Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

NA PRESIDENT HOVIK ABRAHAMYAN INVITES THE HEADS OF THE MEDIA AND THE JOURNALISTS ACCREDITED IN THE PARLIAMENT TO FESTIVE RECEPTION

27.12.2012

RA National Assembly President Hovik Abrahamyan invited the heads of
the media and the journalists accredited in the parliament to festive
reception on the occasion of the New Year and Christmas on December
27. Addressing them the NA President said:

“Dear representatives of the media,

I am glad to greet you in the National Assembly of the Republic of
Armenia, which is not only the venue of the activity of the highest
legislative body, but it is also the venue of our joint work. I am
sure, as it was before, in 2012 also our cooperation has succeeded,
and regardless of the differences of our views and political positions,
we were always able to freely communicate with each other within the
limits correctness and tolerance, reasonability and sincerity. In any
case, as I have repeatedly had occasion to announce, I am always for
the atmosphere of solidarity and tolerance, and I will continue to make
all efforts for ensuring such atmosphere in the National Assembly,
including also, for the journalists and with the journalists in
the work.

The journalists and the media are the forerunners of the formation
and the establishment of the civil society. With this respect the
journalistic big and influential family of Armenia is not an exception,
taking into consideration its weighty role in the life of state and
society. In the extraordinary congress of the Republican Party of
Armenia held recently, underlining the denial of the use of force
towards the journalists and the right of freely opposing, the Chairman
of the party and President of the Republic Serzh Sargsyan stressed
that “in our country there is no alternative to pluralism, political
freedoms and freedom of speech.” I am sure that you, dear journalists,
in the parliament can freely execute your rights and implement your
full professional activity. At the same time, I think that neither
the deputy, nor this or that journalist, should not try to oppose
their work and human relations to each other. Instead, they should
be compared, moreover that challenges and problems face our country,
which should overcome not the politicians, journalists or this or
that representative of the society separately, but we altogether.

Dear journalists,

I thank all of you for our joint work. I wish everybody that your
work would stem only from the concerns of the country and from honest,
selfless strivings.

I congratulate you on the occasion of the New Year and Chistmas and
wish you health, optimism and welfare.”

By the order of the RA NA President Hovik Abrahamyan, Lia Khojoyan,
Karine Mangasaryan, Lilit Kasyan, Arman Galoyan, Avetis Babajanyan,
Armen Mkhitaryan, Harutyun Tolanyan and Artak Barseghyan were awarded
the RA NA President’s nominal watch for covering conscientiously and
unbiased, for many years the works of the parliament.

From: Baghdasarian

POLITICAL EXPERT: ARMENIA CAN COOPERATE WITH THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE CUSTOMS UNION AT ONE AND THE SAME TIME

arminfo
Thursday, December 27, 13:48

Armenia can cooperate with the European Union and the Customs Union
at one and the same time, President of the European Integration NGO,
political expert Karen Bekaryan told journalists on Thursday.

“Armenia can first sign the deep and comprehensive free trade area
agreement with the EU and then start cooperating with the Customs
Union on points that are not contrary to it,” Bekaryan said, adding
that it is not yet clear what the Customs Union can give to a country
that has no common border with it.

“If we want to join that organization, we should either see what
Georgia thinks about it and if it is possible to restart the railway
in Abkhazia or consider building a railway with Iran. The third option
is to establish relations with Turkey. Here we will need Russia to
pressure the Turks into opening their border with us. Only provided
that we use at least one of these options, will we be able to cooperate
with the Customs Union,” Bekaryan said.

From: Baghdasarian

CABINET PROPOSES RESTRICTIONS ON PRISONERS’ CORRESPONDENCE CONFIDENTIALITY

tert.am
27.12.12

The Armenian cabinet has proposed amendments to the Penitentiary Code
to restrict the convicts’ right to confidential correspondence.

