Author: Andres-Papazian

ARF Dashnaktsutyun leader votes for strong Armenia

news.am
May 06, 2012 | 11:18

YEREVAN.- Leader of ARF Dashnaktsutyun Vahan Hovhannisyan voted on
Sunday at the 10/8 polling station in Yerevan downtown.

Hovhannisyan voted for his party for the sake of elimination of
corruption and strong Armenia in the international arena.

He expressed hope that once publishing of voters list would not be
considered as violation of human rights, the Armenian News-NEWS.am
correspondent reports.

On Saturday Constitutional Court refused the appeal of 28 MPs
demanding that Electoral Code’s article prohibiting the publication of
lists signed by voters should be declared unconstitutional.

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Dashnaktsutyun is one of
the oldest Armenian political parties. It was founded in the end of
19th century.

Following the Sovietization of Armenia in 1920, the ARF-Dashnaktsutyun
was banned by the Communists and its leadership exiled. The
ARF-Dashnaktsutyun officially re-emerged in Armenia after the collapse
of the USSR, in 1990.

In June 2003, the party signed a coalition memorandum with the
Republican Party of Armenia and Orinats Yerkir (Rule of Law). However,
in 2009 ARFD left the coalition in protest against signing the
protocols with Turkey.

Party’s proportional list includes 85 candidates. Eight candidates
will run for an MP seat with majority system. The party’s motto is
`Freedom, Justice, Dashnaktsutyun.’

From: A. Papazian

Focus News, Bulgaria
May 5 2012

144 injured in Armenia election rally

05 May 2012 | 08:17 | FOCUS News Agency

Erevan. Officials in Armenia say at least 144 people were injured
Friday when gas-filled balloons exploded at an election campaign
concert in the Armenian capital Yerevan, Voice of America reported.

Most of the people suffered burns when many promotional balloons burst
into flames at a concert staged by the ruling Republican Party of
Armenia in Yerevan’s central Republic Square.

Health Minister Harutiun Kushkian told reporters no one’s life is in danger.

It was not immediately clear what caused the explosions, but some
reports say that it could have been caused by a cigarette lit too
closely to the balloons.

The incident marred a largely calm election campaign.

President Serzh Sarkisyan promised a full investigation.

From: A. Papazian

New York Daily News
May 5 2012

144 Armenians injured when gas-filled balloons explode at campaign rally
Explosion occured after smoker lit a cigarette near the balloons

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

YEREVAN, Armenia – Clusters of balloons exploded Friday during a
political rally in the central square of Armenia’s capital, injuring
at least 144 people, authorities said.

The Emergencies Ministry said 104 of them had to be hospitalized with
burns after the explosion in Yerevan, which it said was caused by a
smoker who lit a cigarette near the balloons.

Reports say officials suspect the balloons were filled with hydrogen
instead of helium, as helium is not flammable. Police are
investigating the cause of the explosion.

Health Minister Artyom Pushkian said no one had life-threatening injuries.

The balloons were supposed to be flown at a Republican Party rally
that drew tens of thousands ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary vote in
the former Soviet republic. Despite the accident, Armenian President
Serge Sarkisian addressed the rally with a speech.

The Republican Party dominates the parliament of this impoverished
Caucasus nation that borders Turkey.

From: A. Papazian

States News Service
May 4, 2012 Friday

INTERNATIONAL ELECTION OBSERVERS IN ARMENIA TO HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE ON MONDAY

YEREVAN

The following information was released by the Organization for
Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE):

The international observers monitoring the parliamentary elections in
Armenia will present their preliminary post-election statement at a
news conference on Monday, 7 May, in Yerevan.

The international observation is a common endeavour involving the OSCE
Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR), the
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA), the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe (PACE) and the European Parliament (EP).

The statement will be delivered by Francois-Xavier de Donnea, the
Special Co-ordinator to lead the short-term OSCE observer mission and
Head of the OSCE PA delegation, followed by Baroness Nicholson of
Winterbourne, the Head of the PACE delegation, followed by Krzysztof
Lisek, Head of the EP delegation, and by Radmila ekerinska, the Head
of the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission.

This common endeavour comprises some 350 observers from 42 countries,
including 41 long-term observers and experts from the OSCE/ODIHR, some
200 short-term observers seconded by participating States upon request
by the OSCE/ODIHR, as well as 60 parliamentarians and staff from the
OSCE PA, 25 from PACE, and ten from the EP.

Journalists are invited to attend the news conference on Monday, 7
May, at 14:00 in the SIS Hall of the Marriott Hotel, 1 Amyrian St.,
Yerevan.

Live stream of the press conference will be available at

For further information contact:

Thomas Rymer, OSCE/ODIHR, +374 96 698024 or +48 609522266, [email protected]
Neil Simon, OSCE PA, +374 96 245 623 or +45 60108330, [email protected]
Bogdan Torcatoriu, PACE, +374 98 355287 or +33 388 41 32 82,
[email protected]
Emilia Gallego Perona, EP, +374 96 697903 or +32 4989 81364,
[email protected]

From: A. Papazian

Minnesota Public Radio
May 4 2012

Court rules in favor of U of M’s academic freedom claim

by Steven John, Minnesota Public Radio
May 4, 2012

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday
that a University of Minnesota academic department had the right to
list the Turkish Council of America’s website as a source of
unreliable information on the Armenian Genocide of the early 20th
Century.

The council had sued the university, alleging that the university
defamed the organization and violated its right to free speech. The
stand of the Turkish council mirrors the official government line of
Turkey, denying that the systematic killings of hundreds of thousands
of ethnic Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during and after World War I
constituted genocide.

University of Minnesota General Counsel Mark Rotenberg spoke about the
court’s decision with Steven John of All Things Considered on Friday.

An edited transcript of that discussion is below.

Mark Rotenberg: Yesterday’s court ruling simply upheld the opportunity
and the right of our faculty at the U of M to offer an opinion about
the historical events involving the death of many hundreds of
thousands of Armenians prior to and during World War One. Our faculty
offered those opinions on a website in our Department of Holocaust and
Genocide Studies within the College of Liberal Arts.

Steven John: I’m sure a lot of universities across the county have
been watching this case. What do you think will be the ultimate
result?

Rotenberg: We know that a lot of universities have been following
this, many publications have reported on this, including international
publications in Europe where the issue of the Armenian genocide is
front and center in many people’s minds.

When you have a ruling at this level from a federal appeals court,
that enhances and affirms academic freedom for the faculty of the
university to express its viewpoints online. You enhance the quality
of debate and you enlarge the opportunities for students and the
public to know what our faculty thinks, and I think that’s all to the
good.

John: It appears that the University Center for Holocaust and Genocide
Studies has taken the list down from its website, why did that happen?

Rotenberg: The director of the center eventually chose to take the
list of unreliable sources down because he decided he did not want to
give more publicity to the unreliable sources. He did not take it down
for any legal reason, there’s no court order, the lawyers here for the
university didn’t advise him to take it down. I know he just felt that
he didn’t want to give any more publicity to the sources that the
center found to be unreliable.

John: Do you think this is a problem that’s grown out from the
proliferation of information available in the age of the Internet?

Rotenberg: I think it’s partly that. This case probably wouldn’t have
even come to court if it had just been a faculty member in a classroom
in front of 20 students saying she thought this book was shoddy
scholarship, or that [a] monograph or article was not credible.
Faculty members do that all the time. They’ve been doing that since
Plato and Socrates taught in Greece thousands of years ago.

I think the difference, as your question points out, is that nowadays
when faculty offer their critique of some other viewpoint, it goes to
entire world potentially. And some people, like the Turkish coalition
here, took some offense at that.

Interview transcribed and edited by Jon Collins, MPR reporter.

From: A. Papazian

The meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Armenian and Uruguay

04.05.2012

On May 4 the meeting of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward
Nalbandian and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay Luis
Almagro, who arrived in Yerevan on an official visit, took place in
Yerevan.

