Author: Kanayan Tamar

ORGANIZATION FOR KARABAKH LIBERATION DISAPPROVES PLANS OF AZERBAIJAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS TO VISIT KHANKENDI

Today.Az
21 February 2008

The Organization for Karabakh Liberation has made an announcement
regarding the plans of a number of NGOs to visit Khankendi upon the
initiative of Zardusht Alizade and Arzu Abdullayeva.

Day.Az reports with reference to the press service for the Organization
for Karabakh Liberation, the organization disapproved the plans of
NGO representatives to visit Khankendi.

"The visits are held in the framework of the so called "popular
diplomacy" and serve the interests of Armenia’s occupational policy. We
have already announced that such visits bring no results and Armenians
still hate the Azerbaijani people.

Therefore, the activity aiming at boosting peace is not intended for
the resolution of the Karabakh issue and Armenians’ renunciation of
its occupational policy. The aim is the desire to take a grant. These
people betray the national interests of Azerbaijan for implementation
of their plans, connected with finances", the announcement says.

According to the announcement, the law-enforcement bodies should put
an end to the attempts of these people to use the national tragedy
as a source of revenues.

The Armenian Weekly On-Line
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The Armenian Weekly; Volume 74, No. 6; Feb. 16, 2008

AYF Section:

1. Feeling the Spirit, Reading the Words of Hampig Sassounian

2. AYF Alumni Spotlight: Arsineh Khachikian

3. A Fun-Filled Weekend in the Snow

***

1. Feeling the Spirit, Reading the Words of Hampig Sassounian

NEW YORK-On Feb. 3, the New York Hyortik AYF connected with the ideas and
spirit of a soul whose body is trapped: They read a letter from political
prisoner Hampig Sassounian, received in response to a Christmas and New
Years card they had sent him.

During this past holiday season, the New York AYF prepared Christmas cards
for distribution to family, friends, community organizations and regional
bodies. However, after learning the story of Sassounian’s incarceration,
some members decided it was important to show him that he, too, is still
remembered.

In the letter, Sassounian tells members to "remain active and unrelenting,
like bees, in our pursuit of justice for the Armenian Cause." He goes on to
say that he follows the developments in Armenia and the diaspora very
closely, encouraging the group to visit Armenia and help it prosper.
Finally, he notes that the AYF must work with other organizations to achieve
these goals.

The correspondence with Sassounian had a profound effect on all the members
of the chapter. "I was overwhelmed with emotion when I heard the words of
the 25-year political prisoner," said Hyortik member Toros Asadourian.

In 1982, Sassounian was accused of being a gunman in the assassination of
Turkish consul general Kemal Arikan in Los Angeles. Although pleading not
guilty, the Court convicted him of first-degree murder and sentenced him to
life in prison, a decision that was later changed to 25 years to life. Even
though the case has been revisited, the sentence has yet to be overturned.

Along with Sassounian, there currently are three other Armenian political
prisoners still incarcerated in Canada. These men chose to serve the idea of
the nation without having visited the homeland; it was only a place for them
to sense, feel and hear about.

Despite this, they gave up everything in order to bring the Armenian Cause
to the forefront of political minds, to show that Armenians would no longer
stand to have their rights pushed aside.

To write to Sassounian, send letters to:

Hampig Sassounian
CDCR# C-88440
Cell # 1167
California Men’s Colony
State Prison
P.O. Box 8101
San Luis Obispo, CA
93409-8101
———————————— ————————————————-

2. AYF Alumni Spotlight: Arsineh Khachikian

>From an early age, Arsineh Khachikian had become involved in the AYF and
Armenian-American community affairs. As a Washington Sevan AYF Junior, she
regularly attended Camp Haiastan and went on to volunteer there several
times as a counselor. She also served on the Washington Ani Senior
Executive, was elected to the AYF-YOARF Central Executive, worked on
numerous central councils, directed the AYF Internship Program in Armenia
and helped found the Eastern Region’s quarterly publication, "Hoki."

By the time she was 23, Arsineh became an active member of the ARF. In that
same year, she decided to move to Armenia for a nine-month stay, wherein her
ties to the homeland and commitment to moving there solidified. Although she
returned to the U.S. and worked for two years as the director of the ANCA
Capital Gateway Program, her sights were set on establishing herself in
Armenia as soon as the time was right. That time ultimately came in 2006,
when Arsineh picked up and moved to Armenia for good.

Upon arriving, she teamed up with fellow repatriate Raffi Niziblian to start
Deem Communications, a comprehensive marketing and public relations agency.
With a staff of 11 (all locals except Raffi and Arsineh), Deem is quickly
approaching a tremendously successful two-year anniversary. Arsineh actually
credits her AYF experience for being part of the secret to her success. "I
run my business with the skills I learned in the AYF," explains Khachikian.

In addition to staying busy with Deem, Arsineh is involved in various
organizational activities and pursues photography as an active hobby. She is
scheduled to launch a new book of photographs in May, titled My Nation: The
Trails and Trials of an Armenian Repatriate, documenting her experiences in
the Armenian community. You can find out more about her book by visiting

Arsineh has succeeded in making Armenia her home and cherishes her move
there as one of the most fulfilling decisions she has made in her life. "I
moved to Armenia after a lifetime spent appreciating its history and culture
through the AYF," says Khachikian. "It was a foundation for my life that set
the stage for many great things to come, and I’m forever grateful for my
chance to be a part of it all."
————————————— ———————————————–

3 . A Fun-Filled Weekend in the Snow

For over 10 years, the New York Hyortik AYF has been organizing an annual
ski trip weekend for Armenian youth to come together and enjoy the fun of
the winter season. This year, the "Winter Weekend Getaway" took place in the
confines of Pennsylvania’s Jack Frost and Big Boulder Mountains.

>From Feb. 8-10, over 40 participants took up six cabins and enjoyed one
another’s company in a fun-filled weekend of skiing, snow tubing and
snowboarding. AYF members from chapters such as New York, New Jersey,
Philadelphia and even California were in attendance, as well as various
non-AYF members who came to socialize with other Armenian youth. Sevag
Parsehian, chair of the Hyortik Chapter, explains how "the weekend serves as
a great tool for making friends and acquainting new faces interested in
joining the AYF to the organization’s membership."

Retreating to the mountains provides an especially ideal environment for
participants to bond and interact. From the onset, those who did not know
each other were encouraged to go around and introduce themselves, quickly
creating an atmosphere of genuineness and camaraderie.

"The people…the atmosphere… the experience is something that cannot be
expressed, only experienced through a fun-filled weekend in the snow," says
Hyortik member Justin Kaladjian.

With this year’s winter getaway a resounding success, participants are
already gearing up for next year’s ski trip. "I can’t wait for next year,"
exclaims Parsehian. "I recommend this event to all Armenians, whether they
are AYF members or not."

For information about next year’s annual ski trip, e-mail [email protected].

Monsters and Critics.com
Feb 19 2008

Polls open in Armenian presidential elections

Feb 19, 2008, 12:51 GMT

Yerevan, Armenia – Polls opened across Armenia Tuesday morning in an
election that is as much a judgment of outgoing President Robert
Kocharian’s decade at the helm of the small Caucasus state as they
are about electing a successor.

While Kocharian’s preferred successor, Prime Minister Serzh
Sarkisian, 53, led in pre-election surveys, there were strong
questions about whether he would be able to win a first round
outright for which he would need more than 50 per cent of the vote.

Armenia’s current construction boom and steady growth in recent years
speak for the powerful prime minister, whose party swept recent
parliamentary elections in the country.

Speaking to journalists after casting his ballot Tuesday, Sarkisian
said, ‘The government was formed nine months ago, and we have since
then achieved good results. I do not know of any need for essential
changes.’

Kocharian, who voted minutes before at the same polling stations,
underlined, ‘Each elections is a test which will leave us stronger. I
would like everything to be decided in the first round.’

‘I voted for the stability and growth of Armenia. We are registering
a very important progress,’ the president added.

His words were echoed by voters outside polling stations in the
capital on Tuesday.

Vladimir, a 75-year-old pensioner, said simply he was voting to ‘keep
the old power, to keep stability,’ while Arar, an architect in his
thirties, pointed to cranes overhanging the street and said ‘the
country is growing.’

The most prominent challenge comes from Armenia’s first president,
Levon Ter-Petrosian, 63, who made a dramatic comeback from hermetic
retirement as a widely unpopular leader associated with the country’s
post-Soviet economic collapse.

‘We will fight to the end,’ Ter-Petrosian said Tuesday, repeating the
phrase from his campaign speech Saturday that drew about 30,000 to
Yerevan’s theatre square.

‘Many dirty things are happening. There have been many violations in
this election,’ the former president said after voting Tuesday.

Ter-Petrosian has already called a mass meeting on Wednesday, raising
fears of post-election unrest in the streets. Students in Yerevan
announced last minute closures at their universities Wednesday.

Despite progress, over a quarter of Armenians live below the poverty
line and widespread perceptions of corruption dog the top candidates.

‘Our choice is between bad and worse,’ was a phrased repeated by
voters on election day.

Former parliamentary speaker Artur Baghdasarian, a 39-year-old
populist politician calling for Armenia’s accession to the EU and
NATO, is expected to finish second in the polls with about 20 per
cent of the vote.

In all, nine candidates appear on Tuesday’s ballot.

But in the battle between Kocharian’s predecessor and successor, the
frozen conflict with neighbouring Azerbaijan over the territory of
Nagorno-Karabakh has emerged as the most sensitive issue.

Ter-Petrosian maintains the conciliatory stand that was the main
cause of his resignation in 1998 at the end of a full-scale, six-year
war, while war hero Sarkisian has upheld Kocharian’s hawkish stance.

The government candidate sees the country’s foreign policy as being
closely tied to Moscow, which lends him its backing.

Armenia has been pushed to look for allies out of the region, facing
blockades along its border with Azerbaijan and Turkey, which rejects
Yerevan’s lobbying for international recognition of the killings of
Armenians by the Turkish Ottoman Empire in 1915 as genocide.

The small Caucasus state of 2.3 million has emerged as strategically
important, lying along gas routed from the energy-rich Caspian Sea
region to Europe and a close partner of Iran. Western powers fear
that tensions along its border could disrupt gas routes.

Three hours after polling stations opened at 800 (400 GMT), 11.2 per
cent of voters had cast their ballot.

The voting will last 12 hours and the first official results are
expected from midnight. A new election law passed last year forbids
voting by Armenian nationals living abroad.

The United States, meanwhile, has threatened to withhold 235 million
dollars in aid, while further diplomatic relations with the European
Union may be contingent on the fairness of Tuesday’s vote, which will
be monitored by 620 international observers.

Opposition candidates have criticized Sarkisian for abusing his
government post to secure television coverage and blanket advertising
across the country.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s vote
monitoring mission is to deliver its assessment on Wednesday
afternoon.

First data of exit polls to be presented at 20:00 on air of the Public TV of
Armenia

February 19, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. British Populus is carrying out exit polls today
of the presidential elections in Armenia.

The exit polls are ordered by the Public TV of Armenia.

Mediamax reports that the first data of the exit polls will be
presented at 20:00 on air of the Public TV of Armenia and will concern
the information, received from the electors, as of 18:00.

It is expected that the final data of the exit polls will be presented
at 22:00.

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Feb 18 2008

Burzu Aliyev: I will do my best for the development of
Ukraine-Azerbaijan intergovernmental relations
– EXCLUSIVE

[ 18 Feb 2008 14:55 ]

Kyiv. Laura Jabrayilli-APA. Ukraine’s Deputy Fuel and Energy
Minister, our countryman Burzu Aliyev interviewed by APA

Profile. Burzu Aliyev was born in Aghdam region of Azerbaijan in
1965. He graduated from the faculty of informatics and computer
engineering of Kyiv Technical Institute in 1993 and International
Business School of Kyiv Magellan Academy in 1999. He is an
international economist. Burzu Aliyev had been head of financial
department of Ukraine’s ACME company. He had been appointed Ukraine’s
Deputy Fuel and Energy Minister on February 13 this year. He is
married, has two children.

-When did you move to Ukraine?
-I came to this country for military service in 1983. Later I decided
to stay and get higher education here. In 1993 I graduated from the
faculty of informatics and computer engineering of Kyiv Technical
Institute. In 1999 I graduated from International Business School of
Kyiv Magellan Academy and became international economist. I started
my career and I got married. Once I felt I was a Ukrainian. This is a
fate.
-How did you start your career?
-I worked here when I was a student. I used to unload wagons, I
studied well and wanted to dress well. I held different posts after
graduated the institute. I can say that I am a professional in my
sphere. As I arrived in Ukraine, I considered myself the citizen of
this country. I am glad to be one of the first citizens of
independent Ukraine.
-When did you become the member of Our Ukraine party? Do you know
President Victor Yushchenko closely?
-I do not know President Victor Yushchenko closely, of course I know
him as president, and he knows that I am an entrepreneur. I am not
the member of any party yet, but I have been cooperating with Our
Ukraine.
-How were you appointed to this post? Who offered you the post?
-I was nominated from the bloc `Our Ukraine People’s Self-Defence’ in
the recent parliamentary elections. After the parliamentary elections
the bloc established a coalition with the party of present Prime
Minister Yuliya Timoshenko and formed the new government. I was
offered a post in the new government and I agreed.
-What steps do you plan to take to bring Ukraine and Azerbaijan
closer?
-Peoples of Ukraine and Azerbaijan are very close. Ukraine is one of
those countries which have unanimous attitude towards Azerbaijan.
These countries have close cooperation in the framework of GUAM. The
idea of State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic to build an oil
refinery in Ukraine was hailed. I have just taken the office, and to
tell the truth I am not acquainted with the spheres that I will deal
with well enough, and that’s why I can not promise anything at
present. I am responsible for 21 departments. It is very difficult. I
can only say that I will do my best for the development of
Ukraine-Azerbaijan intergovernmental relations.
-President Yushchenko stated that the solution of `frozen conflicts’
is important in the cooperation of Black Sea countries. Nagorno
Karabakh conflict is one of these conflicts. How do you imagine the
solution of this conflict?
-Azerbaijan is a country which has specific weight in the region.
This country is known as a leader of the Caucasus in Eastern Europe.
Azerbaijan acts in this direction. If Azerbaijani economy becomes
stronger, its army will also be strong. Policy pursued by Azerbaijani
President is true and I support this policy.
-How do you appreciate the importance of project of
Odessa-Brodi-Plotsk-Gdansk pipeline for Ukraine and Europe?
I appreciate it. Ukraine is an Eastern Europe country. Such projects
will help it to be close to European standards.
-Which arguments can be used for transportation of Azerbaijani oil,
as well as Kazakh oil via this pipeline?
I am not ready to answer to this question. I will do my best for
participation of Kazakhstan in this project.
-How are your relations with Azerbaijan at present? Have you got any
friends in motherland?
-All Azerbaijanis are my friends. I express my gratitude to all
citizens who congratulated me on my appointment. I follow all
information about Azerbaijan. I watch Azerbaijani TV channels at
home. I was a representative of 1st congress of World Azerbaijanis
and honorary guest o f 2nd congress. I am happy that, Azerbaijani
economy and policy develops rapidly.
-I hear that, you like mugam very much. You listen to mugam at home
and in the car.
-This love is connected with my motherland. I consider mugam a pearl
of world music. I like all mugam singers. I watched all programs of
mugam competition carried out with financial support of Heydar Aliyev
Foundation. I released 2 CDs of unforgettable Sakhavat Mammadov in
Kyiv and I will release all his performances till autumn. It will be
a present for 55th jubilee of Sakhavat Mammadov. I am interested in
Azerbaijani literature. I knew poets of Bakhtiyar Vahabzadeh by heart
before. I read the book `Tochki’ of Gulu Agsas at present. I gave his
book to all my colleagues here.

Interfax News Agency, Russia
Russia & CIS General Newswire
February 17, 2008 Sunday 2:33 PM MSK

Ample conditions created in Armenia for free election – CIS observers

YEREVAN Feb 17

Observers from countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS), monitoring the Armenian presidential election, have released a
second interim report which says that Armenia’s electoral code was
drafted in compliance with the convention on democratic election
standards, and the electoral rights and liberties in CIS countries.

"In the opinion of CIS observers, the main preparations for the
Armenian presidential election are proceeding in line with the
electoral code. The country’s legislative and executive authorities
have created proper conditions for a free and open election
campaign," says the report, circulated on Sunday.

"The law on the presidential election has no provisions that would
set discriminatory curbs on citizens’ electoral rights or involve
citizens’ inequality before the law," it says.

Armenia’s electoral code "guarantees a solid foundation for free and
democratic elections," the CIS observers said.

The Armenian Central Election Commission has formed 41 territorial
and 1,923 district electoral commissions, the report says.

"The Central Elections Commission is working openly, its meetings
were attended by international observers, representatives of the
public and journalists, who provided immediate coverage of the
decisions made," it says.

Following visits to territorial commissions the mission stated that
their work was open. "Observers were given the right to assess the
territorial commission’s work without any restrictions," the report
says.

The canvassing campaign is proceeding in compliance with the Armenian
electoral code, "correctly and quietly," they said.

Within the framework of the monitoring mission, its headquarters
analyze complaints about irregularities uncovered.

"The CIS observers state that complaints about irregularities
uncovered are analyzed in accordance with the Armenian legislation,"
the reports says.

The Armenia presidential election is due to take place on February
19.

RSF: ARTICLE 301 IS "ENEMY OF PRESS FREEDOM"

BIA
Feb 14 2008
Turkey

In its annual report for 2008, Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
criticised Article 301 and the nationalist obstruction of press
freedom. The murder of Hrant Dink could have been prevented.

2007 began very badly, with the murder of Turkish-Armenian Agos
newspaper editor Hrant Dink. It was a tough year for press freedom,
with authoritarian behaviour and nationalist violence.

Dink’s murder could have been prevented Hrank Dink was shot dead on 19
January 2007 in front of the Istanbul offices of the privately-owned
bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly magazine Agos he edited. The
killer, O. S., from Trabzon, a bastion of Turkish nationalism, was
arrested hours later and investigations soon showed he had ties to
the security forces, which had been warned several times Dink was
going to be killed.

But officials refused to prosecute the police suspects and evidence
was reportedly destroyed. The trial of the 19 suspects began in
Istanbul in July amid tight police security and because O.S. (17)
was a minor, was held in secret. The second hearing mentioned the
police involvement. The third hearing was on 11 February 2008, and
the next hearing is on 25 February.

Article 301, the enemy of press freedom When the hitman was arrested
he expressed no remorse and said Dink deserved to die for insulting
Turks. Dink had been prosecuted several times for calling the
Ottoman Empire massacre of Armenians "genocide," a term that Turkey
rejects. Article 301 of the criminal code provides for between six
months and three years in prison for anyone "openly denigrating"
the government, courts, police or armed forces.

Dink was given a suspended six-month prison sentence in 2005 under
this article and was prosecuted again in September 2006 for calling
the Armenian massacre "genocide" in an interview with Reuters news
agency. His son Arat and two other Agos staffers were given year-long
suspended prison sentences in October 2007 for reprinting the interview
in the magazine.

Promises of amendment not kept A few days earlier, newly-elected
Turkish President Abdullah Gul told the Council of Europe’s
Parliamentary Assembly that he favoured amending article 301. The EU’s
annual progress report on Turkey’s application to join the EU said very
serious efforts were still needed to improve freedom of expression.

Justice minister Mehmet Ali Sahin said on 6 November the government
would amend article 301 and that the cabinet would give priority to
proposals based on calls from civil society groups. Prime minister
Erdogan made similar promises a year earlier.

The army as a threat to the media Nationalism was behind many attacks
on press freedom. Yasin Yetisgen, owner-editor of the Kurdish
paper Coban Atesi, was thrown in jail for printing an article on
2 August saying the town of Antep was in "northern Kurdistan," an
officially-illegal term. Journalists were several times forbidden to
report on Turkish military operations in Iraqi Kurdistan against PKK
rebel bases, officially so as not to demoralise the population with
"negative" news but in fact to preserve the image of the army.

This desire for control was shown in March when two reports, from the
the military high command and the prime minister’s office, were leaked
to the media. They revealed that media outlets and journalists were
classified as to how far they agreed with government policies and that
official accreditation was used to either exert pressure on a media
outlet or journalist or to reward those that backed the armed forces.

Three French journalists – Guillaume Perrier of Le Monde and two
photographers for the Capa photo agency – were arrested on 24 October
at the Habur border-crossing between Turkey and Iraq for refusing to
show their film to customs officials, who roughed one of them up.

They were held for questioning with no reason given, separated and
interrogated. They were freed by the town prosecutor the next day
but their film and equipent was not returned.

Kurdish media faced obstacles Many Kurdish media outlets were
shut down, sometimes more than once, mainly for supposed "terrorist
propaganda," and most often the newspapers Gundem and Guncel. Gun TV,
broadcasting in the southern region of Diyarbakir and the only station
allowed to put out Kurdish-language programmes, ran into many problems,
including when it broadcast Kurdish songs.

Columnist Aydin Erdogan was dismissed in October by the daily
Cumhuriyet for criticising, during a TV debate on the pro-Kurdish
Roj TV channel, planned constitutional changes and for advocating a
peaceful solution to the Kurdish conflict. He was also not allowed to
present his own books put out by Cumhuriyet Publishing at the Tuyap
book fair as had been planned.

ARMENIAN JUDO NATIONAL TEAM TO TAKE PART IN NEXT TOUR OF WORLD CUP TOURNAMENT IN VIENNA

Noyan Tapan
Feb 15, 2008

PARIS, FEBRUARY 15, NOYAN TAPAN. After the Tournament of Judo World
Supercup, which finished on February 8 in Paris, the Armenian national
team was involved in the teaching and training gathering with French
judoists.

And on February 15 the Armenian national team left for Vienna with
the same staff, where on February 16-17 it will take part in the next
tour of the World Cup Tournament.

OSCE PRIORITY IN 2008 DIRECTED AT SETTLEMENT OF DELAYED FROZEN CONFLICTS IN AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA AND MOLDOVA – FINLAND FOREIGN MINISTER

Trend News Agency
Feb 14 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 14 February / Trend News corr. K.Ramazanova /
The priority of OSCE in 2008 will be the settlement of the delayed
conflicts in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova, Ilkka Kanereva, OSCE
acting-chairman in Washington and Finland Foreign Minister, stated
during the meeting of US Commission in Helsinki on 13 February

Three unsettled frozen conflicts remain: Nagorno-Karabakh,
Georgian-Abkhaz and Georgian-Osetia, on the territory of CIS countries.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began
in 1988, due to the Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan.

Since 1992, the Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven neighbouring
districts. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire
agreement which ended the active hostilities. The Co-Chairs of the
OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding
the peaceful negotiations.

Kanereva added that he would pay a visit to the South Caucasus at
the end of February. Within the framework of the visit he would
discuss with the Presidents of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia,
ways of settling the conflicts in the region.

Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
Feb 14 2008

Armenia: Rivals Up The Stakes

Two main contenders in presidential poll claim that government
employees are on their side.

By Naira Melkumian in Yerevan (CRS No. 431 14-Feb-08)

As the Armenian presidential contest heads towards the finishing
line, tensions are rising between supporters of the two leading
candidates, while the intentions of many voters remain unclear.

The official candidate, Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian, and the man
generally seen as his principal rival, former president Levon
Ter-Petrosian, are engaged in a contest of wills, each claiming that
the public is behind him.

Ter-Petrosian’s supporters have sought to undermine confidence in the
Sarkisian camp by claiming that many government officials are on
their side, while accusing the administration of pressuring employees
to back its favoured candidate.

It is difficult to judge what people’s real voting intentions are.

During a Ter-Petrosian rally in Yerevan on February 9, IWPR asked two
men and a woman standing to one side whether they supported the
former president. `We aren’t for anyone, we just came to look and
listen,’ replied one of them.

A few minutes later, they became less hesitant and volunteered the
information that in the district administration offices where they
work, their bosses noted down their passport details and instructed
them to vote for the government’s candidate or face losing their
jobs.

`How can we vote freely after that?’ asked the woman.

A member of staff at Armenia’s institute of archaeology and
ethnography said many people were choosing to keep their views to
themselves for fear of suffering the consequences.

`If people are asked, they may say that they are supporting the
official candidate whereas in actual fact they may support the other
candidate, Levon Ter-Petrosian,’ she said. `There is undoubtedly
fear, especially among people who have a business or a state-sector
job.’

Ahead of the February 19 ballot, several opinion polls suggest that
Sarkisian has a commanding lead over his two main opponents,
Ter-Petrosian and former speaker of parliament Artur Baghdasarian.
Supporters of the two latter candidates say that the pollsters are
not neutral, and that voters are afraid to express their real views.

The Ter-Petrosian campaign team says between 80 and 100 people have
suffered intimidation or lost their jobs for supporting the former
president, and is compiling a list of names of people who have been
punished in this fashion. These figures have not been confirmed
independently.

The authorities strongly deny these charges.

`We need only transparent elections that are fair and inspire
confidence,’ said Sarkisian, answering questions in parliament.

In the northern Lori region of Armenia, the governor heads the
pro-government Republican Party but is allowing staff working under
him to support the opposition.

Arman Musinian, Ter-Petrosian’s press secretary, said that this was a
rare exception to the general rule.

`There are some honest leaders within the state system who understand
that people have the right to express their will and make a free
choice,’ said Musinian.

Musinian said the Ter-Petrosian campaign headquarters constantly gets
visits from people who work for the government, both in national
ministries and local administrations.

`Sometimes these are high-ranking people,’ he said. `They ask for CDs
or other materials, and even offer their help, but they try to do it
surreptitiously because they are afraid of losing their jobs. These
people run into not thousands but tens of thousands.’

Ter-Petrosian has used his position as the first president of
independent Armenia to target state-sector employees.

In the first press conference he gave in the election campaign, he
predicted that the whole `state pyramid’ would collapse in the run-up
to the vote. His supporters also predicted that he would win public
backing from some state officials.

Ter-Petrosian has won some support from other political forces, for
example the Heritage Party of former foreign minister Raffi
Hovannisian and the New Times party of Aram Karapetyan.

He has also been backed by some senior members of the Yerkrapah
Union, Armenia’s largest veterans’ organisation. It too has close
ties to the government and the Republican Party. Ter-Petrosian was
publicly endorsed by the party’s branch in the northwestern region of
Shirak during a rally in the regional centre Gyumri.

His candidacy has in addition been endorsed by Test of Spirit, an
influential organisation uniting veterans of the Karabakh war. The
group is led by Sasun Mikaelian and Hakob Hakobian, both of them
members of the ruling Republican faction in parliament.

`We stand by our commander-in-chief with whom we waged and won the
fight for freedom in Artsakh [Karabakh],’ Mikaelian told a rally. `We
are loyal to him.’

The Republican party said on February 11 that the decision by
Mikaelian and Hakobian to back Ter-Petrosian was not a sign of
serious cracks emerging in the Sarkisian camp.

`We are not worried about mass defections because our team is very
strong, very stable, very powerful and you will see that once again
on February 19,’ party spokesman Eduard Sharmazanov told the A1plus
news website. `The behaviour of one or two party members cannot be
attributed to the whole party.’

There were some press reports that 300 members of the pro-government
Prosperous Armenia party had teamed up with Ter-Petrosian. However,
there has been no public declaration to this effect, and party
spokesman Baghdasar Mherian said only one person had left his party
in recent times, and that was for reasons that had nothing to do with
politics.

Samvel Nikoyan, spokesman for the Republican Party, said predictions
that the Ter-Petrosyan camp would draw off support from
pro-government forces had been proven empty.

`Time has shown that everything that was said was a propaganda
instrument, mere wishful thinking,’ said Nikoyan.

Larisa Alaverdian, a former human rights ombudsman who now represents
the Heritage Party in parliament, insists voters must be courageous
enough to make up their own minds who they want to vote for on
election day.

`If we want to build a law-based state, then we need to drive the
slave out of ourselves,’ she said. `It ought to be a matter of pride
for the state system if it contains people with different points of
view. Such viewpoints shouldn’t be reduced to `I love you’ or `I
don’t love you’, but should be articulated in a more civilised
manner.’

Naira Melkumian is a freelance journalist in Yerevan. Naira
Bulghadaryan, correspondent for ArmeniaNow Online and the Civil
Initiative Newspaper in Vanadzor, also contributed to this article.