Author: Kalantarian Kevo

COURT ISSUES WRIT OF ATTENDANCE AGAINST ARMENIAN POLITICAL SCIENTIST

TERT.AM
16:24 ~U 27.02.13

The minor court of Yerevan’s Arabkir and Kanaker-Zeitun communities
issued a writ of attendance against political scientist Suren
Surenyants.

Me Surenyants did not appear in court without notifying it. Half an
hour before the court sitting he informed his lawyer he was unable
to attend the sitting for health reasons.

The court and the prosecution believed the hearing was impossible
without the defendant, and the court issued a writ of attendance. At
its last sitting, the court announced the closure of the trial
and judicial pleading. Public Prosecutor Mary Ashfaryan petitioned
for time.

Mr Surenyants has been charged with misappropriating AMD 508,000
(~@1,000) by means of fraud.

SAGHATEL HANISYAN: “THE LORD TAKES THE MASTER AND THE WOLVES, THE WAIF”

13:08, February 27, 2013

Everyone in the Lori village of Shnogh knows Saghatel Hanisyan.

The 52 year-old Artsakh war vet is something of a local fixture,
whose battle exploits and stories of a mischievous youth have been
heard countless times.

Recently, Saghatel fell ill. He was more concerned about how he would
heat the house where he lives with his Sokhak, his wife of two years,
and his sister Rozan.

Saghatel spent five years on the frontlines, He only returned after
the ceasefire.

After graduating from high school, Saghatel studied at the Alaverdi
Technical Institute and later at Yerevan’s Radio Technical School.

In 1988, he joined up with a volunteer unit in Shnogh that took up
defense position in Noyemberyan. Later, with an Alaverdi ARF volunteer
unit, he left for Ghazanchi. In 1991, Saghatel was in Martouni where
he joined Manvel Grigoryan’s unit.

Saghatel says that he hasn’t forgotten any episode from the war
years and is ready to recount them at anytime to anyone interested
in listening.

Many are interested to hear his war tales. Others can’t believe that
he fought in the war. Many Artsakh fighters used the guns, grenades
and bullets Saghatel fashioned. Guns are part of his life. One day,
Saghatel was arrested for possessing a few handmade bullets.

“I had brought back a few bullets that I had made. They came and took
me to the Alaverdi Criminal Unit. I fought for five years and they
arrested me for having five bullets. They questioned me for several
days. I didn’t know if it was night or day,” he recounts.

Saghatel holds no grudges however and tells the story with a grin on
his face. Nevertheless, he confesses that he doesn’t understand why
some of the Artsakh fighters are praised and covered in the press
while others like him are overlooked.

He regrets that he brought nothing back with him from the war as a
memento. The only reminder of his war years is a photo in a history
book. He’s never seen it but local school kids talk about it.

Shnogh residents say that Saghatel stood out even as a child. They
recount that in the second grade Saghatel broke the lock of the school
cafeteria and ate all the cream for the pastries. Years later, one of
the school’s classrooms caught fire as a result of a lab experiment
Saghatel was conducting that went wrong. There are many such stories
of the mishaps involving Saghatel.

Today, Saghatel doesn’t have a job. Neither does his wife and sister.

In the past, Saghatel used to repair local farm equipment for the
villagers, mostly getting paid in barter. More recently, Saghatel
was a woodworker in the forest.

Women’s work in the village is seasonal. Rozan tends the gardens
of others and Sokhak collects local herbs for sale. All three get
by on the few cents they make and Sokhak’s 15,500 AMD ($40) monthly
medical allowance.

Saghatel receives no assistance from the government. He says that
while the Vanadzor Hospital offered to operate on him for free,
he doesn’t even have the money for transportation.

“Treatment should be totally free. They say it’s free but it ain’t. As
the saying goes, the Lord takes the master and the wolves, the waif,”
Saghatel says with a smile.