The new chapter, proposed to the law on restricting the correspondence
of inmates (both those sentenced for life and those serving a certain
period of time), first describes the procedures for submitting
and discussing a motion for imposing such a restriction. The bill
requires that the document justify the reasons behind the proposed
measure, including the necessity to observe law and order in the
penitentiary institution, ensure the protection of public health and
moral standards, and the constitutional right of inmates.

The motion has to specify the timeframes and grounds of restricting
the confidentiality of correspondence and be submitted with supporting
materials.

Its appropriateness is to be considered by court. The motion is also
subject to appeal.

Based on a court ruling, the head of the penitentiary institution is
then required to make a decision on opening a letter written by or
sent to the convict.

Under the proposed bill, the letters addressed to the minister
of justice, the European Court of Human Rights, the prosecutor
general, the ombudsman, an ordained clergyman-confessor, groups of
public observers conducting a monitoring in prisons and penitentiary
administrations and defense lawyers or medical institutions are not
subject to opening or confiscation.

A justification attached to the legislative proposal says that the
Penitentiary Code envisages no measures for the prison administration
to examine and confiscate an inmate’s letter without violation of
the relevant provisions of Armenia’s Constitution and the European
Convention on Human Rights.

“This legislative gap leads to a lots of difficulties related to
the protection of justice, and observance of security and order in
prisons, the protection of public health and moral standards, and
others constitutional rights,” reads the document.

From: Baghdasarian

HE ACCUSES THE REPUBLICAN PARTY OF ARMENIA (RPA) OF GETTING THEM AND OTHER POLITICAL FORCES OUT OF THE WAY

DECEMBER 26, 2012 15:56

“The ruling party is behind the steps aimed at getting political
forces out of the way, in my opinion,” Styopa Safaryan, the secretary
general of the Heritage Party, said, not agreeing

with the claims of Hovhannes Sahakyan, a Republican Party of Armenia
(RPA) MP, that the RPA had created all necessary conditions for the
opposition forces to unite, and the RPA shouldn’t be blamed in that
regard. “The best conditions for the opposition are created, when
the opposition and the government have equal abilities, when public
and state resources are available for everyone,” Mr. Safaryan added.

He also didn’t agree that the Prosperous Armenia Party’s (PAP)
presenting itself as an alternative force had been just a game, and had
aimed at disintegrating the opposition camp, “I don’t want to rule out
this commentary, but that seems to be the result. On the other hand,
it is visible that the PAP’s condition under the pressure of the
three presidents was not an easy one; the orientation toward one of
them could be fatal and have serious consequences for the PAP itself.

The PAP tried to preserve itself. We think that step was a result
of all this, but at the same time, I don’t think that the PAP was,
roughly speaking, sent to the opposition camp to destroy it.”

Mr. Safaryan doesn’t think that the PAP’s position not to endorse
anyone in the presidential election means supporting the incumbent
president, “Why not, The Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) needs the
PAP’s support, because Serzh Sargsyan hardly crossed the threshold in
2008, thanks to the PAP, he is in a weaker position now than in 2007,
he doesn’t have the PAP’s support and has accusations against him with
regard to March 1 and so on. Armenia is approaching the presidential
election with a weak opposition and a weak government. In that sense,
I don’t agree that the decision of the PAP not to endorse anyone
strengthened the government.”

He also added that the PAP had called the legitimacy of the election
into serious question, showing indirectly that the pressure against
them was the reason for not being nominated, rather than just the
wish not to participate.

Arpine SIMONYAN

From: Baghdasarian

SERZH SARGSYAN ATTENDS RECEPTION AT ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan attended today a New Year and
Christmas reception at Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
presidential press service reported.

President Sargsyan congratulated the Ministry’s personnel on coming
holidays, thanked them for the important work they implemented together
with other state bodies in the passing year and wished high spirits
to everybody attending the reception and happiness, good health and
well-being to their families.

From: Baghdasarian

AZERBAIJANI ARMED FORCES EQUIPPED WITH SOPHISTICATED WEAPONS – VICE SPEAKER

News.Az
Wed 26 December 2012 05:39 GMT | 5:39 Local Time

Azerbaijani is strengthening its defence industry potential.

