Author: Kalantarian Kevo

AZERBAIJANI MFA PUBLISHED DOCUMENT BEFORE CZECH PARLIAMENT MADE IT PUBLIC: CZECH SIDE IS UNPLEASED

Today – 18:02

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not involved in the preparation
of the resolution which was prepared by Foreign Relations Committee
of the Czech Parliament. Press department of the of Foreign Affairs
of the Czech Republic informs about this.

The official position of the Czech Republic towards the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict has not changed. The Czech Republic supports the
efforts of the international community and especially of the co-chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group to find a peaceful solution to the conflict
and pursues the policy of friendly and mutually advantageous relations
with both Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The Ministry has been unpleasantly surprised that the information on
the adoption of said resolution was posted on the official website
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan before its content
was made public by the above-mentioned Foreign Committee itself.

KARAPET RUBINYAN CALLED TO BE RESOLUTE

19:31 20/02/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:

Karapet Rubinyan, ex-member of the ANC, addressed the rally called by
Raffi Hovannisian. He congratulated people and Raffi Hovannisian on
his victory.

“On these days the main concern is God, will we succeed this time or
not? It depends on everyone’s determination? No matter how resolute
Raffi Hovannisian is,
he will not be able to do anything alone if we are not resolute as
well. I urge you to be resolute,” Karapet Rubinyan said.

SERZH SARGSYAN-RAFFI HOVHANNISIAN MEETING DOES NOT TAKE PLACE

TERT.AM
17:02 ~U 20.02.13

The statement of the spokesperson of Armenia’s president Armen
Arzumanyan about Serzh Sargsyan’s readiness to receive Raffi
Hovhannisian has no relation to the proposal-statement voiced by
Heritage party yesterday, leader of party’s parliamentary faction
Ruben Hakobyan told Tert.am.

“It is being spoken about different things. Raffi Hovhannisian has
clearly stated about the agenda of the meeting and what he expects
from it. The president’s spokesperson’s response has nothing to do
with it,” Ruben Hakobyan said.

He added that their headquarters do not view Armen Arzumanyan’s
response as a real response to Raffi Hovhannisian’s statement-proposal.

“That is why no meeting took place between Raffi Hovhannisian and
Serzh Sargsyan,” head of the faction said.

In response to Hovhannisian’s call to meet and transfer the power to
people, Serzh Sargsyan’s spokesperson Armen Arzymanyan on behalf of
the president voiced readiness to receive Raffi Hovhannisian at any
convenient hour, “especially in case when it is necessary to make
clarifications over the incomprehensive formulation in Hovhannisian’s
speech’.

He also said that all the international observers registered that the
2013 presidential elections were the best presidential elections during
the 21 years of independence of Armenia, ‘thus Raffi Hovhannisian’s
statements at least raise doubts’.

Ruben Hakobyan said Hovhannisian’s statement ‘with the same
formulations and agenda’ remain in force.

ARMENIAN BAR ASSOCIATION – GOVERNMENT DENIES VICTORY TO RAFFI HOVANNISIAN

12:03, February 20, 2013

The following statement has been released by the Armenian Bar
Association:

On February 18, 2013, in an unprecedented show of willpower the people
of Armenia elected Raffi Hovannisian as their next President.

They voted against the odds, against threats of persecution and
against temptation. The present government of Armenia now denies
Raffi Hovannisian’s victory. For years the people of Armenia have
been criticized by many for failing to stand up for their own rights.

Now they have stood up and voted their will. Now it is time for the
Diaspora to act its role.

Tomorrow President-elect Raffi Hovannisian will hold a rally at 5 p.m.

(5 a.m. PST February 20, 2013) at the Republic Square in Armenia
where he will announce his plan to enforce the people’s will. Join
him and stand ready to do whatever becomes necessary to ensure by
legal means that the people’s vote counts.

We are on the verge of changing Armenia’s future. The people’s vote
must govern. This transcends all boundaries including political
affiliations. We must unite. We must not only unite with each other
but also force those who resist the truth to embrace it and to unite
with us. The people of Armenia have suffered far too long. Empowering
them will empower Armenia, empower democracy and empower us all.

We urge the Republic of Armenia to exercise the rule of law and honor
its people’s vote by declaring Raffi Hovannisian as the winner of
its 2013 Presidential Elections. We congratulate President-elect
Raffi Hovannisian and the people of the Republic of Armenia for
their victory.

