Author: Babajanian Karo

GEORGIAN DEMOCRACY NEEDS THE EU’S HELP
David Usupashvili

With President Mikheil Saakashvili’s commitment to democracy
increasingly in question, the EU must act.

In less than six months, parliamentary elections will be held in
Georgia. As well as being a political test for the parties involved,
these polls represent an important test of the democratic credentials
of the government of President Mikheil Saakashvili and the impact of
the EU’s calls for political pluralism.

On 15 May, the European Commission will present its action plan for
Georgia. We expect a strong signal that the EU is closely monitoring
Georgia’s young democracy and will follow through on the call made in
February by EU foreign ministers for a genuine multi-party system. But
the signs are not good. The Georgian government has ignored repeated
recommendations from the Council of Europe and other international
organisations to improve the state of democracy.

In December 2011, the government introduced legislation on
political-party funding that places huge burdens on opposition parties
and civil society. The UN special rapporteur on freedom of assembly
said that these provisions “appear to largely violate international
human-rights law”. Hundreds of opposition activists were interrogated
in March, a systematic and blatant process of intimidation condemned
by the country’s ombudsman.

After the EU and Western governments also called for “free and fair
elections”, government-led interrogations stopped, but only briefly:
as the spotlight has moved away, the interrogations have resumed.

Opposition supporters and their families are being dismissed from
government jobs. The ‘teacher of the year’ was fired – for supporting
the opposition – a few days after gaining her award.

Most of the broadcast media remains under government control. There
are worrying reports of volunteer militias being recruited to defend
Georgia against undefined “enemies of the country”.

Last October, Bidzina Ivanishvili, who leads Georgian Dream,
a coalition that includes the Republican Party, was stripped of
his citizenship by presidential decree days after he announced his
political aspirations. His efforts to regain his citizenship have
been thwarted by spurious government rulings.

My party was part of the coalition that brought Saakashvili to power
in 2003, but the hope of the Rose Revolution soon faded. We left the
ruling coalition in early 2004, when it became clear that he wished
to concentrate power in his own hands, to impose total political
control over the judiciary, media and business. After cracking down
brutally on the opposition in 2007, this authoritarian and unbalanced
ruler made a disastrous mistake for the country in 2008, when he led
Georgia into war with Russia.

As he nears the end of his final term as president, he has pushed
through constitutional amendments to transfer power from the president
to the next prime minister, who will take office after the presidential
elections in October 2013. It is not impossible that he will emulate
Russia’s Vladimir Putin and choose himself for that role.

The Georgian Dream coalition offers a different approach. We want a
country that keeps the government accountable and not a “strong ruler”
who makes arbitrary decisions. We would engage seriously in EU-led
negotiations on the future of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, reflecting
our desire to join NATO and the EU and to normalise relations with
Russia. But we are not asking the EU or any other outsiders for
favouritism – only fairness.

The EU must strengthen its calls for free and fair elections, and
demand that the government adhere to its commitments and international
obligations. The EU initiated a media monitoring programme in late
April, but there needs now to be urgent international attention paid
to the entire electoral process. Voter lists are a particular concern.

To reduce the potential for manipulation, all the major opposition
political parties last year requested biometric voter registration.

The government refused the request. Allowing pre-registration of
voters before the election – as many countries do – would prevent
fraud. The government is, though, still refusing this option.

The EU must help deter further attempts at manipulation and
intimidation. By speaking loudly and clearly now, the EU would show
Saakashvili that it will judge the sincerity of Georgia’s European
aspirations not by his rhetoric, but by his ability to deliver European
standards of political behaviour.

David Usupashvili is the chairman of the Republican Party of Georgia,
one of the members of the Georgian Dream coalition.

2012 European Voice. All rights reserved.

SA SAINTETE ARAM 1ER APPELLE LE PRESIDENT DE L’ARMENIE
Stephane

armenews.com
jeudi 10 mai 2012

Alors qu’il etait dans les Emirats Arabes Unis, Sa Saintete Aram 1er
a recu la nouvelle d’une explosion de ballons pendant un rassemblement
electoral a Erevan où plusieurs personnes ont ete blessees.

Le Catholicos Aram 1er a appele le President Serge Sarkissian et a
exprime son inquietude quant a l’incident et a souhaite un prompt
retablissement aux victimes. Il a aussi ajoute que les processus
electoraux doivent respecter les principes democratiques et sauvegarder
l’unite de la nation.

inShare
Stewart Brewster of Los Gatos is living in Armenia as a Peace Corps
volunteer

By Stewart Brewster, for Silicon Valley Community Newspapers
Posted: 04/23/2012 07:33:38 PM PDT
Updated: 04/23/2012 07:33:39 PM PDT

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I’m freezing, adjust the thermostat; I’m bored, drive to the mall; I’m
hungry, I order some take-out; my roof leaks, so I call the building
manager.

These are simple problems to remedy in Los Gatos, but I guarantee my
self-reliant neighbors in Armenia take little for granted. In rural
Armenia, there is no central heating, no mall and no ordering out. Water
through frozen pipes does not flow, and if your roof leaks, grab a ladder
and call a limber relative.

Ten months ago, at age 63 old after 41 years in the insurance business, I
retired, said good-bye to my family, friends and Los Gatos neighbors and
flew off to start an adventure serving as a community development Peace
Corps volunteer in a remote Armenian mountain town at a 6,800-foot
elevation.

Landlocked Armenia sits in the South Caucus region between the Black Sea
and the Caspian Sea. Armenia is the size of Maryland, and has less than 3
million people. Armenia takes pride in being the first sovereign country to
adopt Christianity (in 301 AD). Armenia’s 2,600-year-old culture is rich in
art, literature and dance. For centuries, goods heading west from Asia
traveled the famous Silk Road not far from my town.

Skill at “shakmat” (chess) has long been a source of national pride, with
Armenia winning the 2011 World Team Chess Championship, edging out China
and Ukraine. Its star player, Levon Aronian, is now ranked second in the
world. Chess is a mandatory class in the Armenian schools, and in village
squares men pass the time huddled over boards.

Armenia today is about 10 percent the size it was at its zenith in the
first century, when it controlled land from the Mediterranean Sea to the
Caspian Sea. From Yerevan, the Armenian capital, volcanic Mount Ararat is
clearly visible as it rises to its snow-peaked majestic 16,854 foot height.
Mount Ararat, sacred to Armenians, is considered the landing place of
Noah’s Ark. Scores of businesses use its name, including the famous “Ararat
Cognac” favored by Winston Churchill. However, Mount Ararat is also a
source of great frustration for Armenians as it is now within the borders
of Turkey.

