Author: Kalantarian Kevo

UKRAINE VOWS TO SEEK TO NARROW RIFT BETWEEN ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN DURING OSCE CHAIRMANSHIP

Interfax
Sept 4 2012
Russia

Ukraine is worried by the recent escalation of tensions between
Armenia and Azerbaijan and is urging the parties to look for mutual
understanding.

“We understand how much this conflict undermines stability on the
former Soviet territory, the CIS area and the OSCE area. And we, as
a country located nearby, would like the parties to be guided not by
emotions but by reasonable arguments and not torpedo the negotiating
process that has been underway between them in the past several years,”
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Voloshyn told journalists
in Kyiv on Tuesday.

The latest incident between Armenia and Azerbaijan is causing too much
tension between them, and there are enough instruments in international
law to reach a mutually acceptable solution, provided that the parties
are truly willing to reach one, he said.

Mutual enmity should not prevail in the relationship between the two
countries, Voloshyn said.

Ukraine has very good relations with Azerbaijan and fairly good
ones with Armenia, and so Kyiv will try to do all it can to help
settle the conflict, Voloshyn said. In particular, the conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh will be among the priorities for Ukraine during its
OSCE chairmanship, he said.

In addition, Ukraine has energy interests in the region, namely it
is interested in oil and gas supplies from Azerbaijan, and therefore
it is interested in peace and stability there, he said.

The already hostile relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan had been
aggravated even worse last week, after Hungary extradited to Baku an
Azeri officer serving a life sentence for killing an Armenian officer
in Budapest 2004. Ramil Safarov, a senior lieutenant of the Azeri
army, murdered Armenian army lieutenant Gurgen Margarian in 2004 in
Budapest, where both had been attending an English language course
as part of NATO’s Partnership for Peace program.

Safarov killed Margarian with an axe in his sleep, reportedly in a fit
of rage at the Armenian officer’s alleged defiling of the Azeri flag.

In 2006, a Budapest court gave Safarov a life sentence without the
right to appeal for pardon for the first 30 years of his term.

Hungary extradited Safarov to Azerbaijan last Friday. The same day,
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev pardoned him and Defense Minister Safar
Abiyev had a meeting with him, promoting him to major, giving him
keys to a new apartment and returning him his pay for eight and a
half years.

Safarov’s repatriation and pardon sparked an outrage in Armenia. The
country announced on Friday that it was severing its diplomatic
relations with Hungary, which argued that its extradition move was
based on the Council of Europe’s 1983 Convention on the Transfer of
Sentenced Persons and presented Azerbaijan with a note protesting
Safarov’s pardon.

Azeri Foreign Ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev said Safarov’s
repatriation was “a matter of relations between Azerbaijan and
Hungary that stays within the limits of law and does not contradict
any standards or principles of international law.”

HUNGARY EMBROILED IN AZERI-ARMENIAN TENSIONS AFTER MURDERER IS PARDONED
by Lilit Gevorgyan

Global Insight
September 3, 2012

Hungary saw its first major diplomatic crisis in recent years as
Armenia severed all ties with it and the United States demanded an
explanation over the puzzling transfer of a convicted Azeri murderer
to Azerbaijan, where he was immediately freed and promoted in the
military ranks instead of serving a further 22 years in prison.

Azeri Bonds for Hungarian Justice?

Armenia cut all its diplomatic ties with Hungary on 31 August as
scores of protesters demonstrated in front of Hungarian embassies in
Armenia, Russia, Georgia, the UK and other countries. The step came
after Hungary extradited Ramil Safarov, an Azeri soldier serving a
30-year term for murder in a Hungarian prison, to Azerbaijan. Safarov
nearly decapitated Armenian student Gurgen Margarian in 2004 after
attacking him with an axe. Both were attending a NATO-sponsored
Partnership for Peace English language courses in Hungary. Safarov
first attacked the Armenian soldier while he was asleep, and his
attempt to kill a second Armenian solider was thwarted by a Lithuanian
military officer who was sharing the dormitory room. A Hungarian court
sentenced Safarov to 30 years’ imprisonment despite his defence that
he had become psychologically unstable after Margarian had allegedly
insulted the Azeri flag. The backdrop of the animosity is, of course,
the conflict over the status of the ethnic-Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh
region, which split from Azerbaijan in 1988.

