Author: Kajoyan Gevork

Hurriyet, Turkey
July 31 2011

Does anyone care about rapprochement these days?

Sunday, July 31, 2011
Hovhannes Nikoghosyan

There had been much honest anticipation in Yerevan and beyond that
once parliamentary elections in Turkey are successfully won by the
Justice and Development Party, or AKP, the Armenian-Turkish
rapprochement would be back on track. However, high hopes still remain
as such, while new misunderstandings emerge on both sides.

Of course, one may argue that the domestic agenda in Turkey, i.e. the
bleeding Kurdish issue and housing Syrian refugees, make a troubled
climate in post-election Turkey. Adding to this, the emerging blurring
authority of Turkey in the wider region after quarrelling with Israel
over the flotilla incident, the obvious breakup with Syria, the
internationally visible benign neglect of Turkey’s `willingness to
help’ with Libya and, finally, the stalemate with Armenian opening `
have effectively damaged the `zero problem’ policy ideology. Sometimes
I even mistype it as `zero sum’ policy recently, to be honest.

While other major issues are of political nature, the standoff with
the Armenians has a difficult history that has come to a new phase
after Armenia reestablished the Third Republic 20 years ago. Turkey
was indeed very prompt to recognize Armenia’s independence in 1991,
but failed to establish diplomatic relations despite behind-the-scene
high-level talks. This phase of `opportunity’ waved away after Turkey
fully sealed the border in April 1993 in an apparent move to support
its stepbrother – Azerbaijan. When Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian
publicized the rapprochement process and shook hands with Turkish
President Abdullah Gül, it was sincerely backed by many world leaders,
who commended their vision, and even stood behind the table when
signing the historical Zurich protocols in October 2009. Though being
supported by Gül, the whole process bore a totally different vision by
Prime Minister ErdoÄ?an, who went on the record at Chatham House in
early April 2009 almost rejecting any deal with Armenia and putting
down knowingly undoable preconditions. Some critics even argued then
that ErdoÄ?an was not on the same page with Gül and didn’t share the
positive vision about the `Armenian opening,’ favoring Azerbaijan.

When U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton visited Turkey recently on
the Libyan Contact Group meeting, her extra agenda included items on
Caucasus politics ` both Nagorno-Karabakh issue and the future of
`publicly frozen’ rapprochement process with Armenia, which she
invested much capital in. This was a good test to show this peace
process hasn’t been swept out from international agenda.

Right after, surprisingly, some prominent Armenian NGO chiefs were
received by Foreign Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu in Ankara, which gave an
impression Turkey may consider getting back on track soon.

However, what has been evolving recently in the public domain brings
to an objective conclusion that the standstill in the rapprochement
process should be blamed on the lack of empathy on both sides.

The words of Sarkisian in the Armenian holiday resort of Tsakhkadzor
created a real hurricane in Turkey. As the Foreign Ministry, AKP and
ErdoÄ?an in Baku crashed on Armenia harshly; I doubted that Turkish
authorities have thought to employ media monitoring groups and
translators to report the transcript of the event from Armenia.

In reality, of course if those misguided gentlemen frankly cared about
the reality, Sarkisian answered a question from a school kid that the
future of homeland depends on coming generations (as for any other
nation), and elaborated: `¦if your peers would put in your best effort
and energy¦ we will have one of the best countries in the world.
Believe me, in most cases its is not the size of the territory that
determines the weight of the country.’ Sarkisian said each generation
had to meet its own duties and challenges and while his mates were
forced to save the people of Karabakh, the others would meet their
responsibilities with dignity in the future. He argued that a
successful state should be `modern, secure and prospering’ to enable
matching with other developed nations. This was his ultimate call to
the new generation in the room, and nothing more or less.

I will be surprised if the newly reelected leaders in Turkey would not
sign up such a statement for their own country, if they are true
leaders and not only elected politicians. However, this time again
they acted like politicians.

*Hovhannes Nikoghosyan is a research fellow (PhD) from Yerevan, Armenia.

Aswat Al Iraq – Voices of Iraq
July 31 2011

Armenian Women Basketball Team, Champion for Baghdad Women Teams

7/31/2011 2:47 PM

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: The Armenian Women Basketball Team has won
the championship of Baghdad Women Basketball teams, that ended their
tournaments in Baghdad, with participation of 4 clubs, the media
coordinator of the Basketball Union reported on Sunday.