With a modern capital and 98 percent literacy, Armenia is considered a
developed country. However, the per capital income is only 10 percent of
the U.S., with 36 percent living below the poverty level. After the breakup
of the USSR in 1991, Armenia gained independence and is gradually shifting
its ideology from Soviet-style autocracy to a “democratic-like”
parliamentary republic. The 70-year Soviet reign, with its welfare system,
became an institutional crutch and change to a market-based economy has
been painful. Older Armenians wistfully reflect on fond Soviet memories
when jobs were guaranteed, even if freedom of expression was not. While
older Americans might muse about simpler days of old, our steady 235 years
of democratic self-government is reassuring.

My town of 4,600 residents is relatively vibrant because of its mountain
water bottling companies and its reputation as a beautiful holiday
destination drawing visitors to its hot mineral springs. During Soviet
times, the community was a popular vacation spot for Russian elite. In
1985, the population was double its current size, with 25,000 tourists each
year. After 1991, tourism dramatically fell off, the town shrank by half
and the local airport closed.

Sadly, political clouds hang over Armenia. My community closely follows the
long-standing dispute with Azerbaijan, only 14 miles away, and sniper
shootings are common here. A heavily fought three-year war over the
break-away ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, situated within
Azerbaijan, ended in 1994 with a tenuous cease fire–36,000 died in the hot
war, including 26 men from my town. I often walk by the town’s Karabakh War
Memorial, where the young heroes’ faces, etched into granite, stare out
with a solemn countenance. To the west, the Armenian-Turkish border has
been closed for 20 years as Turkey is politically aligned with Azerbaijan.
This leaves landlocked Armenia with two open borders, Georgia to the north
and Iran to the south, resulting in higher costs and limited goods.

In modern times, Armenia has had two periods of independence, from 1919,
when the Ottoman Empire of which it was a part, broke up, until 1921 when
it joined the USSR. Then, with the breakup of the USSR in 1991, Armenia was
suddenly an independent republic, but with little experience with
democratic institutions. In the void, groups rushed in to dominate key
commodities, resulting today in monopolies that control much of the
commercial trade.

All Armenian males must serve a mandatory two-year stint in the army when
they turn 18, leading most male students, by the time they’re in high
school, to focus more on their service, not their studies. Not
surprisingly, Armenian universities are 70 percent female. Families hold
extravagant parties as army recruits depart their hometowns; army life is
not only dangerous, but living conditions are notoriously harsh.

Much of Armenia’s energy focuses on formal recognition of the Armenian
Genocide as the 100-year anniversary approaches in 2015. The genocide is
well documented with firsthand accounts of the systematic removal and
killing of millions of Armenians, Greeks and Kurds from eastern Turkey, as
well as Ottoman Turkey’s organized confiscation of personal and Armenian
Church property. Besides demanding world-wide condemnation of Ottoman
Turkey, Armenia’s ruling party, supported by the diaspora, is resolute in
seeking reparations and return of all Armenian territorial land
unilaterally confiscated by Turkey just after WWI. Importantly, Armenia
seeks return of sacred Mount Ararat.

Both the Karabakh war and the genocide issue drain national energy from
other important quality-of-life needs. Recently, concern has heightened
about its southern neighbor, Iran, as well as the long-term impact of the
Arab Spring on the region. While in Los Gatos we are concerned about the
war in Afghanistan and terrorism in general, this pales next to Armenia’s
collective worries.

One million Armenians have migrated in the last 10 years, seeking jobs and
opportunity elsewhere–Russia, former Eastern Bloc countries and the U.S.
California has 450,000 Armenian diaspora, many in the Bay Area. Worldwide,
7 million diaspora send money to relatives, bolstering the economy. This
brain-drain is a serious problem, and my Peace Corps mission is, in part,
to embed confidence to stay.

With the stark economic collapse following independence, Armenia’s middle
class contracted. The oligarchs desire to keep the status quo, while the
patient poor live day-to-day living frugally in typically cold, decaying
Soviet-style apartment buildings. Rural unemployment exceeds 30 percent,
with the average rural family living on $190 per month.

Part of my mission is to promote civic capacity–a challenge where apathy
is rampant and to be optimistic is to tempt fate. There is wide distrust of
all things government. After hearing suggestions for more civic
involvement, a respected town member advised me twice, “The people are not
ready for democracy or any type of civic involvement, so don’t try.”
However, 17- to 25-year-olds are showing signs of energized activism,
particularly on environmental issues.

I lived with a hardworking host family my first 10 weeks in town, living in
their Soviet-era apartment. Wives clearly run households while men are in
charge outside, huddled in small groups debating the daily issues. One day
I noticed my host dad (many years my junior) rubbing his jaw because of a
toothache. I gave him ibuprofen from my Peace Corps medical kit and
encouraged a dental visit. The next day, when he smiled, his front tooth
was gone. Sadly, he could not rationalize dental excessive repair costs
over other family needs.

My Armenian neighbors are all jacks-of-all-trades, skilled in making do.
Little of value is discarded. If repairing an item proves difficult, then a
relative or a friend will succeed in repairing cars, plumbing, electrical,
walls, sewing–you name it. Common are homemade snow shovels, just a broom
handle and a plywood base. Value is stretched, whether it is twice soaking
tea bags or again using soda bottles for raw milk delivery or bottling
homemade wine. American-style restaurants are few outside of cities;
restaurant food cannot be as healthy or tasty as Armenian women can cook at
home. Why waste money?

Subsistence farm plots surround every village, cultivated with care for
maximum yield. Armenians are good farmers and take pride in the variety of
vegetables and fruit they grow. Every male dreams of owning a car, and if
so lucky, will spend many hours under the hood to keep it running.

In Los Gatos, with Safeway, Whole Foods, Nob Hill, Lunardi’s and Trader
Joe’s, we have an abundant choice. In contrast, rural Armenians have few
shopping choices, and the price of commodities is surprisingly uniform in
Khanuts, or stores.

The cost of staples, relative to income, is much higher here. Meat is
served twice a week, if the family is fortunate. Cheese, often homemade, is
a main protein staple. Breads or “hats” and the famous Armenian clay-oven
baked unleavened flat bread “lavash” are offered in abundance at meals.
Armenians have reverence for bread, their symbol of life. It would be
culturally shameful to discard stale bread in the trash; rather stale bread
is fed to birds to continue the cycle of life.

We can learn much from Armenia. Loyalty and familial support is paramount;
young married couples start off living with the husband’s parents,
grandmothers take care of grandchildren, allowing the mother to work or
look for work. Sometimes, the greatest threat to misbehaving children is to
threaten to tell their “tatiks,” or grandmothers.

Serious crime is almost nonexistent in rural Armenia because shame to the
family is a greater punishment than anything the criminal justice system
could hand out. I have never felt safer than I do living in my mountain
town. I now rarely count my change. Politeness abounds with particular
sensitivity to the old, as seats are automatically surrendered to the
elderly in a public van, or “marshrutni.” Students stand up when teachers
enter their classroom. Armenians cherish their children and make sure their
sons and daughters are dressed in freshly ironed clothes for school each
morning.

Armenians truly take pride in believing they are the most hospitable people
on Earth. My experience living in both a rural town and a village bears
this out. Strangers are treated as honored guests almost to a painful
level, with precious food heaped on the plate. They are proud of their
beautiful mountainous country and often ask me to agree that Armenia must
be prettier than California.

As I said up front, the Peace Corps is not for everyone. I am the only
native English speaker in my town. Volunteers must accept hand-washing
clothes, bucket baths, not driving cars (prohibited by Peace Corps rules),
no English newspapers, no American coffee, little heat, treacherous winter
ice, few sidewalks, different food, no sports or watchable TV (unless one
is fluent in Armenian or Russian), walking and more walking, and perhaps
the toughest adjustment, being alone more than any other time in your life.

The Peace Corps is highly supportive and methodically prepares each
volunteer. Volunteers know they will eventually return to their cushy
American life, their family, friends, communities and most importantly,
opportunities.

Armenia needs a helping hand. The modest amount of taxpayer money spent on
the Peace Corps is vitally important at a time when Armenia is walking a
political tightrope in this unstable region.

Sometimes we need to pause to appreciate our supportive infrastructure,
highly invested civil capacity and developments such as our new Los Gatos
library and police building.

But Armenians demonstrate important values as well–faithfulness to their
ancient culture and history, strong family loyalty, trustworthiness,
resourceful self-reliance and their magnificent love of children. As for
material things, Armenians take pride in their version of the old saying,
“Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without.”

Trend, Azerbaijan
May 8 2012

Azerbaijan sends letter to UN Secretary General over so-called
“presidential elections” in Nagorno-Karabakh

Azerbaijan, Baku, May 8 /Trend M. Tsurkov/

Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan to the UN Agshin Mehdiyev sent
a letter to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon over so-called “presidential
elections” in Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, permanent mission
told Trend.

The letter notes that according to media reports the Republic of
Armenia is planning to hold so-called “presidential elections” on July
2012 in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan Republic.

“At the international level, including the General Assembly and the
Security Council, it was recognized that the Nagorno-Karabakh and
seven surrounding districts of Azerbaijan are under Armenian military
occupation. Armenia used military force to occupy the Azerbaijani
territory and create separatist puppet formation on the basis of
ethnic, which, ultimately, is nothing but a product of aggression and
racial discrimination, and it exist due to political, military,
economic and other support from Armenia. Illegality of separatist
formation and its structures has been repeatedly reaffirmed at the
international level. This formation is not recognized by anyone – in
fact, it is under the direction and control of the Republic of Armenia
“, – the document says.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated that, despite the political efforts
to achieve a negotiated settlement, the policy and practical steps
taken by Armenia, the occupying power, through, in particular, various
illegal activities in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, clearly
indicate its intention to secure the annexation of these territories,
said Mehdiyev in a letter.

“It is not the first time that Armenia frankly disregarding the UN
Charter and fundamental principles of international law and relevant
resolutions of the General Assembly and Security Council, as well as
the Constitution and national legislation of Azerbaijan holds the
so-called “elections” in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of
Azerbaijan. However, it is well known that democracy can not be spread
by the sword, as an illegal act can not provide legal rights.
Therefore, under conditions of continuing aggression, occupation and
ethnic cleansing in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, the
organization of an electoral process can not be a priori considered as
legitimate and can not serve as basis for imposing a unilateral
solution “- the letter says.

It also notes that the international community unequivocally condemned
all previous “elections” in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of
Azerbaijan. “In this regard, my Government hopes that the United
Nations and its member states will vote against the provocative and
illegal acts that violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan, show disrespect for human rights and fundamental freedoms
and undermine the ongoing political efforts to resolve the conflict.
We urge the international community to demand that the government of
Armenia to stop its destructive policy of annexation and ethnic
cleansing, not to attempt to discredit the peace process and put an
end to the occupation of Azerbaijani territories, “- said the envoy.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. – are
currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
May 7 2012

New president for France; new opportunity for Turkey?

7 May 2012 / GARY LACHMAN*, TODAY’S ZAMAN

The election of François Hollande to the French presidency creates a
new window of opportunity to re-energize Turkey’s stalled European
Union membership negotiations.

It could even lead to the reversal of France’s veto on the opening of
new chapters in talks regarding Turkey’s accession. As of the present
time, only 13 of the 35 chapters have been opened, with no further
progress since 2010. France has specifically blocked chapters relating
to budgetary policy, institutions, regional policy, agricultural and
rural development as well as economic and monetary policy. Therefore,
the prospect of having a more pragmatic French president has resulted
in Ankara beginning to work on a number of currently blocked chapters
such as monetary policy. This new optimism stems from a belief that
although Hollande has said there would be no Turkish accession during
the next five-year presidential term, he has been far less adamant
against Turkey’s membership than Mr. Sarkozy.

In fact, Mr. Hollande has been relatively quiet on the subject of
Turkey’s EU bid as well as the Armenian genocide resolution, which was
considered by many to be a politically motivated effort by Sarkozy
aimed at a target that is already a favorite scapegoat of the French.
Readers should keep in mind that the real problem for Turkey was not
Sarkozy the man, but rather the French mindset that has long been
biased against Turks. The majority of the French people (at least
those with any political influence) believe that Turkey’s EU
membership will create more problems than benefits for member states.
Although Sarkozy did his best to manipulate these feelings to his
advantage, this obviously didn’t win him any measurable support as it
was already an entrenched belief. Therefore, even with the relatively
anti-Turkish-rhetoric-free Hollande, don’t count on EU membership for
Turkey in the near future.

A brief examination of the personal life of François Hollande reveals
a man with a contemporary way of thinking who understands how to
achieve a stable relationship without the need for written contractual
agreements. Hopefully, a parallel with his personal life will be made
in terms of his relationship with Turkey. Hollande lived with fellow
Socialist Party politician Ségolène Royal for over thirty years and
fathered four children with her. This may be considered a relationship
far superior and long-lasting than many formal marriages these days.
He is now in a relationship with Valérie Trierweiler, a French
journalist he met while he was still with Ms. Royal. This indicates a
man with `relational flexibility.’

