Author: Jalatian Sonya

Hürriyet , Turkey
March 11 2009

Prosecutor says apology petition legal

ANKARA – An Ankara prosecutor who aruges that the Armenia apology
petition campaign launched late last year is not illegal has asked the
Justice Ministry to issue a written directive to that effect.

The "I apologize" campaign was launched Dec. 15. Though it has drawn
harsh criticism within Turkey, approximately 29,000 people, including
many intellectuals and journalists, have signed the petition, which
reads in part: "My conscience does not accept the insensitivity showed
to and the denial of the Great Catastrophe that the Armenians were
subjected to in 1915."

Armenia claims up to 1.5 million Armenians were systematically killed
in 1915 under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey denies this,
saying that any deaths were the result of civil strife that erupted
when Armenians took up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia.

A complaint was lodged against the organizers of the petition
campaign. After a preliminary inquiry, Ankara Prosecutor Nadi
Türkaslan said the petition is protected as a freedom of
expression and thus the organizers could not be prosecuted.

On March 3, a court overturned the prosecutor’s finding,
saying that criminal proceedings could be initiated against the
organizers. The decision allows prosecutors to seek the permission of
Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Å?ahin to launch an investigation.

Charges made against the organizers will be based on penal code
Article 301, which criminalizes insulting Turkishness and also
requires ministerial approval to start any proceedings. Prosecutor
Türkaslan, in a letter to the Justice Ministry, called for a
directive to annul the ruling and asked that the case be sent to the
Supreme Court of Appeals.

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 11 2009

Complaint filed against nationalist group over racist placard

A criminal complaint has been filed against a nationalist group in
central EskiÅ?ehir province over a placard displayed in early
January in the group’s office barring Jews and Armenians from
entering.

The Directorate General of Provincial Associations in
EskiÅ?ehir filed a criminal complaint yesterday against the
chairman and board members of the Federation of Osmangazi Culture
Associations, accusing them of using the federation for purposes other
than those stated in its bylaws. The complaint came in the wake of the
racist placards displayed in the federation’s office.

Niyazi Ã?apa, chairman of the federation, and several colleagues
called a press conference on Jan. 6, just after the Israeli military
began its three-week operation in Gaza. They were holding placards on
which appeared such phrases as `No Armenians or Jews are allowed
through this door’ and `It is free for dogs to enter.’ Ã?apa
said they were saying dogs are more valuable than them [Jews and
Armenians].

The protest drew the ire of many, who accused the group of attempting
to damage the peaceful atmosphere in the country.

The criminal complaint stressed that Ã?apa and federation board
members went beyond the organization’s purpose as stated in its bylaws
and demanded that they be punished. The EskiÅ?ehir Public
Prosecutor’s Office is considering the complaint.

A similar complaint was previously filed by the Human Rights
Association (Ä°HD), which accused the federation of
`discrimination on the basic of race or religion’ and `inciting the
public to hate and of hatred.’ The association demanded that
Ã?apa and his colleagues be sentenced to up to four-and-a-half
years in prison each. Ã?apa and his associates will stand trial
at the EskiÅ?ehir 4th Court of Peace on May 6.

11 March 2009, Wednesday
MEHMET KURU ESKIÅ?EHIR

Armenia participates in ITB Berline exhibition

YEREVAN, March 11. /ARKA/. Armenia is participating in the annual
international tourist exhibition ITB Berlin 2009, which has been opened
in Berlin, Germany.

Mekhak Apresyan, Head of the Tourism and Territorial Economic
Development, RA Ministry of Economy, reported that 12 Armenian travel
agencies are participating in the exhibition. He also pointed out that
it is for the first time that Nagorno-Karabakh has its own stand at the
exhibition as an individual tourist center.

`Nagorno-Karabakh’s participation in the exhibition is the result of
joint efforts of the Armenian and Nagorno-Karabakh sides, Armenian and
Nagorno-Karabakh Foreign Offices as well as the agencies in charge of
the tourist industry in both the countries,’ Apresyan said.

He said that the government agencies have to a much greater extent been
involved in arranging Armenia’s participation in the exhibition this
year.

The annual exhibition ITB Berlin 2009 is a significant even for the
world’s tourist industry. Among the participants in the exhibition are
international tourist federations, travel agencies, hotels and
insurances companies.

