Author: Kalantarian Kevo

YET NO FINAL AGREEMENT REACHED IN RPA-HERITAGE-ARF CONSULTATION

18:14, 28 February, 2013

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 28, ARMENPRESS: Yet there is no final agreement
on requests of “Heritage” and ARF fractions to the parliamentary
majority. This was noted by deputy of “Heritage” fraction Rubik
Hakobyan in the briefing with journalists.

“Discussion over our three suggested points is ongoing, though there
is no final agreement yet. Naturally, there are disputable issues
in those three points; nevertheless as long as negotiations are
not completed it is soon to say something,” Armenpress quoted Rubik
Hakobyan as saying. Deputy of “Heritage” fraction did not highlight
those disputable issues. He has also stressed that they don’t consider
the issue of becoming part of the government to be reasonable.

According to Hakobyan, issue of submitting application to
Constitutional Court is also up-to-date.

Consultation with participation of RPA, “Heritage” and ARF
representatives took place on February 28 headed by President of
National Assembly Hovik Abrahamyan.

“Heritage” and ARF fractions have presented their requests according
to which extraordinary parliamentary elections, switch to proportional
electoral system and increase of supervisory levers are suggested.

– See more at:

ACT OF PROTEST IN FRONT OF THE AZERBAIJANI EMBASSY IN THE NETHERLANDS

16:57 28.02.2013

The Armenian National Committee of the Netherlands held an act of
protest in front of the Azerbaijani Embassy in the Netherlands on
February 27.

The participants of the rally expressed their protest against the
Azerbaijani war-mongering under the slogans “Sumgait, Baku, Maraga,
Kirovabad: Stop Azerbaijani aggression,” “Self-determination to
Nagorno Karabakh,” “We’ll not forget the Sumgait massacres.”

On February 26 representatives of the Armenian National Committee
met with members of the Foreign Relations Department of the Dutch
Parliament, handed the petition of the Armenian National Committee
on the Nagorno Karabakh issue, providing information on the Sumgait
massacres and the belligerent policy of Azerbaijan.

HAYK DEMOYAN: AGHDAM EVENTS COULD, JUST LIKE ATTEMPT ON HEYDAR ALIYEV’S LIFE, BE PLANNED BY TURKISH SECRET SERVICES

16:55 28/02/2013 ” SOCIETY

Over the years new data and details about the tragedy that took
place on the outskirts of Aghdam in 1992 are coming to light. But the
question is, what other force besides the People’s Front of Azerbaijan
were, in reality, behind the carnage, which actually no one needed.

This issue is still unrevealed.

News agency Panorama.am asked the director of the Armenian Genocide
Museum-Institute Hayk Demoyan for commentary.

“Let’s call a spade a spade. Ankara may be blamed in Khojalu massacre;
the Turkish secret service, to be more precise. Turkey was clearly not
satisfied with the figure of Azerbaijani President Ayaz Mutalibov as a
pro-Russian politician, which sought to ensure Azerbaijan’s membership
in the CIS. During the first month after the collapse of the Soviet
Union, Turkey supported by the West, especially the United States,
actively sought to present itself as a visual model of state building.

Turkish leaders in the face of the Popular Front of Azerbaijan found
decent support in order to strengthen its influence in Azerbaijan. In
this regard, publication of Turkish newspaper “Hurriyet” on 17 May
1992, i.e. 2 days after Mutalibov’s re-overthrow, can be considered a
sensation. In the magazine one of the senior Turkish Foreign Ministry
officials was quoted who in an outburst of joy said about Mutalibov:
“Our boys have done it” the English translation of these words was
the most interesting. It’s not hard to guess who these boys are,”
Hayk Demoyan says.

Asked about the reasons for Turkey’s commitment in the commission of
such a bloody act, director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute
said that apparently in this case Ankara killed not two but even
several birds by one shot.

“First of all, after Armenia gained its independence, the Turkish side
became concerned about the possible activation of Armenian Diaspora’s
movement, as well as about the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by
the independent Armenia and the prospective of possible compensation.