What can be extrapolated from this? The more common pattern is that a
man or woman married for many years with children meets someone new,
falls in love, divorces spouse number one, and marries new love.
Alternatively, a spouse falls out of love with husband/wife, divorces
and then finds new love and marries. Still another typical path is not
to formally marry number two, but to have a long-term, virtually
permanent partnership that recognizes that formal documentation of the
relationship is superfluous at this point in life. Mr. Hollande’s
relationships don’t really fall into any of those categories. First a
non-marriage with a political ally and second a relationship with
someone who could perhaps give him good press. Therefore, Hollande has
proven he is anything but common in his thinking. Pragmatic, yes;
conventional, no. Whether it’s his proposed `Millionaire Tax,’ support
for same-sex marriages (maybe he just thinks that marriage should just
be for gay people and not heterosexuals), reducing the corporate
income tax for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), or hiring
tens of thousands of new teachers to be supervised by retired
teachers, the new French president has demonstrated his
open-mindedness.

Who knows? Maybe this will include more innovative thinking with
respect to Turkey’s EU accession talks.

*Gary Lachman is an international lawyer formerly with the US
Department of State, a real estate developer, an adjunct associate
professor at Koç University, and associate professor at the Johns
Hopkins University with a consulting practice in Ä°stanbul. He can be
contacted at [email protected]. (c) Gary Lachman 2012

Chicago Tribune, IL
May 7 2012

Armenia president’s party wins election

YEREVAN (Reuters) – Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan’s Republican
Party won a parliamentary majority, election results showed on Monday,
strengthening his position ahead of a presidential election next year.

The Republican Party won 44 percent of the vote decided under a party
list system in Sunday’s election and won at least 28 seats contested
by individual candidates, election officials said, giving it an
overall majority in the 131-seat parliament.

The vote was seen as a test of democracy in Russia’s main ally in the
South Caucasus region where a previous nationwide poll was marred by
violence and allegations of vote rigging.

A leading lawmaker from Sarksyan’s party said the vote was a triumph
for democracy.

“This election proved there is no alternative to democratic values and
the Republican Party … is a guarantor of the preservation of these
values,” said Eduard Sharmazanov, a vice speaker in the previous of
parliament.

Voting ended without any of the violence that erupted after
Sarkasyan’s election to the presidency in 2008 – a relief to Armenians
hoping for a period of stability to support the battered economy in
the landlocked nation of 3.3 million.

International monitors gave a mixed assessment, however, praising
Armenia for holding a peaceful election but criticizing violations of
campaign law and interference by parties.

The results in the former Soviet republic, where the Republican Party
was just short of a majority in the previous parliament, give Sarksyan
a strong platform to seek a second presidential term next year.

Armenia sits in a region that is emerging as an important route for
oil and gas exports from the Caspian Sea to world markets, although it
has no pipelines of its own.

The Prosperous Armenia party, led by wealthy businessman Gagik
Tsarukyan, finished second with about 30 percent of the vote decided
by party lists.

Prosperous Armenia was the Republican Party’s coalition partner in the
previous parliament but Sarksyan’s party will not now need its backing
to pass most laws, which require a majority.

Sarksyan can also rely on support from a government-allied party that
was one of three smaller parties that cleared the 5 percent threshold
needed to win seats.

The opposition Armenian National Congress, led by former President
Levon Ter-Petrosyan, crossed the 7 percent threshold for party blocs
to take up seats. The bloc is to hold a rally on Tuesday, something it
said it had planned weeks before the election.

“I don’t see any likelihood of mass demonstrations, although the
results were disappointing for many, including Prosperous Armenia,”
said Richard Giragosian, director of the Regional Studies Centre in
Yerevan.

“There are signs that Sarksyan will consolidate his hold on the
Republican Party in preparation for his presidential bid in 2013,”
Giragosian said.

HOPES OF STABILITY

The two leading parties, both centre-right, put the economy and social
problems at the heart of their election campaigns, promising more
reform.

But there were no major differences in their economic programs, which
promised to bolster domestic industry, make Armenia more competitive
and continue cooperation with Russia and international financial
organizations.

Voting irregularities marred Armenia’s 2007 parliamentary election and
clashes killed 10 people after the presidential vote in 2008.

“Armenia deserves recognition for its electoral reforms and its open
and peaceful campaign environment,” international observers from the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe said in a statement.

But it added that several unnamed “stakeholders” had too often failed
to comply with the law, and the election commissions had “too often
failed to enforce it”.

Police received 129 complaints of ballot stuffing, attempts to bribe
voters and other irregularities. It said some of the claims proved to
be false.

Armenia’s economy was devastated by a war with neighboring Azerbaijan
in the 1990s and then again by the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.

Although a ceasefire was reached in 1994, the conflict with Azerbaijan
over the tiny Nagorno-Karabakh region remains unresolved and a threat
to stability.

Relations with another neighbor, Turkey, are also fraught because
Ankara does not recognize the killing of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey
during World War One as genocide.

(Editing by Timothy Heritage and Andrew Osborn)

,0,3950512.story

Huffington Post
May 8 2012

Bosnia: Shame on Us All

President Obama has just created something called the Atrocities
Prevention Board. Its aim is ambitious to say the least, but it
matters because it recognizes that crimes against humanity rarely come
out of the blue. The warning signs were there in the case of Armenia,
the Holocaust, Bosnia, Rwanda, and currently in Sudan, if the
international community had chosen to notice them.

On the twentieth anniversary of the start of the Bosnian war we should
feel anger and shame because ‘the international order’ is still
ignoring those warning signs when they occur. We should also
acknowledge the human consequences of the West’s failure in Bosnia.

For instance, we should remember how peacekeepers stood by as Serb
paramilitaries dragged Hakija Turajlic, the Bosnian vice president,
ostensibly under their protection, from their Land Rover and shot him
in the road like a dog.

Or how peacekeepers looked the other way while Serb accountants and
teachers, in Bosnia for a weekend’s adventure, looted the homes of the
Bosnian families they had killed and raped, loading their vehicles
with microwaves and video recorders to take back to their wives in
Belgrade, like post-modern war trophies.

Give a moment’s thought to the grieving widows and mothers from places
less famous than Srebrenica, where 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men were
systematically massacred. Or the female lawyer I interviewed who was
in a concentration camp for months, raped daily by a Serb who had
previously been a neighbor who had sipped beers around the barbeque
with her husband.

Worthy of special mention in the hall of shame is the UK’s foreign
secretary, Douglas Hurd, who insisted that the Serb leader, Slobodan
Milosevic, was our partner in the search for peace, a man we could do
business with. Hurd wanted the international community to treat
Milosevic as an impartial player, even though Milosevic’s speeches
since 1989 had made his ‘eliminationist’ racial politics clear. After
he left office, Hurd’s company, Hawkpoint, made a tidy profit
privatizing Serbian utilities for Milosevic.

There were also banal reasons for the deaths of more than 100,000
Bosnian Muslims. A Bosnian woman I met had been at school with Biljana
Plavsic, the former president of the Republika Srpska, and the highest
ranking Serb politician convicted in the war crimes trials. Where did
the Serbian Empress’s hatred come from? At school young Biljana had
been deeply in love with a Muslim classmate who ungraciously dumped
her.

