Author: Chatinian Lara

ACCORDING TO LEVON TER-PETROSIAN, HIS TEAM HAS EXACT PROGRAM FOR ACHIEVING COMPLETE VICTORY

Noyan Tapan
Feb 20, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 20, NOYAN TAPAN. Nothing extraordinary has happened,
"normal" disgraceful elections have been held with use of rude force
and violence. RA presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrosian stated at
the rally held on February 20 near Matenadaran with the participation
of many thousands of people.

According to him, in spite of the authorities’ hard work and violence
used, at 20:00 on February 19 the people’s candidate had already
won: "Everything happened after 20:00, when the figures familiar to
everyone were born, worked out and published." L. Ter-Petrosian said
that according to the statement spread by CEC immediately after the
end of the elections, 1m 640 thousand people have taken part in the
elections. While the number of voters in Armenia is 1m 700 thousand,
1m 100 thousand out of which indeed took part in the voting. According
to the candidate, like in 1998 and 2003, this time also the authorities
had printed 500 thousand additional ballot-papers. He also mentioned
the fact of mass giving out of forged passorts and certificates
of registration. Under these conditions dual voting could have
been excluded through marking fingers with ink, which, however,
was not accepted by the international organizations. According to
L. Ter-Petrosian, the fault of rigging the elections also falls on
the international organizations and observers.

He said that these elections proved what he has spoken about over the
past three months. According to L. Ter-Petrosian, no country has such
merging of the authorities and the criminal system, which exists in
Armenia. "Our people struggled not against Serge Sargsian, but against
the rest of eight candidates. The rest of eight candidates are equally
responsible for the disgrace, which happened yesterday," he stated.

L. Ter-Petrosian said that Serge Sargsian’s victory means victory
of the criminal world, as S. Sargsian is surrounded by people with
nicknames. He expressed confidence that it is the people, which has
gathered in the square today, that will lead Armenia forward. According
to L. Ter-Petrosian, he and his supporters have an exact actions
plan and will achieve a complete victory. He assured that no one
cannot make them lose their steadiness. "We will go in a reserved way,
calmly, confidently, without doubting our final victory. This time we
will not retreat and will secure that today, tomorrow, the day after
tomorrow we will celebrate the victory of three elections, 98, 2003,
and 2008," L. Ter-Petrosian stated.

ARTUR BAGHDASARIAN’S STAFF STATED THAT "THE EFFORTS OF AUTHORITIES TO HINDER THE RECONSIDERATION OF ELECTION RESULTS ARE PREGNANT WITH PUBLIC CONFRONTATION"

Mediamax
February 20, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. The pre-election staff of presidential candidate
Artur Baghdasarian urged today the Armenian authorities "not to hinder
the reconsideration of the election results in accordance with the
order, established by the law".

Mediamax reports that the statement of Artur Baghdasarian’s staff
reads that "in the process of voting on February 19, many violations
and falsifications were registered, moreover, the electoral process
was accompanied by threats and violence against members of electoral
commissions and proxies". The statement also stated many cases of
"massive ballot box stuffing" and "omnipresent distribution of
pre-election bribes".

"Falsifications, allowed in many polling stations in the process of
vote count, cast doubt on the fairness and legality of the elections",
the statement of Artur Baghdasarian’s staff reads.

"We declare that we are starting a process of reconsideration of
the election results and we demand to recognize invalid the results
of voting in more than 100 polling stations, hold second vote count
in over 200 polling stations, which will considerably increase the
votes of our candidate, which, in its turn, will have considerable
influence on the final results of the elections", the statement reads.

The document states that the efforts of authorities to hinder
the reconsideration of election results "are pregnant with public
confrontation".

Radio Netherlands, Netherlands
Feb 19 2008

Sarkisian appears to be winner in Armenia

Published: Tuesday 19 February 2008 19:41 UTC
Last updated: Tuesday 19 February 2008 21:14 UTC

Yerevan – In Armenia, Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian appears to be
the winner of the country’s presidential elections. Preliminary
results show that he has won an absolute majority of 57 percent in
the first round of voting. If the result is confirmed, no second
round will be required.

His closest rival, former president Levon Ter-Petrosian won no more
than 17 percent. However, Mr Ter-Petrosian does not accept the result
and has called for a mass demonstration tomorrow in the capital,
Yerevan. His campaign team says that the voting was marred by serious
irregularities at polling stations.

Political observers are expecting that the pro-Russian Mr Sarkisian
will continue the policy of President Robert Kocharyan, who must now
step down after serving two terms in office.