>>From this point of view, the representation of the Armenians as
people disposed on mass murders, played into Turkey’s hands, which
could seek in Aghdam events a good reason for creating a counter
image. One could even claim that it could be considered as a strategic
task for Ankara.

Second, the pro-Russian Azerbaijani President Mutalibov was not
convenient for Turkish authorities, who would prefer to see obviously
pro-Turkish-minded leaders from Popular Front instead of him. Abulfaz
Elchibey, APF leader, never concealed his sympathy to everything
Turkish, and was constantly expressing himself in an aggressive
pan-Turkic manner. Such a massacre was a discrediting evidence for any
leader. As a result, we can see that this scenario worked. Mutalibov
resigned, PFA in face of Elchibey came to power,” Hayk Demoyan notes.

According to the expert, the involvement of the Turkish agents in the
operation of correcting the political administration of Azerbaijan
has its own traditions which come since 1918, and February-May events
that took place in 1992 can be considered the first successful and
a well-planned attempt to recreate these traditions.

“Turkish security forces, who twice tried to remove Heydar Aliyev,
didn’t approve of some of his actions after he came to power. The first
attempt was so bold and open, that in 1995, during a visit to Baku,
the Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Chiller personally apologized to
the head of Azerbaijan. The second attempt took place a year later,
in 1996, and this time the Azerbaijani special services managed to
arrest some persons who were directly connected with the intelligence
agencies of Turkey. Let’s add also the assassination attempts on
presidents of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan by Turkish intelligence
agencies,” Hayk Demoyan says.

Hayk Demoyan notes that there is another interesting fact; on 25
February Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati was in Baku
on mediatory mission. The visit of Velayati was also planned to be
held in Stepanakert and negotiations to be held with the official
leadership of the NKR. In the morning of February 27 Velayati left for
the capital city of Nagorno-Karabakh, but his plane landed in Aghdam.

At a time when Khojalu was under the complete control of Armenian
forces, Commander of the Defence Emergency headquarters of Shushi Rahim
Gaziyev told by telephone that “the fight for Khojaly continues”. Then
Gaziyev continued and said that “the decision of ceasefire (for
Velayati’s security) in a situation where the Armenian side captured
Khojalu was wrong and is unlikely to be kept.”

“It is not difficult to guess that this message contains obvious
desire to disrupt A. Velayati’s mission by NFA and the Turkish secret
services. The growing influence of Iran in Azerbaijan, especially its
role as a mediator in the Karabakh problem, was obviously not within
the interests of Ankara. By that time some Western leaders openly
stated that the South Caucasus and Central Asia is a zone of Turkish
influence, the main role of which according to them was combating the
spread of Islamic fundamentalism and Iranian influence. But the most
important thing, in my opinion, is the desire of the Turkish side to
create grounds for accusing Armenians in crimes against humanity by
organizing these mass exterminations,” Demoyan stated.

On February 26, 1992, during the war in Karabakh, around 200 to
300 people (according to Human Right Watch, and 600 according to the
version propagated by Azerbaijan) were killed in unknown circumstances
near the city of Aghdam. They have been deliberately withheld by the
Azerbaijani authorities in the midst of the military actions.

Population of the village of Khojalu, which was one of the firing
points shooting at the blockaded Stepanakert (among five others)
was kept in the village for months by force and was not evacuated by
the authorities of Azerbaijan deliberately, in order to use them as
human shields later.

Residents of Khojalu coming out through the humanitarian corridor,
that the self-defense forces of NKR had left open, freely passed more
than 10 km and reached the Aghdam city controlled by the Azerbaijani
troops. Later, not far from the positions of Azerbaijani troops dead
bodies of the villagers were found. The exact death toll remains
unknown as the official Baku publishes data contradicting each other.

Parliamentary Commission investigating the tragic death of the
civilians at Aghdam city was dissolved by the order of Heydar Aliyev,
the investigative materials are kept secret.

