Author: Kalantarian Kevo

YEREVAN PRESS CLUB WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

OCTOBER 2-8, 2009

HIGHLIGHTS:

"PRESS CLUB" CYCLE: NATIONAL IDENTITY AND DEMOCRATIC REFORMS

APPEAL OF "HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK" PARTIALLY SECURED

"PRESS CLUB" CYCLE: NATIONAL IDENTITY AND DEMOCRATIC REFORMS

On October 6, 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. The guests of the program host, YPC President
Boris Navasardian were Arpi Vardanian, Country Director of Armenian Office
of Armenian Assembly of America, and Lyudmila Harutiunian, Doctor of
Philosophy, Professor, Director of the Center for Regional Integration and
Conflict Resolution. The discussion centered on the issue of national
identity in the light of Armenian-Turkish reconciliation and democratic
reforms in the country.

The next "Press Club" show will be aired on "Yerkir Media" on October 13, at
21.15.

APPEAL OF "HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK" PARTIALLY SECURED

On October 2 RA Civil Court of Appeal released the judgment on the complaint
of the owner of "Haykakan Zhamanak" daily, "Dareskizb" LLC. The latter was
contesting the decision of the court of primary jurisdiction on the suit to
protect the honor and the dignity of Levon Kocharian, younger son of RA
Second President Robert Kocharian. As it has been reported, the reason of
the lawsuit was the editorial "The Adventures of Robert’s Son in Dubai",
published in "Haykakan Zhamanak" on February 6, 2009. The piece informed
about Levon Kocharian’s detention by police of Dubai, UAE, in the end of
2008. On June 5, 2009 court of general jurisdiction of Kentron and
Nork-Marash communities of Yerevan partially secured the demands of the
suit, by obliging the newspaper to publish a refutation, to pay off the
plaintiff a sum of 3 million and 620 thousand AMD (about $ 9,600), and to
compensate the sue charges of 72 thousand AMD. The founder of "Haykakan
Zhamanak" appealed the decision at the second jurisdiction, which started
the hearings on September 11 (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, September 11-17,
2009).

At the session of October 2 Civil Court of Appeal reduced the amount of the
fine to 620 thousand AMD.

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

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Editor of YPC Newsletter – Elina POGHOSBEKIAN
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Yerevan Press Club
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0002, Yerevan, Armenia
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Fax: (+374 10) 53 56 61
E-mail: [email protected]
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MP MELIK GASPARYAN DIES IN CAR ACCIDENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
08.10.2009 23:08 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ NA Parliamentarian Melik Gasparyan has died in a
car crash. Accident occurred on October 8 in the evening in a Brabus
vehicle on Charentsavan-Yerevan highway. Gasparyan was urgently moved
to Charentsavan hospital. MP Khachik Manukyan who was in the same
car was hospitalized in hard condition.

In 2001, Melik Gasparyan was subjected to assault; his car was
exploded.

Melik Gasparyan was born on January 2, 1951 in the village of Mets
Marza in the Vardenis region.

1999-2003 – Deputy of the National Assembly (electoral district #
45). He was a member of the Standing Committee on Financial-Credit
and Budgetary Affairs of the National Assembly, then a member of the
Standing Committee on Defense, National Security and Internal Affairs
of the National Assembly. Since July of 2001 a member of deputy group
of Stability renamed Agrarian Industrial People Unity.

On May 12, 2007 he was elected a deputy by the proportional electoral
system from the Republican Party of Armenia.

Melik Gasparyan was married and has four children.

EXOTIC ANIMALS EXHIBIT OPENS IN YEREVAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
08.10.2009 13:44 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Exotarium company presented an exhibition of exotic
animals in HayArt cultural center on October 8. All animals are from
the private collection of Exotarium founder Karen Martirosyan.

The attendees can see over 80 kinds of mammals, reptiles, birds
and insects.

ARF BUREAU REPRESENTATIVE SAYS ARF WILL FIGHT ON

Yerkir
08.10.2009 14:05

Yerevan (Yerkir) – ARF Bureau representative Hrant Margaryan delivered
a speech at the conference "Presigned Protocols and Armenian-Turkish
relations: National Interests and Challenges," held in Yerevan on
October 8.

Margaryan said that the six weeks of consultations are over, and now
we live in a different atmosphere. "We are living a crucial moment,
and each of us should take responsibility for the steps they are
taking, for the words they are saying as well as for their positions,"
Margaryan said in his speech.

"Why did this happen?" Margaryan asked. "I have said that the issue
of the Genocide is the open nerve of the Armenian people. Don’t dare
touch it: the reaction will be unpredictable."

Margaryan then went on saying that from the first day of the public
discussions, it was announced that the protocols cannot be amended:
they should be either approved or rejected. "What type of a discussion
is this?" Margaryan asked. He added that this is why the formulation
"not subject for discussion, we will sign it" triggered such an
immense reaction both in Armenia and the Diaspora.

We are not desperate, he added, nothing is over yet. We will fight on.

"We are ready to find common grounds with the authorities but we
will not hesitate to go all=2 0the way, even if that means a change
of regime," he said.

The full text of the speech is available in Armenian.

NUMBER OF GAS CONSUMERS GROWS BY 13 053 THIS YEAR IN ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
07.10.2009 17:09 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Over the nine months of 2009 the number of gas
consumers of ArmRosGazprom grew by 13,053, and particularly 1842 out
of which connected to the network in September, press service of the
company reports.

As of October 1, 2009 587,008 households are connected to the gas
network in Armenia.

PROTOCOLS NOT LINKED WITH MOLDOVA MEETING: ERDOGAN

News.am
12:33 / 10/07/2009

Armenia-Turkey Protocols will be signed October 10, Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in his interview with The Wall
Street Journal.

"What is important and I would like to underline this, because this is
perhaps the most important point is that Armenia should not allow its
policies to be taken hostage by the Armenian Diaspora. It should be
up to the government to carry out its policies. And in that context
the Moldova meeting is very important on NK, because if you look at
Nagorno-Karabakh and where it stands today there aren’t in fact too
many more issues left to be resolved," Erdogan stated.

Asked whether Protocols’ signing depends on the results of Armenian
and Azerbaijani Presidents’ meeting in Chisinau on Karabakh conflict
settlement, Erdogan replied: "The agreement will be signed on the
10th. It doesn’t have anything to do with what happens in Moldova. But
of course a positive development in Moldova will definitely have a
positive impact on the process altogether."

‘TO EXPOSE EXISTING PRECONDITIONS IS THE CHIEF GOAL’

Aysor.am
Wednesday, October 07

Eleven Armenian political parties which had voiced their concerns on
initialed Armenian-Turkish protocols before, announced their decision
of joint activities.

At today’s press-conference Armenian Revolutionary Faction
Dashnaktsutyun’s member Armen Rustamyan has published a statement
with protest against initialed protocols.

According to Mr. Rustamyan, the chief goal of their activities is
"to join forces on the basis of a common position and prevent the
process called by protocols."

"Exposing the available pre-conditions is a priority task. Through
our meetings we’ve found out that most people have no idea about
protocols ant their dangerous items, so our association’s first
activity is to break the blockade of opinions and to present another
point of view. At least, nation is a master, so neither the President
nor authorities can deal with this issue," said Armen Rustamyan,
noting that statements on absence of preconditions are false.

Asked whether ARFD has applied to Armenian National Congress with
proposal to join them, Armen Rustamyan said that they hadn’t propounded
such a proposal to ANC as a single structure, but they had discussed
it with some its member-parties.

Rustamyan has announced that a rally protest will be held on October
9, starting on Republic Square with further procession towards
Tsitsernakaberd Memorial.

STRIKE IN BEIRUT

rut
08:37 pm | October 06, 2009 | Politics

Within the framework of his Diaspora tour, Serzh Sargsyan visited the
Lebanese capital of Beirut where he was greeted with signs reading
"No to Protocols" starting at the airport.

"No to Anti-Armenian Protocols", "Genocide can’t be questioned",
"We need new Vardans and Vasaks", "No to Preconditions" and other
slogans and signs greeted the Armenian delegation.

According to "Azdak" newspaper, thousands of Lebanese Armenians
are holding a protest as we speak and they are not only waving the
tricolor, but black flags with the word "no" on them.

Lebanese Armenian youth are holding a sit-down strike near the "Habtur"
hotel where Serzh Sargsyan’s delegation has arrived.

At 4 p.m. local time, the Beirut Armenians of Purch Hamud had declared
a workers’ strike.

Let us also mention that a candle-lighting ceremony took place in
Lebanon yesterday during which it was emphasized that the issue is
pan-national and it is necessary to take the Diaspora’s opinion into
account as well.

WHEN INDIFFERENT ABOUT THE DANGER

s15438.html
12:10:04 – 07/10/2009

There is almost no doubt that in Armenia, a public activation
preventing the signature of the Armenian and Turkish protocols, which
contain possible danger for Armenia, will not be found. The lack of
this wave enhances the danger because both Turkey and the international
society witnessed that the Armenian society is completely incompetent
in responding any danger posed to its country and is indifferent
about it. In other words, the Armenian society maybe forced almost
everything. And this thinking, the ground of which both Turkey and
the international public got, is more dangerous that the Armenian
and Turkish protocols themselves.

But is the Armenian society to be blamed? Of course not. The society
has to be organized, educated; a system of values has to be formed
for it for the latter to have stable ideas on public processes,
for each member of the public to understand that there is no refuge
of the public policy which will not influence their lives regardless
direct, quick or slow influence. The society has never been explained
its direct connection with the state and public policy. The political
forces are responsible for it. The Armenian-Turkish protocols, once
again showed the complete bankruptcy and lifelessness of the Armenian
political system the consequence of which is the public’s indifference
towards such an important issue.

An ordinary citizen cannot understand which their harm will be if
for example the process on the international recognition of genocide
stops, if Armenia recognizes the present border with Turkey, or if
historians discuss historical archives etc. etc. This damage is not
being explained to the members of the society, the member does not
realize how they will be in harm if the country is in harm. The members
of the society do not absolutely understand their connection with
the state, perhaps understating subconsciously that this explanation
may give way to a question on public control in the future: no one
knows what will happen. Moreover, the Armenian political forces,
almost without exceptions, are not able to understand the connection
between the society and the state and probably do not even imagine
their connection with it.

These political forces do not imagine their mission in the life
of the state. Not the political forces, but a concrete party, say,
the X party, what role it has in the life of the state. The lack of
this system of imaginations brings about the current situation when
the country is completely incompetent towards the problems it has in
home life and external world.

AAA BOARD MEMBER DISCUSSES ARMENIAN ISSUES WITH VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.10.2009 13:27 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ At a recent dinner reception at Vice President
Joseph Biden’s residence, Assembly Board Member Annie Totah had the
opportunity to express the community’s appreciation for his long
standing support during his tenure in the U.S. Senate. Totah also
discussed the need for the U.S. to fully affirm the Armenian Genocide
and urged the vice president to uphold the administration’s commitment.

"We appreciate Vice President Biden’s decades-long record on Armenian
issues and strongly urge the Obama Administration to unequivocally
affirm the Armenian Genocide," Totah said, adding that "Genocide
education and affirmation are keys to prevention."

The meeting was also reinforced by a letter sent to President Barack
Obama, in which a strong call was made to reaffirm the Armenian
Genocide.