`The Armenian Club’s team has won Baghdad’s Women Basketball
championship that concluded its games in the specialized game in
Baghdad, with the participation of 4 clubs,’ Ihsan al-Marsoumi told
Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

The tournament, that began last Thursday had ended with the Armenian
Team’s winning against the Youth Team by 35-12, al-Fatat against Ohan
– 43-19, al-Fatat against the Youth – 36-27, the Armenian on Ohan –
52-10 and the Armenian against al-Fatat – 45-22 and al-Shabab against
Ohan – 20-16.

The said tournament was steered by Coaches Mohammed Abdul-Rahman,
Assad Gammaz, Wissam Mohammed, Ammar Hussein, Nouriddin Ali, Allaa
Hamid and Marwan Mid’hat.

SKH (IT)

ARMENIA POSTS H1 BUDGET DEFICIT 1.6% OF SPENDING

Interfax
July 28, 2011
Russia

YEREVAN. July 28

Armenia exited the first half with a budget deficit of 6.6 billion
dram, or 1.6% of spending.

The country’s senior treasurer, Deputy Finance Minister Atom
Dzhandzhugazyan said at a government meeting Thursday that budget
revenues for January-June came to around 399.3 billion dram (99.3%
of plan) and spending to 405.8 billion dram (88.5% of plan). The
budget plan for the half had the deficit at 56.3 billion dram.

Dzhandzhugazyan said the incomplete fulfillment of the revenue plan
was associated with the untimely receipt of foreign financing. The
government had in the first half been looking to receive grants
amounting to 7 billion dram, but only received 2.5 billion.

Armenia Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisyan said during the meeting that
the incomplete fulfillment of the spending part of the budget (by
40 billion dram) was prompted by structural reorganization within
the government.

“We always have problems with the spending part of the budget, in
that they are not implemented fully. And the first half of 2011 was
no exception,” Sarkisyan said.

Among those structural changes, he mentioned ordering the activities
of offices in the realization of various programs, reducing their
number, and merging a series of state non-commercial organizations.

“As a result, in the first half we have prolonged spending that we
will do in the second half,” Sarkisyan said.

Despite the under-fulfillment of the revenue and spending plan, that
for tax and customs collections for the budget was 0.003% over-met
at 314.8 billion dram, Dzhandzhugazyan said.

The official exchange rate for July 28: 364.42 dram/$1.

Cf Subject: Armenia Posts H1 Budget Deficit 1.6% Of Spending

ARMENIA POSTS H1 BUDGET DEFICIT 1.6% OF SPENDING

Interfax July 28, 2011 Russia

YEREVAN. July 28

Armenia exited the first half with a budget deficit of 6.6 billion
dram, or 1.6% of spending.

The country’s senior treasurer, Deputy Finance Minister Atom
Dzhandzhugazyan said at a government meeting Thursday that budget
revenues for January-June came to around 399.3 billion dram (99.3%
of plan) and spending to 405.8 billion dram (88.5% of plan). The
budget plan for the half had the deficit at 56.3 billion dram.

Dzhandzhugazyan said the incomplete fulfillment of the revenue plan
was associated with the untimely receipt of foreign financing. The
government had in the first half been looking to receive grants
amounting to 7 billion dram, but only received 2.5 billion.

Armenia Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisyan said during the meeting that
the incomplete fulfillment of the spending part of the budget (by
40 billion dram) was prompted by structural reorganization within
the government.

“We always have problems with the spending part of the budget, in
that they are not implemented fully. And the first half of 2011 was
no exception,” Sarkisyan said.

Among those structural changes, he mentioned ordering the activities
of offices in the realization of various programs, reducing their
number, and merging a series of state non-commercial organizations.

“As a result, in the first half we have prolonged spending that we
will do in the second half,” Sarkisyan said.

Despite the under-fulfillment of the revenue and spending plan, that
for tax and customs collections for the budget was 0.003% over-met
at 314.8 billion dram, Dzhandzhugazyan said.

The official exchange rate for July 28: 364.42 dram/$1.

ARMENIA LOSES CITIZENS DUE TO RUSSIAN PROJECT

news.am
July 29, 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – Russian “Compatriots” projects serves for the reason of
undesirable migration from Armenia, head of State Migration Service
of Armenia Gagik Yeganyan told at a press conference on Friday.

He said that 780 families or 1897 people left for Russia since the
beginning of the project in 2007. According to Yeganyan, number
of people desiring to permanently reside in Russia has increased
especially during the latest eight months and reached 18,827.

Generally 29,500 people applied the office of the project. 997 people
received right of migration.

The issue concerns Armenian government. Armenian PM also expressed
concern about the project in his meeting with the intellectuals in
Oshakan. Russia adopted the project of residing compatriots in 2006.

The project aims to reside those who stayed out of Russia after the
collapse of Soviet Union but desire to reside there.

MIGRATION FROM ARMENIA NOT MASSIVE

news.am
July 29, 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – Studies concerning migration from Armenia for the last
years were not conducted and it is not possible to provide correct
data, head of State Migration Service of Armenia Gagik Yeganyan told
at a press conference on Friday.

However, there is no sharp increase in migration based on the
comparison of the numbers of those departed and arrived. Official
data state that negative migration increased by 15,000 (28.6 %)
making 67,300 people in the last six months compared to the same
period of last year. June registered positive migration with 2,000
people compared to 3,700 people of last year.

The negative migration compared to annual bases was 29,900 in 2010. In
2009 it was 25,000. Thus, the difference between departed and arrived
people is for the benefit of the departed people but it is not huge.

However, flows include also tourist and diplomatic visits so cannot
serve for counting concrete migration data.

Yeganyan also stated that 150,000 people or 25,000 annually migrated
from Armenia during 2002-2007. The greatest number of migration took
place in 1992-1994 when about 600,000 people migrated forever.

US CONGRESS NOT TO FUND KARABAKH SEPARATISTS

news.az
July 29, 2011
Azerbaijan

The US Congress will not provide financial aid to separatist
Nagorno-Karabakh in 2012.

The territory was omitted from the list of recipients of US government
aid in a bill for aid in 2012, passed by the House Appropriations
Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
on Thursday.

The US allocated $10m to Karabakh in 2011.

Azerbaijani MP Asim Mollazade said that the decision not to grant
aid to Nagorno-Karabakh was linked to two issues:

“First, the United States was illogically funding separatists
inside Azerbaijan, a country which is currently fighting terror
in Afghanistan and this illogicality has been removed. Although
pro-Armenian Congressmen continued their activity in the United
States, there have been some positive changes in this direction. The
second point here is connected with the problems with the US budget,”
Mollazade said.

A foreign affairs expert at the the Azerbaijani president’s Strategic
Research Centre, Zaur Shiriyev, said that the work of the Azerbaijani
diaspora and government had also had an influence.

“The demands of the Azerbaijani diaspora to stop funding separatists in
Nagorno Karabakh – especially, the work of the US Azerbaijanis Network
– combined with the raising of this issue at bilateral meetings at the
state level have resulted in the cessation of aid to the separatists,”
Shiriyev said.

Meanwhile, political scientist Gabil Huseynli considers this decree
to be political.

“The US budget is really experiencing crisis. However, they usually
allocated $8-10m in aid to Karabakh, which does not mean anything
to the trillion budget of the United States. I think this decision
will promote talks and is a step towards creating positive aspects
in the talks.”

Gun.Az

ARMENIAN, AZERBAIJANI YOUTH HOPE FOR PEACE AND POSITIVE CHANGE IN REGION
LAMIYA ADILGIZI

Today’s Zaman
July 29, 2011
Turkey

During the last two weeks the most influential and brightest
of Azerbaijani and Armenian youth came together in neighboring
country Georgia, considered a neutral zone between Azerbaijan and
Armenia, to discuss the decades-long conflict in the disputed area
of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Brought together in the tourist city of Bakuriani by the
Azerbaijani-Armenian Dialogue Program, both Azerbaijani and Armenian
youths made a shared effort together to tear down the negative
stereotypes in both societies by engaging in innovative dialogue
activities and promoting different but cooperative views of the
conflict and solutions for its resolution.

The Azerbaijani-Armenian Dialogue Program, initiated by Armenian
and Azerbaijani conflict resolution professionals and supported by
the Imagine Center for Conflict Transformation since 2007, is being
facilitated by a US conflict transformation trainer experienced in
running programs that create understanding and trust between youth
from cultures in conflict.

The most unusual and particularly interesting part of the program was
bringing participants from both sides into historical discussions of
Nagorno-Karabakh, so that both sides might easily talk about their
own stories and narrations. This was, in fact, aimed at establishing
a comprehensive environment for the sharing of historical facts,
sometimes even realities that were unknown and unacceptable to one
party while being true and irrevocable to the other party.

The most captivating part of the dialogue was the personal stories told
by participants who had either directly or indirectly experienced the
atrocity of the Nagorno-Karabakh war, which resulted in the young
people coming to realize the similarity of their feelings, pain,
injuries and troubles.

In having a chance to express their fears, concerns, needs and hopes,
both publicly and in person, participants in this program challenged
themselves to be much more objective and simultaneously constructive.

Learning to be able to understand and respect the other side’s truths
despite feeling misunderstood and criticized was the one of the most
appreciated and successful aspects of the dialogue.

The dialogue program was “very open and constructive” says Sergey
Movsisyan, 28, a representative of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly
Vanadzor Office. “Through the discussions it was very clear what the
official government point of view is and what the point of view of
ordinary citizens both in Armenia and Azerbaijan is,” says Movsisyan.

He considers the current stage of the conflict and society’s prospects
for conflict resolution very important and urges both governments to
closely work with NGOs and members of their communities.

Maryam Jabarova, 21, an Azerbaijani participant studying at Khazar
University in Baku, says that she wanted to communicate with Armenian
youth, as she needed to view the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict both
from the Azerbaijani and from the Armenian perspective, and for now
she feels satisfied, as she has got a comprehensive picture of the
conflict after being able to personally compare both side’s facts.

“The most important thing is that I learned to listen and understand
the other side … even there were the facts that I could not
agree with at all,” she says, reiterating that “understanding is
not agreeing.”

Nermin Nebiyeva, 24, a journalist and blogger from Azerbaijan who
is an internally displaced person (IDP) from Zengilan, one of the
occupied territories of Azerbaijan, considers this program important
especially because of personal stories she has been witnessing since
the program. “As a person who lost her relatives [and] the home where
I first opened my eyes … [who had] a childhood in damp, dark and
endless refugee camps, I needed to face the people that I consider the
sinners and culprits of what I had to live through all these years.”

Nebiyeva felt she needed this meeting in order to collapse the
mountain of hatred inside herself, as she says she finds hatred much
more natural than love. “Hatred is much more real and because of that
it destroys the person. That’s why I needed to get involved in this
program, just for myself. Living with hatred that ties you to the past
and does not let you go forward is very hard and feels like jumping
into deep water with a stone tied to your feet,” she says with tears
in her eyes.

Nebiyeva continues saying that in the beginning she was afraid of
coming to the program thinking that emotions and feelings would
overshadow the realities, causing the dialogue to fail; however she
was faced with something different. “It was the opposite. Armenians
and Azerbaijanis shared rooms and sat around the same table, giving me
the belief that we could live together as we have lived for centuries.

I understood that the war a war between states not people. No power
can give back the loss that both sides have experienced.” When asked
if she has left a difficult past behind her, Nebiyeva responded with
a deep sigh, “The past never leaves you, it is always in your dreams.”

Youth opinion on the legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh is different
but interesting During the 10 days of workshops and individual talks,
the Azerbaijani and Armenian youths discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict from both sides’ perspectives, which resulted in the emergence
of some very interesting insights.

Sona Dilanyan, 18, a student of Middle Eastern studies at Yerevan
State University, cares more about the lives of people living in
Nagorno-Karabakh rather than territory itself. “If the Azerbaijani
government could provide all the necessary conditions for quality of
life, it would makes no difference for me whether Nagorno-Karabakh
is part of Armenia or Azerbaijan.” says Dilanyan. She believes that
if the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh were not treated with
hatred, she would be fine with Nagorno-Karabakh remaining within
Azerbaijan, although she does believe that Azerbaijani government
needs to reconsider its current policy.

Veronika Aghajanyan, 23, a graduate student from the Budapest-based
Central European University, sees the only possible solution to
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as recognizing the independence of
Nagorno-Karabakh based on the will of its people through a referendum.

Being totally against the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh apart from
the Republic of Azerbaijan (as Aghajanyan puts it) Nebiyeva thinks
that the last stage of the settlement of the conflict needs to be put
to a referendum. However, Nebiyeva is concerned about the ongoing
artificial boost in Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh. “My
fear is of an orchestrated flow of Armenians and other people from
different nationalities living in different parts of the world to
Nagorno-Karabakh and its seven adjacent territories. The increasing
Armenian population will place under threat the Azerbaijani citizens
of Nagorno-Karabakh, who were substantially decreased after the war
and dispersed and accommodated across Azerbaijan as IDPs. This would
be especially so during a referendum which will make the Armenian
population gain the majority of votes over Azerbaijani populations,”
Nebiyeva says.

Given the question about the legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh,
Movsisyan said that in the event of an “ideally high status under
which Armenians are legally protected I can consider it possible to
see Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan.” When it comes to current
Azerbaijani domestic politics, meaning human rights violations and
unequal treatment of the civilians, Movsisyan said he preferred not
to talk about this topic.

Sasun Khachatryan, 31, a journalism and media management student at
the Tbilisi-based Georgian Institute of Public Affairs, in recognizing
Nagorno-Karabakh as a de facto republic, rather than as a part of the
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, calls on Azerbaijan to understand
the status quo and make concessions in terms of the settlement of the
conflict. “Azerbaijani society should realize that it has lost the
war and should yield something in return for any compromise in regards
to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. This is reality.

Otherwise being unwilling to make concessions and demanding only
things beneficial for only Azerbaijan is pretty much unrealistic and
will hardly ever come true,” says Khachatryan.

In the early 1990s, Nagorno-Karabakh (predominantly populated by
ethnic Armenians) and seven adjacent regions (without any Armenian
populations), which were an integral part of Azerbaijan, became
occupied by neighboring country Armenia. Sixteen years of mediation
by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
Minsk Group has yielded no results and the possibility of military
confrontation has been increasing more than ever. The point at
which both sides become stuck is that Azerbaijan wants to recover
its territorial integrity, which is currently under the control of
Armenia, although Armenia demands Nagorno-Karabakh to be independent
from Azerbaijan. The region has already become a showcase of border
skirmishes, leaving dozens of dead each year from both from Azerbaijan
and Armenia.

ARI TUN PROGRAM TO LAUNCH 5TH PHASE

Panorama
July 29, 2011
Armenia

The 5th phase of “Ari Tun” program of Armenian Ministry of Diaspora
will be launched on August 1. The press service of the Ministry of
Diaspora informs 175 young people from 8 countries (Netherlands,
Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, USA, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia) will
arrive in Armenia to attend the program.

According to the source the program will also host members of host
families, representatives of state and non-governmental organizations.

“FRIENDS OF HRANT”: “SAMAST’S CONVICTION IS NOT ENOUGH”

BIAnet.org
July 29, 2011
Turkey

The Friends of Hrant Group gathered before the 19th hearing of the
Hrant Dink murder trial in Istanbul on 29 July. The group emphasized
that justice has not been delivered yet with the conviction of
Ogun Samast.

Nilay VARDAR [email protected] Istanbul – BÄ°A News Center29 July
2011, Friday The 19th hearing of the Hrant Dink murder trial is being
heard at the Besiktas (Istanbul) Courthouse today (29 July). Dink,
a Turkish journalist of Armenian ethnic origin, was killed in front
of the Agos newspaper office in Sisli/Istanbul on 19 January 2007.

Erhan Tuncel and Yasin Hayal are detained defendants of the case
that is observed by representatives of the Paris Bar Association and
Claudia Roth, Co-Chair of the German Green Party and member of the
European Union (EU) Greens.

Just like before every hearing of the trial, the Friends of Hrant
Group gathered at the Besiktas Pier prior to the hearing this morning.

One group of the Friends of Hrant met in front of the Dolmabahce
Palace to join the group in Besiktas later, among them the wife of
the slain journalist, Rakel Dink, MPs Ertugrul Kurkcu, Sırrı Sureyya
Onder and Osman Kavala, journalist Hakan Tahmaz, Bulent Aydın, human
rights activist Zeynep Tanbay, Agos newspaper executive Robert Koptas,
politician Sema Solaklı, lawyer Turgut Kazan, Assoc. Prof. Ferdan
Ergut and Masis Kurkcugil. They were carrying banners reading “We
will not forget”, “For Hrant, for justice” and “We will not forgive”.

The group members were also carrying the small round black and white
signs that became characteristic for the struggle for justice related
to the Dink trial. The sings featured slogans like “This trial will
not end like that”, “Fascists strike, the AKP protect” or “Long live
the brotherhood between the Turkish, Kurdish and Armenian people”.

‘We will not let go of the people behind Samast’ A press release
on behalf of the Friends of Hrant was read out by Metin Eray. He
said that the ones who believed that justice was delivered with the
conviction of triggerman Ogun Samast were mistaken.

Eray announced that they would not let go of the “big brothers”
who masterminded the murder.

“In the darkness of unanswered questions our sense of justice is
broken and our anger is growing constantly. But nobody should forget;
this trial is not going to end that way! The ones who said that justice
was delivered with the sentencing of Ogun Samast have to bear in mind
that we will not let go of the “big brothers” who masterminded this
issue. They are mistaken!”

“Who was under investigation until today?

Eray reminded that none of the persons responsible for the killing
of Dink is on trial and that the court did not come anywhere near to
the conviction of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

“The Ministry of the Interior did not issue permission for an
investigation about the police officers from the Istanbul Police who
were responsible. And is there anybody who interrogated Celalettin
Cerrah [then Chief of the Istanbul Police]? Istanbul Governor Guler
hid behind his deputyship but he will have to face the truth sooner
or later”.

“Why don’t we hear anything from the State Auditing Commission
appointed by the President? Eventually, the Prime Ministry gave their
permission for investigating the MÄ°T [National Intelligence Agency]!

Who is under investigation?”

Eran pointed out that the ones who thought that the Hrant Dink case
was going to disappear in the “memory dump” like other trials were
mistaken. He declared that they would continuously follow up the
procedures.

“ECHR recommendations must be followed” The group went to meet the
others at the BeÅ~_iktaÅ~_ Pier subsequent to the statement. There,
Olivier Guilbaud, Member of the Paris Bar Association Steering Board,
stressed again that justice has not been delivered yet with the
conviction of Ogun Samast. Only with the prosecution of all the people
responsible for the murder justice could be delivered, he said. “The
entire number of recommendations made by the European Court of Human
Rights must be followed. We will follow up this case until the end”,
Guilbaud declared.

WITH POOR HEALTH DRAFTEES WILL FACE SERIOUS CHALLENGES IN ARMY – ACTIVIST

Tert.am
29.07.11

Rights activist Arthur Sakunts has said it is important that healthy
people be drafted to the army.

In a press conference on Friday Sakunts, the head of the Vanadzor
Office of Helsinki Civil Assembly, said that those people drafted to
the army with poor health are facing serious challenges there.

“A person with vulnerable health is subject to greater hardships [in
the army],” said Sakunts, adding that the list of illnesses changes
over time.

“So, it in 2006 a deferment would be offered [to a draftee]
for flat-footedness, now it has been removed [from the list],”
explained he.

Sakunts also said if three or four years ago young men with certain
illnesses were considered not worth drafting, now the situation has
changed and such people are being drafted.

“… And an ill person is being drafted to the army,” he added.

Further, he spoke about a conscript named Robert Hovhannisyan, who was
diagnosed with infantilism, had serious sight problems; one of his legs
was shorter from the other, but was drafted to the army and is now at
the military hospital in Sisian town in Armenia’s Vayots Dzor province.

Avetik Ishkhanyan, the president of the Armenian Helsinki Committee,
said that if there are no complaints in any system, it means the
situation is very grave there.

“Government officials themselves do not deny that the situation in the
army is bad, but the conscripts never complain about that situation,”
he explained.

“Such an atmosphere has been created where complaining is forbidden,”
said he.

Ishkhanyan further said that recently a parent of a conscript came to
him and complained about bad hygiene conditions in that military unit
in the regions of Vardenis where his son is now doing his military
service, but asked his name to be kept secret as his son would face
problems there.