Author: Hovhannisian John

TO IDHR MEMBERS AND ADHERENTS, AND TO THE ARMENIAN PEOPLE

KarabakhOpen
03-03-2008 12:27:21

In the Republic of Armenia, in Artsakh (Nagorno Karabagh), and in the
Diaspora IDHR has comprehensively analyzed the developments of the
past 16 years of the Republic of Armenia, as well as the conditions
and situation preceding the 2008 presidential elections. As an Armenian
self-governing, unaffiliated and independent civic actor, we released
our position regarding our findings in December 2007 (see the editorial
of "Tesaket (Opinion)-IDHR", issue #24, ). We are pained
to report that these analyses and predictions are being vindicated.

The dispersion of the peaceful demonstration in Freedom Square in
Yerevan on the early morning of 1 March 2008, while predictable, once
again proved that the authorities, all political parties and forces,
official intellectuals and artists, and other forces supporting
them and cooperating with them are operating with illegitimate
and unconstitutional orders and methods. The powers officially
responsible for the Republic of Armenia are attempting, once again, to
establish themselves using apolitical rules, manipulation, unlawful
and irresponsible modes of conduct. At present, the fickle and
irresponsible nature of the political powers and bureaucrat/rulers,
which renders them unable to be guided by our society and govern it
with political and legal principles, has been expressed more acutely.

The presidential elections on 19th February 2008 were accompanied
by numerous violations that were met with apathy and inactivity by
the law enforcement. These violations included forgeries, violence,
bribes for votes, partisan coverage on Public Television, unethical
and immoral conduct and bartering by the political actors before,
during, and after the elections, and serve as vivid evidence of
the abovementioned qualities of the authorities. All these actions
are being masked by announcements alleging that the nation had been
disrupted, that there have been conspiracies in issues of national
importance, and that the "opposing" political forces are gathering
around the current authorities for the sake of avoiding civil
war. However, our nation has not been disrupted. Moreover, if they
insist that there are traitors and criminals working on the Nagorno
Karabagh issue and other state activities, then those should be (or
should have been) condemned at the appropriate times and within the
circles of the law.

Our society and people have not been disrupted, but there is vast
social and economic polarization. There is no danger for civil war,
but the crisis and degeneration of the state and the society because
of the inhumane, unpatriotic, irresponsible and immoral conduct of
these discredited political, "intellectual," and "spiritual" leaders
remains a serious threat.

The authorities have disgraced and discredited themselves, as have
the official "intellectuals," political forces, and the leaders of
the Armenian Apostolic Mother See.

As we have already expressed in our statement of December 2007, IDHR
does not share the ideas of the Armenian National Movement and Levon
Ter Petrosyan, and does not adhere to them. We maintain our position
to this day. . However, we find that the authorities and the forces
cooperating with them did not have the right to inflict violence
upon the demonstrators of Freedom Square who were expressing their
dissatisfaction and civic demand in a political and constitutional
manner.

If the leaders of the humane, national political and social powers
were civilized, they would be obliged to resolve problems solely by
political means and within the realm of the Constitution for the sake
of the development of their society and their nation.

IDHR condemns the criminal and authoritarian line of action planned
and implemented by the rulers of the Republic of Armenia. It endangers
the civic and social solidarity and cohesion, and adds to the injustice
of socioeconomic politics they have implemented which have caused our
country to become polarized and weakened. The result is our current
riot and revolt.

Political, moral, national, and humanist line of action, culture,
and conduct is absent in our dominating political forces. The third
VIABLE political power is also absent. For that very reason, we are
sadly witnessing that the dissatisfaction and political demands of
our youth, society, and people are being directed and lead by the
return of the First President of the Republic of Armenia, Levon Ter
Petrosyan. IDHR finds that the revolt and dissatisfaction expressed
by the layers of RA society are truly justified.

