Author: Badalian Vardan

NTV MSNBC, Turkey
Feb 19 2008

Turkish opposition leader slams government for weakening country

Serious problems were developing in the economy, with unemployment on
the rise and growth slowing, Baykal said.

Güncelleme: 18:33 TSÝ 19 Þubat 2008 Salý

– Turkey’s government had weakened one of the mail pillars of the
constitution and was now shaking the foundations on which the country
was built, the leader of Turkey’s main opposition party said Tuesday.

Having rammed amendments to the constitution allowing for women to
wear the Islamic headscarf while attending university through the
parliament the government was now undermining the basis of the
Lausanne Treaty with its bill on minority foundations, said Deniz
Baykal, the chairman of Republican People’s Party (CHP).

Addressing a meeting of his party’s parliamentary deputies in Ankara,
Baykal said the government had focused the agenda of the country on
two issues, the lifting of the headscarf ban and the bill amending
the foundations’ law.

`This government is recklessly attacking both the constitution and
the Lausanne Treaty, this is no coincidence!’ said Baykal.

The Lausanne Treaty was signed between the Allied powers of World War
One and the newly founded Turkish Republic in 1923 and recognised the
boundaries of the new state and its rights and obligations towards
the Greek, Jewish and Armenian minorities living in its territory.

Baykal also queried why it was that the constitutional amendment on
lifting the headscarf ban at universities had been waiting to be
signed at the presidential palace for eight days.

He said it was significant that President Abdullah Gul felt the need
to give deep thought to this arrangement.

ARMENIAN OBSERVERS TO WATCH RUSSIAN POLL

ARMENPRESS

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 18, ARMENPRESS: Two members of the Armenian
parliament will join CIS Inter-parliamentary mission to watch the
March 2 presidential election in the Russian Federation.

They are Eduard Sharmazanov from the Republican party and Ernest
Soghominian from the Prosperous Armenia. The first will be watching
the poll in Saint Petersburg and the second in Moscow.

Tatevik Ohanian, a press officer from the Central Electoral Commission
(CEC), said CEC has also received invitation from Russia to send poll
watchers, but did not confirm it yet due to presidential election
in Armenia.

"IRRESPECTIVE OF KOSOVO NKR IS AN INDEPENDENT COUNTRY"

Panorama.am
15:03 19/02/2008

"It is possible to prove scientifically that the independence of
Nagorno Karabakh is indisputable," said Tigran Torosyan, the president
of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia commenting on
the decleration of Kosovo’s independence.

He added that it is not the first time he has examined the two
cases. It is possible that the independence of Kosovo becomes one
more fact to recognize Karabakh.

"It is not obvious what will happen to Kosovo, but I’m sure that NKR
will be an independent country," said Torosyan.

Note that on 17 February Kosovo was declared as independent country,
and several courtiers supported them. Turkey also supported their
in dependence.

Source: Panorama.am

Armenia’s first President confident of victory

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.02.2008 14:19 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "According to the data I possess, the authorities are
marring the elections," Armenia’s first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan
said on February 19.

"Struggle up to the end supposes struggle until real results of the
presidential election are established," he said.

Asked how he is planning to struggle for his votes, Mr Ter-Petrosyan
said, "You will do it."

He advised journalists to attend polling stations during the day and
see "what the authorities are doing," IA Regnum reports.

Today, Azerbaijan
Feb 18 2008

Levon Ter-Petrosyan: "Armenia will have no chances for economic
development until the Karabakh conflict is resolved"

18 February 2008 [11:57] – Today.Az

The resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict lies in the necessity "to
demonstrate political will for the soonest resolution of the
problem".

The due announcement was made by Armenia’s first president Levon
Ter-Petrosyan at a press conference in Yerevan.

He considers that "the details and versions of the conflict
resolution are not important, only a political will is needed".

"This will never occur if Prime Minister Serj Sarkisyan is elected
the President of Armenia", Levon Ter-Petrosyan noted.