The Azerbaijani government has been keen to see Safarov extradited
to Baku but these efforts have been futile, not least because
shortly after Safarov’s conviction he was declared a National Hero
of Azerbaijan. The legal team of the Armenian victim stated on 31
August that they had learned a month ago that Hungary was planning
Safarov’s extradition. The legal team had warned that the transfer
would not happen. It is not clear what made the Hungarian government
change its position. Former Armenian human rights ombudsman Lyudmila
Harutyunyan told the press that the deal could be linked to Turkey
and Azerbaijan buying Hungarian bonds for EUR3 billion. Earlier,
Reuters and Hungarian business and news weeklyFigyel reported that
Azerbaijan’s USD33 billion state oil fund planned to cut its exposure
to European bond markets and was considering high-yield Hungarian
bonds. Before the diplomatic fiasco, Hungarian officials did not deny
that they were considering raising the bond but also said that there
would be no substitute for loans from the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) and the EU. Hungary has had strained relations with international
donors for its alleged failure to adhere to preconditions attached to
these loans. Following the 31 August events, the Hungarian government
dismissed any links between its commercial relations with Azerbaijan
and the controversial transfer of the convicted criminal.

Reaction and Damage Control by Hungary

In a televised speech, Armenian president Sergh Sarkisian expressed his
anger over the extradition deal, he said: “This has happened because
the Government of Hungary, a member State of the European Union and
NATO, has made a deal with the authorities of Azerbaijan. As the trial
had demonstrated, the horrendous manslaughter took place only because
Gurgen Margarian was an Armenian.” The Armenian government summoned
an extra-term meeting of the National Security Council, particularly
after reports that Azerbaijan has also violated the ceasefire along
the Line of Contact with Nagorno-Karabakh.

The US State Department issued a statement on 31 August saying that the
United States was “extremely troubled by the news that the President
of Azerbaijan pardoned [the] Azerbaijani army officer”. It said that
it was seeking explanations from both Azerbaijan and Hungary, adding
that the US condemns “any action that fuels regional tensions”.

Somewhat belatedly, on 1 September Hungary presented a diplomatic
protest to Azerbaijan and justified its actions by saying that it
had received assurances from the Azeri side. Meanwhile they sent
their reassurances of friendship to Armenia, a call unlikely to
be reciprocated for now. The diplomatic scandal has also meant the
government of Viktor Orban now faces criticism from the Hungarian
opposition. Attila Mesterhazy of the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP)
was quoted as saying that “the decision has brought shame to Hungary”.

Yesterday (2 September) the Hungarian Socialist Party called for an
emergency parliamentary meeting to launch a probe into the case. No
statement was made by the EU.

Outlook and Implications

While Safarov’s case is a nationalistic propaganda coup for Azerbaijan,
it has far-reaching implications. Anti-Armenian sentiment is often used
by the Azeri authorities to distract public attention from widespread
corruption and wealth polarisation, as well as a lack of democratic
freedom in the country. But most of all, it damages Azerbaijan’s
chances of finding a compromise on Nagorno-Karabakh’s status. If the
such a killing goes unpunished in Azerbaijan, it effectively closes
the door on the current peace talks.

Azerbaijan is heavily dependent on its energy sector and any new
conflict will only jeopardise the economy. As a result of the latest
developments, Armenia has declared that it is ready for war. It is also
staging large-scale military exercises later this month. The escalation
of the tension continues and with the heightened nationalistic rhetoric
the risk of war is rising, which will hurt Azerbaijan’s attempts to
attract foreign investment.

AZERBAIJAN RAPS “HYSTERICAL” PROTESTS FROM ARMENIA AT OFFICER’S EXTRADITION

Interfax
Sept 3 2012
Russia

Friday’s extradition to Azerbaijan of an Azeri army officer sentenced
to life imprisonment in Hungary in 2006 for murdering an Armenian
was a completely legitimate move, the Azeri Foreign Ministry argued
on Saturday, dismissing “hysterical” protests from the president
of Armenia.

Senior Lt. Ramil Safarov murdered Armenian officer Gurgen Markarian
in a fit of frenzy for allegedly insulting the Azeri flag during
NATO-organized classes in Budapest in 2004. In April 2006, a Budapest
court gave Safarov a life sentence without the right to appeal for
pardon for the first 30 years of his incarceration.

On Friday, Hungary sent Safarov back to Baku, and the same day
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev pardoned him. On Saturday, Azeri Defense
Minister Safar Abiyev had a meeting with Safarov at which he conferred
the rank of major on the officer, handed him keys to a new apartment
and returned him pay for eight and a half years.

“The repatriation of Ramil Safarov is a matter that belongs to
relations between Azerbaijan and Hungary, stays within the limits
of law and does not contradict any standards or principles of
international law,” Azeri Foreign Ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev
told a briefing on Saturday.

“As regards the Armenian side, the hysterical statements of [President
Serzh] Sargzyan, who has his hands up to the elbow in the blood of
civilian residents of the Azeri town of Khojaly, are nothing else
than a show and an act of populism,” Abdullayev said.

ARMENIA NATIONALISTS: TALKS WITH AZERBAIJAN SENSELESS AFTER MURDERER’S RELEASE

Interfax
Sept 3 2012
Russia

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutiun), a nationalist
party, has proposed ending internationally brokered conflict settlement
talks with Azerbaijan in protest at Friday’s pardoning of an Azeri
army officer who murdered an Armenian counterpart in 2004 and at his
earlier extradition from Hungary.

Lt. Gurgen Markarian, who was attending an English language course in
Budapest under NATO’s Partnership for Peace program was axed to death
by Azeri Senior Lt. Ramil Safarov, who was attending the same course,
in February 2004.

In April 2006, a Budapest court sentenced Safarov to life imprisonment
without the right to appeal for pardon for the first 30 years of his
term. A Hungarian appeal court upheld the sentence in February 2007.

On Friday, Safarov was extradited to Azerbaijan and pardoned by
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev the same day. On Saturday, Azeri Defense
Minister Safar Abiyev had a meeting with Safarov at which he conferred
the rank of major on him, handed him keys to a new apartment and
returned him pay for eight and a half years.

In response, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said at a meeting with
foreign ambassadors that Armenia was suspending diplomatic relations
and all other official contacts with Hungary.

Dashnaktsutiun issued a statement arguing it would be senseless to
continue talks with Armenia in a bid to settle the two countries’
two-decade conflict over Azerbaijan’s breakaway Armenian-speaking
enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

“We demand revising the need for further negotiations with Azerbaijan
on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue in the format of the Minsk Group of
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. We also
demand practical measures to form a military and political alliance
between the Republic of Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic,”
the party said in its statement.

“Historical experience has long brought it home to us that states base
their actions purely on their political and economic interests. They
are happy to trample over such things as international law, humanism
and moraility if this serves their needs. We must solve our problems by
ourselves, we must by ourselves break the hand that is raised against
us. To accuse others, ask others for justice, demand compliance with
proclaimed international law is a necessary but by and large hopeless
exercise,” Dashnaktsutiun said.

U.S. VETERAN DIPLOMAT DESCRIBES SAFAROV’S TRANSFER TO AZERBAIJAN AS A “TERRIBLE DEVELOPMENT”

Mediamax
Sept 4 2012
Armenia

Yerevan/Mediamax/. The veteran of U.S. diplomacy, former U.S.