By Sona Amirjanyan

Yerevan State University Faculty of Journalism 4th year student

SPECIAL PARLIAMENTARY SESSION WILL BE HELD IF POLITICAL FORCES REACH AGREEMENT – SPEAKER

NEWS.AM
February 27, 2013 | 13:55

YEREVAN.- Armenian speaker Hovik Abrahamyan said they would hold a
special session of parliament if the authorities reach an agreement
with Heritage and ARF Dashnaktsutyun.

“Heritage party agreed to discuss post-election processes in the
National Assembly and was joined by ARF Dashnaktsutyun. We are working
on the document now. If we reach agreement, a special session will
be convened,” Abarahmyan told reporters on Wednesday.

As to Raffi Hovannisian’s harsh criticism against authorities,
Speaker said instead of speaking in the streets, he should better
use 539 thousand votes to offer amendments.

“Harsh statements are not in the interest of the state,” he added.

OVER 54,000 SHEEP EXPORTED FROM ARMENIA TO IRAN IN 11 MONTHS

YEREVAN, February 27. /ARKA/. Over 54,000 sheep were exported from
Armenia to Iran in the period from March 2012 to February 2013 via
frontier zone of Norduz, the webpage of Iranian isna.ir news agency
reports.

The sheep were transported to Iran after respective examinations were
made by Iranian veterinaries arrived in Armenia.

According to Armenia’s ministry of agriculture, there are 590,200
heads of cow, 598,000 sheep and goats and 108,000 pigs in the country.

Number of sheep and goats is expected to go up to 1.5 million by 2020.

-0–

ANNULATION DU SITTING DEVANT L’AMBASSADE D’AZERBAIDJAN

Pour des raisons de securite, le sitting du mercredi 27 fevrier
est annule.

Veuillez nous excusez pour ce changement de programme independant de
notre volonte.

Bureau national du Nor Seround

mercredi 27 fevrier 2013, Jean Eckian ©armenews.com

RAFFI HOVANNISIAN CONDAMNE LES ETATS-UNIS ET L’UE

Le candidat a la presidentielle, Raffi Hovannisian, a condamne les
Etats-Unis et l’Union europeenne pour avoir reconnu la victoire du
president Serge Sarkissian mardi 26 fevrier 2013.

Raffi Hovannisian a declare : ” Ils peuvent dire ce qu’ils veulent, je
continuerai a me considerer comme le vainqueur legitime de l’election
du 18 fevrier. ” ” Je leur dis :” Je vous respecte, mais ne vous avisez
pas de violer les droits de Metsamor, de la province d’Armavir et de
la Republique d’Armenie “, a-t-il dit. ” Et que personne ne me donne
de lecons de democratie. Les citoyens armeniens sont les maîtres de
notre pays. ”

Le president russe, Vladimir Poutine, a ete l’un des premiers
dirigeants etrangers a feliciter Serge Sarkissian. Les Etats-Unis et
l’Union europeenne se sont bases sur le rapport des observateurs.

Raffi Hovannisian a rencontre Viatcheslav Kovalenko, l’ambassadeur
de Russie a Erevan. Le chef de l’opposition aurait evoque avec lui
les possibilites de remedier a la crise politique actuelle en Armenie.

Le chef de l’opposition du parti Zharangutyun (Heritage) a commence
mardi une visite de deux jours dans les regions du sud et du sud-est
du pays dans le cadre d’une campagne nationale pour promouvoir la
necessite d’une nouvelle election presidentielle. Sarkissian a rejete
cette demande lors de sa rencontre avec son principal challenger la
semaine dernière. Le president armenien a egalement refuse d’organiser
des elections legislatives anticipees, solution de compromis proposee
par Hovannisian.