According to him, Armenia will have no chances for economic
development until the Karabakh conflict is resolved and it will not
be able to become a modern and worthy state.

"Armenia is be isolated both politically and economically. Itsoutlet
via Azerbaijan to Russia, Middle Asia and Far East and even to
Europe, as well as via Turkey to the Near East and Europe are
closed", the ex-president noted.

He said Armenia has become a country, which lacks prospects of
development and three elements may promote the way out of the
situation, including the soonest resolution of the Karabakh conflict,
opening of Armenia’s roads to the external world and normalization of
its direct neighbors, including Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Iran.

/Regnum/

URL:

Lragir, Armenia
Feb 18 2008

ALTERNATIVE COUNT OF VOTES

The Heritage Party told reporters on February 18 that on February 19,
the election day, an information center will open at the office of
the party which will release information on turnout and
irregularities every three hours. The party will get information from
its members of the precinct election commissions who will report
information which they will get from the Heritage members from local
election commissions.

Stepan Safaryan, a member of the party, said the Heritage Party has
representatives to all the 1923 election commissions except for a
few. However, the absence of members will be offset by proxies who
will report data from the polling stations. There will be a quick
response group at the office of the party led by Anahit Bakshiyan who
will react to reports of irregularities in Yerevan and the adjacent
areas and will arrive at places. The other members of parliament of
the Heritage faction will visit the regions and observe the voting
without interfering.

Stepan Safaryan also said the Heritage will cooperate closely with
those political forces to which it gave its seats in election
commissions: the All-Armenian Movement, the People’s Party of
Armenia, the Republic Party and the National Self-Determination
Union.

Sunday Business Post, Ireland
February 17, 2008

When grand statesmen ran scared of red menace

The World on Fire: 1919 and the Battle with Bolshevism. By Anthony
Read, Jonathan Cape, 37

‘The War of the Giants has ended. The wars of the pygmies begin,"
declared Winston Churchill rather wickedly.

Whether Turks or Slavs appreciate being called pygmies any more than
Irish people, the fact is that the ”war to end all wars” did no
such thing. The armistice between the Allied and Central powers
created the space for an explosion of ethnic rivalries, from
Tipperary to the Black Sea.

In the two months from the British, French and German signatures
being appended in the railway carriage, to the Paris Peace Conference
convening, Poland, Latvia, Hungary and Czechoslovakia all declared
their independence. The soon-to-be Kingdom of Yugoslavia was also
proclaimed.

The Freikorps violently extinguished the Spartacist uprising in
Berlin. Estonia courageously fought Russian annexation, with Allied
assistance. Even little Iceland became self-governing. Nationalist
Ireland was slower off the mark. The Giants – the American president,
the British, French and Italian premiers – had already discussed
matters great and small for three days at Versailles before the First
Dail met and two RIC constables were ambushed outside Soloheadbeg,
heralding the start of yet another war.

The usual depiction of the participants at Versailles is of
obstinately short-sighted and foolish men unable to rise to the
occasion. This is unfair. They faced problems that often defied
solution.

The war had devastated Europe. Twenty million had died; twice as many
again were wounded. There was a real sense that Europeans had
destroyed not just much of their civilisation’s infrastructure and
all those lives, but their political, social and economic structures.

Russia had started down the path to revolution in 1917 and, as the
old regime collapsed, the empire withered. In the Caucasus, the
Armenians, the Azerbaijanis and the Georgians tried to set up
independent states. Ukraine briefly gained its sovereignty. Finland
and the Baltics fought for their freedom.

An atmosphere of fear then surrounded the peacemakers – fear that
they would never be able to recreate European civilisation, but fear
too that worse was to come. An image often used at Versailles was of
being on the edge of a volcano about to erupt. It was not an
unreasonable apprehension.

The Russian Revolution was still working itself out. The Civil War –
between the Bolsheviks on the one hand, and a collection of
anarchists, liberals, nationalists of various stripes, and the
Tsarist remnants – was ongoing. It was not at all clear yet who would
triumph.