Another Bosnian Muslim remembered a youthful Radovan Karadzic (now
awaiting trial in The Hague) arriving in sophisticated Sarajevo, fresh
from his village, wearing his felt boots. Karadzic never got over the
sniggers, and exacted the ultimate revenge on the cosmopolitan city
dwellers by besieging them with snipers and shrapnel, at a cost of
12,000 lives.

Throughout the Yugoslav wars, our leaders cynically framed Bosnia as a
humanitarian disaster, like a drought that required the delivery of
aid, rather than a political solution. In the words of a Sarajevo
resident I met,

“Your aid convoys keep us alive so the Serbs can kill us at their leisure.”

This suited the west’s diplomats, who had a perfect excuse
(“intervention would endanger the aid convoys”) not to cast off their
moral equivalence or to confront the Serb’s ugly political aims.

The shame of Bosnia is also about the vanity of Western diplomats who
believed Milosevic and the other Serb leaders would never lie to such
important statesmen, and wouldn’t dream of leading them a merry dance
in endless negotiations, only to disregarding every document they
signed.

Our failures did not end with the Dayton Peace Accord of 1995.
Evidently, we did not learn the lessons from the deNazification of
Germany after 1945. We should have required ‘re-education’ in both
Serbia and the Republika Srpska. But we feared appearing imperial:
opinion polls show the Serbs continue to believe they were the victims
of the war, rather than the aggressors, responsible for 90% of
casualties. The current Serbian election is, fittingly, a fight
between an unrepentant nationalist and a politician who wants Serbia
to make itself more palatable to the European Union.

Equally, militia leaders remain in positions of power in the Republika
Srpska as mayors, chief of police or other officials. Local people
tell how, after the war ended, the international community funded a
‘sensitization’ project to teach Serb police to stop terrorizing
Bosnia Muslims. Apparently the ‘sensitization’ caused hilarity among
the police, and their chief appeared with a new BMW.

Although the president of the EU Council at time, Jacques Poos,
declared “the hour of Europe had dawned,” finding a common foreign
policy beyond appeasement proved impossible. Hence, it was up to
America to tackle the disaster in Europe’s backyard. The US was
absorbed in the LA riots and then OJ Simpson, but eventually Bill
Clinton saw that Milosevic needed to receive an unambiguous message.
With the dispatch of only 18 cruise missiles, the Balkan wars ended
when the Serbs ran away, as those who had witnessed the Serb militias
knew they would. Now, the EU wants to admit Serbia, despite its
gangster economy, in a vain attempt to keep it out of Russia’s sphere
of influence.

And judging from how the international community has responded to nine
years of genocide in Darfur, it seems we have learned nothing from
Europe’s dark Bosnian chapter. Shame on us all.

National Geographic
May 8 2012

Global Nuclear Retreat? Armenia, Others Aim to Keep Plants Alive

Josie Garthwaite
For National Geographic News
Published May 8, 2012

While Japan is now trying to run its economy without nuclear energy
for the first time since 1970, the post-Fukushima world’s continued
dependence on atomic power is probably best illustrated on the other
side of Asia.

Armenia is vowing to keep its one nuclear reactor running, despite
international pressure to close the 32-year-old Soviet-designed plant,
which sits in a broad seismic zone that stretches from Turkey to the
Arabian Sea. One of the world’s last remaining nuclear reactors
without a primary containment structure, Metsamor is now slated to
continue operating for as long as four years beyond its original 2016
retirement date. Armenia has postponed shutdown until a delayed new
reactor comes online, no earlier than 2019 or 2020.

The April decision comes at a pivotal time for nuclear energy. Some
nations are backing away from nuclear power in the wake of last year’s
earthquake-and-tsunami-triggered-Fukushima Daiichi accident. Nowhere
is that more apparent than in Japan itself, where a series of local
decisions led to the shutdown, as of this past weekend, of all 54
reactors, once the source of one-third of the nation’s power. Germany
and Switzerland have set timetables for phasing out their nuclear
plants. And France, which derives 80 percent of its electricity from
nuclear power, has elected a new president, Socialist Francois
Hollande, who favors reduced nuclear dependence and closure of the
nation’s oldest reactor, Fessenheim, located in a seismic zone on the
Rhine River.

But nuclear energy provided 13 percent of the world’s electricity in
2010, and that amount of power cannot be replaced quickly or cheaply.
In Bulgaria, where licenses for two Soviet-designed reactors at the
Kozloduy plant are set to expire in 2017 and 2019, 20-year extensions
are under review. The United States, world leader in nuclear
generation, also leads the world in coaxing more life out of nuclear
reactors, having approved 20-year extensions for as many as 71
licenses. In Armenia, there is strong political will to build a new
nuclear reactor, but the financing and construction of new
state-of-the-art facilities here and elsewhere is slow. The obvious
choice, in many nations, is to keep the old plants running.

Chris Earls, director of safety-focused regulation for the Nuclear
Energy Institute, which represents the U.S. nuclear industry, sums up
the advantages succinctly:

“Once plants are built and operating, they’re a very cheap source of
reliable power.”

Unique Reliance

Perhaps no country relies more heavily on a single reactor, in a more
tenuous situation, than the former Soviet state of Armenia in West
Asia. Supplying more than 40 percent of the country’s electricity, the
Metsamor reactor stands in a region prone to earthquakes, close to
farmland and population centers. The landlocked nation’s energy
alternatives are limited by blockades and tense relations on its
borders with Azerbaijan and Turkey. Metsamor is just 20 miles (36
kilometers) from the Armenian capital, Yerevan, and 10 miles (16
kilometers) from the Turkish border.

Metsamor is one of just 16 nuclear plants still operating in the world
that were built without a primary containment structure, all of them
Soviet-designed. The pressurized-water reactor has undergone hundreds
of safety upgrades since the devastating 6.8-magnitude Spitak
earthquake in 1988 killed 25,000 Armenians and left 500,000 homeless.
Some 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the epicenter, Metsamor’s two
reactors were undamaged. But one reactor was closed for 6.5 years,
while a slightly older sister reactor was never restarted and is now
being decommissioned.

Safety improvements have not quelled all concern about Metsamor,
however, and Armenia has faced international pressure – and collected
aid from the United States and Europe – to close the Metsamor plant by
2016. After Armenia reneged on a deal to close the plant in 2004, an
EU representative called the plant “a danger to the entire region,”
not only because of the high seismic risk but also because nuclear
fuel was flown to the landlocked country’s civilian airport, rather
than being delivered by sea or rail. In 2006, Armenia adopted an
action plan with the European Union in which it agreed to set an early
closure date and “deal with the consequences of an early closure,” in
part by developing hydropower, energy efficiency, and renewable energy
resources.

Pressure to retire the Metsamor reactor before 2016 has only
intensified in the year since the earthquake and tsunami that
triggered the crisis at Fukushima in Japan. Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan has insisted that the Metsamor reactor is safe, and that it
must continue operating until a new reactor starts up.

The estimated $5 billion construction project, a joint venture with
Russia, was supposed to begin this year, but it has taken longer than
anticipated to raise financing. It wasn’t until early this year that
Russia agreed to finance 50 percent of the project.

The decisions that Armenia and other nations now face on nuclear power
are a simple function of the age of most of the 436 nuclear power
reactors now operating in the world. In the United States, which only
this year licensed construction of its first new nuclear power plant
in 30 years, nuclear plants were typically licensed (and designed) for
40 years. The Soviet plants were generally designed for 30 years.

Aging plants are not inherently dangerous, Earls said. “It’s good
practice to make things better over time. But it doesn’t make sense to
retire an older plant before its time just because there’s a new
widget out there that might make things better,” he said. In general,
he added, “We should not assume that just because a plant is older,
it’s not safe. It is, if it’s maintained properly.”

The United States, which generates more nuclear energy than any other
country and relies on it for 20 percent of its power, has never
rejected a nuclear license renewal application outright. According to
Earls, as many as 15 more applications are under review, and 17
additional plants intend to submit applications. “Over the next two to
three years, there’s going to be a huge bow wave of plants entering
this extended period of operation,” he said. And the industry is
already looking ahead to a second extension of those licenses to keep
the reactors operating past 2029.

Stress Tests

Proper maintenance and monitoring, with a view to the long term, is
key. The decision to tack a few years onto the Metsamor reactor’s
lifetime at this late stage could itself be cause for concern. “I
would be interested to know the mindset of the people who are
operating the plant,” Earls said. If operators think, “We’re going to
be shut down next year. We can safely maintain to that point,” he
said, some of the maintenance and improvements that would be necessary
to extend the life of the plant may fall by the wayside.

In an effort to ensure safety and security, Armenia agreed last June
(along with six other countries that neighbor the EU) to conduct
“stress tests” at the Metsamor plant and submit to a transparent
peer-review process similar to those planned for nuclear reactors
throughout Europe.

Documented in public reports with a common structure for
apples-to-apples comparison, the tests are meant to help regulators
reassess risk and safety margins in extreme (and, pre-Fukushima,
largely unexpected) scenarios caused by natural disasters or human
action.

Switzerland and Ukraine are the only non-EU countries that have been
fully integrated into the stress test and peer-review process.
According to a European Commission spokesperson, Armenia is currently
receiving assistance from the EU to carry out stress tests at
Metsamor, and a national report could be ready by the end of this year
or early 2013.

As with many nuclear projects, the stress tests have taken longer than
anticipated. Last week, EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger told
reporters the European Commission will issue a final report on the
results no earlier than the fall, rather than next month, as
previously scheduled. Multinational inspection teams had visited only
38 of 147 reactors in the EU as of March 2012. But in this case,
Oettinger said in a statement, it is not time that is of the essence.
“EU citizens have the right to know and understand how safe the
nuclear power plants are they live close to. Soundness is more
important than timing.”

This story is part of a special series that explores energy issues.
For more, visit The Great Energy Challenge.

Génocide arménien : 97 ans plus tard, sur la route d’Ayach…
Publié le : 07-05-2012

Info Collectif VAN – – Le Collectif VAN vous
livre cette information traduite par Georges Festa et publiée sur le
site Armenian Trends – Mes Arménies le 6 mai 2012.

Légende photo: Ara Sarafian lors d’un voyage à AyaÅ? [Ayach]

Armenian Trends – Mes Arménies

dimanche 6 mai 2012

97 ans plus tard, sur la route d’Ayach¦ / 97 Years Later, on the Road
to Ayash…

par Pinar Ã-Ä?ünç

Radikal, 24.04.2012

[L’article qui suit est paru dans le quotidien turc Radikal, le 24
avril 2012. Il est dû à Pinar Ã-Ä?ünç, qui accompagnait l’historien Ara
Sarafian lors d’un voyage à AyaÅ? [Ayach], sur la trace des quelque 85
prisonniers politiques arméniens qui furent déportés lÃ, suite aux
rafles de Constantinople, le 24 avril 1915. D’après Sarafian, 70 de
ces prisonniers furent tués durant les mois qui suivirent. Ce voyage
fait partie d’un projet d’étude plus vaste sur ces arrestations et le
sort ultime qui attendait les prisonniers.]

Tout commence par ce train partant de la gare d’HaydarpaÅ?a [Haydar
Pacha] le 24 avril 1915. Avec Ara Sarafian, nous suivons les
prisonniers, dont une poignée survécut et écrivit leurs mémoires. Nous
contemplons Ayach à travers le regard de ces survivants.

« Si Talaat Bey savait quelles catastrophes et quelles pertes notre
famille a enduré, il mettrait fin à cet état de fait¦ Ma pauvre femme,
tu as souffert tant d’épreuves de par cette tyrannie, et maintenant
que tu as perdu la vue, quel chef de police n’aurait pas pitié de toi,
au vu de ta situation ? Mais à quoi bon ? Nos souffrances nous
accompagneront toujours. » (Téotig, Monument du 11 Avril)

Sempat Piurad, écrivain et enseignant arménien, se trouvait dans ce
même train en partance d’HaydarpaÅ?a, le 24 avril 1915. Il n’avait pas
la moindre idée de son sort, tout en se dirigeant vers la ville
d’Ayach (province d’Ankara) avec tout un groupe de gens, pour la
plupart des écrivains, poètes et journalistes arméniens. Cette lettre,
écrite à son épouse à la mi-juin, fut la dernière qu’il écrivit.

Que s’est-il passé en 1915 ? Près d’un siècle plus tard, l’on s’attend
encore à ce que le temps recouvre le passé. Au fil des ans, nous en
savons moins sur ce qui fut fait aux Arméniens en 1915. Ceux qui
auraient pu aisément évoquer cette question durant les premières
années de la république de Turquie gardèrent le silence. Comme nous en
savons moins qu’il conviendrait, nous avons cédé à un entêtement
aveugle, en guise de jeux politiques quotidiens. Un élément précieux
fut arraché Ã la nation turque. Nous avons oublié d’éprouver la
souffrance d’autrui. Tout fut verrouillé via le terme « génocide »,
tous les efforts visant à diminuer le nombre d’Arméniens qui,
malheureusement, perdirent la vie. Sommes-nous tombés de 800 000 Ã 300
000 victimes ? Si tant est, où est la souffrance et la honte, quand
bien même 300 000 ont péri ?