SUPPORTERS OF LEVON TER-PETROSIAN BEAT THEIR EMPOWERED PERSONS, SERGE SARGSIAN’S HEADQUARTERS STATE

Noyan Tapan
Feb 20, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 20, NOYAN TAPAN. According to ,
the central headquarters of the RA presidential candidate Levon
Ter-Petrosian issued a comment on February 19, which in particular
reads: "Since the early morning, information is regularly placed on
some websites, accoring to which empowered perons of the presidential
candidate Serge Sargsian allegedly beat Levon Ter-Petrosian’s
supporters. The central headquarters of Serge Sargsian inform that
this chain of incidents is tactics, which were planned in advance by
the headquarters of Levon Ter-Petrosian and which are targeted at
Levon Ter-Petrosian’s supporters themselves. It was clarified that
the supporters of Levon Ter-Petrosian beat their empowered persons
and then immediately place this information on the websites of the
mass media outlets that cooperate with them. The purpose is clear:
to do everything in order to cast a shadow on the elections".

The headquarters of Serge Sargsian also inform that in 08/21 polling
station (Malatia-Sebastia district), 4-5 members of L. Ter-Petrosian’s
headquarters beat badly the commission chairman of this polling
station Hrach Petrosian, who applied to the police in connection with
this accident.

BIA, Turkey
Feb 19 2008

Dink Lawyers: Co-Plaintiffs But Left in the Dark

Before the fourth hearing of the Hrant Dink murder trial on 25
February, there is stil evidence of lack of transparency as the
co-plaintiffs are not informed of procedures.

Istanbul, Ankara

19-02-2008
Erol ONDEROGLU

The lawyers of the Dink family are going to file a complaint because
they are not being informed of procedures in the Dink murder trial,
despite being joint attorneys. They will complain to the Ministry of
the Interior and the Istanbul Governor’s Office.

Fethiye Cetin, one of the lawyers, told bianet that because they
were co-plaintiffs in the case, they had to be informed of all
transactions. However, so Cetin, "we find out about processes like
judicial annulment decisions from other sources, for instance the
media."

Not informed of new investigation For example, the lawyers also heard
through the media that the Ministry of the Interior has decided on a
reinvestigation of the Dink murder case transactions with two civil
service chief inspectors, a police chief inspector with equal rank
to the chief of police, and a new expert witness.

Thus, the lawyers will complain to the Ministry of the Interior and
other authorities. They will demand that those neglecting their duties
be identified and punished.

Meanwhile, the second investigation has been opened against Istanbul’s
Chief of Police Celalettin Cerrah and high ranking police officers
in the Istanbul police because they have been accused of neglecting
to prevent the murder of Hrant Dink.

Previous investigation blocked The Ministry of the Interior
had previously launched an investigation which had pointed to
responsibility and negligence lying with all Istanbul police
officers "from the lowest to the highest ranks"; however, the
Regional Administrative Court had denied permission for Cerrah to
be investigated.

When the first investigation was concluded on 28 Agust 2007, the
Istanbul Governor’s Office Province Administrative Board had given
permission for the investigation of Ahmet Ilhan Guler, chief of police
intelligence, but not Cerrah. Both Guler and the Dink lawyers had
objected to the decision.

Reinvestigation of periods before and after 19 January 2007

The second investigation will employ new chief inspectors and prepare
a detailed report on the period leading up to the prosecution and
trial. The report will then be presented to Minister of the Interior
Besir Atalay.

The report will also look at officers who are still employed in
Istanbul and Trabzon; it will evaluate whether there was negligence
on behalf of police and gendarmerie officers in the murder, and will
examine the procedures carried out after Hrant Dink’s murder on 19
January 2007.

Prosecution has rejected joining cases The lawyers of the Dink family
had previously filed a criminal complaint with the Istanbul Chief
Public Prosecution against the former Trabzon Province Gendarmerie
Commander Colonel Ali Oz and five other gendarmerie officers, as
well as Istanbul Chief of Police Celalettin Cerrah and other police
officers, accusing them of neglecting to do their duties. The lawyers
had demanded that these officers be tried in the main murder trial
heard at the Istanbul 13th Heavy Penal Court.

However, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecution had decreed lack of
jurisdiction for the officers and had sent the files to prosecutors
in Istanbul and Trabzon. (EO/TK/AG)

265,533 citizens cast their vote by 11 a.m.

armradio.am
19.02.2008 12:42

As of 11 a.m., 265,533 voters or 11.2 % of the enfranchised population
participated in the elections, Secretary of the Central Electoral
Commission (CEC) of Armenia Hamlet Abrahamyan declared.

At 8.m. in the morning 1,923 polling stations opened in
Armenia. 2,328,320 citizens have the right to participate in the
elections.

"We won the elections" Head of the pre-election staff of Ter-Petrosian stated

February 19, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Head of the pre-election staff of presidential
candidate Levon Ter-Petrosian Aleksandr Arzumanian stated in Yerevan
today that "we won the presidential elections, which concluded a few
minutes ago in Armenia".

Mediamax reports that, speaking at a news conference, Aleksandr
Arzumanian stated that "we won, despite all the efforts of the leaders
of the kleptocratic regime".

"This is the victory of the society, and I want to congratulate it
on that", the head of the staff stated.

According to him, "the authorities will do everything possible

Today, Azerbaijan
Feb 18 2008

Ilyas Ismaylov: "Kosovo’s recognition by the international community
encourages separatist regimes"

18 February 2008 [18:29] – Today.Az

Azerbaijan’s position will be shaken by appearance of independent
Kosovo.

The due announcement was made by MP Ilyas Ismaylov, chairman of the
Adalyat party, Novosti-Azerbaijan reports.

"Armenians, representing separatism and unrecognized regime of
Nagorno Karabakh, will try to use this precedent and to make the
international community recognize its independence", Ismaylov noted.

He said declaration of Kosovo’s independence will complicate the
situation in the system of international relations.

He is confident that the steps undertaken by the United State and the
European Union for Kosovo recognition may threaten stability in the
whole world.

"Kosovo’s recognition by the international community encourages
separatist regimes. They will use the precedent for creation of new
centers of conflicts", the chairman of the Adalyat party added.

URL:

Today, Azerbaijan –
Feb 18 2008

Levon Ter-Petrosyan: "The balance has been broken in favor of
Azerbaijan and today it is economically and politically stronger than
Armenia"

18 February 2008 [13:24] – Today.Az

"Armenia is still able to rival Azerbaijan and we will not be
defeated if a new war is resumed".

The due information was provided by the first president of Armenia
Levon Ter-Petrosyan at a press conference in Yerevan.

The ex-president noted that the working authorities adheres to the
necessity to preserve the status quo and they imitated talks for 10
years and activity in this issue.

"The status quo has been formally preserved in the result of this
policy, Karabakh remains within the same borders as it was in 1997.

But this is a formality, the essence is more important for me. The
status quo is not a map, or a contact line or borders. For me the
status quo is a correlation between the powers. In 1997 this
correlation was different.

We were almost equal both economically and politically. The balance
has been broken in favor of Azerbaijan, it is economically and
politically stronger than Armenia. Not in the military sense.

Armenia still able to rival Azerbaijan and we will not be defeated if
a new war is resumed, we will even not lose our current positions,
but the further economic and political consolidation of Azerbaijan
will lead to its military strengthening as well", he noted and added
that the soonest resolution of the Karabakh conflict is in Armenia’s
interest.

/Regnum/

URL:

Today, Azerbaijan
Feb 18 2008

Robert Kocharyan: "I will vote for working Prime Minister Serj
Sarkisyan"

18 February 2008 [10:39] – Today.Az

President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan binds all his hopes for the
further economic success and future of Armenia with Serj Sarkisyan.

He said he considers Prime Minister Serj Sarkisyan to be the best
candidate for country’s President.

The head of state said the logics at the elections should be
clear-the voters should assess the challenges facing their country
and candidates’ ability to react to these challenges.

"The security issues are more important in this sense, especially
considering the unsettled conflict and complications in the region",
R.Kocharyan said in his interview to a number of Armenia TV companies
Saturday.

He announced that the voters should assess the candidates ability to
resist the security challenges of the country.

"For me this is a person who has been the Defense Minister for 8.5
years and turned the army into the national pride. He would be the
best commander", R.Kocharyan said explaining his choice.

According to him, Serj Sarkisyan has also been the Minister of
Internal Affairs and Security, dealing with the issues, which are
included into the President’s competence by the Constitution. He said
the life was leading the working Prime Minister through the
positions, which would give him experience for the position of the
President.

"Sarkisyan managed to achieve serious results, raising collection of
taxes and settling social problems by occupying an almost independent
position of the Prime Minister for only 10 months", the President
said.

He considers that the working Prime Minister will be able to
counteract the challenges connected with the economic reforms.

Robert Kocharyan said Levon Ter-Petrosyan would not be able to settle
this problem. He reminded that "Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who got a
successful country and delivered ruins to his successor".

"Levon Ter-Petrsyan was an unsuccessful president and his resignation
was the

recognition of it. Armenia is mainly in need of a president,
experienced in creation, not in destruction". Kocharyan said.

"I am ready to entrust the security of my family to Serj Sarkisyan. I
bound the further economic achievements and future of the country to
him", the head of state added.

He noted that Serj Sarkisyan have achieved improvements in almost all
spheres for a short period of time, which evidences his skills,
consequence, will and responsibility.

"These are the best features for the President and I will vote for
the working Prime Minister", Kocharyan said.

/Novosti-Armenia/

URL: