Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

Azerbaijani opposition member calls on West to impose sanctions on
senior Azeri officials

TERT.AM
12:10 – 24.02.13

Azerbaijani Republican Alternative civil movement leader Ilgar Mamedov
has prepared a letter addressed to the US Congress and the European
Parliament calling to impose sanctions on the top officials having
relation to his arrest.

Azerbaijani contact.az reports that ReAl executive secretary Natig
Jafarlii has posted the letter in Facebook.

This time Mamedov asks the establishments to impose visa ban on the
people who have participated in filing criminal case against him to
withdraw him from participating in the presidential elections.

Mamedov mentioned 11 names, among them is head of the president’s
administration department working with law enforcers Fuad Aleskerov.

`It is necessary to form lists of not political prisoners but those
who are creating them and punish them for it,’ the letter says.

From: Baghdasarian

Ouest-France
jeudi 21 février 2013
quimper Edition

Narek, le champion venu d’Arménie

ENCART: Découverte. Nouveau champion de Bretagne de pancrace, le
sociétaire du Thaï Boxing-club de Brest vise désormais le titre
national. Un objectif largement à la portée du jeune combattant.

Narek Ashkhbabyan : nul doute que ce nom typiquement arménien ne va
pas tarder à être prononcé avec la plus grande facilité par tous les
amateurs de sports de contact de Brest et de la région. Il faut dire
que ce patronyme qui fleure bon le voyage est porté par l’une des
étoiles montantes du Thaï Boxing Club de Brest (TBCB).

Depuis une petite quinzaine de jours, Narek, 23 ans à peine, est en
effet devenu le nouveau champion de Bretagne de Pancrace (-70 kg). Un
titre qui lui ouvre d’ores et déjà un boulevard vers les prochains
championnats de France où il devrait faire bien plus que de la
figuration. «Narek est un athlète très explosif et sa rapidité
d’exécution fait généralement des étincelles, explique Magnum, l’un de
ses coaches au TBCB. Il possède une technique au sol particulièrement
efficace qui, conjuguée avec son anglaise, fait de lui un redoutable
combattant».

Ses deux premiers combats officiels en pancrace, expédiés à chaque
fois en moins d’une minute, en témoignent de façon remarquable. Venu
de la boxe anglaise où il a évolué pendant près de huit ans, le Ti Zef
d’adoption, débarqué à Brest à l’ge de 10 ans, a toutefois toujours
voulu élargir sa palette de techniques de combat : «Je suis un vrai
passionné de MMA(Ndlr. Mixed martial arts), une discipline que je suis
régulièrement sur le cble. Pour toucher à d’autres styles de combat,
j’ai commencé à faire du Jiu-jitsu il y a un peu plus d’un an. C’est
au Pen ar Bed JJB que j’ai croisé la route de Laurent Lejeune et
Alessandro De Oliveira, qui m’ont peu à peu amené vers le pancrace».

Le pancrace justement, Narek peut désormais le pratiquer en
compétition au Thaï Boxing Club de Brest. Depuis la refonte de la
ligue, les combattants de Muay Thaï ont élargi leurs horizons à
d’autres disciplines (K1, kick-boxing, etc.) parmi lesquelles le
pancrace : «Le pancrace attire beaucoup les plus jeunes, explique
Bruno Briand, président de la ligue de Bretagne.C’est une discipline
très spectaculaire où les enchaînements au sol sont souvent
impressionnants. Toutefois, il ne s’agit pas d’un combat libre. Les
règles sont strictes et le pancrace n’a rien à voir avec du combat de
rue.»

Grce aux conseils de d’Alessandro De Oliveira, multiple champion de
jujitsu brésilien, Narek a trouvé un maître digne de son talent.
Conscient de sa marge de progression, il a également souhaité
poursuivre sa formation au sein du TBCB. «Je dois encore progresser en
Muay Thai. Le TBCB m’apporte énormément dans cette discipline que je
commence à peine à découvrir. Je pense que grce à cet apport, je vais
continuer à améliorer ma technique de jambes qui me permettra d’être
encore plus performant dans mes prochaines confrontations».

From: Baghdasarian

The Ombudsman challenges the constitutionality of the provision of RA
Criminal code concerning fines and public work
Sat, 02/23/2013 – 14:32
News

On February 26, the Constitutional Court will review in written
procedure the application presented by the RA Ombudsman. Karen
Andriasyan challenges the constitutionality of 4th Section of Article
51 and 5th Section of Article 54 of RA Criminal Code.

The reporter of the case is the member of the Constitutional court
Hrant Nazaryan. The respondent is the National Assembly.

The articles in question are related to penalties and public works
related to small and medium-weight crimes.

The part 4 of the challenged Article 51 provides that in the case of
impossibility of the fine payment the court replaces the fine or the
rest of the fine with public service – 5 hours of public work for
minimum wage. If the fine is not paid or the fine replaced with public
works after the calculation result in less than two hundred seventy
hours, then hundred seventy two hours is appointed, and if it exceeds
two thousand two hundred hours, then thousand two hundred hours is
appointed.

According to part 5 of Article 54 for maliciously evading the public
works the court replaces the rest of the public work with imprisonment
or detention calculating one day of arrest equal to 3 hours of public
work.

Author:
Factinfo

From: Baghdasarian

EPDE: The results of both election participation and election results
were falsified
Sat, 02/23/2013 – 15:24
News

The February 18 2012 presidential elections were held in the absence
of competition, less active election campaign, as well as with
relative law participation of observers in the election polls on the
Election Day. This is explained by the fact that the three main
opposition parties have decided not to nominate a candidate in the
presidential elections and therefore didn’t have their proxies in the
election polls.

The Election Day was accompanied by the correct choice of the
management, which was aimed at ensuring a peaceful election process.
However, on the Election Day, the civil observers recorded a number of
violations including ballot stuffing, multiple voting and cases of
threats by the proxies of the candidates directed at observers. The
impartiality of the electoral process presented above gives rise to
concern. Some polling stations where the observation was implemented
by the civil observers, registered lower voter participation (by 25%)
than other neighboring constituencies (often within the same building)
where there were no observers. By the inflated participation the
numbers of votes of Serzh Sargsyan are higher than that of Raffi
Hovhannisyan. These observations provide a basis to assume that on the
Election Day both the voter participation and actual results were
falsified.

The new Election Code generally provides an appropriate field for
democratic and transparent elections and gives greater powers to
implement civil observation. Civil observation is worthy of greater
attention to the local and international institutions. The existing
norms on civil observations should be improved, as well as the
methodological support should be strengthened for the future
development of civil control over the election processes and the raise
of confidence for the international democratic structures.

Author:
Factinfo

From: Baghdasarian

Raffi Hovannisian to police officers: You will feel remorse

February 23, 2013 | 16:18

YEREVAN.- Opposition candidate Raffi Hovannisian addressed police
officers during his meeting with residents of Spitak urging to shoot
his video but not the people coming to his rallies.

`Why are you making videos of people’s faces? What is the link between
them, me and your work? Shoot whatever you want, but then do not
complain that you feel remorse,’ he told policemen.

However, the speech of Heritage party leader was interrupted by Spitak
police officers, saying that the rally was not authorized by
municipality.

In response, Raffi Hovannisian said that no one had the right to
prevent him from meeting with people in his own country.

`This is not a rally, but a manifestation of people’s will,’ he emphasized.

The next stop was Apran town where a few dozen people gathered, but
police banned the demonstartion.

From: Baghdasarian

AZERBAIJANI PARLIAMENT CRITICISES TURKISH PRESIDENT CONGRATULATING ARMENIAN COUNTERPART

Trend, Azerbaijan
Feb 22 2013

The Azerbaijani Parliament has criticised Turkish President Abdullah
Gul’s congratulating his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan on the
occasion of his re-election as Armenian president.

“An opinion was voiced that the congratulations were expressed as a
sign of courtesy,” speaker Oqtay Asadov said at a plenary session of
the legislative body today. “It is necessary to pay attention to the
fact that no matter how many signs of politeness may be expressed to
Armenia, it uses this for other purposes. One must not aggravate the
issue. It is necessary to consider it from other perspectives.”

Asadov also commented on the position of a number of international
organisations that have made statements about the democratic
presidential elections in Armenia.

“One must be more careful and cautious in case of a lack of final
results of the elections in Armenia as international organisations
evaluate them as fair and democratic,” he said.

Deputy Executive Secretary of New Azerbaijan Party Mubariz Gurbanli
regretted the Turkish President’s congratulating his Armenian
counterpart on the results of possible ‘rigged’ elections in Armenia.

One can understand the Russian President’s congratulations rather
than that of the Turkish President, Gurbanli said.

MPs called on the public organisations to discuss the issue.

Earlier, the Turkish President has congratulated Armenian counterpart
on his re-election.

Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that Turkey’s predecessor, the
Ottoman Empire committed genocide in 1915 against Armenians living in
Anadolu. Their efforts have achieved the recognition of the ‘Armenian
Genocide’ by the parliaments of several countries.

Presidential elections were held in Armenia on Feb.18. Incumbent
President Serzh Sargsyan won the presidential elections gaining 58.64
percent of the overall votes.

The First Foreign Minister of Armenia Raffi Hovannisian ranked second
winning 36.75 percent, while former Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan
ranked third after receiving 2.15 percent of the vote.

From: Baghdasarian

FOUR SOLDIERS OF ARMENIAN ARMY RENDERED HARMLESS OVER LAST THREE DAYS

APA, Azerbaijan
Feb 22 2013

Baku. Rashad Suleymanov – APA. Four soldiers of the Armenian army
attempted to commit subversive actions have been rendered harmless
over last three days, military sources told APA.

The Armenian side has already confirmed the two of those facts a day
later. Armenia’s Defense Ministry has confirmed that Gor Gazaryan,
21, was killed as a result of the ceasefire violation on north-east
of Karabakh front on February 19. It has also been reported today that
one more soldier of the Armenian army Karen Akopyan, 19, was killed.

Although this soldier was killed on February 21, media reported about
it a day later.

From: Baghdasarian

ALARM AT ATTACKS ON TURKISH ARMENIANS

Institute for War & Peace Reporting, UK
IWPR Caucasus Reporting #677
Feb 22 2013

While Istanbul police say common criminals carried out assaults,
others suspect an ethnic motive.

By Aline Ozinian – Caucasus
CRS Issue 677, 22 Feb 13

A series of attacks on elderly Armenians in Istanbul has left human
rights activists fearful of an upsurge of xenophobia in Turkey.

The latest victim was Sultan Aykar, an 80-year-old who lost an eye
when she was attacked.

“If her neighbours hadn’t come to her aid, my grandmother would
be dead now,” Aykar’s granddaughter Karin Etik said by phone from
Istanbul. “She had blood in her mouth, and she was so scared that
she couldn’t speak.”

It was only the latest in a series of attacks targeting Armenians. At
the end of December, an 85-year-old woman called Maritsa Kucuk was
murdered, in the same Istanbul neighbourhood, Samatya.

Samatya where the attacks have taken place, has traditionally had a
large community of Armenians, who have enjoyed good relations with
Turkish and Kurdish residents over many decades.

The Turkish press initially ignored the assaults, but concerns began
to grow in the international media and among human rights groups.

A January 27 demonstration in Samatya was attended by Turkish and
Kurdish members of parliament, as well as representatives of women’s
rights organisations. Participants held up banners saying, “Don’t
hurt my Armenian neighbour”.

“They want to scare the Armenians, to remind them that they will
not die of old age in their beds,” said AyÅ~_e Gunaysu, a member of
anti-racism committee of the Human Rights Association of Turkey. “The
fact that the police are describing these fascist assaults as robberies
only helps to encourage fascism. They are attempting to ethnically
cleanse Samatya. We mustn’t forget the fact that the Armenian genocide
is still denied in this country, and these events are a result of
this denial.”

Turkish police have treated the attacks as ordinary crimes, perhaps
the work of drug addicts who share the common belief that Armenians
tend to be wealthier than others.

“We need to be prudent when we discuss these attacks. I would like
to wait before speaking,” Mustafa Demir, mayor of Fatih district,
which includes Samatya, told Hurriyet Daily News. “All these attacks
have involved theft as well, so it seems there’s little chance that
these are nationalist crimes, if you look into the details.”

Others disagree, and suspect a more sinister motive.

“I have no doubt that these events are hate crimes. They need to
be looked at against the background of attacks on Greeks and other
Christians,” Orhan Kemil Cengiz, a journalist for the Radikal and
Today’s Zaman newspapers, said. “I think that by creating fear among
Christians, someone is trying to recreate the chaotic atmosphere that
dominated Turkey prior to the murder of Hrant Dink,”

Hrant Dink was an ethnic Armenian journalist murdered in 2007 by a
young Turkish nationalist, apparently because of Dink’s comments
criticising Ankara’s refusal to recognise the early 20th-century
killings of Armenians as genocide . Public outrage at this murder
led to a wave of dismissals from Turkey’s security services, but
analysts say extreme nationalism is again spreading , encouraged by
rogue elements within the state.

“Such incidents are the result of deep-laid plans and have deep roots.

The Turkish government must solve these crimes not only to save the
lives of individual Armenians, but to strengthen its own authority,”
Berat Bekir Ozipek, a political analyst with the Liberal Thinking
Association and a journalist for the Star newspaper, said.

Aline Ozinian is a PhD student in Yerevan.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIA IS ALSO EUROPE

New Eastern Europe
Feb 22 2013

Zbigniew Rokita talks with Raffi K. Hovannisian, leader of Armenia’s
opposition party Heritage.

ZBIGNIEW ROKITA: Many people with whom I talked to here in Yerevan
as well as the provinces have told me that they didn’t believe that
something could change as a result of the presidential elections. How
do you plan to convince them that it is otherwise?

RAFFI HOVANNISIAN: We can’t generalise. Interest in the results is
rather high. I don’t know who you were talking to, I respect their
opinion, but you were here at the demonstration on Wednesday and
saw that it gathered around 15,000 people. Excitement was clearly in
the air.

Will the fact that Europe has recognised the results of these elections
make it difficult for you to question them?

I don’t know what Europe is. Are you European? In the preliminary
report issued by the OSCE we read that the elections did indeed take
place calmly, but it also stresses that the state’s administrative
resources were used to influence the final results. The case in point
is, for example, using state funds to support a given candidate. It
isn’t Europe’s role to decide whether the elections were fair or
not; whether they have, indeed, met democratic standards or not,
and whether their results have reflected the nation’s will.

These are the questions that should be answered by the people of
Armenia. I am not sure if there is such a thing as one Europe. And
even if this Europe, which you are talking about, says something, we
shouldn’t forget that Armenia is one of its sources. Also, Armenia
has its own constitution, its own elections which have been forged
and taken away from its own people.

We don’t want Europe to refer to the will of our nation without
respect, we don’t want Europe, for geopolitical reasons, to issue
ridiculous statements about our elections. That is why people still
gather here. For over 20 years their voices have been stolen, and
they haven’t been allowed to carry out fair elections. Armenians are
fed up with this.

How long do you plan to continue protesting against the forgery of
these elections?

It’s not a protest. We are celebrating the victory of the nation. We
are sick and tired of the protests. However, we will continue by
showing these gestures of discontent by using all possible legal means
to return the power to the people. The power that has been taken away
from them.

Raffi K. Hovannisian is an Armenian politician, the first foreign
minister of Armenia, and the founding leader of the Heritage party.

Zbigniew Rokita works for Nowa Europa Wschodnia. He is a student of
Russian Studies at the Jagiellonian Univeristy in Krakow, Poland.

From: Baghdasarian

BRITAIN CRITICAL OF ARMENIAN VOTE

United Press International UPI
Feb 22 2013

LONDON, Feb. 22 (UPI) — The British government said Friday it was
lending its voice to the growing chorus expressing concern about the
outcome of Armenian presidential elections.

Supporters of former Foreign Minister Raffi Hovannisian rallied in his
support in Yerevan after preliminary totals showed incumbent President
Serzh Sargsyan won the majority of the vote in Monday’s election.

Karin Woldseth, head of a European observer mission, said that while
there was clear evidence of a successful vote, public trust was eroded
because of alleged interference in favor of the incumbent.

British Minister for Europe David Lidington echoed those sentiments,
saying the campaign was free and open and most Armenians took advantage
of their right to vote.

“I welcome the International Election Observation Mission’s preliminary
report which concluded that the elections were characterized by a
‘respect for fundamental freedoms’ but also noted deficiencies in
election administration and instances of political interference,”
he said in a statement.

Hovannisian met this week with Sargsyan, saying he’d discuss the
outcome of that meeting during weekend rallies.

The U.S. and European governments expressed concern about political
interference in statements this week.

From: Baghdasarian