Tant de choses sont débattues, sans que soit opposé le moindre déni Ã
la vision historique officielle, liée à ces Arméniens qui furent
arrêtés et forcés de monter dans le train au départ d’HaydarpaÅ?a en
1915. Nous en savons maintenant beaucoup plus sur ces déportés, grâce
à un article intitulé « Que s’est-il passé le 24 avril 1915 ? »,
rédigé en 2008 par l’ancien directeur général des Archives d’Etat,
Yusuf Sarinay, qui a depuis été nommé au Sous-secrétariat du Premier
ministre, au début de cette année. Tout en niant le sort ultime
réservé aux déportés, Sarinay livre une longue liste des hommes qui
furent envoyés à Ayach.

Ara Sarafian est un historien très réputé en Turquie. La famille de sa
mère est originaire d’Harpout [Kharpert] et celle de son père de
Tavshanli [Kütahya]. Directeur de l’Institut Komitas de Londres,
Sarafian a, dit-il, le sentiment d’appartenir à Harpout. VoilÃ
pourquoi, ajoute-t-il, il s’adresse au gouvernement turc, et non Ã
celui de l’Arménie, dans mes recherches. Il espère que l’Institut
Komitas ouvrira bientôt une délégation en Turquie.

Sarafian est aussi différent pour d’autres raisons. Lesquelles ? Parce
que nous faisons route vers Ayach en avril 2012. « Les Arméniens de
diaspora ont peur. Ils s’imaginent qu’ils seront importunés, s’ils
viennent en Turquie. D’aucuns pensent même qu’ils seront tués. Je veux
leur montrer qu’on peut prendre l’avion pour Ankara, louer une voiture
et conduire jusqu’Ã Ayach. »

Deux Mémoires éclairants

Sarafian est accompagné de Gaguik Karagheuzian, réalisateur de films
documentaires. Ils travaillent ensemble depuis plusieurs années.
Karagheuzian, dont le père s’est enfui en Iran après que son propre
père eût été assassiné, est de mère iranienne. Comme il sait peu de
choses du passé de sa famille, ce qu’il connaît de cette histoire
familiale provient de livres et d’autres sources. Sarafian lui apprend
qui fut Sabiha Gökçen, en montant à bord de l’avion au départ de
l’aéroport Sabiha Gökçen. Voilà comment la journée débute. Lorsque
nous atterrissons, Sarafian prendra lui-même le volant pour Ayach,
sans avoir besoin d’une carte.

Que découvrirons-nous à Ayach ? Le 24 avril [1915], le train s’arrêta
à Sindjanköy [Sincanköy]. Les prisonniers d’Ayach furent séparés de
ceux de Chankiri [Ã?ankırı]. D’après Sarafian, le nombre total de
prisonniers était d’environ 220, Sarinay l’établissant à 235.

Une quinzaine de prisonniers, sur un total situé entre 80 et 85,
conduits à Ayach, furent finalement relâchés, car il ne s’agissait pas
vraiment de responsables politiques. Les 71 restants étaient censés
avoir conspiré contre l’Etat, pour la plupart des partisans dachnaks.
« Or, il s’agit là de griefs d’ordre politique, précise Sarafian. Les
Dachnaks était un parti légal. Durant la révolution de 1908, ils
étaient du même bord que la parti Union et Progrès ! »

Nous possédons les Mémoires des prisonniers qui furent élargis,
certains ayant paru dès 1919. L’un d’eux fut écrit par le docteur
Avedis Nakachian, et l’autre par Piuzant Bozadjian, neveu du célèbre
écrivain et éditeur connu sous le nom de Téotig [Théodoros
Laptshidjian ` NdT]. Ils ont décrit l’endroit où se trouvait la
prison, quelle existence s’y menait et ce qui leur arriva. Ces notes
entre nos mains, nous arrivons à Ayach, tandis que la voiture descend
une colline.

Il y a quelques tombeaux saints, si vous voulez

D’après nos informations, la prison se trouvait à 46 mètres environ de
la préfecture. Il doit y avoir un cimetière non loin. Lorsque nous
sortons de la voiture, Sarafian reprend un air grave en lisant le nom
du hammam historique, tout proche. D’après les Mémoires, c’est là où
les prisonniers étaient conduits depuis la prison pour prendre le
bain. Lorsque nous nous approchons d’un vieil homme, Ã la moustache
blanche, sur la place de la ville, deux autres nous rejoignent. Nous
l’interrogeons sur l’ancienne préfecture et il nous montre un bâtiment
jaune avoisinant. « Un incendie s’est déclaré dans les années 1970. Il
a été rebâti et c’est maintenant un hôpital, » nous précise le vieil
homme. Il nous donne aussi quelques conseils : « Goûtez au civet
local, avant de partir ! », « Vous devez acheter du soudjouk, il est
bien meilleur que celui de Kayseri ! ».

Le secteur de la restauration se développe pour le tourisme. Les
demeures historiques d’Ankara, avec leurs baies vitrées, sont
transformées en hôtels ou en résidences estivales. Lorsque nous
arrivons à l’hôpital, l’ancienne préfecture, deux routes s’ouvrent
devant nous¦ Nous en prenons une et demandons à une vieille dame, que
nous remarquons dans son jardin, si elle connaît un ancien cimetière
non loin. Elle donne les noms de plusieurs tombeaux saints. Ayach est
le paradis des tombeaux saints. Jugez vous-même ! Il y a même une
tombe appelée Notre père la terre pour les enfants qui mangent la
terre ! Un peu plus tard, la vieille dame mentionne le cimetière, qui
ne se trouve qu’à quelques mètres de la route. La prison se situait
peut-être là où se trouve sa maison maintenant. Autre possibilité,
l’autre route, toute proche.

« La paix chez nous »

Le point de vue turc officiel soutient que les prisonniers d’Ayach y
furent détenus jusqu’à la fin de la Première Guerre mondiale, puis
relâchés. Or, selon Sarafian, il n’y eut plus aucune communication de
la part des prisonniers après l’été 1915 et l’on perd leur trace
ensuite. Hampartsoum Boyadjian (Mourad), ancien révolutionnaire opposé
à Abd ul-Hamid II et membre du Parlement ottoman, figure parmi ceux
qui auraient été jugés par une cour martiale (et exécutés). Un autre
groupe de prisonniers d’Ayach fut envoyé devant une cour martiale Ã
Diyarbakir, mais n’atteignit jamais cette ville. Ils disparurent et
auraient été tués. D’après Sarafian, un groupe nombreux de prisonniers
d’Ayach restants fut envoyé Ã Ankara et déporté avec d’autres
Arméniens. Eux aussi ont disparu, tandis qu’un autre groupe, composé
de 25 prisonniers environ, fut massacré Ã Ayach Beli, dans les
environs.

Voilà comment Nakachian fut informé de ces tueries par un notable
turc. Les prisonniers furent attachés les uns aux autres, marchèrent
deux heures durant, puis furent abattus à Ayach Beli. Sarafian est
pourtant dans l’impossibilité de fournir des preuves supplémentaires.
Néanmoins, de retour, il découvre Ayach Beli (qui ne se trouve pas sur
la carte), saute de la voiture, sans se soucier de la pluie soudaine,
et contemple l’horizon pour prendre des photos. Il pense probablement
être parmi les quelques Arméniens qui sont venus à Ayach depuis
quasiment un siècle.

Tout en comptant nos pas à Ayach, afin de localiser la prison, il se
produit alors quelque chose qui me ferait dire « Le réalisateur
exagère, là ! », si nous étions dans un film. Un camion de la mairie
s’arrête et le conducteur, tout joyeux, de déclarer : « Vous arrivez
juste à temps ! Je vais déployer le drapeau maintenant ! » Je réalise
alors la dimension du mât, comme s’il était haut d’un kilomètre. Il
est dangereux de déployer ce drapeau géant par un temps pareil. Un
jour, me dit-on, il s’étendit sur la colline avoisinante. Mais nous
sommes le 23 avril et il est obligatoire de le déployer.

Tout en hissant le drapeau, l’homme hurle à notre intention : «
N’approchez pas ! C’est très dangereux ! » J’attends près d’un
monument dédié à Atatürk, où il est écrit : « [¦], paix dans le monde.
» Impossible d’escalader cinq mètres et d’effacer la première partie «
Paix chez nous », et pourtant c’est arrivé, en quelque sorte,
spontanément. Hum !¦

« Que les législateurs discutent, pas les historiens ! »

« Je ne pense pas que la diaspora arménienne s’intéresse vraiment Ã
tout ceci. Pratiquement personne n’a lu l’article de Yusuf Sarinay
débattant et niant le sort réservé aux prisonniers qui furent envoyés
ici. Une foule de gens prennent la parole, mais les professionnels
capables de lire réellement des publications et des documents en turc
ne sont guère plus que cinq ou six. Je suis souvent critiqué, parce
que j’oppose ce genre de matériaux à la posture négationniste
officielle de la Turquie. Or tout cela fait partie de mon travail. Si
nous voulons assumer une position sérieuse sur le génocide arménien,
alors il nous faut écouter ce qui est dit. Quant à l’accusation de «
génocide » et à l’argument « Laissons ce débat aux historiens », je
réponds : « Laissons cela aux avocats et aux juges ! ». A titre
personnel, j’utilise le terme de génocide, car il décrit les
événements de 1915. Je n’ai aucun problème à m’asseoir avec des
historiens qui ne qualifient pas cela de génocide, du moment qu’ils
sont sincères et qu’ils s’engagent dans de vrais débats. La polémique
actuelle quant à savoir s’il s’agit ou non d’un génocide est devenu un
jeu, et cela nous fait perdre beaucoup de temps. »

Les survivants racontent

Sarafian nous traduit certains passages des Mémoires du docteur Avédis
Nakachian :

« La prison était construite en bois et mesurait 6 mètres sur 15. Il y
avait là des gens comme Kévork Mesrop, qui avait été arrêté à la place
de son gendre. Chacun se demandait pourquoi un épicier quasi aveugle
de Péra, Haïg Tiryakian, ou un attrapeur de chiens, Artin Assadourian,
avaient été conduits ici.

Nous dûmes nous répartir les corvées. Les uns s’occupaient du feu,
d’autres de la cuisine. Nous décernions même des titres particuliers Ã
certains. Par exemple, Samuelov était le ministre en charge de la
vaisselle. Nous organisions des chants et des lectures de poésie. Il y
avait là des poètes très connus, comme Siamanto et Lévon Larents, qui
avait traduit le Coran en arménien. Nous débattions de politique, de
la vie et des arts. Le célèbre illustrateur « Gigo » (Krikor
Torossian) se mit à croquer des caricatures au quotidien. Il pensait
même les publier. Mais cela n’eut pas de suite. »

Gigo fut assassiné comme la plupart des autres prisonniers.

Nakachian relate comment ils préparèrent un télégramme à l’attention
de Talaat Pacha, où ils déclaraient être innocents et implorer son
intervention. Ils discutèrent sur l’utilisation du mot « implorer »,
d’aucuns jugeant la chose par trop humiliante. Parallèlement, des
nouvelles sur des massacres et des exécutions commençaient à parvenir
de toutes parts. C’est alors que le désespoir s’installa.
_____________

Source :

ARMENIA RULING PARTY WINS PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

The West Australian

May 7 2012

YEREVAN (AFP) – Armenia’s governing party on Monday won parliamentary
elections seen as a test of the ex-Soviet state’s fragile democracy
but opposition leaders alleged violations and vowed protests.

European election observers from the OSCE praised the election
process as competitive but said it had been undermined by a series
of democratic failings including pressure on voters and an inadequate
complaints process.

President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican party took 44.05 percent of
the vote after all ballots from Sunday’s contest were counted, the
Central Election Commission said.

Its outgoing coalition partner turned poll rival, the Prosperous
Armenia party led by a millionaire former arm wrestling champion,
came second with 30.20 per cent.

Trailing far behind, the third-place opposition Armenian National
Congress bloc scraped into parliament with 7.10 percent, according
to final preliminary results posted on the commission’s website.

Three other parties, Heritage, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutiun) and Rule of Law also managed to secure minor
representation in the legislative body by scoring just over five
percent.

The authorities had promised Armenia’s fairest ever polls as they
sought to avoid a repeat of protests which ended in clashes between
riot police and opposition supporters after disputed presidential
elections in 2008 that left 10 people dead.

“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,” the OSCE observer mission
to Armenia said in a statement.

“As a result, the international commitments to which Armenia has
freely subscribed were not always respected,” the statement said.

The observer mission said that the freedom of assembly and expression
were generally respected during the campaign but the lack of public
confidence in the electoral process was “an issue of great concern”.

It also said that pressure on voters and an inadequate complaints
process created an “unequal playing field”.

Local media have also reported allegations of polling-day violations
including incidents of parties bribing voters but it was not clear
how widespread such incidents were.

A monitoring alliance including Prosperous Armenia and the Armenian
National Congress opposition bloc led by former president Levon
Ter-Petrosian has expressed “doubts about the legitimacy of the
electoral process”.

Ter-Petrosian’s bloc, which led the demonstrations against the alleged
2008 vote-rigging that ended in violence, said it would stage a mass
protest in Yerevan on Tuesday evening.

Campaigning in the Caucasus state of 3.3 million people mainly focused
on issues of unemployment, poverty and emigration rather than Armenia’s
long-running political disputes with neighbours Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Landlocked and impoverished Armenia has suffered economically because
its borders with both countries are closed.

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 front line.

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.