Month: February 2012

STRATFOR: ARMENIA – BRIDGEHEAD OF MOSCOW IN THE CENTER OF THE CAUCASUS

yerkir.am
13:30 – 14.02.2012

Armenia – bridgehead of Moscow, and also its buffer zone in the
Caucasus, it is spoken in the dedicated to the South Caucasus article
of the research center Of stratfor.

As transfers AZE.az, the research center Of stratfor published a
sequential series of materials with the analysis of the relations of
Russia and republics of the former USSR by the name revival of Russia.

Analysts Stratfor in a study emphasize that about Armenia it is buffer
zone for Russia in the Caucasus.

Armenia – bridgehead of Moscow in the center of the Caucasus. It
borders on Azerbaijan and Georgia, and also on Turkey and Iran. Russia
has as a goal during the present year – to prepare Armenia for the
possible integration into the united economic space and the Eurasian
union, note researchers Stratfor. Also they emphasize that Russia
has political, economic levers of influence in Armenia. Analyst they
indicate that official Moscow lends support to the Armenian President
and to the ruling Republican Party of Armenia.

Experts emphasize that Armenia, in view of the geographical location
and the absence of strategically important natural resources, she
also willingly selected by his influential patron Russia. There is
influential Armenian diaspore in the USA and France; however, its
involvement bears faster economic nature.

Armenia enters into the orbit of Russia, and partly the pro-Western
camp of the ex-USSR it is not, note analysts. Also they the conclusion
that Armenia will be accurate to Moscow and will continue participation
in the initiatives of Moscow in the region. The only version, when
Armenia goes away from Russia – weakening the geopolitical positions
of Russia in the region.

ARMENIA TO OPEN CONSULATE IN UKRAINE’S ODESSA

news.am
February 14, 2012 | 12:34

YEREVAN. – President Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree, whereby Armenia’s
Consulate General will be established in Odessa, Ukraine, Office of
the President informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

VASSILY ATAJANIAN RECEIVED A DELEGATION HEADED BY FIRST CHAIRMAN OF THE SLOVAKIAN NATIONAL COUNCIL FRANTISEK MIKLOSKO

Noyan Tapan
2012-02-13

On February 13, Acting Foreign Minister of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic Vassily Atajanian received a delegation of representatives
of educational and business circles of the Slovakian Republic headed
by first Chairman of the Slovakian National Council Frantisek Miklosko.

During the meeting, Vassily Atajanian briefly introduced the history
of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh), the origins of the Karabakh conflict,
the current stage of the negotiation process on the Karabakh conflict
settlement, and the position of official Stepanakert.

“Unfortunately, Nagorno Karabakh – a historical part of Armenia –
was forcedly included in the structure of the Azerbaijani Soviet
Socialist Republic. For the entire 75-year stay of Nagorno Karabakh
in the structure of Soviet Azerbaijan, Baku had conducted a policy
on expelling the native Armenian population from the region”, noted
the NKR Acting Foreign Minister.

He emphasized that after the USSR collapse the NKR people had declared
an independent state on a perfect legal basis and, having repelled
the aggression of Azerbaijan, had created a civilized and democratic
society.

Speaking of the conflict settlement process, Vassily Atajanian noted
the destructive position of official Baku, actually, undermining
the negotiation process. According to him, for achieving progress,
the basic issue should be resolved – to recognize the independent
status of Nagorno Karabakh.

Vassily Atajanian answered the guests’ questions related to the
regional processes and humanitarian issues in the context of the
Karabakh issue, as well as the situation in different spheres of the
NKR vital activity. The delegation members made specific proposals
on the realization of corresponding programs in the NKR.

Mr. Atajanian expressed his gratitude to Frantisek Miklosko and the
delegation members, as well as to the visit’s organizer – President of
the Forum of Armenian Associations of Europe Ashot Grigorian for their
consistent and open support of the Karabakh people’s just struggle
and granted them souvenirs, the NKR MFA Press Service informs.

CONSULTANT IS ANNOUNCED FOR RENOVATION OF ARMENIA’S VOROTAN HYDRO POWER PLANTS

news.am
February 14, 2012 | 10:31

YEREVAN. – The Turkish SOCOIN Ingenieria y Construccion Industrial
Company made a query, with Armenia’s Energy and Natural Resources
Ministry, with respect to participation in the tender for the
renovation of Vorotan hydro power plants, informs the Ministry’s
bulletin presented to the Government.

After the query, however, the Turkish company did not present a
tender offer. And from the three organizations which offered a bid,
Germany’s Fichtner GmbH & Co.KG Company was declared the winner.

The consulting service price is 2.7 million euros.

HOW WAS LETTER OF APPRECIATION HANDED TO ARMENIA’S IMPRISONED FORMER POLICE CHIEF? – NEWSPAPER

news.am
February 14, 2012 | 09:02

YEREVAN. – Official website of Armenia’s Police Force had confused
its visitors, Aravot daily writes.

“The reason was the ‘Meeting at the Social Council’ information posted
in the ‘Social Council’ section. According to this information,
a meeting was held, on December 2 at the hall of the Police Force
Social Council, with the leadership of the Road Police. [But] it is
not noted as to December 2 of which year. According to the official
information, a letter of appreciation is handed to Road Police Chief
Margar Ohanyan for the active cooperation with the organization he
heads. Our readers were asking how this letter of appreciation was
handed to Margar Ohanyan who is imprisoned [since August 30, 2011],”
Aravot writes.

TURKEY JUDGES NOT IMPARTIAL, SAYS ARRESTED PUBLISHER’S LAWYER. APPLIES TO ECHR

epress.am
02.14.2012

Arrested publisher Ragıp Zarakolu’s lawyers have filed a suit at the
European Court of Human Rights to challenge the prosecutor’s orders
that led to his arrest on Nov. 1, 2011, as part of the Kurdistan
Communities Union (KCK) trials.

“[The KCK probe] is a politically [motivated] case filed by the AKP
[Justice and Development Party] government, and the combination of
the prosecutors’ and judges’ lack of independence and impartiality
makes it difficult for a just and lawful verdict to be reached,”
Zarakolu’s lawyer Ozcan Kılıc told the Hurriyet Daily News.

The suit filed at the European court pertains to such matters as
treatment in detention, the legal and material basis for the arrest
and access to case files and evidence, rather than the trial process
itself, in accordance with the requirements prescribed in the fifth
article of the European Convention on Human Rights, which established
the court, according to Kılıc.

“The KCK trial is going to be the case with the largest number of
suspects in Istanbul since the military coup of 1980. It is still
too early to comment on the course of the trial,” Kılıc said.

Tuncay Ozkan, another suspect in the ongoing Ergenekon trials,
had already applied to the European court last week on the grounds
that his right to a fair trial had been violated and that he had
been detained for an extensive period. The European court, however,
rejected his complaint regarding the right to a fair trial but gave an
interim decision addressing claims regarding the period of his arrest,
indicating that the charge would be examined later.

“We are going to cite as the preamble our inability to access the
documents and information in the file due to the ‘order of secrecy,’
the basing of the evidence and the accusations on [slippery] facts,
the refusal of objections to the arrest without citing any serious
and reasonable justification and the fact that no suit has yet been
filed despite the passage of more than three months,” Kılıc said.

Cem Halavurt, one of the lawyers in the high-profile case of Hrant
Dink, a Turkish journalist of Armenian origin murdered in 2007,
also said the European court’s ruling on Ozkan did not constitute a
precedent because the court examines each file separately.

Domestic judiciary processes have to be completely exhausted before
a file can be brought before the European court. Some 180 suspects
will stand trial in the KCK probe, including Zarakolu, who continues
to remain behind bars at a high-security prison in the northwestern
province of Kocaeli.