Enterprises subordinated to the Defence Industry Ministry produce
very quality products.

The statement came from the first vice speaker of the Azerbaijani
Parliament, chairman of the security and defence committee Ziyafat
Asgarov at the committee’s meeting, Gun.Az reports.

He reminded that our country has already participated in exhibitions
held in South Africa, Singapore and other countries.

According to Asgarov, currently, big work is underway in this sphere.

“The Azerbaijani Armed Forces are equipped with modern and
sophisticated weapons. This process will continue further. Azerbaijan
also exports its products. There is a demand for this. We are
interested in expansion of this export in the future,” Asgarov
underlined.

From: Baghdasarian

‘LEFTOVER’ TURKISH-ARMENIAN VOICES
William Armstrong – [email protected]

ISTANBUL – Hurriyet Daily News

‘My Grandmother’ by Fethiye Cetin (Verso, 2008, pp 144, 25TL)

‘Varsen Oruncakcýel: The Last Remaining Arapgirtsi’ interviewed by
Mayda Saris (Birzamanlar Yayýncýlýk, 2011, pp 107, 25TL)

Fethiye Cetin grew up believing she was of “pure” Turkish stock,
until one day her aging grandmother, Seher, took her aside and revealed
that she had in fact been born an Armenian Christian, originally named
Heranuþ Gadaryan. Plucked from a death march as a young girl in 1915,
Seher was raised as a Muslim by a Turkish gendarmerie commander and
his wife, only to become aware of her true origins later in life. Some
estimates suggest that there are hundreds of thousands of “hidden”
or “Islamized” Armenians still living in Turkey, so this story may
not be as unique as it may first seem. What is certainly remarkable,
though, is that Cetin’s elegiac account of her grandmother’s story
found a wide audience when it was published in Turkish in 2004,
(going into its tenth print run in 2012).

The first section of “My Grandmother” offers gentle, sepia-tinged
descriptions of Fethiye’s rural upbringing with her family in the
eastern Turkish province of Elazýð: her beautiful sisters; her
grandfather whose mood always depended on how full his stomach was;
her grandmother, the charismatic matriarch of the family, powerful
but taciturn, as if always harboring the secret that would one day be
revealed to Fethiye. The central revelation in fact doesn’t come until
midway through the book, but when it does Cetin writes that what she
heard “did not fit with anything I knew. It turned the known world
on its head, smashing my values into a thousand pieces.” Seher, or
Heranuþ, was one of the “kýlýc artýðý,” the “leftovers of the sword”
of that traumatic period; only one of her sisters was also spared,
while the rest of the family was killed off. The second part of the
memoir consists of Cetin trying to digest the meaning of this heritage,
and also trying to forge a reunion of the two sides of a family which
now – like so many Armenian families – is “scattered like pomegranate
seeds” across the world.

It’s a quietly powerful work, modest but courageous. There are no
unnecessary fireworks or forced emotions. There’s little in the way
of direct politics and no recriminations: I don’t think the word
“genocide” is mentioned once in the entire book (and that’s not
because of Turkish laws against these things). It’s simply a human
story, told in a very humane, unshowy way.

An ostensibly similar, (though slightly less high profile), book is
“The Last Remaining Arapgirtsi,” published in 2011 in the form of an
extended interview with 95-year-old Varsen Oruncakcýel. Oruncakcýel
was born in the village of Arapgir in the eastern province of Malatya,
and was just one-year-old when the events of 1915 took place.

Over the course of the book, she gives simple, unembellished
descriptions of both the difficulties and the joys of a long life
spent between Arapgir, Malatya, and Istanbul. Family photographs are
included, and while they show a lot of frowns and furrowed brows, they
equally show a lot of smiling and celebrations. Although profoundly
affected by the tragic shadow of 1915, Orancakcýel describes her life
as being “colorful” – full of music, dancing and entertainment.