Welcoming the guest, Minister Nalbandian said, `Armenia and Uruguay
are thousands of kilometers away, but Uruguay is very close and
friendly country for Armenia and the Armenian people. Uruguay is the
first country which recognized the Armenian Genocide in 1965 and it’s
not accidental that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay started
his official visit to Armenia by visiting the Genocide Memorial. We
are very grateful to the people of Uruguay and the Uruguayan
leadership for the opening of their doors and providing shelters to
our compatriots – the survivors of the genocide, and thousands of
Armenians live in Uruguay, for whom Uruguay has become a second
homeland. We have very close and warm relations with Uruguay.’

Expressing gratitude for the reception, Luis Almagro underlined that
he has the warmest feelings towards the Armenian people and Armenia,
the proof of which is the role of the Armenian community in the
country’s life and the strong inter-governmental relations with
Uruguay.

During the meeting the sides had a thorough talk on the ways of the
further development of bilateral relations, as well as regional and
international agenda issues.

The Foreign Ministers agreed to exert additional efforts for the
strengthening of political dialogue and cooperation in the
international organizations, the promotion of trade and economic
relations and the expansion of legal framework.

The settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue was on the agenda of the
talks between Edward Nalbandian and Luis Almagro. In this regard, it
was mutually stressed that the peaceful settlement based on the
proposals presented by the mediators has no alternative.

The meeting of the Ministers was followed by a joint press conference.

From: A. Papazian

The Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs received the head of the CIS
Observation Mission

03.05.2012

On May 3 the Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian
received the Head of the CIS observation mission at the 2012 RA
parliamentary elections, First Deputy Head of the CIS Executive
Committee Vladimir Garkun.

Highly assessing the conditions provided by the RA authorities for the
implementation of observation mission in Armenia, the head of the CIS
Observation Mission underlined that by their assessment there are all
the necessary conditions in the country to carry out equal election
campaigns and free elections.

Vladimir Garkun informed Edward Nalbandian that the CIS observers
would carry out their mission in all Armenian regions (marzes), as
well as presented the procedure of the CIS observation mission and the
standards and principles of reaching conclusion on elections.

During the meeting the interlocutors touched upon a number of issues
related to electoral processes.

From: A. Papazian

MFA RA: Hatred-disseminating provocative statements of Azerbaijan
undermine the authority of the UN Security Council

05-05-2012 19:13:20 | Armenia | Politics

Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia:

“The statement, made by the President of Azerbaijan on May 4 at the
Security Council is based on lies, distortions and groundless
speculations. It causes deep regret that such an august platform can
be used for such base statements.

Instead of reaffirming his country’s commitment to the peaceful
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, the President of Azerbaijan
is abusing the authoritative tribune of the UN Security Council in
order to repeat the overused theses of anti-Armenian propaganda of
Azerbaijan, just only forgetting to recall the Azerbaijani
leadership’s famous racist thesis that Azerbaijan’s `main enemies are
Armenians of the world’.

During the UN SC briefing on counter-terrorism the President of
Azerbaijan is making an unsuccessful attempt to lay its own
responsibility of links with terrorist groups on others, being the
leader of a country, which actively used thousands of mercenaries
closely linked to notorious international terrorist networks in its
unleashed war aiming at the annihilation of the people of
Nagorno-Karabakh.

It is a peculiar expression of cynicism when vain accusations are
voiced against Armenia by the leader of a country, the authorities of
which masterminded massacres, ethnic cleansings against the Armenians
by medieval methods; a country, where cruel butchers of sleeping
people are glorified as national heroes; a country a captive is
humiliated in front of cameras and then killed as it is done by
well-known terrorist organizations; a country, where centuries-old
cultural monuments are barbarously destroyed as it is done by famous
terrorists.

The continuous threats to regional peace and security, the bellicose
and hatred-disseminating provocative statements of the leadership of
Azerbaijan, which are in harsh contrast to the purposes and principles
of the UN Charter, are not befitting a UN member state and undermine
the authority of the Security Council”.

News from Armenia and Diaspora – Noyan Tapan

From: A. Papazian

Constitutional Court rejects parties’ proposal on voter lists release

May 5, 2012 – 18:22 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenian Constitutional Court turned down the appeal
of 28 MPs from Prosperous Armenia and ARF Dashnaktutyun to rule the
point of the Armenian electoral code banning publication of voter
lists as unconstitutional.