From: Baghdasarian

TURKEY’S COURT AGAIN DOES NOT SENTENCE MURDERER OF ARMENIAN SOLDIER KILLED IN TURKISH ARMY

news.am
February 14, 2012 | 12:54

ISTANBUL. – During the fifth trial into the death of Sevag Balikci-the
Istanbul Armenian who was killed, on April 24, 2011, in a military
unit while serving in the Turkish army-the court again denied the
motion to imprison Kivanc Agaoglu-the soldier who killed Balikci,
and who is charged with murder.

The court judge stated that it is a matter of honor for him that
the trial ends with a fair verdict. He also ordered that Bulent
Kaya-Agaoglu’s relative who had instructed the eyewitness soldier Halil
Eksi to give false testimony-be present in the next court hearing,
Haberturk of Turkey informs.

Halil Eksi had claimed that a certain Bulent Kaya, who had presented
himself as the uncle of Kivanc Agaoglu, had contacted him and said
it would be good for him to testify in Kivanc’s favor. Bulent then
gave him a paper which Halil signed under. During the hearing on
September 9, 2011, this paper was read, in which it was stated that
he had not seen how the shot was fired, but he was convinced that it
was accidental. And during the hearing on December 27, Eksi confessed
to what had actually transpired.

“Kivanc loaded the rifle, aimed it at Sevag, and fired. But I do not
know why he killed Sevag,” the eyewitness ex-soldier said.

To note, Sevag Balikci was killed by Kivanc Agaoglu, but the Turkish
gendarmerie had stated that the death had occurred accidentally
while the soldiers were joking around. Agaoglu was released at the
very first court hearing, and on the grounds that he had no reason
to escape. The Turkish Military Prosecutor’s Office demands a mere
nine-year sentence for Agaoglu, and on charges of “murder as a result
of negligence.” But at Diyarbakir Military Court, a senior officer
had stated that, after Sevag’s murder, an eyewitness soldier had told
him that Kivanc Agaoglu had told Sevag: “Chubby, I will kill you!” Yet
the other military servicemen at the trial denied these words.

From: A. Papazian

BROUGHT TO POLLING STATIONS WERE PEOPLE WHO SHOULDN’T HAVE VOTED: NIKOL PASHINYAN ON HRAZDAN ELECTIONS

epress.am
02.14.2012

Haykakan Jamanak (“Armenian Times”) chief editor Nikol Pashinyan
(pictured) in his editorial today described what he saw while observing
as opposition candidate Sasun Mikaelyan’s proxy at polling station
25/16 during the Feb. 12 Hrazdan mayoral elections.

Pashinyan notes that in this particular polling station, there were
1,890 registered voters, 1,353 of which voted. Incumbent Aram Danielyan
received 656 votes while Sasun Mikaelyan, 653. Forty-four votes were
declared invalid.

Though there were no flagrant incidents and everyone who wanted
to vote made it to the polling station before it closed, Pashinyan
noted, brought to the polling station were people who “under normal
circumstances shouldn’t have voted.”

The opposition representative cited an example of a 70-year-old man
with tears in his eyes describing how he underwent surgery two days
ago but was brought to the polling station from intensive care to
vote. Receiving his ballot, he went to the booth and began to ask
out loud how he should vote. One of the electoral commission members
explained to him that there are two candidates and he can vote for
whoever he wants. The man then came out of the booth with his ballot
open and everyone could see that he had filled it out incorrectly. It
was then explained to him how to properly insert a check next to
the candidate’s name and he was given a new ballot, but not before
Pashinyan saw that he had voted for Aram Danielyan.

Pashinyan explains that this was not the only such incident.

Apparently, brought to the polling stations were elderly men and
women who were physically unwell, who “had difficulty saying one or
two words,” and who upon arrival announced that they were unable
to vote independently and thus, voted guided by the assistance of
their grandchildren or other individuals. Also brought to vote were
the mentally ill who voted the same way and, “naturally, in Aram
Danielyan’s favor.” There were frequent incidents of confused voters
and open ballots that were returned and filled in again, but in the
process, their vote for the incumbent was evident, Pashinyan noted.

The Haykakan Jamanak chief editor also cited several cases of Armenians
with Russian passports. “These people have been living in Armenia
these past few weeks or perhaps days, and come what may, they will
again depart for Russia, because they have no other way of feeding
their families… and many of those who came to 25/16 polling station
perhaps are participating in elections in Armenia for the last time –
many of them will leave and never return.”

“I tried to recall how many prosperous people or even those in ‘middle
class’ dress I saw at 25/16 polling station. I can count them on my
fingers,” he added.

Pashinyan concludes by pointing to the fact that though Aram Danielyan
received 656 votes, “how many of those 656 citizens consider
Danielyan’s victory theirs? I guarantee, not more than 50. The
rest voted not because they decided, but because they were forced –
others decided for them The proof of this was the citizen brought
from the hospital who, receiving a ballot, was crying that he was
operated on just two days ago, but today he was forced to come to
the polling station.”

RA NA SPEAKER RECEIVES THE SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF NATO FOR THE CAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA J. APPATHURAI

13.02.2012

On February 13 the RA National Assembly Speaker Samvel Nikoyan received
James Appathurai, Special Representative of the Secretary General of
NATO in Caucasus and Central Asia.

First the NA Speaker welcomed James Appathurai’s already second visit
to Armenia, then touched upon positively developing Armenia-NATO
cooperation. He emphasized the works being done within the framework
of Armenia-NATO Individual Partnership Action Plan, the cooperation
of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and the RA National Assembly,
the participation of Armenia’s Armed Forces in the NATO peacekeeping
missions. “It’s very important that Armenia not only make use of
the security international system, but also it actively take part in
those processes. I think that here the usefulness is bilateral,” Mr
Nikoyan noted. The NA Speaker presented the works, done in the Army
in the direction of strengthening the legal bases, public oversight
and improvement of public awareness processes. With this respect he
stressed the cooperation with the NGOs.

Congratulating Samvel Nikoyan on the occasion of being elected
NA Speaker and his birthday James Appathurai has noted that the
NATO greatly emphasizes the relations with Armenia, which, to his
assessment, develop well and have intention of further deepening. He
thanked Armenia for participating at best in the NATO peacekeeping
forces. “Armenia being a small country has a big contribution in the
international peacekeeping missions. I have been myself to Afghanistan,
and I wish to convey my gratitude for higher service of the Armenian
Armed forces,” James Appathurai noted. He highlighted the role of
the NA in the spheres of oversight and public awareness, as well as
the cooperation within the NATO PA. Mr Appathurai said that in future
the NATO delegation would arrive in Armenia to specify the upcoming
programs with relevant departments.

In the course of the meeting other issues of bilateral interest were
also discussed. The further deepening and enforcement of cooperation
was mutually stressed.

From: A. Papazian

HERITAGE: PRE-ELECTION BRIBES BY REPUBLICAN PARTY DETERMINED VOTING RESULT IN HRAZDAN

arminfo
Tuesday, February 14, 14:32

Pre-election bribes by the ruling Republican Party determined
the voting result in the town of Hrazdan, Armen Martirosyan,
parliamentarian from Heritage Party told media, Tuesday.

“The opposition was observing the situation at the polling stations
by combined efforts, while votes were defrauded outside the polling
stations. I know very cases of voter bribery. The citizens were under
permanent pressure and were reluctant to vote for the Republican
candidate, Martirosyan said.

He said that the law-enforcement was warned not to interfere into
election fraud at polling stations. The parliamentarian said the
opposition has no legal levers of pressure and cannot take the
situation fully under control.

Aram Danielyan -the incumbent Mayor and the ruling coalition’s
Republican Party of Armenia member – defeated Sasun Mikayelyan- the
former MP and Mayor, and opposition Armenian National Congress member.

According to the preliminary results of the elections, Danielyan
received 13,000 votes, and Mikayelyan received about 11,500 votes.

The whole day long, Sasun Mikayelyan’s campaign headquarters was
informing about cases of fraud and election bribes, whereas Aram
Danielyan’s headquarters was refuting this information.

The voter turnout was at 57.86%.