Among the visitors are businessmen, hotel managers, and publishers of
literature for tourists. Besides promoting new ideas and achievements,
the ITB Berlin exhibition presents a wide variety of products for
tourists.–0–

YEREVAN PRESS CLUB WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

MARCH 6-12, 2009

HIGHLIGHTS:

"PRESS CLUB" CYCLE: FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY

REPORT OF THE RA HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER FOR 2008 RELEASED

"PRESS CLUB" CYCLE: FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY

On March 7, another "Press Club" show went on the air of "Yerkir Media" TV
company. The cycle is produced under Yerevan Press Club project, supported
by the Open Society Institute Human Rights and Governance Grants Program.
The guests of the host, YPC President Boris Navasardian were Artak Davtian,
deputy of the RA National Assembly of Republican Party of Armenia, member of
RA NA Standing Commission on State and Legal Issues, and Artak Zeinalian,
member of Political Council of "Republic" party, Armenian National Congress
representative. The discussion centered on the freedom of assembly, in the
context of the opposition rallies, resumed on March 1, and Armenia’s
international commitments.

The next "Press Club" show will be aired on "Yerkir Media" on Saturday,
March 14, at 17.40.

REPORT OF THE RA HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER FOR 2008 RELEASED

On March 10 the Annual Report of the RA Human Rights Defender Armen
Harutiunian on the Activities of the Defender and the Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms Violations in Armenia in 2008 was presented at the
Congress Hotel in Yerevan.

Talking about different aspects of his activities, particularly, in the
sphere of information and public relations, the ombudsman emphasized that
the cooperation with media in whole is succeeded. At the same time, in the
opinion of Armen Harutiunian, the media does not always reflect adequately
the points of view expressed by him. Touching upon the information sphere,
the ombudsman noted the one-sided news coverage by the Public Television of
Armenia, as one of the unsolved problems to this very day. For example he
brought his extraordinary public report "On Presidential Elections of
February 19, 2008 and the Post-Election Situation", released on April 25,
2008, which "was not even mentioned" on the air of the public broadcaster.
However, a month later, when objections to the report where raised by the RA
General Prosecutor’s Office and the RA Ministry of Justice, they were
covered "several times" by the Public Television, "with comments of
different officials of the abovementioned bodies".

One of the sub-sections of the annual report refers to the right of freedom
of information. In the opinion of Armen Harutiunian, there are serious
problems with realizing that right. "In fact, there is a lack of pluralism
on TV, as for the print media, it is often transformed to insult, giving
raise to an improper and inacceptable culture for our society", the
ombudsman stresses, in particular. Like in the report of 2007, Armen
Harutiunian once again pays attention to the absence of appropriate sublegal
acts, ensuring the procedure of the application of the RA Law "On Freedom of
Information". Thus, point 1 of article 10 of the Law sets forth that
providing information or duplicates (copies) of documents by state
institutions and organizations, local self-administration bodies is
implemented according to the procedure defined by the RA Government.
Nevertheless, to present day this procedure has not been defined. Besides,
according to point 4 of article 11 of the Law, the rejection to provide
information can be appealed to authorized state body or to the court.
However, so far there is not a proper body, the report notes.

The amendments to the RA Law "On Television and Radio", adopted on September
10, 2008 and suspending the broadcast licensing competitions until July
2010, were considered by the ombudsman as "regressive and explicitly
contradictory" to the European Court of Human Rights ruling of June 17, 2008
on the case of "A1+" TV company.

Talking about the situation after the 2008 presidential elections, the
ombudsman thinks that the activities of a number of media have contributed
to the escalation of the tension in the society: "A most vivid example of
such unacceptable coverage was demonstrated by the First Channel of the
Public Television of Armenia, which not only neglected the President’s
Decree on State of Emergency, but also made an infringement of the
requirement of Article 28 of the RA Law "On Television and Radio",
prohibiting the prevalence of a political stance in the programs broadcast
on public television." The National Commission on Television and Radio,
which, in accordance to the Law, is the independent regulator and is to
implement the control over the activities of the broadcasters, Armen
Harutiunian’s report stresses, failed to perform one of its main functions
and did not prevent the violations of the Decree provisions not only by the
PTA First Channel, but also most of the private broadcasters. At the same
time, the ombudsman says, in the second half of 2008 "some positive changes
and elements of pluralistic news coverage were observed in the activities of
the PTA First Channel".

The annual report of the Human Rights Defender touches upon the situation on
the "GALA" TV company of Gyumri. In particular, in the opinion of the
ombudsman, "it raises doubts the circumstance", that the tax violations made
by the founder of the TV company and other problems were revealed "only
after "GALA" manifested a critical stance towards the authorities".

The ombudsman notes that in 2008, like in the previous years, cases of
impeding professional activities of journalists have been fixed.
Nevertheless, a great number of such incidents remained unpunished. The
Human Rights Defender statements, listed in the report appendix, concern the
attacks on journalists, in particular: on correspondent of "Haykakan
Zhamanak" daily, Lusine Barseghian, on August 11; on acting head of the
Armenian Service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Hrach Melkumian, on
August 18; on Chairman of "Investigative Journalists" NGO Edik Baghdasarian
on November 17.

At the presentation of ombudsman report for 2008 Armen Harutiunian awarded
diplomas for contribution to development of tolerance and freedom of speech
to Anna Israelian, the observer of "Aravot" daily, and Larisa Alaverdian,
the First RA Human Rights Defender, now RA National Assembly deputy of
"Heritage" party.

When reprinting or using the information above, reference to the Yerevan
Press Club is required.

You are welcome to send any comment and feedback about the Newsletter to:
[email protected]

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Editor of YPC Newsletter – Elina POGHOSBEKIAN
_____________________________________ _______
Yerevan Press Club
9B, Ghazar Parpetsi str.
0002, Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+ 374 10) 53 00 67; 53 35 41; 53 76 62
Fax: (+374 10) 53 56 61
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site:

PanARMENIAN.Net

Armenian opposition denies change in strategy
09.03.2009 21:42 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ After the speech opposition leader Levon
Ter-Petrosyan delivered during March 1 rally, some political forces
claim that the opposition, specifically the Armenian National
Congress, has altered the strategy and took up a milder political
course.

During today’s news conference, Galust Sahakyan, the head of the
Republican Party of Armenia, said the ANC policy is more cautious as
compared to that of Heritage party.

In a conversation with a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, ANC coordinator
Levon Zurabyan said the ANC’s policy underwent no changes.

`We will continue our struggle in our usual way. As to Galust
Sahakyan’s statement, I think he came to notice things he didn’t
notice before,’ he said.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Elina Danielyan suffers defeat in 2nd tour of Grand Prix tournament
09.03.2009 12:54 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian chess player Elina Danielyan sustained a
defeat from India’s Koneru Humpy in the 2nd tour of Grand Prix
tournament for women.

With 1 point, she shares the 6-8th position with Georgia’s Maya
Chiburdanidze and Sweden’s Pia Cramling.

In the 3rd tour, Elina Danielyan will play vs. Chinese Shen Yang.

Preventing social shocks Armenian government’s top priority

YEREVAN, March 9. /ARKA/. Preventing social shocks is the Armenian
Government’s priority task, stated RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan.

`Our priority task is to prevent social shocks. We have stated and are
stating once more that the socially vulnerable sections will receive
the funds due to them on time and in full,’ T. Sargsyan stated in his
interview to Armenian TV channels.

He reminded the journalists that Armenia has completed negotiations
with the World Bank (WB), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and with
its strategic partners, which allows the Government to form a clear
idea of the financial situation during the coming three or four years
and of its own potential with the impact of the global crisis
considered.

`So we have specified our medium-term program and the amount of the
financial aid we need,’ the Premier said.

He pointed out that the IMF stated its intention to allocate $540 to
Armenia, with $240mln to be received immediately, and the rest of the
funds as quarterly tranches.

The WB, too, stated its intention to allocate $525mln to the Armenian
economy.

Also, RF Premier Vladimir Putin stated that the Russian Government
decided to issue a $500mln stabilization credit to Armenia for
surviving the global crisis.

T. Sargsyan also reported that Armenia has finished negotiations with
other financial institutions, particularly the Asian Development Bank,
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Black Sea
Bank, all of which plan to allocate funds to the country.

`With the funds considered, we, of course, are modifying our
expenditure policy. The social sector will be top priority,’ the
Premier said.

He pointed out that the Government’s aim is that wages, pensions and
social allowances be paid on time.
Another priority is infrastructural expenses.

`We will use the fund to boost economic growth in Armenia. In
particular, we will help enterprises experiencing difficulties and the
one creating jobs,’ the Premier said.

T. Sargsyan believes that the measures will relieve social tension.

`Our strategy is a very simple one. We will first of all use our funds
to protect the socially vulnerable sections of the population.
Secondly, we are ready for infrastructural expenses. Thirdly, we will
promote the creation of jobs,’ Sargsyan said.

`In this context, the best means at our disposal that we have announced
is supporting small and medium-sized businesses, procuring additional
funds for crediting and implementing new small and medium-sized
business programs,’ the Premier said. `0–

Vartan Oskanian: Armenian government should be more transparent and
sincere with society

3

YEREVAN, MARCH 6, NOYAN TAPAN. Today the greatest problem of Armenia is
to halt the decline in economic growth, and in order to solve this
problem, it is necesaary first of all to ease the tax burden and to use
resources brought from outside in a really purposeful way, the chairman
of the Board of the Civilitas Foundation, former foreign minister of
Armenia Vartan Oskanian said in an interview with "25 Minutes" Program
of the Public Television Company. In his words, Armenia should be able
to eliminate the major element hindering the economy – monopolies and
to create an equal field of competition. After these three steps,
according to him, Armenia will succeed in overcoming the crisis.

V. Oskanian believes that the government should take a greater
responsibility and be more transparent and sincere with the society. In
his opinion, the depreciation of the dram was inevitable and impossible
to halt, and the government’s fault in this issue is that until the
last moment it denied the necessity of that.

"Of course, it was doing that for political purposes, it had its
problems to solve, and it was a great blow to the government’s
prestige. The government lost the society’s trust, which, in my
opinion, is quite harmful today, in conditions of the crisis. Without
the society’s trust in the government and steps to taken by it, we will
face much more serious difficulties".

According to V. Oskanian, it is impossible to ensure 9% economic growth
envisaged by the 2009 state budget. "A question arisis: will the
government ignore this issue as well, will it say that we have no such
problem, or will the government address this issue in a more
transparent way and explain to the people what it has done in this
respect?" the former foreign minister asked, adding that the government
has an occasion to regain trust of the people, and it should say: "We
made a mistake when envisaging a 9% economic growth in the budget, it
was a wrong calculation, we have probably overestimated it". V.
Oskanian said that even in case of reducing the budgetary expenditures,
increasing the budget’s deficit or "directing the money brought from
outside to the budget" it would be impossible to ensure 9-9.5% economic
growth. "The society is currently concerned that the government is
going to ensure a 9% growth at the expense of taxes, the burden will be
carried by small and medium business because there are some signs, that
is, the use of cash registers: this is a new burden which has been put
on small and medium business". In the opinion of V. Oskanian, the
government should directly state: "We are going to take the following
steps and it will not be done at the expense of a tougher tax policy".

"HERITAGE" UNDECIDED ABOUT THE FORM OF PARTICIPATION IN THE ELECTIONS OF THE YEREVAN MAYOR
Siranush Muradyan

"Radiolur"
06.03.2009 16:25

Members of the "Heritage" faction made a political-economic statement
today, demanding from the authorities to reveal the crimes committed
on March 1, 2008, ensure budget execution, present the State Budget
to the National Assembly for reconsideration, ensure the legitimacy,
fairness and transparency of the elections of the Yerevan Mayor and
the election campaign.

Deputies of the "Heritage" faction told a press conference today
that they have not yet decided whether they will run in the elections
separately or will join the Armenian National Congress.

INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP PREPARES REPORT ON TURKEY-ARMENIA RELATIONS

APA
March 5 2009
Azerbaijan

Baku. Lachin Sultanova – APA. The International Crisis Group (ICG)
is preparing a report on Turkey-Armenia relations, ICG representative
in Baku Tabib Huseynov told APA.

He said the report would be released within a month.

Expressing the ICG’s opinion on the referendum to be held in Azerbaijan
on constitutional changed and amendments on March 18, Tabib Huseynov
said it did not have direct relation to their activity.

"International Crisis Group has touched upon elections in Azerbaijan,
Armenia and other countries, but in all cases it was linked to the
threat of violation of stability during and after the elections. As
there are no such concerns in terms of referendum, the International
Crisis Group does not deal with it directly. However, we are
attentively following the discussions on referendum and consider
that fateful issues raised in the referendum should not be adopted
hastily. Such issues should be adopted after broad and free public
discussions," he said.