We urge President Obama to join us and to reaffirm and declare that
the United States government is unbending when it comes to civil
rights and liberties across the globe.

We urge all members of Diaspora political parties, associations,
communities, schools and charities to join President-elect Raffi
Hovannisian in the battle to enforce the people’s will.

We often chant “ignoring the Armenian Genocide was the same as
commending it.” Now is the time for each of us to determine whether
we oppose or commend the utter disregard of the Armenian people’s
will by the present government of Armenia.

We must ask ourselves whether we choose to stand up for civil rights
and liberties in Armenia or whether we choose to stand by in silence.

Every citizen of the free United States of America must join this call
to action for it parallels the essence of our ability to exercise our
free will. The people of Armenia too have a right to exercise that free
will. They have. Now we must assure that their will gets accounted for.

February 19, 2013

Los Angeles, California

THEY HAD MADE A SKETCH IN ADVANCE; THEN THEY ADDED PAINTS, AN ARTIST SAYS ABOUT THE “PAINTING” OF THE CENTRAL ELECTION COMMISSION (CEC)

February 19 2013

Talking about the results made public by the CEC during a conversation
with , Vahram Harutyunyan, aka Cook, a famous artist,
described them as a drawing of bad quality. “They paint badly and
the CEC’s painting has a negative impact not only on the people,
but also on them. There is a painting that the artist paints,
and 100 years are needed to find it useless and for people not to
be willing to hang it anywhere. However, even if someone throws a
good painting somewhere, it will not perish; someone will pick it
up. The painting of the CEC is primitive; not only is it lost on
the first day, it is also broken against both their and the people’s
heads.” The painter states that the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA)
figures’ Facebook and other statements are formal, particularly,
“The calculations, numbers, everything was prepared in advance. They
had made a sketch in advance; then, at the end, they added paints,
and it became a painting. Why, there weren’t voters; people didn’t
go. I stood outside a polling station for an hour; 1000 people cannot
appear out of the blue. There is time, there are minutes….” Vahram
Harutyunyan asserts that on the election day, there was almost no one
in the polling station, where he usually votes, whereas in the past,
there were lines starting from the lobby. “It doesn’t matter how many
speeches Ashotyan and others make, they will just play their part
in a performance, which will make people even angrier. One cannot
deceive the people; they know that they didn’t go to vote, but it is
stated that they actively participated…. People went and wrote on the
ballot ‘Levon for president’ or something else; one youth even ate his
ballot…. In a nutshell, the people hold a spontaneous demonstration;
one should draw respective conclusions from that.” Gohar HAKOBYAN

Read more at:

© 1998 – 2013 Aravot – News from Armenia

Raffi Hovhannisia’s steps to surprise everyone

tert.am
15:06 ~U 20.02.13

Member of Heritage party Anahit Bakhshyan believes that Raffi
Hovhannisian will not repeat either of the previous scenarios of
fighting against rigged elections but the steps will surprise many.

She said she will not open the brackets but advised to wait till
the rally slated for today at 5.00 pm where Raffi Hovhannisian will
state what they have done during the period from 7 pm yesterday till
5 pm today.

“I tell you that Raffi Hovhannisian is a principle, honest person who
loves his homeland and he is not going to take the people to trial but
will do everything for transferring the power to people in a civilized
way and no one has any idea how, we will all be surprised,” she said.

“Raffi Hovhannisian’s steps will be public, no secrecy, which will
make people be sober and civilized,” she said.

Anahit Bakhshyan said it does not mean that for instance that Raffi
Hovhannisian will go and make part of the coalition. “It is not that
message at all,” he said.

Bakhshyan did not confirm but neither refuted the possibility of
consolidation of certain political forces which the Heritage needs.

She said she knows that Nikol Pashinyan, Smbat Ayvazyan, Karapet
Rubinyan and other political figures went to the Freedom Square
yesterday.

U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT’S SERIOUS ACCUSATION
JAMES HAKOBYAN

13:30 20/02/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:

Regarding the Armenian presidential election the spokesman for the
U.S. State Department stated that the United States agrees with the
OSCE/ODIHR evaluation. She also highlighted unequal opportunities
for contestants, namely blurred distinction between the activities
of the state and the ruling party.

Interestingly, the New York Times which noted this problem in an
article on the Armenian presidential election states, “Initial reports
suggested that Mr. Sargsyan’s party had made some inappropriate use
of government resources to promote his candidacy, a common criticism
of incumbent candidates in former Soviet republics.”

This is a serious accusation which the Armenian society cannot
understand fully. The Armenian society mainly focuses on the so-called
physical expressions of electoral fraud whereas the deeper reason is
that the ruling party, the RPA, has usurped the Armenian state.

The RPA campaign headquarters actually serves as interim government
in time of every national election. The RPA has replaced the state
by itself. Physical expressions of electoral fraud can be different.

There may be no need for fraud, and the voting may pass in heavenly
peace with the ruling party’s candidate campaigning for the
opposition. It will depend on the circumstances.

The question is who makes decisions. For example, when a case of fraud
is reported to the law enforcement bodies or the court, the court does
not pass but publishes a decision passed by the RPA. The same goes
for any decision of any other public administration body. When it is
crucial in terms of the system, the ruling party makes a decision
which is communicated to the relevant public administration body
for implementation.

This is not a secret to anyone, and double voting or open voting or
ballot stuffing or vote buying or duress is not the main problem.

These are the metastases of the core problem. It is important to
fight them but the struggle will be effective only if the source of
trouble is clearly identified by the public.

The presidential candidate Andrias Ghukasyan tried to draw the public’s
attention to this circumstance, announcing that the electoral process
is organized by the RPA which has replaced the state by itself so in
any development the process is illegal by itself.

The public discussed everything but the issue put forth by the
candidate on hunger strike.

The U.S. State Department’s evaluation is but an accusation of
usurpation of power by the RPA which was spelled out diplomatically
because it is already the problem of the Armenian society to outlaw
and condemn the RPA.

ARMENIAN DELEGATE TO EUROVISION YOUNG DANCERS TO BE DECIDED ON FEBRUARY 23

09:56, 20 February, 2013

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. 11 young dancers, who passed to the
final stage of the Armenian selection for “Eurovision Young Dancers
2013”, will continue competition on February 23. The First channel
will broadcast the contest on air. In a conversation with “Armenpress”
the Official for Eurovision Project of the Armenian Public TV Company
Gohar Gasparyan stated that the audience will have an opportunity to
watch not solo dances alone, but unique group dances staged by Arina
Araratyan as well.

The Executive Supervisor of “Eurovision Young Dancers 2013”,
“Junior Eurovision 2012”, and “Young Musicians Eurovision” Vladislav
Yakovlev will honor the final stage of the Armenian selection with his
presence. Armenian rock singer, lead singer of the Armenian rock band
Dorians Gor Sujyan, who will represent at Armenia at the Eurovision
2013, will perform a song and declare the winner.

The Polish city of GdaÅ~Dsk will host the 2013 Eurovision Young
Dancers competition. The decision was ratified at a meeting of the
Steering Group on the 26th of June 2012, and means that TVP will be
the host broadcaster for next year’s competition.

RAFFI HOVHANNISIAN HAS TWO WAYS TO FOLLOW – PUBLIC COUNCIL CHAIRMAN

13:30 ~U 20.02.13

Chairman of the Armenian Public Council Vazgen Manukyan says Raffi
Hovhannisian has two ways to follow today.

“Raffi Hovhannisian has two opportunities – the first one he accepts
and does not appeal the election results, though it has never happened,
while if doing so people will accuse him of being corrupted.

But it will open a new page,” he said.

The other variant will be what has always been done – conduction of
rallies. At the same time he stressed that in this case though it will
differ as Raffi Hovhannisian does not have the potential. “Rallies
will be conducted, but will gradually fade away,” he said, adding
that everything depends on Raffi.

Manukyan said the first way is original one and has never been applied,
while the second has never done anything good. Manukyan believes that
if not appealing it will be possible to form a new serious opposition,
in the opposite case he will not be able to go till the end and people
will be disappointed.

Vazgen Manukyan noted that the votes Raffi Hovhannisian got show that
people are dissatisfied with the authorities.

“The degree of dissatisfaction from the authorities was greater than
expected and the authorities should take it into consideration,” he
said, noting that the government should engage opposition figures in
the cabinet, take into consideration the opposition’s opinion.

