Author: Andres-Papazian

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT’S PARTY WINS PARLIAMENTARY VOTE

La Crosse Tribune
May 7 2012

(AP) President Serge Sarkisian’s party has won a majority of seats in
a parliamentary election that international observers said Monday were
competitive and peaceful, but undermined by organizational problems
and some interference by political parties.

The elections were seen as a test of Sarkisian’s support ahead of
next year’s presidential election in which he is expected to seek a
second term.

The results showed the president’s Republican Party won at least 68
of the parliament’s 131 seats. In the outgoing parliament, the party
was a few seats shy of a majority and formed a coalition with the
Prosperous Armenia party, which finished second in Sunday’s election.

“Armenia deserves recognition for its electoral reforms and its
open and peaceful campaign environment, but, in this race, several
stakeholders too often failed to comply with the law and election
commissions too often failed to enforce it,” said Francois-Xavier de
Donnea, a member of the Belgian parliament who headed the observer
mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The OSCE urged the Armenian government to address the problems before
the presidential election.

The opposition Armenian National Congress, led by former President
Levon Ter-Petrosian, finished a distant third but did well enough
to enter parliament for the first time. The party will get up to
eight seats.

Ter-Petrosian has not yet said whether he will accept the results of
the parliamentary election or call his supporters out onto the street.

Following the February 2008 presidential election, his supporters
rallied in Yerevan, claiming the vote won by Sarkisian was flawed. The
protests turned violent in early March, when clashes with police left
10 people dead and more than 250 injured.

Sarkisian’s government has close ties both with Russia, which has a
military base in Armenia, and the West, in part because of its large
diaspora. Millions of Armenians live abroad, with the largest numbers
in Russia, the United States, Georgia and France.

Armenia has tense relations with neighboring Turkey and Azerbaijan,
and its borders with both countries remain closed.

Read more:

From: A. Papazian

ELECTION OBSERVERS CRITICAL OF ARMENIA POLL

Deutsche Welle
May 7 2012
Germany

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said
on Monday that democratic failings undermined what was an otherwise
peaceful election that featured an open campaign.

A statement released on the OSCE’s website said that certain aspects
of a new electoral code were not implemented adequately, and that
pressure on voters as well as a deficient complaints process were
shortcomings in the poll.

“Armenia deserves recognition for its electoral reforms and its
open and peaceful campaign environment but, in this race, several
stakeholders too often failed to comply with the law and election
commissions too often failed to enforce it,” said Francois-Xavier de
Donnea, the Special coordinator who led the short-term OSCE observer
mission. “As a result, the international commitments to which Armenia
has freely subscribed were not always respected.”

But in contrast to Armenia’s last election in 2008 that left 10 dead,
Sunday’s poll was a step in the right direction.

“The high turnout of over 60 percent, the wide age range among voters,
and the clear understanding of the electoral process by young and
old alike were impressive, but reports of widespread interference
with the running of polling stations, voters’ movement and casting of
votes throughout the day by certain political parties raised serious
concerns,” said Emma Nicholson, the head of the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe delegation.

Armenia’s central election commission said President Serzh Sarkisian’s
Republican party took 44.05 percent of the vote after all ballots
had been counted.

The second best showing was for the Prosperous Armenia party, which
was previously the Republican party’s coalition partner but has turned
into a political rival.

From: A. Papazian

SERBIA, GERMANY, ITALY AND ARMENIA GO TO POLLS

San Francisco Chronicle

May 7 2012
CA

Besides France and Greece, voters in four other European countries
went to the polls Sunday:

— Serbia: Polls show pro-European Union candidate Boris Tadic and
nationalist opponent Tomislav Nikolic are headed for a presidential
runoff, while the ruling pro-Western party is likely to form the next
coalition government. The outcomes could affect Serbia’s relations
with the European Union as well as Kosovo.

— Germany: Exit polls show voters in Germany’s northernmost state
have probably ousted a governing center-right government made up
of the same parties as the federal coalition, a blow to Chancellor
Angela Merkel. About 2.24 million people were eligible to vote in
Schleswig-Holstein state.

— Italy: The nation holds its first election since Premier Mario
Monti was tapped to save Italy from its debt crisis. The vote could
gauge public anger toward parties supporting his austerity measures.

About 9.5 million Italians were eligible to vote Sunday and Monday
for 942 city councils and mayorships.

— Armenia: About 2.5 million Armenians are eligible to vote for a new
parliament. President Serge Sarkisian’s Republican Party was expected
to win, but it wants the majority in the 131-seat parliament to avoid
having to form a coalition. Results are expected Monday.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION LEADER SAYS WILL ACCEPT ANY VOTING RESULTS IF ELECTIONS FAIR

Interfax
May 6 2012
Russia

Former Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosian, the leader of the
opposition Armenian National Congress, has said he will accept
whatever outcomes of the ongoing parliamentary elections if they pass
in line with the law.

“We will accept any results if the elections pass normally. We expect
the elections to pass normally,” Ter-Petrosian told journalists after
casting his ballot on Sunday.

He said he had voted “for a better Armenia.”

Armenia is holding parliamentary elections on Sunday. Running for 90
parliamentary seats on a proportional representation system are the
ruling Republican Party led by President Serzh Sargsyan, the party
Prospering Armenia led by businessman Gagik Tsarukian, the Orinats
Yerkir party led by National Security Council Secretary Artur
Bagdasarian, the Revolutionary Federation of Dashnaktsutyun, the
Heritage party led by former Foreign Minister Raffi Ovannisian,
running in an alliance with the party Free Democrats, which earlier
split off from the opposition Armenian National Congress, the
opposition bloc Armenian National Congress led by Ter-Petrosian, which
is comprised of 18 political organizations, the Democratic Party, the
Communist Party and the United Armenians party.

Voter turnout as of 11:00 a.m. local time was 15.8%.

From: A. Papazian

ELECTION REVEALS SOCIETY’S CORRUPTIBILITY LEVEL

tert.am
07.05.12

Yesterday’s parliamentary election demonstrates Armenian society’s
high corruptibility level, says Anahit Bakhshyan, a Heritage party
member who was running for parliament in majority district No. 12.

“The segment of the society which is the most miserable and the
least protected, the segment which needs everyday care most badly,
has been left alone after selling its votes yesterday; it has opened
its way to destruction,” she said.

Asked about her opinion about the voting in her electoral district,
Bakshyan said: “I say for the first time that I ordered a social
survey before the election; 44% of the respondents were willing to
vote for me. Yes, I am a little sad but this is not a tragedy for me.”

From: A. Papazian

FILM BASED ON WILLIAM SAROYAN’S NOVEL TO BE PRESENTED AT CANNES FILM MARKET

15:32 . 07/05

A short-length film screened based on the novel “Pheasant Hunter”
by William Saroyan will be presented at the film market of Cannes
Festival, which is scheduled on May 16-27. Member of the Armenian
delegation, the film’s director Marina Zakaryan told Armenpress that
the delegation will leave for Cannes on May 14.

The shooting work of “Pheasant Hunter” kicked off in October 2011.

Later the short-length film will be included in a full-length one —
“Crescent Lagoon”, comprised of 4 series,” said Marina Zakaryan. The
film has been shot on the initiative of National Cinema Center of
Armenia, “Parallela Film Production” holding and renowned director
Marina Zakaryan and producer Hovhannes Galstyan, who presented
“Bonded Parallels” film still back in 2009.

“Participation in the film market first of all affords new
opportunities and cooperation prospects to directors,” Marina Zakaryan
noted. According to her, such authoritative festivals also foster
presentation of Armenian films to the world and keeping pace with
the world’s cinema.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA’S SECOND PRESIDENT IS IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH

news.am
May 08, 2012 | 14:46

YEREVAN. – Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan headed
for the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), to take part in the
celebrations devoted to 20th anniversaries of the NKR Defense Army
and the liberation of Shushi city, Kocharyan’s office manager Victor
Soghomonyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, Armenia’s incumbent
President Serzh Sargsyan arrived in the NKR on Tuesday.

He will attend events marking Victory Day, and 20th anniversaries of
the NKR Defense Army and the liberation of Shushi.

The Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II had arrived in
Nagorno-Karabakh on Monday.

From: A. Papazian

COMMENTARY OF NKR MFA ON “RING” LARGE-SCALE PUNITIVE OPERATION COMMITTED AGAINST ARMENIANS

hetq
11:12, May 8, 2012

In late April – early May 1991, special police detachments (OMON) of
the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan, with the support of
the USSR Interior Ministry~Rs troops, launched a large-scale punitive
operation of Ring, the essence of which was to exile the Armenian
population of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, the Shahumian
region, and some regions of Northern Artsakh (the Khanlar, Dashkesan,
Kedabek, and Shamkhor regions of the former Azerbaijani SSR).

As a result of this operation, dozens of Armenian settlements were
completely devastated, destroyed or populated by Azerbaijanis. Tens
of thousands of people were deported, hundreds were killed. It was the
operation of Ring characterized by unprecedented cruelty and mass human
rights violations that dramatically increased the level of tension in
the region and transferred the Karabakh conflict to a military plane.

The report of the CSCE Mission of February 28, 1992 noted that
“particularly serious escalation took place in April-May 1991 when the
Soviet Army, with the support of the Azerbaijani Interior Ministry~Rs
units, deported Armenians from many villages of the region. The
deportation was carried out with extreme cruelty”.

The events, which took place during the operation of Ring, were
reflected in the documents of some international organizations, became
a subject of hearings at the Human Rights Committee of the Supreme
Soviet of the Russian Federation and got the corresponding assessment
in the resolutions of the European Parliament and the U.S. Senate.

The Human Rights Center of Memorial Moscow Association stated gross
violations of the basic human rights: “They grossly violated the right
of every person to life, liberty, and security; they used tortures,
carried out arbitrary arrests and detentions and committed numerous
property offenses. The practice of people~Rs deportation acquired a
mass character. Particularly cynical these violations were made by
the fact that the mass violence against the civilians was committed by
the law enforcement agencies. The responsibility for this rests with
the top leadership of the Azerbaijani Republic, Azerbaijan’s Interior
Ministry and Committee for State Security (KGB), as well as with the
leadership of the USSR Interior Ministry, Ministry of Defense and the
Command of the USSR MIA Interior Troops. These crimes cast a shadow
also on the top leadership of the USSR~T.

On May 1, 1991, the U.S. Senate unanimously adopted a resolution
condemning the crimes committed by the authorities of the USSR
and Azerbaijan against the Armenian population. The resolution,
in particular, condemned “the attacks on innocent men, women and
children in Nagorno-Karabakh, in the adjacent Armenian settlements and
in Armenia; the large-scale use of military force and firing of the
unarmed population on the eastern and southern borders of Armenia”,
as well as contained calls ~Sto put an end to the blockades and other
forms of force and the terror against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh”.

On May 25, a draft statement on the situation in some regions of
Armenia and Azerbaijan was submitted to the session of the Fourth
Congress of People’s Deputies of the Russian Soviet Federative
Socialist Republic (RSFSR) for consideration and was approved by the
overwhelming majority of votes.

The statement, in particular, noted that “in accordance with the
internationally accepted norms and conventions on human rights, the
deportation of civilians must be immediately stopped, the hostages
must be freed, and the suspects on cases of armed clashes must be
transferred to the prosecution of the USSR Prosecutor~Rs Office”.

However, the crimes committed during the operation of Ring haven~Rt
got the proper political and legal assessment by the international
community and their organizers and executors are still unpunished.

This became a precedent for new military crimes and inhumane actions
by Azerbaijan against the peaceful Armenian population.

The deported residents are still unable to return to their homes and
they haven’t received any reimbursement so far.

Unfortunately, we also have to state that the Armenian villages
deported during the operation of Ring are not mentioned in any
of the documents proposed by the international mediators for the
Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict settlement.

NKR MFA Information Department

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA TO PARTICIPATE IN LOS ANGELES TIMES FESTIVAL OF BOOKS

Panorama.am
08/05/2012

Armenia will participate in the annual Los Angeles Times Festival of
Books on the sidelines of the activities marking the 500th anniversary
of Armenian printing. Armenia will present the past way of Armenian
book at the festival – from the oldest printed books to digital copies,
Armenian Ministry of Culture reported.

Through the efforts of the Consulate General of Armenia in Los
Angeles, the 500th anniversary of Armenian printing will be marked
all through 2012.

Los Angeles Public Library will host a celebration to mark the 500th
anniversary of Armenian printing. A selection of archival materials
from UCLA, USC, Getty will be displayed. The celebration will continue
in the Consulate General of Armenia. The event will feature Glendale
Philharmonic Orchestra. Yerevan State Pantomime Theatre will perform
during the day.

Toros Roslin’s illuminated miniatures will be shown on the facade of
Armenian Consulate General in evening hours for several months running.

From: A. Papazian

ZHAMANAK: WHERE ARE ORINATS YERKIR’S 170 000 MEMBERS?

Panorama.am
08/05/2012

“According to preliminary results, Orinats Yerkir Party has received
82 690 votes (5.48 percent) in the parliamentary election. Orinats
Yerkir leader Arthur Baghdasaryan used to boast that OYP has 170
000 members. In fact, it appears that either only 82 690 of 170 000
members voted for their own party or Arthur Baghdasaryan was lying,”
Zhamanak writes.

From: A. Papazian