Constitutional Court conditioned its decision by a view voiced by the
Venice Commission in the stage of drafting the Electoral Code. The
latter states that the voter lists publication violates the secret
ballot principle.

The proposal on voter lists release was put forth by the inter-party
headquarters consisting of Prosperous Armenia, ARF Dashnaktutyun and
Armenian National Congress (ANC). The initiative was also backed by
Heritage opposition party.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA RULING PARTY, ARM-WRESTLER CLASH AT POLLS
By Matthew Collin

The Daily Star

May 4 2012
Lebanon

YEREVAN: Armenians vote in parliamentary polls on Sunday that look
set to be a battle for supremacy between the governing party and its
current coalition partner led by a super-rich former arm wrestling
champion.

It is the biggest test of the ex-Soviet state’s democratic credentials
since disputed presidential elections in 2008, when mass rallies
ended in bloody clashes between riot police and opposition supporters
that left 10 people dead, casting a long shadow over President Serzh
Sarkisian’s administration.

Opinion polls suggest that Sarkisian’s Republican party, which
currently has a parliamentary majority, is ahead of its ally in the
outgoing coalition — the Prosperous Armenia party led by millionaire
tycoon and former arm-wrestler Gagik Tsarukian — with opposition
parties trailing behind.

The authorities in the mountainous country of 3.3 million people have
promised an unprecedentedly clean contest for the 131-seat National
Assembly in the hope of winning an uncontested mandate and avoiding
further political turmoil.

“It is our deep inner conviction that we need clear, transparent,
just and fair elections, because if the authorities want to carry
out transformational reform, they need to enjoy the support of the
population,” Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian of the Republican party
told AFP.

A pre-poll report by OSCE observers did not register systematic
violations, although there have been allegations some parties have
been bribing potential voters with satellite dishes, mobile phones,
food, alcohol and even tractors.

“Some poorer parts of our electorate wait for elections because they
think they will get gifts or benefits,” sociologist Gevorg Poghosian
told AFP.

The Armenian National Congress opposition bloc said the elections were
being held in an “atmosphere of fear and intimidation” created by an
“oligarchic regime” that is preparing to rig the vote.

“Sometimes Armenia looks democratic but this is a facade. We need to
dismantle this mafia-like regime that has hijacked the state for its
personal enrichment,” the bloc’s coordinator, Levon Zurabian, told AFP.

The bloc will launch protests the day after the polls if there is
mass fraud, he said.

Demonstrations have also not been ruled out by Prosperous Armenia,
whose musclebound populist leader Tsarukian keeps lions at his
opulent hilltop villa outside Yerevan and is seen by his supporters
as a benevolent hero for his donations to the poor and financing of
new churches.

“If people are disappointed and frustrated again because the
elections were not conducted in a fair manner and there was fraud and
irregularities, the past problems will be exacerbated which could
lead to a period of instability,” senior party figure and former
foreign minister Vartan Oskanian told AFP.

Issues like poverty, unemployment and emigration have dominated the
campaign, with politicians on all sides promising job creation and
improved social welfare.

The impoverished and landlocked country has suffered economically
because its borders with neighbors Turkey and Azerbaijan are closed
due to political disputes.

No final peace deal has been signed with Azerbaijan since the 1990s
war over the region of Nagorny Karabakh and gun battles often erupt
along the frontline.

Efforts to restore diplomatic relations with Turkey, which could have
ended decades of enmity over the World War I genocide of Armenians
under the Ottoman empire, have also been frozen.

A strong turnout is expected for Sunday’s vote but opinion polls
have suggested that large numbers of voters remain cynical about the
political process and some analysts say the next government needs to
undertake fundamental reforms.

“If we have the best-ever elections, completely free and fair, it
would be an important precedent,” Richard Giragosian of the Regional
Studies Center told AFP.

“But it would still not be enough because the oligarchs will still
be powerful, the parliament will still be inadequate and the rule of
law will still be the law of the ruler,” he said.

From: A. Papazian