Ambassador to Baku (1994-1997) Richard Kauzlarich described as a
“terrible development” the transfer of Ramil Safarov to Azerbaijan
and his pardon.

Richard Kauzlarich said this commenting on the article by Thomas de
Vaal “Safarov’s case- black week for Caucasus”, Mediamax reports.

“It also raises questions about both Hungary’s and Azerbaijan’s
commitment to rule of law,” he said.

Richard Kauzlarich is currently the Deputy Director of George Mason
University School of Public Policy

PROTESTS IN HUNGARY OVER MURDERER’S RETURN

Otago Daily Times

Sept 5 2012
New Zealand

Almost 2000 Hungarians have protested in Budapest against the
government’s decision to allow an Azeri soldier who had killed
an Armenian officer in 2004 to return home, leading to heightened
tensions between the neighbouring countries.

Last week Hungary released soldier Ramil Safarov to Baku, where Azeri
President Ilham Aliyev pardoned him on arrival. Safarov had served
eight years of his life sentence for killing an Armenian officer
during a NATO training in Hungary.

Armenia immediately broke diplomatic ties with Hungary and said
releasing Safarov, who was given a hero’s welcome on his return,
was a “grave mistake”.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at odds since the war between ethnic
Azeris and Armenians that erupted in 1991 over the mainly Armenian
Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. A ceasefire was signed in 1994 but new
cross-border clashes this year have prompted worries of a resumption
of fighting.

Hungary said it acted in compliance with international law and that
Azerbaijan had promised to uphold Safarov’s sentence. While the two
countries were in talks about developing closer economic ties, these
were in no way linked to the release of the soldier, it said.

Azerbaijan dismissed media reports that it planned to buy Hungarian
bonds, which blogs and newspapers had speculated might have played
a part in Safarov’s release.

Protesters chanting “We are sorry, Armenia” said they doubted the
government’s motives, adding that whatever the reasons, the decision
was unacceptable.

“Murderers should not be extradited to countries where it is clear
that ethnic hate crimes are considered heroism,” said protester Laszlo
Muhari, 30. “In a democratic country this is not acceptable.”

“(Prime Minister Viktor) Orban should stop lying and start giving
clear answers, because it is simply impossible that such a brutal
killer is just released without a background deal.”

PASSIONS AND HISTORY RUN DEEP IN SAFAROV CASE

EurasiaNet.org
Sept 5 2012
NY

September 5, 2012 – 2:51pm, by Arife Kazimova and Daisy Sindelar

A EurasiaNet Partner Post from: RFE/RL The details of the crime seem
anything but heroic: a young lieutenant hacking a fellow soldier
to death in his sleep, with an ax he had stealthily purchased hours
before.

But for many people in the South Caucasus nation of Azerbaijan,
the picture is not so simple.

Not when the assailant is an Azerbaijani whose hometown was brutally
seized by Armenian forces while he was still a teenager.

Not when the victim is an Armenian who allegedly insulted the
Azerbaijani flag.

And not when the circumstances that threw them together were conceived
by Western officials who had failed to consider the depths of the
two sides’ regional animosity.

So when Ramil Safarov returned home on August 31 after eight years
in a Hungarian jail for the 2004 murder of Gurgen Margarian at a NATO
Partnership for Peace exercise, many Azerbaijanis were unstinting in
their welcome:

“I think he was a hero, because he protected the honor and dignity of
the Azerbaijani people,” one woman told RFE/RL on the streets of Baku.

Another resident of the Azerbaijani capital said Safarov “did the
right thing” in killing Margarian.

On the other hand, Safarov’s extradition from Hungary last week
outraged Armenians and surprised many onlookers with the lavish
gestures that followed.

The 35-year-old lieutenant was not only granted an immediate pardon
from his life sentence, he was also promoted to the rank of major,
promised back pay, and presented with a free apartment.

Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev offered no rationale
for the promotion, simply congratulating Safarov on his return to
Azerbaijan and wishing him success in his future activities in the
military sector.

Anti-Armenian Invective

Local newspapers added to the fanfare, with headlines crowing that
Safarov’s release “will improve the psychological mood of society”
and calling him “a hero for the entire Muslim world.”

Safarov’s conviction as a calculating ax murderer did little to temper
most Azerbaijanis’ enthusiasm. If anything, the gruesome nature of his
crime only added to his appeal in a country where the public narrative
has been shaped to portray Safarov as the victim and Margarian as
the taunting aggressor.

Many Azerbaijanis repeat the theory that Margarian had urinated on
the Azerbaijani flag or used it to polish his shoes. Others allege
that the Armenian was not even asleep when the attack took place,
and that he had provoked the attack.

No evidence from Safarov’s 2006 trial in Budapest suggests either
claim is true. But some Azerbaijani observers say the legacy of the
Nagorno-Karabakh war and a steady diet of government anti-Yerevan
invective have combined to cement an almost pathological hatred of
Armenians in the minds of many Azerbaijanis.

“It’s not only the Armenian soldiers and officers who are occupying
our land that Azerbaijanis consider their enemy,” says Baku-based
political analyst Zardusht Alizadeh. “It’s not only the ‘Armenian
terrorists’ who were killed in the fighting. Because of a very
skillfully constructed propaganda campaign, it’s all Armenians who
are considered the enemy. That’s why a man who killed an Armenian in
his sleep is automatically categorized as a hero.”

The 1988-94 war over Nagorno-Karabakh — an Armenian-majority region
within Azerbaijani territory — ended with the deaths of tens of
thousands on each side and the displacement of hundreds of thousands
more.

It also left the region and surrounding territories under Armenian
control — for Baku, an unacceptable territorial loss of some 20
percent.

Nearly two decades later, the unresolved dispute remains the focus of
international negotiations whose partners, including the United States
and Russia, have frowned at Azerbaijan’s zealous embrace of Safarov.

But Azerbaijan — whose dynastic leader, Ilham Aliyev, is seen as using
his country’s massive oil wealth to buy silence on his authoritarian
practices — has shrugged off such criticism as hypocritical meddling.

Many in the country argue that the international community remained
silent when a case similar to Safarov’s unfolded years earlier
in Armenia.

In 2001, Yerevan granted an immediate pardon to Varoujan Garabedian,
a Syrian-born militant who killed eight people in a 1983 bomb attack
in a French airport.

Garabedian was returned to Armenia after serving 17 years of a life
sentence in France, and received his pardon while still in Yerevan’s
airport.

‘Radical Elements Are The Only Winners’

Erkin Gaderli, a lawyer and a member of the Republican Alternative
opposition group, says he believes “no one” in Azerbaijan “seriously”
thinks of Safarov as a hero.

But at the same time, he acknowledges that ordinary Azerbaijanis are
confounded by the continued deadlock over Nagorno-Karabakh, and have
fallen into a tit-for-tat relationship with Armenia, with each side
looking to best the other on even insignificant issues.

“There is an emotion growing in society, and it’s a reflection of
a deep frustration with the conflict in the occupied territories,”
Gaderli says. “And there is a growing expectation that somehow,
someday this must come to an end. Many people think that something
needs to be done in response to Armenia. So whatever Armenia has done,
for good or for bad, should somehow be retaliated.”

There are suggestions that Armenia may already be prepared to raise
the stakes, with the parliament in Yerevan now considering a hastily
submitted bill on recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent
country.

The outcome of such a provocation is worrisome to many who fear the
countries will return to a war footing.

Even without a resumption of violence, some observers find the Safarov
case a depressing development in a year when Azerbaijan has attempted
to buff its Western credentials by playing Eurovision host and joining
the UN Security Council.

In a piece published by the BBC’s Russian Service, Thomas de Waal,
a South Caucasus expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace, wrote that the affair struck a blow to many activists and
officials in Azerbaijan who have spent years quietly building a
dialogue with Armenia.

With Safarov’s hero-sized welcome such critical efforts may now be
lost. “After the authorities in Baku met the killer with open arms,
the country’s image has suffered enormous damage,” he wrote.

“Unfortunately, the only winners are the radical elements on both
sides.”

Editor’s note: Written and reported by Daisy Sindelar in Prague with
additional reporting from Baku by Arife Kazimova

RELEASE AND PARDON OF KILLER JEOPARDISES ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN CEASEFIRE

Wikinews

Sept 5 2012

Following Hungary’s release and repatriation of convicted Azeri
axe-murderer, Ramil Safarov, who Azerbaijan subsequently pardoned,
Armenia announced it is “ready for war”.

The declaration is in-response to Safarov’s pardon and promotion,
despite the Azeri officer having been given a life sentence – with
a minimum jail term of 30 years, by Hungarian authorities in 2006.

Safarov was found guilty of the 2004 murder of Armenian officer Gurgen
Margaryan in Budapest, when both Safarov and Margaryan were attending
a NATO Partnership for Peace programme. Safarov killed Margaryan in
his sleep with an axe; the attack allegedly stemming from a desire
to avenge Azeris killed during the Nagorno-Karabakh War and being
mocked by Margaryan and another Armenian.

On his return home, Safarov was met with a hero’s welcome, given
a pardon by president Ilham Aliyev, promoted to the rank of major,
awarded eight-years of back-pay and given a house. Armenia sees these
acts, when it was expected that Safarov would serve out his prison
term in Azerbaijan, as highly provocative.

Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian declared: “We don’t want a war,
but if we have to, we will fight and win. We are not afraid of killers,
even if they enjoy the protection of the head of state” .

Historically both Armenia and Azerbaijan lay claim to some of the
same territories, an issue complicated by the intermingling of ethnic
populations so some areas have no clearly demarcated Azeri and Armenian
border; these potential sources of conflict remained quiescent whilst
both nations were subsumed by greater powers.

However, the collapse of the Ottoman and Russian Empires in the wake
of the First World War led to the Armenian-Azerbaijani War. With the
demise of the short-lived Armenian-Azerbaijan-Georgia Transcaucasian
Democratic Federative Republic, fighting broke out which only ended
when the two nations were annexed by the expanding Soviet Union.

With the USSR’s collapse, Armenia and Azerbaijan re-emerged as
independent states – as-did old rivalries over territory. Between
1988 and 1994 over thirty thousand people died, and a million were
displaced in bitter ethnic fighting between Armenians and Azeris over
the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh; despite an Organization for Security
and Co-operation in Europe brokered ceasefire, no final armistice
has been signed and intermittent violence between them the two states
continues. Nagorno-Karabakh remains legally part of Azerbaijan, but
under effective Armenian control. On multiple occasions president
Ilham Aliyev has stated his willingness to resort to force in order
to assert Azeri rule, with oil wealth tipping any local arms race in
favour of Azerbaijan.

On Friday, The National Security Council of Armenia decided to
break ties with Hungary during an emergency summit, describing the
Hungarian actions as a “grave mistake”. In turn, the Azeri ambassador
was summoned by Hungary on Monday regarding the breach of Azeri
assurances that Safarov would serve out the remainder of his sentence
in Azerbaijan.

ARMENIAN COUNCIL SAYS REPATRIATION OF AZERI SOLDIER “NAIVE, UNPROFESSIONAL” MOVE

Politics.hu

Sept 5 2012
Hungaria

The Hungarian government acted in good faith but was “naive and
unprofessional” when it decided to repatriate Ramil Safarov to
Azerbaijan, convicted for murdering an Armenian citizen in Budapest
in 2004, the head of the Armenian Minority Self-government said
on Tuesday.

There is no reason to assume that Hungary did not act in good faith
but the Ministry of Justice which should have acted as a guarantor
of professionalism “was not in top form,” said Simon Serkisian Suevan.

He presented an official statement by the council, which states that
Hungarian justice authorities “neglected moral considerations” when
they fulfilled Azerbaijan’s request. The Armenian self-government
is asking for an investigation into the case and its background in
order to reveal any political or potential criminal responsibility,”
the statement added.

Commenting on the recent burning of a Hungarian flag by protesters in
Yerevan following the Azeri’s repatriation, deputy head of the council
Avanesian Alexan Artin said it was an isolated action by extremists.

Most Armenians in Armenia have reacted calmly to the case.

Lawyer Gabriella Gaspar, who represented the victim in the proceedings
that followed the murder, said it was impossible to expect that
Safarov would continue to serve his sentence after his return home.

Hungary last week transferred Safarov back to his home country,
whereupon he was pardoned by the president and released. Armenia
suspended diplomatic ties with Hungary on Friday.

CONTACT, LEARN AND VOTE: ARMENIAN-AMERICANS CAN MAKE THEIR VOICES HEARD
By Jivan H. Purutyan

Local politics are often forgotten, overshadowed and swept under the
carpet, especially in the presidential election year.

Many of us are unaware of local elections and debates, assuming the
large ones are the only ones that matter. This could not be further
from the truth, however. There are three levels of government that
enact law: congress which ratifies laws for the country; a state
legislature that enacts laws statewide and city councilors that
approve laws for cities and towns. All three levels are capable of
affecting our daily lives and deserve equal attention from us as
Armenian-Americans and Americans, alike. Many people do not follow
local politics, and even fewer bother to vote. There is a belief
that change cannot be accomplished at the local level, but I strongly
disagree with this notion. Change starts at the local level, and then
expands. I would like to urge others to become involved, connecting
with elected officials and voicing goals and concerns. Elected
officials are our voice in representative government, and if we
show that as Armenians and individuals our issues matter, we will
have greater influence in our communities. If one is concerned about
issues such as immigration or our educational system, for example, it
does no good to complain behind closed doors. If we want to persuade
politicians to be concerned about issues important to our families, we
have to educate ourselves and show interest in the electoral process.

I have learned that a campaign has limited time and resources, which
are often spent on the media and targeting citizens who can make a
difference. When campaign workers connect with people using pamphlets,
going to door-to-door and calling homes, they usually contact those
that are interested in the process, and are sure to vote, evidenced
by voting in prior elections. Therefore, if we want a voice in the
political process, we must involve ourselves now, so as not to be
overlooked or forgotten. We can get involved just by learning about
the candidates and making it to the polls on election days.

As I have discovered, contacting a representative about issues most
pressing to us can be a challenge, but statewide candidates are
willing to spend time and discuss issues that affect us all.

Over the past few weeks I have met with Joe Mullin, who is running for
the 3rd Middlesex District state senate seat. He informed me about
the upcoming election, including his positions, such as “adequate
and accessible healthcare for all Americans.” For students like me,
and others wanting to learn more about our government, it is vital
to make contact with people who are knowledgeable and willing to
discuss the issues. In fact, I became involved with his campaign
because Mullin gave me a chance to participate in the campaign.

Another public servant that has taken time to discuss with me the
intricacies of local government is Peter Koutoujian, the incumbent
sheriff of Middlesex County who is running for re-election
this November. Koutoujian was previously a Massachusetts state
representative and has always made time to answer my questions.

Though there are flaws in the system, dollars seemingly wasted and
debates held in vain with little public response, if we make an effort
to learn about our government, it becomes more clear that it is in our
hands to shape. We have priorities as individuals and also within our
Armenian community. We have the power as a whole to make a difference.

However if we are not involved and organized, contacting politicians,
attending debates and voting and we don’t voice our needs, we will
never accomplish our communal goals.

First we must become informed and involved in the important political
life of our state, cities and towns. Then we can begin to cultivate
those who aspire to public service.

(Jivan Purutyan is a 15 year old from Concord, Mass., and a freshman
at The Middlesex School.)