” Je suis pret a ecouter toutes les propositions de Serge Sarkissian
pour resoudre et surmonter cette crise nationale “, a declare Raffi
Hovanissian a ses partisans lors d’un meeting a Masis, une petite
ville a 20 kilomètres d’Erevan.

mercredi 27 fevrier 2013, Laetitia ©armenews.com

BODY OF BOY, 13, LIFTED FROM HRAZDAN RIVER

TERT.AAM
11:14 ~U 27.02.13

The body of Arsen Balayan, 13, was found and lifted from Hrazdan
River. The search was resumed today at 9 am.

According to Emergency Situations Ministry, provincial rescue squad,
shift of rescue works of special importance were dispatched to the
site. The rescuers found the body at about 10.07 am 700 meters off
the place he fall.

The Emergency service received an alarm that the boy fell into the
river near Khachpar village of Ararat province on February 18 at
3.30 pm.

LES ETUDIANTS FONT ENTENDRE LEUR VOIX

Plusieurs agences de presse annoncent que ce lundi 25 fevrier, une
centaine d’etudiants de l’Universite d’Etat font la grève en signe
de protestation contre les resultats du scrutin presidentiel. Ils
se seraient diriges vers d’autres universites afin d’appeler
leurs camarades a se joindre a eux. Les autorites des universites
polytechnique, d’economie, de medecine auraient ferme leurs portes
pour empecher les etudiants de rejoindre le groupe des manifestants.

Selon des agences de presse, Raffi Hovhannissian est venu saluer les
etudiants portant des foulards, des ballons orange et des pancartes
exigeant l’annulation des resultats du scrutin. Il a demande aux
policiers de ne pas faire obstacles a la marche des etudiants. Ceux-ci
se seraient finalement diriges vers le bâtiment de la Commission
electorale centrale dans l’attente de la proclamation des resultats
definitifs des elections…

Extrait de la revue de presse de l’Ambassade de France en Armenie en
date du 25 fevrier 2013

mercredi 27 fevrier 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com

ARMENIA: PRESIDENTIAL CHALLENGER REJECTS POLL RESULT

Institute for War & Peace Reporting, UK
IWPR Caucasus Reporting #677
Feb 25 2013

Raffi Hovhannisyan rallies thousands to back his claim that he should
be president.

By Arpi Beglaryan – Caucasus

The main opposition candidate in Armenia’s presidential election,
Raffi Hovhannisyan, has refused to accept defeat, and says the
official figures are the result of widespread fraud.

Hovhannisyan has rallied supporters on the streets and pledged to use
all legal means available to get the result of the February 18 ballot
overturned.

Official results from Armenia’s electoral commission give Hovhannisyan
36.7 per cent of the vote, some way behind the incumbent, Serzh
Sargsyan, who has declared victory with 58.6 per cent. The other five
candidates scored lower percentages.

Sargsyan won by significantly fewer votes than most commentators had
been predicting, but his opponent insists he actually lost. Instead,
Hovhannisyan says he himself was the clear winner, with the backing of
four out of every five voters.

“I am the newly-elected president,” he told journalists in Freedom
Square in central Yerevan on February 19.

Three days later, Hovhannisyan had a meeting with Sargsyan at which
the latter neither conceded defeat nor offered him concessions.

Hovhannisyan’s Heritage party, set up in 2005, is the smallest
represented in parliament. But since Armenia’s leading opposition
politicians refused to take part in the presidential election,
Hovhannisyan’s appears to have acted as a unifying figure for
anti-Sargysan, and this is reflected in his surprisingly strong
showing, even according to the official poll figures. (See also
Armenia Gears Up for “Least Interesting” Ballot.)

“The election results gave one a clear sense of voters’ distrust in
and dissatisfaction with the government,” Artur Sakunts, head of the
Vanadzor branch of the Helsinki Citizen’s Assembly, said.

Hovhannisyan was born in the United States and grew up there, moving
to what was then Soviet Armenia in 1988. He served as the new state’s
foreign minister in 1991-92.

On February 22, Hovhannisyan addressed a rally of supporters in
Yerevan. His party put the numbers at 20,000 or 30,000, while news
reporters from said there were 5,000 to 10,000
participants.

“We will fight peacefully, as prescribed by the constitution, but our
movement will not weaken,” he said. “We will secure new victories and
take them to every town in our country, from north to south,”
Hovhannisyan told the crowd.

Smaller protests took place in a number of regional towns.

Election observers have come out with differing assessments of how
fairly – or unfairly – the ballot was run. Some groups like The Choice
is Yours reported some breaches of the rules, but probably not enough
to affect the overall result. Others like the Armenian Bar Association
alleged widespread, flagrant cases of fraud.

Sakunts of the Helsinki Citizen’s Assembly was an election observer in
the Tavush and Lori regions, and he said the lack of independent
observers and opposition representatives made it hard to be confident
that the polling was properly run.

“There were representatives of Sargsyan in all the polling stations,
but of the other candidates, only Raffi Hovhannisyan and Hrant
Bagratyan had representatives in attendance, and only a few at that,”
he said. “As a result, many polling stations were not controlled,
which provides a good environment for electoral violations,” he said.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE, which
sends poll monitoring teams to its member states, has often come out
with scathing findings after elections in former Soviet states. On
this occasion, however, it was broadly positive.

“The February 18 presidential election was generally well-administered
and was characterised by a respect for fundamental freedoms,” the OSCE
mission’s preliminary report concluded, based on the findings of its
300 monitors. “Contestants were able to campaign freely. Media
fulfilled their legal obligation to provide balanced coverage, and all
contestants made use of their free airtime.”

The OSCE report did criticise some aspects of the poll, although it
concluded that this election was an improvement on the 2008 polls
which resulted in mass protests, clashes between police and opposition
supporters, and almost a dozen deaths.

“A lack of impartiality of the public administration, misuse of
administrative resources, and cases of pressure on voters were of
concern. While election day was calm and orderly, it was marked by
undue interference in the process, mainly by proxies representing the
incumbent, and some serious violations were observed,” the report
said.

NGO activists in Armenia who felt the OSCE had been far too soft on
the authorities burst into a hall in the hotel where the mission was
holding a press conference on February 19.

They included Lena Nazaryan, who works for Transparency International.

She observed the election in the town of Artashat, where she says she
saw people from Sargyan’s Republican Party working with local
officials to fix the ballot. She says they behaved properly only when
international observers were around.

Nazaryan and her fellow-activists tried to present their own findings
to the journalists assembled for the OSCE event.

“There was a struggle because the organisers of the press conference
tried to escort the activists out of the room. Nevertheless, we did
manage to present our point of view,” she said.

Eduard Sharmazanov, spokesman for the Republican Party, said
allegations of fraud were mere rumours and should not be taken
seriously.

“Violations are not toys to be played with,” he warned. “No serious
incident of electoral fraud sufficient to influence the course of vote
was recorded. This election was the best in Armenia’s recent history.”

Although several foreign leaders, including key foreign ally President
Vladimir Putin of Russia, congratulated Sargsyan on his re-election,
Hovhannisyan said he was determined to keep fighting to have the
results overturned.

Support for his cause still seems to be growing. Student groups in
Yerevan announced they were going on strike.

However, it is not clear whether there is the momentum to create a
mass movement behind Hovhannisyan.

“People gave their votes to Raffi not because they like him, but
because they don’t like the authorities,” Alexander Iskandaryan, head
of the Caucasus Institute, said. “The rallies Hovhannisyan is
organising are unlikely to be sustained or to grow into mass action.”

Arpi Beglaryan is a journalist with the emedia.am website.

HOVHANNISSIAN CHALLENGES SARKISSIAN

Ahram Online, Egypt
Feb 26 2013

While Serge Sarkissian won last week’s Armenian presidential elections,
rival Raffi Hovhannissian still considers himself to be the new
president, writes Nora Koloyan-Keuhnelian

The sixth presidential elections to take place in Armenia since the
country’s independence in 1991 took place on 18 February, with seven
candidates including president of Armenia Serge Sarkissian taking part
in the race. When the results were declared, Sarkissian, representing
the ruling Republican Party, was re-elected with 58.64 per cent of
the vote, while Raffi Hovhannissian, leader of the Heritage Party
and the country’s first foreign minister after the collapse of the
former Soviet Union, came second with 36.75 per cent.

Some 2.5 million Armenians were eligible to vote in the elections,
according to the country’s Central Electoral Commission. More than
60 per cent of those on the electoral rolls took part.

The result was predictable, commentators say, and even before
the elections it was clear that the main struggle would be between
Sarkissian and Hovhannissian. However, while international observers
said that the conduct of the elections was an improvement over the
2008 elections, Hovhannissian has refused to recognise the results,
describing the elections as “fraudulent” and refusing to leave Freedom
Square in the capital Yerevan.

Hovhannissian has told his supporters that he was elected president
of Armenia, and his campaign headquarters made allegations of bribery,
forging votes, multiple voting and other practices in several regions
even before the elections started, claiming that it had proof of
these abuses.

When the results were announced, Hovhannissian held a press conference
declaring his victory on behalf of the Armenian people. “The Republic
of Armenia and its citizens have decided to take their destiny, our
destiny, into their hands by voting for a presidency that recognises
the rule of law, pursues the sovereignty of the Armenian Republic,
and understands the national interest,” he said.

“On the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and
of the great national dispossession for which we demand justice from
Turkey and from the international community, we seek justice for the
Mountainous Karabakh Republic and recognition of its independence
and territorial integrity.”

“These things will happen, as they did in Kosovo or South Sudan
or East Timor. At the same time, we demand the rule of law for
our citizens. For the first time in 20 years, the citizens have
said yes to the constitution, yes to the rule of law, and yes to
democracy. It is not about Raffi and Serge, not about the Heritage and
Republican Parties, it’s about the future of the Republic of Armenia,”
Hovhannissian said.

Thousands of Hovhannissian’s supporters gathered in Freedom Square to
back his demands, challenging the re-elected president to come to the
Square in person. The following day, and after Sarkissian failed to
show up in the Square, Hovhannissian led thousands of his supporters
on a march to the presidential palace, asking to meet the president.

When Hovhannissian left the building after the meeting, his supporters
were still in front of the palace chanting “Hayasdan-Hayasdan,” or
“Armenia-Armenia”. Addressing the crowd, Hovhannissian declared
that “we are the masters of our constitution, our rights and our
presidency,” adding that he would reveal the details of his meeting
with the re-elected president the following day.

The next day, thousands of Hovhannissian’s supporters again gathered
in a rally in Freedom Square, waiting for the man they call the new
president of the country to reveal the results of his meeting with the
re-elected president. One of the compromises offered to Sarkissian
was to repeat the second round of the elections, it was reported,
something that Sarkissian refused.

According to Hovhannissian, the other proposal had been to call snap
parliamentary elections, which, he said, would return power to the
people. However, Sarkissian refused this offer too. “This struggle
will not die down. We will achieve victory,” Hovhannissian said to
the tens of thousands in the crowds, adding that he would continue
his campaign of peaceful demonstrations.

During last weekend, Hovhannissian went to the regions he won in the
elections, Vanatsor and Gyumri, in which he received 70 per cent of
the vote according to the official results. Despite the snowy weather,
a huge crowd awaited him, and while the police tried to scare people
away and closed the roads by force, tens of thousands of people
nevertheless attended Hovhannissian’s rallies.

After the visit, Hovhannissian and his supporters headed back
to Freedom Square to continue the rallies, defying the police
who described them as “unauthorised.” “We are the masters of our
constitution, our rights, and our presidency,” Hovhannissian declared.

The other candidates in the elections were Hrant Pakradian, leader
of the Freedom Party and a former prime minister of the country,
and Andreas Ghugassian, the director of Radio Hay and a political
analyst who went on a one-day hunger strike when the presidential
elections campaign kicked off, demanding that Sarkissian be removed
from the ballot.

There was also Baruyr Hayrigian, a former dissident and the leader
of the Union for National Determination Party, Vartan Setragian,
a poet, and Arman Melikian, a candidate in the 2008 elections. Two
candidates withdrew from the race in December, while Hayrigian was
shot and injured at the end of last month and asked the courts to
postpone the elections as a result.

Hayrigian called on the two leading opposition candidates,
Havhannissian and Pakradian, to unite around a single candidate,
but he failed to persuade them and a week before the elections he
withdrew his request for a postponement.

The president of Armenia is elected for a five-year term by people
living in Armenia. The country has a multi-party system in which no
party is usually able to govern alone, and as a result the parties
form coalition governments. In the 2008 presidential elections,
there were nine candidates, with Sarkissian winning with 52.8 per
cent of the vote and beating Armenia’s first independent president,
Levon Der-Bedrossian, who got only 21.5 per cent of the vote.

Der-Bedrossian, who served from 1991 to 1998, was forced to step down
in February 1998, halfway through his second term, after advocating
a compromise settlement of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh which
many Armenians regarded as undermining their security.

There were several on-line polls before last week’s elections
that showed Hovhannissian’s possible win, while exit polls showed
Sarkissian as the winner. While Hovhannissian has refused to recognise
the election results, Moscow has approved them. Sergei Lebedev, the
former director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, said that
some minor irregularities had been noted that could nevertheless not
have affected the overall results of the elections. Russian president
Vladimir Putin congratulated Sarkissian on his re-election.

Three leading non-government parties, the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (ARF), the Armenian National Congress (HAK) and Prosperous
Armenia, had announced their decisions not to take part in the 2013
elections, which meant that the campaigns were quieter than usual and
lacked real debate. However, ARF leader Armen Rusdamian appeared in
Freedom Square on Friday, joining the rally against the re-elected
president and announcing that his Party supported Hovhannissian’s
demands.

Nigol Pashinian, a prominent figure from the opposition HAK, also
joined the rally and gave a powerful speech. “Starting from today,
Serge Sarkissian will not have quiet nights,” he said, urging the
other opposition parties to join the post-election protests. Leader
of the HAK Der-Bedrossian recognised Hovhannissian’s victory and said
“I have no doubt that Raffi is the winning president and that Serge
was not re-elected.”

59-year-old Sarkissian is a war veteran from the country’s 1988-1994
war with Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, the
region where he was born. A keen chess player and head of the Armenian
Chess Federation, he has sought to maintain positive relations with the
EU, NATO, Russia and Iran. Sarkissian was appointed Armenia’s defense
minister in 1993, head of the country’s State Security Department in
1995, and finally minister of national security in 1996.

Hovhannissian, 53, born in Fresno, California, and moving to Armenia in
1990, was the first foreign minister of the newly independent Republic
of Armenia, though he chose to resign because of differences with
the then president Der-Bedrossian. In 2002, Hovhannissian founded
the Heritage Party, and in 2011 he went on a “fast for freedom”
hunger strike in Freedom Square in order to force government changes.

Hovhannissian visited Egypt in March 1992 when he was foreign minister.

Today, a week after Armenia’s sixth presidential elections,
the Central Election Commission will officially announce the final
election results at the moment that Hovhannissian has started a new
campaign called “BAREVolution”, an Armenian-English word meaning
“greetings to the revolution”.

The campaign has spread to the country’s universities and students
of Yerevan State University went on strike earlier this week. In the
wake of the controversy over the presidential elections, observers
are asking whether the Arab Spring will now shift to this former
Soviet country.

Armenia is a country squeezed between hostile neighbours, and there
are many historical reasons for the conflicts it has been experiencing.