant people.

Who want to give this message? Many people come to our minds, but we
cannot know it.

Whoever they are, it’s not difficult for them to benefit from this
unhealthy atmosphere and find a puppet who pulls the trigger. When I
carry this method forward, I feel deeply concerned about what might
happen in the future. I hope officials are taking necessary measures.

Among these measures, the most important one is to evaluate the
evidence well. Murders of Santoro, Dink and others in Malatya targeted
Turkey, as much as the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant people. It’s
evident from the method that these murders are the links of a chain. If
this chain had been broken at one point, it would have been impossible
to proceed to the next link. If pain was taken over solving the Santoro
murder with all the links, Dink wouldn’t have been killed. If these
two murders had been really solved, it wouldn’t have been Malatya’s
turn. The way of preventing the next murder is of course solving the
murder in Malatya and two previous links. Polonius paid the price of
his inability to solve Hamlet’s madness with his life. Most probably,
Turkey won’t make the same mistake.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARF IS STRONG BECAUSE OF ITS SUPPORTERS
By Karine Mangassarian

Yerkir.am
April 20, 2007

"ARF is strong because of its supporters. Vote for the ARF and you
will see that the ARF is a party that takes responsibility," Rector
of Haybussak Univeristy in Yerevan Anahit Harutyunian said at the
meeting with the students on April 19.

Hrayr Karapetian, the leader the ARF faction in parliament, who runs
for the parliament from a single-mandate constituency in Arabkir,
was invited to the university to present the ARF’s platform.

Anahit Harutyunian informed the heads and students of 22 universities,
colleges and private schools accredited by Intellect Association have
decided to support the ARF in the upcoming elections.

"We have always supported this party because we know that we should
give our votes for work already implemented and not empty promises,"
Harutyunian said. The Council of Rectors of Intellect Association
was unanimous in its decision because the ARF’s contribution to the
sphere of education is obvious.

When the Law on Education was passed in 1999 there was no mentioning of
private education in the law. Minister of Sceince and Education Levon
Mkrtchian did his best to ensure that the law also regulates private
education. "The rights of 25 thousand students were violated at that
time. So we turned to our old friends, to the ARF’s parliamentary
faction. It is due to their support that we have equal rights in
all issues.

We will be returning our debt on May 12. If we do not appreciate
all the positive things that the ARF has done we will face a vague
situation in the future. The ARF is the only political force on which
we can rely. Every Armenian who is concerned about the future of his
country and knows its history must vote for this party, and Hrayr
Karapetian who runs in Arabkir community under the single-mandate
system," Harutyunian said.

In his speech addressed to the students and faculty of the university
Karapetian stated that the National Assembly should be an exclusively
political body, therefore, only political means of campaigning must be
used in the pre-electoral period. "We can distribute food and money
like other parties do but we will not do so because we believe it is
immoral to manipulate the population’ s difficult economic situation."

Karapetian believes there are individuals and political forces that
want to get into the parliament at any cost with the purpose of gaining
profits from their private businesses and using the legislation for
their personal interests and goals. Personal and party interests
should not be placed above national interests. Karapetian is the only
candidate nominated by the ARF in Arabkir community.

All governmental and opposition forces of Armenia are represented in
this constituency. Karapetian said he was nominated to ensure that
exemplary elections are held in at least one constituency. ARF is
active in nation-wide political campaigning and will denounce any
violations of the electoral process.

Almost all political forces offer the same thing today. Let me stress
once again why you should vote for the ARF. You should vote for the
ARF because it is an experienced political party. During its history
of 117 years ARF has many times proved its dedication to the Armenian
nation. ARF never goes against its principles no matter if it joins
the government or is in the opposition," Karapetian stated.

The ARF’s parliamentary faction has initiated laws of great
importance and passed them in the National Assembly with great
difficulty. Karapetian pointed out the law on Teaching Armenian
Studies Courses as an example of such laws.

"We felt that teaching of Armenian language and Armenian history is
threatened because of subjective reasons. No matter who becomes the
Minister of Science and Education no one has the right to interfere
with teaching of the Armenian language and history because it is
now protected by the law." Due to ARF’ s efforts to pass the law on
citizens who have not served in the army 3 thousand young people were
able to return to the country.

"Our recent surveys have shown that ARF is very popular among the
young people. This shows that the young generation has no complexes
related to the national ideology. We are ready to cooperate with all
national forces," Karapetian stated.

The Lebanon representative of the International Academy of Education
Mrs.

Jemma is an Armenian citizen who lives in Beirut. In her speech
she noted that she had decided to postpone her trip to Lebanon
to be able to vote for the ARF. Mrs. Jemma is not a member of any
parties. She told about the guys from the ARF’s Lebanese structure
who were defending the Armenian families from the bombings during
the war in Lebanon.

Diana Balassanian, student, told her friends that she had returned
from Spain where she is now studying to be able to participate in
the elections. "You can guess for whom I am planning to vote – the
force that is always with the people," Balassanian said.

DO NOT DESTROY POLITICAL POSTERS

Yerkir.am
April 20, 2007

The candidates running under majoritarian vote in constituency N4 in
Arabkir community had a joint press conference yesterday in "Pastark"
("Argument") Club.

At the press conference the candidates informed that they are planning
to meet residents of Arabkir community to answer their questions.

Hrayr Karapetian (ARF), Aram Manukian (Pan-Armenian Movement), Zohrab
Zohrabian (Republican Party), Hayrapet Hayrapetian (Prosperous Armenia
Party), Suren Mamikonian (Rule of Law Country Party) participated
in the joint press conference. Representative of the National Unity
Sargis Murakhanian and Armen Manukian nominated under civic initiative
were not present at the press conference.

These candidates had signed a memorandum on free and fair elections
on April 9.

Suren Mamikonian (Orinats Yerkir) noted that it will not be possible
to rig the elections in this constituency because all famous parties
are represented here.

However, some violations can already be observed – the posters of some
candidates are being destroyed, mostly at night. Some people go to
the voters’ apartments telling that they are conducting sociological
surveys and tell the voters that only one candidate is registered in
this constituency.

"They are asking the voters whether they will support this
candidate. They even tell that the Rule of Law Party is also supporting
that candidate.

Meanwhile, the Rule of Law Party has its own candidate in this
constituency," Mamikonian said.

Karapetian noted that the memorandum signed between the candidates
was a good initiative. All the candidates have signed the memorandum
and not should adhere to its principles.

"We are closely following the pre-electoral processes and I cannot
say that the principles of the memorandum are 100% preserved. We
will present all the facts on May 5 if we believe that such facts
constitute a violation of the memorandum," Karapetian said.

ASA VOICES PROTEST TO CONDOLEEZZA RICE

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 23 2007

Azerbaijan Society of America (ASA) has written a protest letter to the
US State Secretary Condoleezza Rice. The ASA president Tomris Azeri
told APA’s US bureau that the society protests against the change to
the Department of State’s 2006 Report on Human Rights Practices.

Tomris Azeri stressed that Azerbaijan’s territorial is recognized
by international organizations, US and OSCE Minsk Group co-chair
countries. Reminding about State Department spokesman, Sean
McCormack’s statement on Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, ASA
demanded confirmation of the previous variant of the report which
states that "Armenia continued to occupy the Azerbaijani territory
of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani territories"
The change to the report was made after the interference of Armenian
National Committee of America.
From: Baghdasarian

FAMILY SEND LETTER TO AZERBAIJANI CAPTIVE

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
April 23 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / corr. Trend K.Zarbaliyeva / The family of the
Azerbaijan National Army soldier, Samir Mammadov, who was taken
prisoner by the Armenians on 24 December 2006, has sent another letter
to Mammadov.

Mammadov’s mother, who has not received a letter from her son, has
asked that he write. Mammadov’s last letter was written on 3 March.

His parents believed he was pressurized by the Armenians.

Samir Mammadov had been called up for military service from Barda
district of Azerbaijan last year and was taken prisoner by the
Armenians on the Gazakh-Ijevan border.

UNITED STATES APPLY DOUBLE STANDARDS ONCE MORE – AZERBAIJANI POLITICIANS

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
April 23 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / Òrend corr I. Alizadeh / The changes about
Nagorno-Karabakh made in the US State Department’s report on the
state of human rights have lead to the cancellation of the visit of
the Azerbaijani governmental delegation to the United States.

Politician Rasim Musabeyov, has stated that it is unusual to make
changes to a published report due to any insistences. The changes,
which do not correspond to the truth, were made in the report relating
to an evident issue proves that the -Armenian lobby has a great impact
upon the United States’ policy. "The US officials are confident that
Azerbaijan will continue its co-operation with Washington even if
such alterations are made in the report," the expert added.

Musabeyov has said that the United States has stuck to a wrong policy
by changing the report. Vardan Oskanian has affected the issue as
well. "Oskanian is considered to be a pro-American representative in
the present ruling elite of Armenia. The nomination of Oskanian at the
forthcoming presidential elections is not ruled out," Musabeyov noted.

The expert has indicated that the alterations have been made in
that part of the report relating to Armenia, and the part concerning
Azerbaijan has remained unchanged. To apply a double standard on a
single matter is ridiculous, he said.

He has noted that the postponement of negotiations scheduled for
Washington harms not only the United States’ plans relating to the
region, but also relations between Azerbaijan and the country.

Politician Zardusht Alizadeh has stated that the changes are the result
of a lengthy process. The experts of the State Department have arrived
at the idea that Azerbaijan and Armenia do not seek the settlement
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "They believe that the parties are
trying to suspend relations. For this reason the experts suggested to
the government that the occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh should not
be mentioned in the report any more," Alizadeh has said. According to
the expert, the alterations will not seriously affect the relationship
between Azerbaijan and the United States.

Politician Rustam Mammadov has noted that the bonds between the two
countries are on high level and added that the United States always
applies a double standard in its policy. "The United States does not
see Armenia as its future ally. However, Washington seeks to make
the country pursue a pro-western policy. The changes in the report
were made in order not to let the Armenians turn their back on the
United States," Mammadov said.

He noted the readiness of Azerbaijan to become an ally for the United
States. However, Washington’s goal is to bring Armenia out of Russia’s
control.

–Boundary_(ID_Pe7nrgEs6xVQKkIX WYOvKA)–

"DIASPORA SHOULD BE MAIN CLAIMANT OF ARMENIAN CAUSE," DIRECTOR OF UNITY OF COMPATRIOTIC UNIONS SAYS
Noyan Tapan
Apr 23 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 23, NOYAN TAPAN. Currently favorable geopolitical
conditions have been created for international recognition of Armenian
Genocide.

Therefore, now all Armenians should already plan their future steps
to be taken in the direction of demanding recognition of Armenian
Genocide and decide what to do after recognition of the Genocide by
Turkey. Andranik Arshakian, Executive Director of Unity of Compatriotic
Unions, stated at the April 23 press conference.

In his words, mainly the heirs of Western Armenians having escaped from
the Genocide should be the claimants of the Armenian Cause. Therefore,
as A. Arshakian said, an empowered body composed of representatives
of Diasporan Armenians should be created. As he affirmed, "the main
claimant should be the 8-mln Diaspora in the status of internationally
recognized subject."

Alexander Manasian, corresponding member of Armenian National Academy
of Sciences, said that the third congress of heirs of Western Armenians
having escaped from the Genocide will be held in the coming months
in Paris. Issues related to creation of the above mentioned body will
be discussed at the very congress. He said that the congress will be
held on the initiative of Steering Committee of Western Armenians’
Heirs, the Armenian members of which are A. Manasian, A. Arshakian
and assistant to editor-in-chief of Armenian Encyclopedia Henrik
Khachatrian.

RA NA SPEAKER’S ADDRESS ON OCCASION OF DAY OF MEMORY OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS

Noyan Tapan
Apr 23 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 23, NOYAN TAPAN. RA National Assembly Speaker Tigran
Torosian addressed to the Armenian people on the occasion of the day
of memory of the Armenian Genocide victims. The message, the text
of which was submitted to Noyan Tapan by the RA NA Public Relations
Department, says:

"Dear compatriots,

Our people today again pays tribute of its respect to memory of the
victims of the Armenian Genocide planned and committed in the early
20th century by Ottaman Turkey. The number of those countries which,
recognizing and condemning that terrible crime, not only express their
moral assistance to our people, but also affirm their responsibility
for civilization and human fate, and assure that moral values are
for them higher than different political and group interests and
small-minded accountings.

Bowing our heads in memory of the Armenian Genocide martyrs, we must
not only chase with firm succession the unreserved recognition of
one of the most violent events of the human history but we are also
obliged to strengthen with our unity and work the two Armenian states
as the best monument in memory of the victims and the most important
quarantee of safe and honourable life of our compatriots living in
the Fatherland and Diaspora."

ARMENIAN AND RUSSIAN SPECIALISTS TO IMPLEMENT WORK ON GEOLOGICAL EXPLORATION OF URANIUM MINES IN ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Apr 23 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 23, NOYAN TAPAN. On April 23 the RA Ministry of Nature
Protection and the RF Atomic Energy Agency signed a cooperation
memorandum on prospecting, exploration and operation of uranium mines
in Armenia. The memorandum was signed by the RA Minister of Nature
Protection Vardan Aivazian and the Head of the Russian Atomic Energy
Agency Sergei Kirienko.

V. Aivazian said that in 2000, the governments of the two countries
signed the agreement on cooperation in the use of atomic energy for
peaceful purposes. In early 2007, the Russian side presented a draft
joint action plan on exploration and operation of uranium mines.

According to the minister, an Armenian-Russian joint venture will
be set up for geological exploration of uranium mines and their
preliminary industrial assessment, with Geoeconomica state CJSC
representing the Armenian side.

Unranium mine exploration will mainly be done in Syunik marz.

S. Kirienko said that geological surveys in the Soviet time showed
that Armenia has uranium resources of at least 30 thousand tons. In
his words, the real resorces may be 2-3 times as much, which will
allow Armenia to export uranium. He noted that uranium is the only
power-bearing substance whose price has increased 10fold in recent
years. According to S. Kirienko, Russian geologists will come
to Armenia in a few weeks. The preparatory work related to mine
exploration is envisaged to be completed by late 2007.

V. Aivazian said that no uranium enrichment will be done in Armenia. A
"political agreement" has been reached with Russia, according to which
Armenia will participate in the creation of the newly-established
International Atomic Center where uranium enrichment will be carried
out.