Documentary: “Between hunger and fire. Power at the cost of lives”

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE JOINED BOYCOTTING STUDENTS

01:24 PM | TODAY | SOCIAL

A few minutes ago RA presidential candidate epos-expert Vardan
Sedrakyan entered YSU yard. Explaining the fact of his presence he
mentioned that his son was also involved in the student strike and is
one of the organizers of the signature collection. Vartan Setrakian’s
son Gevorg Setrakian is a YSU 4-rt year student of the faculty of
Applied Mathematics.

Mr. Setrakian said, that not only the rector’s assistant Gevorg
Melkonyan has to resign but also YSU Rector Aram Simonyan, as well
as the rectors of the other universities, since they close the doors
of the university and do not allow the students to fight for their
constitutional rights.

Today Mr. Sedrakyan referred to the internal processes and also
assured that he will be the 4th RA president, because, in his words,
till April 9 Serzh Sargsyan will resign and will become his assistant.

Tomorrow he will participate to the event dedicated to the victims
of March 1, but will not join any political force.

The presidential candidate also said that his health condition
is normal.

RAFFI HOVANNISIAN MET WITH RESIDENTS OF ABOVYAN

2013-02-28 16:06:22

Former candidate for president of Armenia, the leader of “Heritage”
party held a meeting with residents of Abovyan Kotayk region of
Armenia.

“Who has honor, who respects his people, should resign and apologize
to people. We should love and preserve our law, our Constitution,
no matter being Raffi, Levon or Serzh.

Armenian citizen-king. King of our people. Long live Abovyan, long
live Armenia!”, in his speech Raffi Hovannisian said.

To note, that today Raffi Hovhannisyan’s meeting’s with the residents
of Kotayk region were concluded. Today the latter visited Charentsavan
and Byureghavan.

NAIRA ZOHRABYAN: PAP LEARNT ABOUT DISCUSSIONS FROM PRESS

15:33 28/02/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:

Secretary of the NA parliamentary group Naira Zohrabyan told reporters
that the PAP did not take part in the discussion with the speaker
because they learnt about the meeting from the press.

She said that she spoke to the speaker who told her about possible
talks, then she relayed their talk to Gagik Tsarukyan. Their party is
ready to take part in the discussion of post-electoral developments
in any format, Zohrabyan says.

She added that today they will draft their approaches to present to
the parties to negotiations.

Zohrabyan said that she has some reservations regarding snap elections
but it is her personal opinion, the issue was not discussed by the
political board of the party.

According to her, extraordinary parliamentary elections have nothing
in common with post-electoral development. At the same time, she noted
that the PAP has no reason to form a coalition with the Republicans.

HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER URGES GOVERNMENT TO ENSURE ACCESS TO PHYSICALLY IMPAIRED VOTERS

15:30, February 28, 2013

Armenia’s Human Rights Defender has urged RA Deputy Prime Minister
Armen Gevorgyan to take immediate action to ensure proper access to
polling stations for citizens with physical impairments.

Karen Andreasyan stated that he had received numerous complaints from
voters and various NGOs that the majority of polling precincts lacked
the necessary accessibility features as required by Armenian law and
the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

EMERGENCY MEETING ENDS INCONCLUSIVELY

Thursday,
February 28

The emergency meeting with the participation of the National Assembly
speaker and representatives of Republican Party of Armenia (HHK),
Heritage, and ARF-Dashnaktsutyun parliamentary factions has ended,
without any results.

Journalists learned from the deputies who took part in the meeting
that consultations will continue until the sides reach an agreement.

It is noteworthy that HHK is against the opposition’s proposals to
hold early parliamentary elections.

TODAY, 15:14

Aysor.am

REFUGEES OF ARMENIA, SUE AZERBAIJAN!

February 27 2013

There is a strong influx of lawsuits from Azerbaijan into the European
Court of Human Rights. Azerbaijan makes the best of the factor of
refugees. According to Tigran Ter-Yesayan, the director of Forum, a
human rights center, Armenia will be subpoenaed to the European Court
soon and will have to defend itself. What do we – more than a million
refugees who have been forced to flee to Armenia from the territories
occupied by Azerbaijan – do? According to Tigran Ter-Yesayan,
“Not only we occupied territories, in Oskanian’s words, but also
Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan should accept all our occupied territories
starting from Artsvashen. If we talk about territorial integrity and
the right to self-determination, then those are different things.