Perhaps what is most striking about the book is this gentle confounding
of the easy presumptions one might have about the nature of her story.

Neither of these books is concerned directly with the events of 1915,
but it is their account of the effect on the “leftovers” that makes
them interesting.

December/26/2012

From: Baghdasarian

ARF-D SUPREME ASSEMBLY OF ARMENIA’S DECISION ON PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

December 26, 2012

ARF-D Supreme Council of Armenia members Arsen Hambartsumyan, Armen
RUstamyan and Aghvan Vardanyan at a press conference on 26 December
2012 Having thoroughly discussed the party’s participation format
in the upcoming presidential election, the ARF-D Supreme Assembly of
Armenia states:

In accordance with the Supreme Assembly’s July decision, the ARF-D
Supreme Council of Armenia took the initiative of putting forward a
process to form a wide accord around a unified political agenda.

Efforts were made with active political forces and civic circles
to create an accord around a political platform so as to develop a
unified oppositional front.

Both, this initiative and the political agenda that was introduced
were positively greeted; certain prerequisites to making the process
effective did exist. The possibility existed to at least restore
the people’s broken trust in elections, to generate a qualitatively
new situation, to conduct truly competitive elections and to create
the ground for the regime change. However, preconceived approaches
conditioning the accord with this or that concrete candidate prevented
the efforts – to participate in the presidential election with a
united agenda- from reaching their logical conclusion.

Taking on account the current situation and based on the
above-mentioned assertions, the ARF-D Supreme Council Assembly of
Armenia, decides the following:

1. Not to nominate a candidate for the upcoming February 18, 2013
presidential election.

2. Excluding supporting the candidate of the authorities, to authorize
the Supreme Council to follow the pre-electoral processes and, if the
need arises, to orient the ARF-D members and supporters accordingly.

3. To continue pursuing with all political means the realization of
the party’s seven-point platform.

Yerevan 25 December 2012

From: Baghdasarian

HAK PROMISES TO ‘OPEN BRACKETS’ DEC 27

07:09 pm | Today | Politics

The Political Council of the Armenian National Congress (HAK) today
convened a sitting to determine the format of HAK’s participation in
February’s election.

“The participants adopted a decision which will be published on
December 27,” HAK Coordinator Levon Zurabyan said adding that they
are still holding consultations on the document.

HAK MPs Nikol Pashinyan and Hrant Margaryan did not participate in
the meeting.

When asked whether the opposition bloc was going to support Hrant
Bagratyan as a presidential nominee, Mr Zurabyan said, “The decision
will open all brackets and make everything clear for you.”

With regard to HAK leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s decision not to run
for president, the HAK coordinator said, “Levon Ter-Petrosyan clearly
substantiated his decision. However, some media representatives and
political figures concluded that with the decision Levon Ter-Petrosyan
announced his intention to leave politics. He does not have such
an intention. Levon Ter-Petrosyan simply decided not to stand for
president.”

When asked to explain the purpose of the speculations, Mr Zurabyan
said, “They obviously aim to discredit our electorate and the army of
our supporters. But I want to say that we are continuing our struggle
and we are determined to achieve our goal, i.e. to establish democracy,
constitutional order and the rule of law in Armenia.

From: Baghdasarian

NEIGHBORS-ENEMIES

Monday, 24 December 2012 16:09

The Dublin statement is not worth a brass farthing under the militant
position of Baku

As you know, on December 6-7, the 19th meeting of the OSCE Foreign
Ministers’ Council took place in Dublin, at which the heads of the
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing states’ delegations – Foreign Minister
of Russia Sergei Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,
and Minister-Delegate for European Affairs of France Bernard Kazenev
– issued a statement on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It called on
the parties to demonstrate a political will for achieving a peaceful
settlement of the conflict. “We call on the parties to refrain from
actions and statements that may promote the feelings of enmity among
the population and have been a source of tension for the recent
months. The leaders of the parties should prepare their societies
for the day that they will again live as neighbors and not enemies
“, the statement emphasized.

And what was the reaction of the parties to the appeal of the mediators
for pacifism? It was quite predictable. The Armenian party, in the
person of Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, welcomed the statement
of the representatives of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing states,
noting the compliance of its provisions with Armenia’s position. As for
Azerbaijan, it did not fall out of its determined militaristic canvas
and once again ignored the appeal of the mediators for achieving an
exclusively peaceful solution to the conflict. Hardly had the echoes
of the Dublin meeting of the OSCE Foreign Ministers calmed down,
Baku resumed its talks about the possibility of a military solution
to the problem.

Just ten days after Dublin, Director of the Center for Strategic
Studies under the President of Azerbaijan Farhad Mamedov stated at a
briefing on the results of the year that “the war in Nagorno-Karabakh
can resume any moment”. He grounded his idea, which is worn for
official Baku, with the “lack of the third physical obstacle between
the parties to the conflict, which could prevent the resumption
of hostilities”. This is with respect to the so-called technical
ground of the mamedov viewpoint. As for the legal aspect, the Azeri
“central strategist” found it necessary to appeal to international law:
“It is the right of every sovereign state to use weapons to protect
its territorial integrity”. Note that the threat of war is not voiced
by one of the Azerbaijani deputies who, in contrast to the domestic
issues, are free in their utterances concerning the Karabakh conflict.

It isn’t either voiced by an opposition leader who is free of any
power and, consequently, of any responsibility. The author of the
threats is an official from the Azerbaijani President’s team, and
for this reason, the international mediators should not indifferently
brush aside this statement.

Drawing attention to another fact of official Baku’s militaristic
rhetoric, we are not going to impress with this the international
structures involved in the Karabakh conflict settlement. Surely
not, because Azerbaijan has blackmailed, for a long period and at
the highest level, Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as the
international community with the threat of war resumption, and the
statement of the head of the Center for Strategic Studies is just a
paraphrase of the numerous militant statements by President Aliyev.

Nagorno-Karabakh is got used to the verbal exercises of the Azerbaijani
party’s militant rhetoric. We just want to draw the attention of
the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to the trends in the foreign policy
of Azerbaijan in the context of the Karabakh settlement, and to be
more precise – to their immutability.

The conflict settlement experience has convincingly proved that
Azerbaijan cannot be taken as a compulsory party to the negotiations,
because it either undermined the achieved agreements or merely ignored
them. At the same time Baku is behaving hypocritically, declaring its
interest in a peaceful settlement of the conflict under the auspices
of the Minsk Group, but actually undermining the negotiation process
and continuing the militarization of the country. The hypocrisy lies
also in the fact that Azerbaijan tries to disguise its pan-Turkic
policy with international law, using it for justifying its new armed
aggression against the independent NKR. Speculating with the principle
of territorial integrity and representing itself as a victim of
armed aggression, it tries to draw a legitimate basis for its openly
revanchist concept of military solutions to the conflict. Meanwhile,
the facts testify to the contrary – it was Nagorno-Karabakh that
became a victim of the Azerbaijani military aggression and used its
his right to self-defense. And it is important to note that official
Stepanakert doesn’t avoid the discussion of issues related to the
elimination of the consequences of the war unleashed by Azerbaijan.

Rejecting the direct negotiations with Nagorno Karabakh, the
Azerbaijani leadership demonstrates a clear lack of interest in
addressing these issues.

We’d like to believe that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and other
international structures will not limit with general, and therefore,
ineffective calls and will ultimately give a strict and adequate
assessment to the dangerous actions of the Azerbaijani authorities. In
order that the thesis proposed in Dublin to the leaders of the parties
on the necessity “to prepare their societies for the day that they
will again live as neighbors and not enemies” comes true.

Leonid MARTIROSSIAN

Editor-in-Chief of Azat Artsakh newspaper

From: Baghdasarian