Every force and ruler, who prefers the national and personal
collective interests to his personal, cliquish criminal or
non-criminal interests, is obliged to reckon with this justifiable
dissatisfaction by submitting him or themselves and their actions to
true self-criticism. For the sake of the collective prosperity and
solidarity of the majority of the Armenian youth, RA society, and the
entire Armenian people, they are obliged to commit to substantive
and comprehensive political reforms in their behavior, politics,
and activities.

With its constitution, the Republic of Armenia is a democratic, legal,
and social state, where the power belongs to the people.

We summon the aware, self-reliant, and independent actors of
Armenian youth, society, and people, whether they are individuals or
institutions, to stand above the mob and the demagogic manipulations
and be clear-headed. Be the full-fledged owner of our people and our
country, and forbid our society and people to once again take the road
of despair, apathy, conformity, and slavery. Let us focus on political
and civic actions, let us despise and loathe the clannish, criminal,
immoral sponsors and their instruments who are busy with political
and civic bartering. This also applies to those political, social,
and cultural actors, "intellectuals," and journalists who serve as
their tools, whether they are found in the schools, universities,
workplaces, neighborhoods, or anywhere else in our civic life.

We urge the society of the Republic of Armenia and every aware and
conscious individual and institution therein to immediately organize
legal, bold, and fearless endeavors in the political and social
spheres. Let us be the owners of the superiority of constitutional
order and rights in our country by respecting the RA Constitution,
and prevent its manipulation by the clannish tendencies of this or
that ruler or activist.

Anyone who inflicts (orders and implements) violence in order to defend
the social and constitutional order will be obliged to give accounts
for the legitimacy and lawfulness of his decisions and actions. We,
the people, are demanding that account.

Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, IDHR Yerevan, March 1,
2008 published at 18:00

Address: Aygedzor 4/1, Yerevan 0019, Republic of Armenia Tel/Fax:
(374-10) 26-47-12, Mobile: 091-43-21-19 E-mail: [email protected] Website:

THE COUNTRY TO BENEFIT AS A RESULT OF COOPERATION
VASAK TARPOSHYAN

Hayots Ashkhar
Published on March 01, 2008

"Rule of Law" party has responded to Prime Minister S.
Sargsyan’s proposal on forming a coalition government.

Yesterday, the leaders of "Rule of Law" and the Republican Party signed
a cooperation agreement in the Government. In the frameworks of the
agreement, A. Baghdasaryan will take up the post of Secretary of the
Security Council under the President, and a coalition government
will be formed, Prime Minister SERGE SARGSYAN said after signing
the document.

"I am happy that Arthur Baghdasaryan replied to our call for governing
the country with joint efforts. In response to his reply, I proposed
that ‘Rule of Law’ party form a coalition government together with the
Republican and ‘Prosperous Armenia’ and offered Mr. Arthur Baghdasaryan
to take up the post of Secretary of the Security Council under the
President.

I think this will fully enable Mr. Baghdasaryan to be involved in the
country’s governance system and participate in the whole process of
its development. The position of Secretary of the Security Council
is a high position; it is the third or fourth highest position in
our republic. I am sure that it doesn’t even matter how high the
position is. We have spoken about it with Mr. Baghdasaryan. The
important thing here is that it enables him to be in command of the
entire information and have an active participation in the processes
taking place in all the spheres.

I think this is also good in a sense that we will have the opportunity
to form, perhaps for the first time in our country, a Security Council
with its machinery and active competences, which will certainly have
quite a positive impact on the state and public-political life.

Faithful to his statement on forming a coalition government,
S. Sargsyan also desires to see ARFD in such coalition.

"When I speak about forming a coalition with ‘Prosperous Armenia’
party, it doesn’t mean that Dashnaktsoutyun will not be involved in
such coalition. I believe we’ll receive an official response from
Dashnaktsoutyun as well. In that case, it is quite possible, and I
will be very happy to have a coalition consisting of four parties."

Touching upon the political agreement achieved, ARTHUR BAGHDASARYAN
attached importance to the fact that it is supported by around 70
percent of the voters.

"As a result of the political cooperation agreement we signed in the
2008 presidential elections, we have 1 million 150 thousand supporters,
which makes up around 70 percent of the voters. This means estimable
confidence of Armenia’s future political authorities and determination
in solving a great number of internal and external problems faced
by the country. This also means that the newly elected President of
Armenia will demonstrate more confidence and decisiveness in facing
all the existing challenges, implementing bold and serious positive
reforms in the life of our country and people."

During the talks, A. Baghdasaryan made a revelation he found very
important. "The newly elected President has a serious willingness and
determination to synthesize our pre-election programs as well. There
is a desire to implement significant positive changes in the country."

To substantiate his statement, A. Baghdasaryan brought the following
example:

"During our conversations, it became clear that in the course of the
coming 5 years every possible step will be made to eliminate all the
shacks in the towns of Gyumri and Vanadzor. There is a problem that
troubles a lot of people 20 years after the earthquake. That is, I
want to bring a concrete example. There are a lot of quite specific
and realistic programs in a number of other spheres as well, and we
fully welcome it."

A. Baghdasaryan also mentioned that their decision for cooperation
received the approval of the whole political team of "Rule of Law"
party.

"It received approval by the two leading structures of our party:
the political council and the administration. With dignity, we squeeze
the hand lent to us because we believe that the country will benefit
as a result of such cooperation. We are sure that we are starting an
honest cooperation to the benefit of our country’s development and
the people’s welfare."

Heads of diplomatic representations of European states in Armenia
are holding joint meeting to discuss the situation in the republic

2008-03-01 15:26:00

ArmInfo. Heads of diplomatic representations of European states in
Armenia are holding joint meeting at Germany’s Embassy to discuss the
situation in the republic, ArmInfo correspondent got such information
from the trustworthy sources.

To note, today about 07.00 AM internal military forces of Armenia
broke up the rally of candidate for president Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s
supporters. There are injured and arrested people and those that
disappeared in an unknown direction.

Armenia Declares State Of Emergency
March 1, 2008 2:44 p.m. EST

All Headline News
March 1 2008

Linda Young – AHN Editor

Yerevan, Armenia (AHN) – Armenia has declared a state of emergency.

After 11 days of protest against the allegedly rigged presidential
elections last month, President Robert Kocharyan on Saturday signed
a decree putting the country under emergency rule until March 20.

The decision reportedly came after police fired guns into the air
and used tear gas to disperse 15,000 protestors.

Saturday’s clash came in Freedom Square after police cleared out
protestors who had been camping there.

CONCESSION OF ARMENIA’S RAILWAYS EFFECTIVE, PRESIDENT SAYS

ARKA
Feb 29 2008

YEREVAN, February 29. /ARKA/. Armenian President Robert Kocharyan
considers the concession of Armenia’s railways to the Russian Railways
Company as effective.

"If we had signed a concession contract for Armenia’s railways five
or six years ago, they would be in a normal state now, just as the
airport, which meets international standards," Kocharyan said at
Yerevan State University.

He pointed out that the reason for the delay of the process is the
expectations from the development of relations with Turkey, which
has closed borders with Armenia until now.

"We expected possible changes in our relations with Turkey, expected
the border to be opened. Under different consequences we will be able
to make our railway more attractive," Kocharyan said.

He pointed out that a decision to settle the issue was later made.

Otherwise, it was not clear whether the issue would be settled at all.

"I am sure that our railway, on which cargoes are transported at
a speed of 15 km/h now, will operate at a quite different level in
two or three years. A large package of commitments exists, and the
Government must supervise their execution," Kocharyan said.

An agreement on the concession of Armenia’s railways to the
South-Caucasian Railway Company, which was founded by the Russian
Railways Company, was signed in Yerevan on February 13.

The Russian company is ready to invest $570mln in the Armenian Railways
Company, with $230mln to be invested within the next five years. The
concessionaire is to launch its activities in the latter half of 2008.

Since 2001, the Armenian Railways Company has been operating with
profit. In 2007, the company transported a total of 3mln tons of
cargo against 2.7mln tons in 2006.

Last year, the company’s profit totaled 12bln AMD against 11bln AMD
in 2006.

A CRISIS OF TRUST
by Richard Giragosyan

168 Zham
February 28, 2008
Armenia

USA not attempting to stage revolution in Armenia

"The current post-election crisis in Armenia is focused on the election
process rather than on the election results. The current crisis is
not just a political crisis, but is rather an expression of deep,
fundamental problems, including corruption, socio-economic injustice
and the ‘deterioration of good governance’. Although personalities
play a bigger role in the political life of the Republic of Armenia
than programmes and platforms, this crisis is not a personal conflict
between [former president] Levon Ter-Petrosyan and [Prime Minister]
Serzh Sargsyan. It can rather be named "a crisis of trust". There are
a number of other factors that aggravate this situation – for instance,
the sharp polarization of Armenia’s political sphere, where there is no
political force in the arena that can act as a mediator. Finally, one
of the general lessons to be learnt from this crisis is the following
– although stability is important, a dangerous gap of legitimacy
has emerged in the country due to the absence of responsibility and
the weak rule of law," Richard Giragosyan, a US analyst of Armenian
origin, said, commenting on post-election developments in the Republic
of Armenia.

He said that if the rallies are held within the framework of law
(incidentally the police of the Republic of Armenia issued a statement
yesterday [27 February], recalling once again that the opposition
rallies are not authorized), the emergence of an active and healthy
opposition is in everyone’s interests.

"A dynamic opposition does not threaten, but strengthens the democracy
in the Republic of Armenia," Giragosyan said. "I’d like to emphasize
that evolutionary changes, focused not on individuals but on entities,
are necessary for establishing a real and stable democracy."

Recently representatives of some political forces in Armenia have
been speaking about the possible wish of foreign forces to organize a
"coloured revolution" in Armenia. Asked whether the political processes
taking place in the Armenia could be considered an attempted "coloured
revolution" – in particular, an attempted "coloured revolution" with
the USA’s mediation, Giragosyan said: "No, it is very clear that the
current crisis is not a ‘coloured’ revolution, and the USA does not
have any direct relation to it."

[BBCM Note: Supporters of Ter-Petrosyan have been rallying in Yerevan
since 20 February stating that the 19 February presidential election
was rigged by the authorities. According to the official results,
Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan won the election with 52.8 per cent of
the vote. Ter-Petrosyan came second with 21.5 per cent.]

PROCESSION PARTICIPANTS EXPRESS THEIR DISCONTENT TO OSCE OFFICE ON OCCASION OF POSITIVE RESPONSE TO RA PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

Noyan Tapan
Feb 28, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 28, NOYAN TAPAN. On February 28, the young
participants of the Liberty Square rally organized a procession to
the OSCE Yerevan Office.

Voicing "shame", the participants of the procession expressed their
discontent over the positive response given by the international
organizations concerning the presidential elections which were held
in Armenia of February 19.

Afterwards, the procession, passing by Abovian and Tumanian streets,
returned to the square. The police patrol service car was accompanying
the procession and periodically announcing that the procession is
illegal, it should be stopped, as it is fraught with unpredictable
consequences. However no incident was registered during the procession.

LEVON TER-PETROSIAN: THIS PEOPLE CAN NO LONGER LIVE WITH R. KOCHARIAN AND S. SARGSIAN

Noyan Tapan
Feb 28, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 28, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA Police and the National
Security Service confess that they are not able to keep the situation
under control, as this movement is not a movement of an individual
force or figure, but is a national movement. Nikol Pashinian, a member
of L. Ter-Petrosian’s preelection headquarters, stated at the February
28 rally. According to him, yesterday in the evening heads of power
structures promised Robert Kocharian that Liberty Square will not be
crowded today and now are giving explanations why it did not happen so.

N. Pashinian said that such actions of protest will be also organized
in the regions, in particular, at present such a rally is proceeding
in Noyemberian. "Today we are in a psychological struggle and record a
psychological victory every day. According to the information received
from the power, R. Kocharian and S. Sargsian psychologically reconcile
themselves with the idea of defeat," N. Pashinian said.

According to L. Ter-Petrosian, the people and society can no longer
live with R. Kocharian and S. Sargsian. According to him, the problem’s
solution is evident: they must leave. "Here there is no problem of
personalities, the problem is in the state system created by them,"
the first RA President said adding: "in 1988 we came with pure, high
ideas, which gave their biggest fruits: it was democracy established
in Armenia." According to Levon Ter-Petrosian, in 1998 the state of
Armenia deviated from that way and chose another development model,
which he named "robber and Tatar-Mongol."

KOCHARIAN: ELECTED PRESIDENT READY TO INVOLVE BROAD SECTIONS OF PUBLIC IN GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES

ARKA
Feb 27, 2008

YEREVAN, February 27. /ARKA/.The newly elected president is willing to
involve broad section of the public in the process of the government
activities, Armenia’s outgoing president Robert Kocharian said in
his interview to the Public TV of Armenia.

"We are planning to implement various measures and I believe that
when the new government is formed the people will see that the elected
president is willing to involve broader sections of the society than
the Republican Party of Armenia and the "Prospering Armenia" party
in the government activities," Kocharian said. He pointed out his
expectation for respective conclusions to be drawn about the political
forces that destabilize the situation in the country. Kocharian also
said that the law enforcement bodies should be more exacting toward
law observance.

Armenia’s Prime-Minister Serge Sargsian recognized as winner in the
presidential elections on February 19 urged the country’s opposition
to cooperate with the authorities.

Since February 20 rallies, sit-ins and student walkouts have been
held by the ex-president-led opposition in the center of Yerevan. The
initiators and participants of the opposition actions protest against
the results of the February 19 presidential elections published by
the Central Electoral Commission.

According to the final results of the elections published by the
Central Electoral Commission on February 24, Serge Sargsian with
52.82% of the votes is the winner followed by the ex-president of
Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosian who obtained 21.5%.

ARMENIAN PREMIER LEADER OF POPULUS – CONDUCTED POST-ELECTION POLL

ARKA
Feb 27, 2008

YEREVAN, February 27. /ARKA-Novosti-Armenia/. RA Prime Minister
Serge Sargsyan is the leader of a post-election poll conducted by
the Populus Company (Great Britain).

Strategic Director of the Populus Company Andrew Cooper reported that,
responding to the question "Who did you vote for in the presidential
election?", 53% of the respondents said that they cast their votes
for Serge Sargsyan, 20% for Levon Ter-Petrosyan, 13% for Chairman of
the Country of Law party Artur Baghdasaryan.

Cooper pointed out 2% difference between the Populus poll results
and the official information reported by the RA Central Electoral
Commission (CEC).

He also reported that young people showed the best results in favor
of Serge Sargsyan – 59% of Armenia’s young people aged 18-24 voted
for the RA Premier. Responded aged 65 showed 38%.

Cooper said that 49% of the respondents made their minds before
the election campaign, 36% at the beginning of the campaign and 15%
towards the end of it.

The poll was conducted on February 21-24 and involved 1,500
respondents.

According to the final results published by the RA CEC, Serge Sargsyan
received 52.82% of votes and was elected Armenia’s president.

Armenia’s ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosyan received 21.5% of votes,
followed by Chairman of the Country of Law Party Artur Baghdasaryan
(17.7%), ARF Board member Vahan Hovhannisyan (6.2%), Chairman of the
National Democratic Union Vazgen Manukyan (1.3%), Chairman of the
People’s Party Tigran Karapetyan (0.6%), Chairman of the National
Unity Party Artashes Geghamyan (0.46%), former Foreign Minister of
the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) Arman Melikyan 0.27%, Chairman
of the National Unity Party Aram Harutyunyan (0.17%).

Populus is one of the leading sociological organizations in Great
Britain.

In the recent elections in Great Britain the Populus-conducted polls
showed 0.25% errors.