The Bolsheviks – still a tiny force of perhaps 15,000 – called on the
left-wing forces of the world to rise up against their rulers.
Remarkably, their call was briefly successful.

The fall of the monarchies in Austria-Hungary and Germany was marked
by revolutionary upheavals. In a number of cities, even in deeply
Catholic Bavaria, Soviets, consciously named after the Russian model,
took power. Hungary had a communist government for several months in
the spring and summer.

Depending on your perspective – there were genuine grounds for
despair or for hope – the revolution was spreading westward as
France, Italy, Britain (including Belfast) and even North America
experienced rioting and syndicalist strikes.

In an otherwise fact-filled but dull study short on ideas and
analysis, Anthony Read (author of The Devil’s Disciples, a celebrated
history of the Nazi elite) is strong on this often neglected aspect
of 1919.

The fearful climate suited some countries’ aims in Paris. Queen Marie
of Romania, for example, demanded huge territorial gains, including
half of Hungary, for her country.

When leaders such as Woodrow Wilson demurred, she warned that a
disappointed Romania might well experience violent revolution,
bringing the Red Terror much closer to the heart of Europe. The
French, in particular, insisted it was necessary to have robust
states as a cordon sanitaire and the Transylvanian Hungarians were
sacrificed accordingly.

In the new democratic age, public opinion also was an important
consideration for the peacemakers. There was a very strong feeling
that someone must pay for the greatest catastrophe of modern times
but also, contradictorily and confusingly, a desire for a better
world. Many felt that the sacrifices would only make sense if
capitalist societies found ways of preventing future wars and
building fairer societies.

It was not going to be that easy. The situation in 1919 was different
from that in 1945. Austria-Hungary had gone; Bulgaria was completely
defeated; and the Ottoman Empire was tottering, its Arab territories
breaking off. But if Germany was defeated, it was not in away that
was going to make peace easy.

Versailles ultimately failed, not least because the Giants frequently
had polar ambitions. But Versailles – and the Poles’ repulse of
Lenin, the ‘miracle of the Vistula’ – at least kept much of eastern
Europe free from the designs of the German eagle and the Russian bear
for a generation. For some, these golden years inspired the
democratic revolutions of 1989. If for no other reason, therefore,
1919 deserves better – and more holistic – histories than this.

EurasiaNet, NY
Feb 17 2008

As Campaign Ends, Ter-Petrosian Claims Victory
Gayane Abrahamyan: 02/17/08

As thousands of supporters yelled "Victory!," former President Levon
Ter-Petrosian wrapped up his election campaign on February 16 with a
massive rally in downtown Yerevan that was rich with parting jibes at
the current government, yet indicative of ongoing divisions within
the opposition itself.

Police estimated that about 30,000 people took part in the rally
outside the Armenian capital’s Opera House, although organizers
insist that the turnout exceeded 250,000. Police presence was
minimal, with a handful of senior officers and plainclothes
detectives surveying the scene or following a march through the city
center.

Yerevan onlookers responded with raised fists of support (an image
also seen on Ter-Petrosian campaign flyers), amused smiles or looks
of blank indifference as thousands of Ter-Petrosian supporters,
chanting slogans, subsequently paraded through the capital, badly
snarling traffic.

While the campaign’s anger at Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian still
held center stage – Ter-Petrosian supporters erupted in a chorus of
boos and whistles as their march passed under a large campaign
billboard for the premier – feuding within the opposition camp itself
produced the biggest surprise of the event.

Speaking to the crowd, a man who introduced himself as a member of
rival opposition candidate Artur Baghdasarian’s Orinats Yerkir
(Country of Law) Party, claimed that 1,000 Baghdasarian supporters
have switched camps and signed on with Ter-Petrosian.

"Baghdasarian will call this treason, but the true treason would be
the decision not to join this powerful popular movement," declared
the man, who gave his name as Armen Ghazarian.

Ter-Petrosian has charged that Baghdasarian, a former parliamentary
speaker with whom he failed to build a campaign alliance, has
committed "treason" and covertly collaborated with Prime Minister
Sarkisian on the campaign. The Baghdasarian camp has dismissed the
charges as ridiculous.

In an interview with EurasiaNet, Baghdasarian himself, however,
called the rally speaker’s claim a lie, and asserted that he does not
know an Armen Ghazarian. No Orinats Yerkir supporters have gone over
to the Ter-Petrosian camp, he insisted.

"We have prepared a statement, have appealed to the prosecutor
general’s office to bring that Armen Ghazarian to responsibility for
disseminating false information," Baghdasarian said.

While Ter-Petrosian’s feud with Baghdasarian shows no sign of
quieting down, protestors also maintain that the government is taking
steps to block their rallies.

Demonstrators from the provinces interviewed by EurasiaNet complained
that regular buses and minibuses had been banned from traveling to
Yerevan. As a result, they said, they had been forced to find private
cars or taxis to come to the former president’s rally.

One protestor from Abovyan, a small town close to Yerevan where
Sarkisian was scheduled to hold a rally on February 16, argued that
the alleged absence of public transportation was no accident. "This
was done on purpose not only to reduce the flow of the people to this
rally, but also to increase the number of participants in Serzh
Sarkisian’s rally," commented Artur Avtandilian.

A gaggle of men from Ijevan, a town 137 kilometers from Yerevan,
repeated the claim, adding that traffic police wrote down the license
plate numbers and names of drivers of all cars entering the city.
"They stopped us every time, they threatened us, "one man said.

A Yerevan bus terminal employee said that snowy weather accounted for
the cancellation of some bus routes, but said that privately owned
mini-bus operators make their own decisions. Similar claims were made
by opposition supporters during the 2007 parliamentary elections.

The alleged traffic hindrances, however, did little to dampen
Ter-Petrosian’s apparent certainty of victory at the polls on
February 19. He began his speech by congratulating the crowd gathered
in front of Yerevan’s Opera House with a vote already won.

"This is a friendly talk before the victory," he said. "The
kleptocracy [referring to Prime Minister Sarkisian and outgoing
President Robert Kocharian] has already been defeated and the people
have won."

A range of opposition figures — 2003 presidential candidate Stepan
Demirchian of the People’s Party of Armenia, former Prime Minister
Aram Sarkisian of the Republic Party, Heritage Party Deputy Chairman
Vardan Khachatrian and parliamentary member Sasun Mikayelian, who
recently left the ruling Republican Party to join Ter-Petrosian’s
campaign — also spoke at the two-hour-long rally.

The presence of renowned actor Yervand Manarian, opera singers and
conservatory professors underlined the connections between Armenia’s
intellectual community and the former president, a scholar of
Armenian and Middle Eastern history.

Speaking in the modulated tones that have contributed to his public
reputation as a skilled orator, the former president termed the
general election campaign efficiently run," although it did not
develop the way I’d like."

"I wish the campaign was more civilized. But we were forced to give
harsh assessments to these authorities," he said in reference to
Prime Minister Sarkisian and President Kocharian, who served as
defense/interior minister and prime minister, respectively, under
Ter-Petrosian’s 1991-1998 presidency.

"The authorities’ panic has increased so much that they go to
extremes," he claimed.

The comment was taken as a reference to the distribution of four DVDs
in Yerevan over the past week that claim, among other things, that
Ter-Petrosian is of Turkish descent and that he is a member of the
Masons.

One video reviews controversial murders under Ter-Petrosian’s
administration, and implies connections between the ex-president and
the 1999 parliamentary assassinations. The film also reviews the
story of former Interior Minister Vano Siradeghian, a Ter-Petrosian
cabinet member who fled Armenia in 2000 after being charged with
murder.

The film focusing on the 1999 shootings has been shown on H2 TV
channel, with the voiceover that it will show "what a moral person
the first president is and what are his goals for Armenia."

Ter-Petrosian campaign spokesperson Arman Musinian has said that the
campaign doesn’t plan to respond to the DVDs. "The contents are so
ungrounded and ridiculous that we are not even going to comment on
that rubbish," Musinian said.

The films’ creators are unknown. Eduard Sharmazanov, spokesperson for
Prime Minister Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia, says the
party has no knowledge about the DVDs.

"We don’t need to shoot any film of this kind, because people know a
lot about the former president and remember the days of his rule,"
Sharmazanov said.

One anecdote reportedly making the rounds in Yerevan urges voters to
buy electricity generators before Ter-Petrosian is elected and their
prices go up – a reference to the massive electricity shortages
Armenia endured in the early 1990s under his presidency. The
candidate himself attributes the problem to the general breakdown of
infrastructure following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"They’ve forgotten the past, they’ve forgotten what it was like to
live without electricity," said one man from Etchmiadzin, seat of the
Armenian Apostolic Church, in reference to the rally participants.
Other citizens take issue with restrictions on media and opposition
parties that occurred under the former president. Claiming that he is
"[d]angerous for civilization," 30 protestors have been living in
tents outside Ter-Petrosian’s campaign headquarters for the past four
days.

While recent opinion polls show Ter-Petrosian with only a sliver of
the vote (supporters counter that the surveys are biased in favor of
the government), political analysts say that they have difficulty
predicting the vote’s outcome and reaction to the results.

"[T]he first president’s entrance [into the presidential race]
changed the rules of the game, made the situation interesting and
dynamic, and unpredictable at the same time," commented Caucasus
Media Institute Director Alexander Iskandaryan.

What few observers question is that a battle of some sort is in the
making. "He will fight till the end," noted Mikayel Danielian,
chairman of the Helsinki Association of Armenia. "The authorities
will also go all the way, and the people will have to choose whom to
keep."

Editor’s Note: Gayane Abrahamyan is a reporter for the ArmeniaNow.com
weekly in Yerevan. EurasiaNet Caucasus News Editor Elizabeth Owen
added reporting to this story.

4.2 magnitude earthquake in Iran

armradio.am
16.02.2008 13:31

Today at 11:04 a.m. a magnitude 4.2 earthquake was registered on the
territory of Iran, 35 km to the southwest of Serend city. The strength
reached 6-7 at the epicenter, Armenpress was informed form the National
Survey for Seismic Protection of Armenia.

Vahan Hovhannesian: They would lose to us if fight were based on
ideologies

16.02.2008 18:57

Yerevan (Yerkir) – ARF presidential candidate Vahan Hovhannesian met
with voters in Yerevan’s Davitashen and Center districts on February 16.

"I am sure you all know Vahan Hovhannesian, and you realize he will be
the type of president for whom Armenians and family are superior
values," Artsvik Minasian, a member of the ARF faction in parliament,
said, addressing crowds. Minasian said that Hovhannesian has included
all the issues in his election platform, he can eliminate the
corruption and make bureaucrats accountable before people. "I am sure
you would not make a mistake if you elect Vahan," he said.

"Shame on those who made our people become so disappointed from the
current situation that they are ready to elect the former regime,"
Hovhannesian said. A rally is going on at the Opera House now, and what
we hear is that someone speaking there says everybody driving with
white flags will be imprisoned. Who are you to imprison people? Why
should there be borders between sectors of our people again?"

He said he knows about the problems of the people and if elected he
will settle all the issues very quickly.
"During the Armenian Pan-National Movement’s rule, the people were
deprived from heat, power, etc. it is now possible to restore all that
and it is being restored," he said. But the injustice has remained, he
went on saying. Hovhannesian said that he has come to open the door to
new opportunities.

He said that the ARF opposes to a development that only the rich
benefit from, who made a fortune during the faulty privatization and
then got to government offices. Now the old and the current regimes are
fighting each other but the fight is not based on ideologies and
politics because both realize that if fighting based on ideologies,
they would lose to the ARF. This is why they are cursing each other and
reject debates. They are fighting for money and power. The old regime
wants to power again, the new one does not want to let that happen.

"And only one power is coming to break that chain. We can break it
because we are not a part of that chain," Hovhannesian said.