Azerbaijan conquered our territories. It was encroachment on our
territorial integrity. Self-determination is Artsakh’s problem;
therefore, let them apply to the state of Artsakh regarding that
issue. We are not entitled to defend Artsakh against Azerbaijan as a
respondent in the ECHR. If they want us to be a respondent, let them
acknowledge Artsakh as a party and let Artsakh, as such, go and defend
itself in the ECHR. The Republic of Armenia and Azerbaijan are members
of the Council of Europe. Our refugees should sue Azerbaijan. Every
refugee of the Republic of Armenia who lives in the Republic of Armenia
can file a petition in the European Court.” Tigran Ter-Yesayan says
that we already have a precedent in the European Court – our refugees
v. Azerbaijan. There are petitions from refugees of Artsvashen,
Khojalu, and Shahumyan. My colleague Anna Israelyan wrote about the
cases Chiragov and Others v. Armenia and Minas Sargsyan v.

Azerbaijan considered in the Grand Chamber of the European Court of
Human Rights as early as a few years ago. She informed regarding the
latter case that before 1992, the petitioner of Armenian decent had
lived in the village of Gulistan, district of Shahumyan bordering on
the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, had had a two-story house and
land. The petitioner informed the European Court that prior to the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, 82% of Shahumnyan’s population had been
ethnic Armenians, that because of forced displacement and actions
of the Azeri government Article 8 (respect for family and private
life), Article 13 (right to an effective remedy), and Article 14
(non-discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights had
been violated. He fell victim to ethnic and religious discrimination,
as all Armenians living in Azerbaijan. So the emphasis was on the
articles of the European Convention, which the Azeri petitioners try
to use against us today. As opposed to the Azeri refugees who left
Armenia, taking everything with them, our refugees from Sumgayit,
Baku… were subjected to torture, murdered, burned alive, without
compensation, losing everything, a part of them barely managed to flee
to Armenia. Tigran Ter-Yesayan says that this will be the touchstone
of 2013. The start of the fight for international law is signaled.

RUZAN MINASYAN Aravot Daily

Read more at:

Baltic News Service / – BNS
March 1, 2013 Friday 2:28 PM EET

Individual initiatives on Nagorno-Karabakh are not Lithuania’s
official position – chair

VILNIUS, Mar 01, BNS – Initiatives of individual members of the Seimas
to establish a group of friendship with the world’s unrecognized
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic do not reflect Lithuania’s official
position, Chairman of the Seimas Committee on Foreign Affaiirs,
Benediktas Juodka, said after a Friday meeting with Azerbaijani
Ambassador to Lithuania Hasan Mammadzada in Vilnius.

“It was confirmed at the meeting that Lithuania’s official position on
the issues of relations with foreign countries are reflected by
existing international treaties and remain unchanged. The chairman of
the Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs underlined that statements and
initiatives of individual members of the Seimas or their groups do not
reflect the Seimas’ official position,” the statement issued after the
meeting reads.

It also states that “the establishment and activity of
inter-parliamentary, parliamentary and friendship groups have to match
the goals and principles of Lithuania’s foreign policy.”

“Juodka assured the ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan that the
Committee had asked the Seimas management for the establishment of a
clearer procedure of the establishment of inter-parliamentary groups
and their activities,” the Seimas Public Relations Unit said in the
statement.

An event was held at the Seimas earlier this week and the
Nagorno-Karabakh’s foreign minister attended it. It was decided at the
event to establish a friendship group with Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Azerbaijani ambassador later handed in a diplomatic note to the
Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in which he said that “it can
have a negative impact on our bilateral relations.”

With support from Armenia’s capital Yerevan, ethnic Armenian
separatists took control over Nagorno-Karabakh during the war in the
last decade of the 20 th century, which killed about 30,000 people. No
countries have recognized Nagorno Karabakh’s independence, the
international community deems the region part of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly threatened to get back control over
Nagorno-Karabakh by force.