SARF TRANSFERS AN ADDITIONAL $100,000

Tuesday, February 19th, 2013

Zaven Khanjian presents his book

Book Dedication for “Haleb, Arachin Gayaran”; Newly Published “Uncoil
a Night” To Benefit Syrian Armenians

GLENDALE-Recently, helping Syrian Armenians involved two authors: Zaven
Khanjian wrote about life as it was in Aleppo; Silva Zanoyan Merjanian
decided to donate the proceeds of her poetry book to Syrian Armenians.

Since August 2012, Khanjian has led the Syrian Armenian Relief Fund
(SARF), a coalition of Armenian church denominations, political parties
and charity organizations, to raise relief funds for those who are
facing the crisis in Syria. Last week, SARF forwarded $100,000 to
help the Syrian Armenians. Previously, $350,000 had been transferred
to the Catholicosate of Cilicia account set up for the Syrian
Armenians. These funds were donated by hundreds of individuals and
supporting organizations, including concerts held in Pasadena and
San Francisco last November 2012.

“Uncoil a Night

“Haleb, Arachin Gayaran” (Aleppo, the First Stop) by Zaven Khanjian
will be dedicated by the Los Angeles Chapter of the Tekeyan Cultural
Association on Sunday, March 3, 2013, at 6 pm, at the Armenian
Society of Los Angeles (Iranahay Center), 117 S. Louise St., Glendale,
CA 91205.

Khanjian’s book is about the Armenian customs, culture and traditions
in Aleppo. He wrote about the good times growing up and enjoying his
childhood in Aleppo, sharing vibrant, happy and amazing stories of
family, neighbors, church, teachers, and classmates. His recollections
of places that he visited and people that he met include markets and
eateries that he frequented, bookstores that he visited, libraries
that illuminated his mind, and leaders that he encountered.

Contrary to what Antranig Zaroukian wrote in his book “Men Without
Childhood”, Khanjian’s book is about a boy who did have a childhood.

While Zaroukian wrote about the survival of young Armenian orphans, a
generation who grew up in foreign orphanages instead of loving homes in
their homeland, Khanjian wrote about the generation that followed them.

This is Khanjian’s third book. In 2007 he wrote about his impressions
and reflections about a pilgrimage to historic Armenia, “Ays Dune
Kuget e Te Ims?” and in 2010, a collection of his poems were published
under the title “Serdi Yev Medki Tsolket”.

Hrant Aghbabian will present the author; Dr. Vahram Shemmassian will
present the book; and Lena Bozoyan will speak on behalf of the Armenian
Relief Society of Western U.S.A., Regional Executive and SARF.

The public is invited to the book dedication, which will be followed
by a chance to obtain autographed copies of the newly published book.

The host, Los Angeles Chapter of the Tekeyan Cultural Association,
funded the publication of the book.

Silva Merjanian published her first poetry book, “Uncoil a Night”
on February 16, 2013, and she decided to donate the proceeds of the
publication to Syrian Armenians through SARF. She wrote, “I too was
once in the wrong place at the wrong time, caught in another war I
didn’t want any part of…”

Merjanian lives in Orange County with her husband and two sons. Dr.

Shahnour Yaylayan drew the illustration on her book’s cover, and a
Canadian artist and writer Pd Lietz, drew the five interior artworks.

Her book can be purchased at CreateSpace, an on-demand Amazon
publishing company:

An excerpt from her poem “Unclenched” follows: silent night dare I
ask more but from time to time uncoil my thoughts then wrap around
rhyme with my soul

While “Uncoil a Night” is a volume to keep and share with family and
friends, the proceeds will benefit families struggling through the
daily hardships of living in a conflict zone.

The following churches, charities and organizations came together to
form the Syrian Armenian Relief Fund: Armenian Catholic Eparchy in
North America; Armenian Evangelical Union of North America; Western
Diocese of the Armenian Church; Western Prelacy of the Armenian
Apostolic Church of America; Armenian General Benevolent Union;
Armenian Missionary Association of America; Armenian Relief Society
of Western U.S.A.; Armenian Democratic Liberal Party; Armenian
Revolutionary Federation-Western U.S.A.; and Social Democrat
Hunchakian Party-Western U.S.A. The web site address follows: