Author: Kajoyan Gevork

MIKAEL DANIELYAN: ELECTION IS A SHOW, YOU ONLY NEED TO BUY A TICKET

07:14 PM | TODAY | POLITICS

Human rights defenders in Armenia do not feel protected; they can be
subjected to violence at any time, says Mikael Danielyan, Chairman
of Armenian Helsinki Association.

The number of encroachments upon human rights defenders has not
shown a decline over the past years. There has been no progress in
this regard,” Mr Danielyan said after a consultation focusing on the
situation of human rights defenders in Armenia.

“The reason is the atmosphere created by the authorities,” said the
human rights defender. “To come out of the situation we should unseat
the authorities. Unless we have a liberal and democratic government
we cannot talk about these issues.”

With regard to the upcoming presidential vote, Mikael Danielyan said,
“It is nothing but a show. You can but a ticket, sit in the front
rows and follow the farce. It will be interesting,” he said.

CONFRONTING TURKEY

By JPOST EDITORIAL
02/05/2013 23:59

The West must stop deluding itself with regard to the political
leadership of Turkey. The time has come to recognize that Turkey has
changed radically – and for the worse.

How can one explain the reticence of the US and other Western powers
in the face of Turkey’s aggressive declarations? On Saturday night,
Ahmet Davutoglu, foreign minister of Turkey, a country that is a
member of NATO and a candidate to join the EU, threatened to launch
a military offensive against Israel, an important US ally.

Turkey would not “stay unresponsive” to an Israeli aggression against
any Muslim country, Davutoglu said, according to the Istanbul-based
daily Hurriyet, in response to Israel’s reported air strike on an arms
convoy inside Syria. If those are not fighting words, what are? On
Sunday, meanwhile, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan kept up
the heat claiming Israel has “a mentality of waging state terrorism.”

Israeli officials, speaking off record to The Jerusalem Post’s
diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon, rightly noted Ankara’s “brazen
hypocrisy.”

Erdogan and Davutoglu have no qualms taking Israel to task for a
“crime” that Turkey itself is guilty of perpetrating.

Have the two men forgotten that just last October, after Syrian
shelling killed five Turkish civilians, Turkish military forces fired
salvos at Syria? Or that Ankara actively supports Syrian opposition
forces? Southern Turkey has in recent months become a launch pad
for the smuggling of crucial supplies across the border into Syria,
including weapons, communications gear, field hospitals and even
salaries for soldiers who defect.

But what for Ankara is taken as an inalienable right to self-defense
becomes “state terrorism” when applied to Israel. Indeed, anytime the
Jewish state resorts to force to protect itself, Erdogan is quick to
issue denunciations, whether those on the receiving end are Turkey’s
close allies, such as Hamas terrorists in Gaza, or foes, such as
Syria’s repressive military forces.

According to nearly all media reports, last Wednesday’s purported
Israeli air strike targeted a Syrian convoy that was trying to
smuggle into Hezbollah-controlled southern Lebanon Russian-made SA-17
surface-to-air missiles that are designed to attack anything from
cruise missiles and smart bombs to fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft,
to unmanned aerial vehicles. Introducing these SA-17 missiles to
Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon would compromise Israel’s air
superiority, which has so far provided important deterrence against
Hezbollah attacks on Israel.

Turkey’s hypocrisy is so blatant and absurd that we wonder if the
flurry of accusations and threats is nothing more than a diplomatic
ploy designed to distance Ankara from Jerusalem so that the impression
of an Israeli-Turkish entente against Syrian President Basher Assad’s
regime is summarily dismissed.

Perhaps Turkey is simply jumping at an opportunity to galvanize support
across the Middle East, from Cairo to Tehran, by using the standard
method known to all Middle East rulers for the last 80 or so years –
bash the Zionists.

Whatever the motivation, the unfortunate fact remains that a NATO
member state threatened to attack one of America’s major non-NATO
allies – and nobody in Washington, or for that matter, London, Paris
or Berlin, bothered to issue even the feeblest denunciation of Turkey
or defense of the legitimacy of the purported Israeli air strike.

The West had high hopes for Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development
Party, better known by its Turkish acronym, the AKP. The Bush
administration saw an AKP-governed Turkey as a model Islamist state –
moderate, democratic and with a booming economy – for other Islamist
parties in the region to follow. The Obama administration seems to
have adopted that optimistic approach. In a January 2012 interview
with Time’s Fareed Zakaria, US President Barack Obama named Erdogan as
one of his top five international “best friends” together with German
Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron.

The West must stop deluding itself with regard to the political
leadership of Turkey. This is the same leadership that, according
to the Committee to Protect Journalists, has broken the world record
for jailing the most journalists (more than 70); that threatened in
2011 to attack Cyprus over gas drilling off its shores; that made the
ridiculous claim The Economist was a part of an “Israeli conspiracy”
because its editorial board recommended ahead of the 2011 elections in
Turkey not to vote for the AKP; and that in 2009 denied the genocide
in Darfur and defended Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, the man
responsible for this genocide.

The time has come to recognize that Turkey has changed radically –
and for the worse.

POLITICAL EXPERT: ONE SHOULD NOT WAIT FOR REVOLUTIONARY CHANGES FROM THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN ARMENIA

ARMINFO
Wednesday, February 6, 17:32

One should not wait for revolutionary changes from the presidential
election in Armenia, especially taking into consideration the fact
that the result of the forthcoming presidential election is quite
predictable and Serzh Sargsyan will gain a victory, political expert,
Aleksandr Iskandaryan, said at today’s conference “Presidential
election: assessments and suggestions”, held in Yerevan.

“Of course, there is always force-major. However, one force-major
has already happened in Armenia, but nothing has changed because
of it. At the same time, one must not say that the forthcoming
presidential election will be non-competitive. Undoubtedly, there
will be competition but for the second place. In such conditions the
incumbent president of Armenia has to gather not 90% of votes but ,
for instance, 60% so that to approve himself in the eyes of the West
like a legitimate head of state. I am confident that Sargsyan will
win in the first round”, – he said.

He pointed at the key problems to be resolved by the head of state – to
ensure security, to develop economy via increasing of direct foreign
investments, to reduce influence of oligarchs and monopolization
of the Armenian economy. At the same time, Iskandaryan added that
one should not wait for revolutionary changes in any of the above
mentioned points.

NATIONAL AIR CARRIER OF KUWAIT ASKS ARMENIA TO LET IT USE YEREVAN AIRPORT AS A TRANSIT POINT

ARMINFO
Wednesday, February 6, 17:37

The Government of Armenia has been negotiating with the national
air carriers of Armenia and Kuwait for 2 years to form a mutual
interest in fulfillment of regular mutual flights, Artyom Movsisyan,
Head of the General Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia, said
in Parliament on Wednesday. He has submitted the intergovernmental
Armenian-Kuwaiti agreement “On air communication” for ratification.

Movsisyan said that Armenia creates a necessary legal field to launch
the project. During the talks, Kuwait came out with an initiative
to provide the national air carrier of Kuwait with privileges to
use Zvartnots airport of Yerevan as a transit point. The national
air carrier of Kuwait has announced its intention to make flights
from Yerevan to Russia, Ukraine, Europe, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria,
Azerbaijan, etc. The Kuwaiti party also asks its Armenian colleagues
for an opportunity to attract Armenian passengers. The given issue was
discussed, however, Armavia found this project unreasonable. Movsisyan
pointed out that Armenia is ready to discuss the issue on providing
Kuwait with additional proposals given the national air carrier’s
interests.

To note, in the December interview with ArmInfo, Kuwaiti Ambassador
to Armenia Bassam Mohammed Al-Qabandi expressed his concern over the
postponement of signing of the agreement between the air carriers
of Armenia and Kuwait. “The civil aviation departments of the two
countries need an agreement wherein they must observe the parity
principles in line of the rules of ICAO, and an opportunity should
be provided for the use of the fifth freedom right”, he said in
his interview.

On January 31 Zvartnots Airport of Yerevan was proclaimed the nest
airport of the CIS. It became the leader in the contest “The airports
of developing countries”. The results of the contest were published
during a conference in Dubai. The contest was held by Arabian Reach
and has over 20 nominations (including “The Best Airport of the
World”, “The Best Airport of the Middle East”, “The Best Airport of
Europe”). The winners were determined by the results of online voting.

The prize was awarded to the general manager of Armenia – International
Airports company, which manages Zvartnots airport.

Zvartnots airport was built in 1961. Later it was modernized. In
2011 a new passenger terminal was launched, which serves up to 3.5
mln passengers per year. In 2012 the passenger operations via the
Yerevan airport totaled 1.7 mln people. Cargo transportation totaled
about 19 thsd tons.

VARDAN SEDRAKYAN: ELECTION CAMPAIGN HAS TURNED INTO BARGAINING
Nvard Davtyan

“Radiolur”
15:33 06.02.2013

“Paruyr Hayrikyan had concluded a deal with the authorities even
before the assassination attempt,” presidential candidate Vardan
Sedrakyan told reporters today.

“There was a situation, when the Constitution and the Electoral Code
provided for concrete steps. But it was not done,” Vardan Sedrakyan
said.

It looks strange to him that that Hayrikyan did not use his right
to apply to the Constitutional Court, although he said there were
insurmountable obstacles. “We reach at a logical conclusion that the
election campaign has turned into market relations,” he said.

Vardan Sedrakyan found it hard to say who could have organized the
assassination attempt, but added that Paruyr Hayrikyan follows the
sociologist’s advice and uses all the benefits of it.

After the press conference Vardan Sedrakyan visited Adrias Ghukasyan,
who continues the hunger strike.

ARMEN ASHOTYAN: SOME UNIVERSITIES WERE OPENED IN ARMENIA ACCORDING TO THE LOGIC – TO DO BUSINESS SIMILAR TO THE BUSINESS OF PETROL STATIONS AND RESTAURANTS

At its today’s session Armenia’s National Assembly made alterations
to the laws “On licenses” and “On state tax” in the first reading

As Education Minister Armen Ashotyan said, the draft law foresees
subordination of all the universities and colleges of the republic,
despite their property forms, to one authorized body in the person
of Education Ministry. Such a measure is extremely necessary for the
quality of education, he said and added that the Ministry will deal
with delivering of licenses for which it will be necessary to pay
state taxes.

He said that after coming of the law into effect, the Ministry is going
to introduce single education criteria for the universities of the
country. He means raising of the quality of education which should meet
European standards. He also added that over the last 3 years the number
of private universities reduced by 2,5 times. In 2008 some universities
were opened in Armenia according to the logic – to do business
similar to the business of petrol stations and restaurants. However,
at present there are 36 private universities in Armenia, he said and
added that some of them ensure high quality education on certain
professions. The problem of activity of a big number of private
universities may be resolved with a help of monitoring and control
over the quality of the educational programmes. The minister said
that there are 22 state universities in Armenia, which is also a big
indicator for the country with population about 3 mln people. The
work on estimation of the quality of the educational programmes has
started 4 years ago. In 2009 license was revoked from 11 universities,
and in 2010 – from 7. Students of these universities were offered to
continue their education in other universities, he said.

RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR PUTS AZERBAIJANI REPORTERS IN THEIR PLACE

NEWS.AM
February 06, 2013 | 16:08

Russia and Armenia are sovereign states and are building relations
in the manner they consider proper, Russian Ambassador in Baku said.

Vladimir Dorokhin responded to media reports about Russia’s arms sale
to Armenia, APA reported.

“Russia and Armenia are sovereign states and are establishing relations
in the manner they consider proper and basing on the algorithm in
line with the international law. Our military-technical cooperation
with Armenia is transparent. We report to the UN regarding all arms
sales,” agency quotes Ambassador as saying.

“ZERKALO”: PACE MEMBERS WHO REJECTED REPORT ON POLITICAL PRISONERS IN AZERBAIJAN ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR NEW ARRESTS IN BAKU

16:50 06/02/2013 ” SOCIETY

“REAL” movement is going to put forward Ilgar Mamedov’s candidacy for
president. Ilgar Mamedov was arrested on Monday in Azerbaijan. The
authorities of Azerbaijan accuse him of organizing a rebellion in
Ismailli region, the Azerbaijani paper “Zerkalo” reports.

“That is to say, we already have a potential presidential candidate
who is a political prisoner,” the article reads.

The article reminds that Nasimi District Court of Baku implemented
preventive punishment against Tofig Yagublu, Deputy Chairman of
oppositional “Musavat” party, and Ilgar Mamedov, the chairman of
the civil movement “REAL” Ilgar Mamedov, putting them under arrest
for 2 months. They are accused of organizing riots in the district
and resisting the police. If it is proved that they are guilty they
will face a sentence of 7 years. Yagublu and Mamedov deny the charges
against them. According to the lawyers, the decision of the arrest
will be appealed in the Court of Appeal.

Mamedov as a director of the Baku School of Political Studies of the
Council of Europe is in fact, the staff member of this international
organization. This fact inevitably will lead Mamedov’s case into
huge international resonance. Never before were instituted criminal
proceedings against the representatives of influential international
organization in Azerbaijan.

Author of the article Rauf Mirkadirov notes that he personally
knows Ilgar Mamedov for about 20 years. With his assistance and at
the invitation of the Council of Europe I even gave a lecture to the
graduates of the School of Political Studies of the Council of Europe
at the final session, in Strasbourg. To think that Mamedov called
on for rioting, smashing hotel which belongs to the family of the
minister is a pure fiction,” the article reads.

“Today, we are talking about the arrest of a political and social
activist who was “dear” to the Council of Europe. And here is the
result of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe which
decided “not to irritate Baku” about the problem concerning the
political prisoners. They began to “produce” new ones, at once, “on
the spot” just as soon as they got the “approval” of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe,” the article says.

The author notes that now he agrees with the statements concerning the
“decline of Europe”, as far as PACE dared not to “annoy” Azerbaijani
authorities by the request of the Azerbaijani human rights activist
Eynulla Fatullayev and didn’t accept Christoph Strasser’s report on
political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

“I think that PACE MPs who voted against the resolution of Christoph
Strasser are to carry at least moral and political responsibility for
the new arrests that occur today, including Ilgar Mamedov’s who was
popularizing values of the Council of Europe in Azerbaijan and who
appeared behind the bars. By the way, a question arises: can we at
once declare Ilgar Mamedov as political prisoner and a “prisoner of
conscience”, as we did once with Fatullayev, or have we to wait for
the judicial process? In the meantime, let him stay behind the bars,
at least for several months, before the trial?” Zerkalo writes.

On January 23 PACE didn’t admit the report didn’t adopt the report
of the German MP Christoph Strasser on “The follow-up to the issue of
political prisoners in Azerbaijan.” There were names of 85 political
prisoners in the report who were imprisoned in Azerbaijan, a third
of them were already released.

Unrests in Ismailli district began at the evening of January 23,
after an accident in which the nephew of the head of Nizami Alekperov
and son of the Minister of Labor Fizuli Alekperov – Vugar Alekperov
– were involved. As a result a revolt arose; the participants set
to fire commercial entities belonging to officials. Special Forces
and internal troops entered the district. They used rubber bullets
and tear gas against the rebels. There were dozens of arrested and
injured in the result of clashes.

AFTER MODERNIZATION OF BAVRA-NINOTSMINDA CITIZENS MAY CROSS THE BORDER FOR 3 MINUTES

Wednesday 6 February 2013 12:45

Yerevan/Mediamax/. Secretary of National Security Council Artur
Baghdasaryan said today that after modernization of “Bavra” and
“Ninotsminda” border checkpoints on Armenian-Georgian border,
pedestrians may cross the state border for 3 minutes and cargo
transport – for 25 minutes.

Artur Baghdasaryan said this speaking at a forum devoted to the
modernization of checkpoints on Armenian-Georgian border, Mediamax
reports.

“As of the official statistics, up to 900 people cross
Armenian-Georgian border on a yearly basis. As a result of the
modernization, the number will reach up to 2000 people. The number of
transport making 200 as of now will reach 600. Trucks staying on the
border for 75 minutes will cross it for 25 minutes after the program
is completed”, said Artur Baghdasaryan.

He expressed the hope that within 2-3 years, “we will have a modernized
border infrastructure meeting European standards and will provide
quality services”.

“It means abrupt reduction of corruption risks and elimination of
red tape”, noted Artur Baghdasaryan.

Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia Traian Hristea noted in his turn
that the modernization of the border checkpoints reflects fulfillment
of Armenia’s commitments within the EU Eastern Partnership Action Plan.

“We are also going to initiate a program of checkpoint development at
an amount of EUR 3.5mln on the section of Bagratashen-Sadakhlo border.

All this is aimed at development of the infrastructure of Armenia’s
northern border”, said the Ambassador.

The overall budget of the modernization of Bavra- Ninotsminda
checkpoint makes EUR 1.403mln. The program is implemented with the
support of USAID and is funded by the EU.

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: AFTER ELECTION PARUYR HAYRIKYAN WILL BECOME EITHER MP OR EUROPEAN INTEGRATION MINISTER

ARMINFO
Wednesday, February 6, 14:19

After the presidential election Paruyr Hayrikyan will become either
an MP or European Integration Minister, presidential candidate Vardan
Sedrakyan told journalists on Wednesday.

Sedrakyan, who is sure that he will secure over 80% of the votes,
believes that Hayrikyan and the other candidates Raffi Hovhannisian
and Hrant Bagratyan are all the allies of Armenia’s President Serzh
Sargsyan and are acting as dummy targets.

“Hayrikyan is not a rival to me. If what the great Armenian sociologist
Aharon Adibekyan says is true, none of the candidates can compete with
my 81%. Hovhannisian is luckier: the authorities like him and let him
meet with wide audiences – something Bagratyan is not allowed to do,”
Sedrakyan said.