Author: Kanayan Tamar

Azerbaijan disseminates yet another disinformation – Armenian official

NEWS.AM
March 16, 2013 | 00:35

YEREVAN. – The Azerbaijani figure’s statements, with respect to a `bad
demeanor’ against the Azerbaijani captives in Armenia, are not true
and they are yet another disinformation. Armen Kaprielyan, the head of
the working group of the Armenian State Commission on Prisoners of War
Hostages and Missing Persons, told this to Armenian News-NEWS.am,
commenting on Exo newspaper’s publication that official Baku `knows
hundreds of cases that the Armenians have taunted Azerbaijani
captives.’

`This is yet another manifestation of the foolishness being spread by
Azerbaijani officials. All authorized international organizations are
aware of the real state of things. This claim by the Azerbaijani
`analyst’ is an unsubstantiated statement,’ Kaprielyan noted.

He also underscored the need to speak with facts.

`If the Azerbaijanis even had a hint of facts, they immediately would
have petitioned to the international organizations. And the absence of
such petitions proves that they have no evidence of their unfounded
allegations,’ Armen Kaprielyan concluded.

Edward Nalbandyan introduced Armenia’s efforts for Nagorno Karabakh
conflict regulation in Greece

11:30, 16 March, 2013

YEREVAN, MARCH 16, ARMENPRESS. On the invitation of the Hellenic
Minister of Foreign Affairs Dimitris Avramopoulos, Edward Nalbandyan
paid an official visit to Athens on March 15. The Department of Press,
Information and Public Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
the Republic of Armenia told “Armenpress” that the President of Greece
Karolos Papoulias received Edward Nalbandyan. Welcoming the Minister
of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia the Head of Greece
stated that the Greek people cherishes the warmest fraternal feelings
towards the Armenian people and Armenia and that he is glad to say
that the bilateral political relations are on a high level. At the
same time the President noted that the both sides must make efforts to
raise the economic cooperation to the same level as well.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Edward
Nalbandyan expressed his gratitude to President Papoulias for the
reception and conveyed greetings and warmest wishes of the President
of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and noted that President
Sargsyan warmly recalled his visit to Greece in 2011 and is looking
forward to the visit of the President of Greece to Armenia.

Among other things Edward Nalbandyan introduced the recent
developments in the process of regulation of the Karabakh issue to the
President of Greece.

The President of Greece asked to convey his respects and greetings to
the head of fraternal Armenia and noted that accepting the invitation
of the President of the Republic of Armenia he would be glad to visit
Armenia.

YEREVAN LIBERTY SQUARE DAY 5: EX-CANDIDATE CONTINUES HUNGER-STRIKE – VIDEOS

TERT.AM
10:59 ~U 14.03.13

Former opposition candidate Raffi Hovhannisian, who declared Sunday
an open-ended hunger strike at Yerevan’s Liberty Square, continues
his protest.

The night at the protest site was peaceful and without incident.

Hovhannisian was with his son, Karin, in the morning, reading the daily
press and getting familiarized with a petition sent by a supporter. He
holds a copy of the Bible book, flowers and drawings next to him.

A knitted coverlet featuring the Armenia’s tricolor flag is stretch
edout on the bench where the former candidate continues spends
his night.

Serzh Sargsyan’s major challenger in the recent presidential polls,
Hovhannisian disputes the voting results, considering them fraudulent.

The group of young activist, who have joined Hovhannisian’s
hunger-strike, are sitting on the stairs leading to the Opera House.

WASHINGTON: SPEECH OF HON. JOHN P. SARBANES OF MARYLAND IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013

US Official News
March 14, 2013 Thursday

The Library of Congress, The Government of USA has issued the following
news release:

Mr. SARBANES. Mr. Speaker, peace and stability in the Caucuses is in
the national interest of the United States and our European allies.

That means achieving a peaceful resolution to the rising tensions
between the peoples of Armenia and Azerbaijan. A final status of the
Nagorno Karabakh dispute must be achieved without resorting to war
and must be in keeping with democratic principles, the rule of law
and the protection of individual human rights.

Decades of Soviet rule and the continuing dispute over Nagorno
Karabakh have decimated the economy of Armenia. In stark contrast,
Azerbaijan now enjoys a growing economy from the extraction of natural
resources. This economic imbalance is further aggravated by the fact
that both Turkey and Azerbaijan have sealed their borders with Armenia,
with Azerbaijan pursuing an aggressive military build-up.

The United States must continue to press for resolution of the
Nagorno Karabakh dispute through the good offices and mechanisms
of international actors such as the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe. We must be ever vigilant in decrying actions
that undermine such efforts. I concur with the Obama administration’s
demand for an explanation of Azerbaijan’s pardoning of Ramil Safarov.

Azerbaijan’s decision to pardon Ramil Safarov after he was convicted
by a Hungarian court for the murder of an Armenian soldier while
participating in NATO’s Partnership for Peace program is not only
unconscionable, it is a direct affront to NATO and its efforts to
bring peace and stability to conflict regions through the Partnership
for Peace program.

JUDGE RESIGNS

07:48 PM | TODAY | SOCIAL

Civil Appeals Court Judge Tigran Sahakyan has submitted his resignation
today.

50-year-old Tigran Sahakyan has worked in judicial system since 1996.

Since the year 1996 to 1999 he has worked in Soviet People’s Court
judge.

>From 1999 to 2000 he has worked in the Military Court of Criminal
Appeals and the Court as a judge.

Since 2000 he has been working in the Civil Court of Appeal as a judge.

Tigran Sahakyan has PhD degree.

“Pastinfo”

GUBAD IBADOGLU: ABOUT $ 200 BILLION TRANSFERRED FROM AZERBAIJAN TO OFFSHORE ZONES

19:19 14/03/2013 ” SOCIETY

“About $ 200 billion is transferred from Azerbaijan to offshore
zones on islands in Latin America, Oceania and Europe. Banks in
Muslim countries as well as real estate transactions abroad, gold
and stocks are actively used to implement this,” said PhD, Chairman
of the Economic Research Center of Azerbaijan, Gubad Ibadoglu, the
article published on the website “Biznesinfo.az” says.

Ibadoglu noted that every Azerbaijani family as a result of transfer
of money to offshore zones did not count tens of thousands of dollars
in his budget.

The article says that in the mid-90s at the time of the original
financial redistribution in Azerbaijanthe Bahamas, for example, were
perceived as a springboard for the investment inflows. In practice, it
looked like this: money was pumped to offshore zone from Azerbaijan,
then the structures formed there were registered in Azerbaijan as a
partner or investment companies. In the oil sector of the republic
26 such “partners” operate today.

Offshore companies with Azerbaijani asset have proven themselves in
other branches of economy. There are insurance, financial and trading
firms among them. Offshore schemes worked well in the segment of
air aviation, gold mining industry, in a road construction. Besides
that, recently a tendency for the Azerbaijani offshore companies has
been established there in the sphere of leasing. Increasingly holding
companies are willing to register the offshore more frequently, as well
as companies involved in franchising and licensing, the article says.

The article states that, at the international level, the many
Azerbaijani offshore companies are are not able to act due to
Strasbourg Convention of the Council of Europe (1999) of the Criminal
Law Convention on Corruption and the Warsaw Convention (2005) on
Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime
and on the Financing of Terrorism. In 2009, Azerbaijan adopted a law
“On combating against legalization of criminally obtained funds or
other property and the financing of terrorism”, which greatly limits
the offshore activities. Appropriate decisions of the cabinet of
Ministers are developed, as well as instructions and orders of the
Ministry of Taxes, the Prosecutor General and the Customs Committee.

Meanwhile, the citizens of Azerbaijan who own big business actively
continue to use offshore schemes today. Thus they conduct efficient
economic activities, which easily allows their business to prosper
“outside the boundaries” of state control, the article says.

“There are many firms with the Azerbaijani capital in offshore today.

They make the oil and gas sector, they exist since 1995 and are located
mostly in the Cayman Islands, in the United States. The functioning
of these companies is conditioned by the benefits of tax regimes,”
the head of the Azerbaijani Oil Research Center Ilham Shaban commented
on the situation.

Source: Panorama.am

CHAIRMAN OF ARMENIAN CONSUMERS’ ASSOCIATION OPPOSES CANCELLATION OF YELLOW NUMBER PLATES ON TAXIS

YEREVAN, March 15. /ARKA/. Armen Poghosyan, chairman of the Armenian
Consumers’ Association, speaking Friday at a news conference, voiced
opposition to the traffic police’s proposal to replace yellow number
plates on taxis with special certificates.

This proposal was backed by the government-affiliated center
for coordination of laws, but Poghosyan said he finds this idea
illogical and unacceptable, since yellow number plates serve as
excellent evidence of one or another taxi service’s legality, while
the certificate that is proposed to be fastened on the back window
of the car is not clearly visible.

He also finds everyday technical fitness and medical examinations
unfeasible, but thinks regular examinations, at least twice a month,
are necessary.

The bill also implies tougher penalties for providing transportation
services without a license – wrongdoers must be fined AMD 20,000 to
AMD 50,000.

Gevorg Dosturyan, head of the Civil Position nongovernmental
organization, speaking at the same news conference, said that
replacement of yellow number plates with certificates will leave room
for forging the certificates easily.

“The traffic police department has not solved the problem of illegal
taxis yet, but it is already coming up with a new initiative,
which will create larger room for illegal passenger transportation
businesses,” he said.

According to the Armenian Consumers’ Association, there are 15,000
taxis in Armenia, the nulk of which work in Yerevan. Of them, 30%
have no licenses.

There are some 9,000 licensed taxis in Armenia now. Of them, 7,000
belong to 500 taxi services.

The bill will be considered by the government within the next few
weeks and if approved, it will be sent to the National Assembly. The
changes will come into effect six months after they are passed in
the parliament. -0-

AHOT MANUCHARYAN: CURRENT DYNAMICS PROMISES PROSPECTS

16:16 15/03/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:

Commenting on domestic developments, Ashot Manucharyan, member of
Karabakh Committee, said Raffi Hovannisian again woke people up.

According to him, people are so hopeless and desperate that they leave
the country because they find no meaning and prospect to stay. Raffi
Hovannisian had a great role in this important turn.

The positive aspect is that Raffi Hovannisian is not the leader, Ashot
Manucharyan says, adding that 2008 somehow repeats. At that time a
lot of people supported Levon Ter-Petrosyan but his steps led even
his ideological opponents to think about improving the country. He
says dynamics is good no matter what will happen next and promises
prospects.

According to him, there is interest in the continuity of tension
because there are two main actors, one of the actors has presented
their requirements to the government and the government agreed to
meet them, the other side is trying to set obstacles to prevent the
government from meeting those requirements.

According to him, deep inside Armenia has said yes to the West but
in reality the West could not lose its achievements here and now,
with the agreement with the West in place, the government has entered
into negotiations with Russia and agreed to all its proposals.

He also said that we must focus on creating our world.

Ashot Manucharyan says this awakening does not depend on the decision,
action, milestones of one person. He noted that the United States
is interested in staging institutional opposition. For example,
the municipal election of Yerevan may transform to an election to
the revolutionary committee.

He noted that there is one problem now – we cannot understand what
we want, we want sad things that the world has told us, such as
constitutional order, rule of law, fair elections. All these things
are in place in the EU which is in crisis and are absent in China
which is developing effectively.

“Whatever is happening in Armenia in the political sphere is a process
of redistribution of economic levers. The civic sphere rejects such
a policy because it wants to bring into being something else, real
politik. The civil society wants a real political process which is
maturing in Armenia. Armenia is in a better situation compared with
the United States,” Ashot Manucharyan said.

“KHOJALU” HASN’T GOT ITS LEGAL ASSESSMENT YET

Thursday, 14 March 2013 15:02

Chairman of the NKR NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations
Vahram ATANESIAN is answering our questions: – Mr. Atanesian,
I would like to draw your attention to the article of Director of the
Moscow Institute for Political and Social Research in the Black Sea
and Caspian Region Vladimir Zakharov, in which the author expressed
concern about the fact that the Armenian party did not work on a
proper level with other states to give an impartial assessment of
the Khojalu events.

At the same time, the Russian political scientist recalled the document
adopted by the Czech Parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee, which
qualified the Khojalu events as genocide.

We know that the Czech Republic is one of the states, which
immediately responded to the extradition of Azeri murderer Ramil
Safarov, condemning the Azerbaijani-Hungarian deal.

– The document adopted by the Czech Parliament’s Foreign
Relations Committee, which was signed by the Committee Chairman,
didn’t contain the word “genocide”. Apparently, it is the Azerbaijani
interpretation, since the document noted that “tragic events took
place there, leading to human deaths”. The events were evaluated as
the most massive killings of civilians during the Karabakh war. As for
the fact that this country responded to Safarov’s extradition and then
to the events in Khojalu, this happened due to the consistent work
of the Azerbaijani party. Let’s admit the truth. It is known that
Azerbaijan uses great efforts and amounts for presenting Khojalu
as a military crime committed by the Armenian party. Azerbaijan
is conducting everyday and quite successive propaganda works on the
Khojalu issue: the initiative “Justice to Khojalu” is sponsored by the
Heydar Aliev Foundation, the chairwoman of which is Mehriban Alieva and
the vice-chairwoman is Aliev’s daughter Leyla. The latter spends a lot
of time abroad, introducing herself as the author of the initiative.

Naturally, when a similar action is implemented on the presidential
family level, the foreign diplomatic, expert, and information circles
are more susceptible towards this person. Perhaps, truth doesn’t play
such a great role in politics as lobbying. The statement of the Czech
Parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee should be considered as a
manifestation of this lobbying.

– Unfortunately, we can’t say the same about the Armenian
party. What do you think of this?

– I’d like to be frank and use non-diplomatic formulations. Our
approach to this issue isn’t regulated at all: any political, military
or public figure says what he thinks. Recently, one of the Azerbaijani
mass media has re-published an article by Levon Melik-Shakhnazaryan,
in which he described Khojalu as the greatest victory of the Armenian
weapon. Some formulations of the article profited the Azerbaijani
party, which, referring to them, stated: look what is written about
Khojalu by the Armenian political figure who chaired the NKR Supreme
Soviet’s Foreign Relations Standing Committee in 1992. The Azerbaijani
party has repeatedly referred to the co-published book of Margar and
Seda Melkonians, which is dedicated to the memory of Monte Melkonian
and which contains regrettable mistakes. The book author is a person
who has never been to the NKR and who didn’t see what had happened
in Khojalu. Moreover, Margar didn’t meet his brother after Khojalu.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t prevent the conditions, which didn’t
correspond to the reality and which were disputable. We should also
note that during the military activities and the following days the
political and military authorities of Karabakh missed the control
over any journalist visiting Khojalu. And the Azerbaijani party has
recently published photos by St. Petersburg journalist Victoria Ivleva,
which were alleged made on February 27, 1992, in Khojalu. The Armenian
party didn’t respond, while it could, at least, apply to the woman
for denial. It isn’t excluded that the material is fabricated.

The Azerbaijanis usually use the photos related to the mass massacres
in Kosovo or Zagreb (the capital of Croatia), presenting them as
the events in Khojalu. A website on Khojalu in Armenian, Russian,
and Azerbaijani is created in the RA, which is an abundant source
of documents, photos, and even videos, but the propaganda activity
cannot be generally considered satisfactory.

– The Khojalu-related facts, testimonies of witnesses and all
other materials need to be analyzed, which, let’s admit, is almost
out of any attention.

– Today, we have the goal of giving a legal assessment to the
Khojalu events. Huge legal vacuum exists here, and the corresponding
bodies do not work properly. I know some materials that are put into
circulation by so-called head of the executive power of Khojalu Elman
Mamedov who is currently a member of the Azerbaijani Milli Mejlis
and is always involved in international business. But, no one from
the Armenian side provides any material to the countries where this
political figure has meetings. Mamedov reported to the parliamentary
commission, researching the Khojalu events, that together with a few
other people, he had been fighting 8 or 9 hours against the Armenian
soldiers, who had surrounded them, in a gulch, 2 or 3 kilometers
from Aghdam.

According to him, he reached Aghdam on February 26, late in the
evening. No one says the following: if fighting 8 hours against the
Armenian fighters, 2 or 3 kilometers from Aghdam, is a real case,
so the shots had to be heard in Aghdam. Corresponding support had
to be provided to them from Aghdam. So, his report is false. And
giving testimonies to the Azerbaijani Prosecutor’s Office, Elman
Mamedov didn’t note this fact. If he noted this, a criminal case had
to be filed then. Mamedov spread around the world that he had lost 30
relatives during the Khojalu events. The matter is that the 30 people
didn’t include his parents, wife, child, sister or brother. So, who
were they? The Azerbaijani party says that it wasn’t informed about
the humanitarian corridor. In that case, why did they leave Khojalu
through the Karkar watercourse, instead of the Khojalu-Askeran highway,
which was open? Especially that Khojalu wasn’t fired from Askeran. Or,
who took the people to the forests? There are numerous questions. Let’s
recall another information, which was recorded by the Azerbaijani
National Security Ministry. On February 16, two citizens of Khojalu,
Orujev and Musaev, reached Aghdam from Khojalu. On February 18,
the group returned, and 3 people joined it. The group brought 3000
bullets to Khojalu from Aghdam. On February 11, the Ministry of
National Security submitted a document to the Azerbaijani Security
Council, which clearly stated that there were two ways for Khojalu
population’s evacuation – the gas line to Kyatuk and the Garagaya
site near Shelli, where they would be met by the forces, which would
come from Aghdam. The largest mass murder site was Garagaya. If
the massacres were committed by the Armenian party, so the way
for evacuation was provided to the Armenian self-defense forces by
the Azerbaijani National Security Ministry. Do you imagine such a
thing? And was the Armenian party really able to bring a punitive
detachment to Shelly, which is in half a kilometer from Aghdam? So,
we can bring thousands contradictions of the kind, which is given
in the propaganda materials of the Azerbaijani party. And to this
end, expertise works are needed. I’m talking about open sources
of information, but there are also close sources, which we do not
possess. And we should submit corresponding requirements to the
parliaments, which make similar statements. Finally, 181human bodies
were subjected to forensic medical examination in Aghdam, while the
Azerbaijani party stated over 600 victims.

– Doesn’t the position of some US states regarding the Khojalu
events give reason for thinking? And if even our foreign friends are
expressing their concern, it means that the Armenian party has much
to do.

– I think there is a problem of psychological ban, which is felt
even in places. If an attempt is made to take a step in line with the
international situation or to express any point of view, it does not
receive corresponding understanding. Today, the Azerbaijani party is
using the Jewish lobbying in a very gentle way. For example, it made
the Ghuba events a subject of discussions. The Stepan Shahumyan-led
troops of the communist regime realized a pursuit there, leading to
civilian casualties, and this was presented as an organized pogrom
against the highland Jews by Armenians. We know that the Jews are
very sensitive towards the events related to them. And we cannot
make a statement to join those who remember all the victims of any
Genocide in order that one can say tomorrow that paying tribute to the
memory of the Sumgait victims, the NKR remembers also about those of
the Holocaust. We should work with the Jews, as the abilities of the
Jewish lobbying are known all over the world. Let’s refer to Khojalu:
recently, the Azerbaijanis have placed a petition, signed by 100 000
people, at the official site of the White House. According to the
USA Constitution, if such a number of people apply to the American
Government, the latter must respond to it. And the Azerbaijanis
placed the issue of the “Khojalu Genocide”. Though they got a very
tough answer, but it is today’s picture. What it will be tomorrow? We
should also remember that the Azeris are greatly supported by Turkey
using all the channels. And what can we say about the fact that 7
states of the USA have issued different statements on the Khojalu
events? And if the Czech Parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee
has issued a statement, we shouldn’t start working with this state
after this. We should conduct coordinated work with all the states,
putting a package of documents into circulation. All the states have
their websites, at which we should place our materials; to this end,
we should unite the efforts of the diplomacy, the Armenian Diaspora’s
structures, and the NKR Permanent Representations.

– The Khojalu issue seems to get greater publicity with
years. What is it conditioned by?

– The Azerbaijani party has made the issue especially acute
for the recent years. The version I’m going to put forward may seem
too bold, but I’m convinced of this. An attempt is made to insure
the Azerbaijani authorities from further discoveries. Our goal is to
achieve the legal assessment; if needed, the parties should create
a corresponding commission, which will disclose the documents of the
Azerbaijani Defense Ministry. In particular, military activities on
attacking Askeran and lifting the blockade of Khojalu were planned
for February 25, 2:30 pm. But, no commander appeared at the Aghdam
conscript station this time. Why didn’t the military activities take
place? Artillery commander of the Aghdam troops Colonel Nechiporenko
stated to the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s investigator that he had
realized the command of F. Hajiev, launching 2 full charges of ”Grad”
device, i.e. 80 missiles in the direction of Khojalu to destroy the
airport. And, according to them, the greatest panic occurred after the
airport-adjacent houses were burnt. Putting similar facts together,
we can firmly imagine the events. The truth is that everybody in
Azerbaijan was waiting for Mutalibov’s resignation. For assessing
the then political situation in Azerbaijan, it is enough to recall
the ultimatum of the Popular Front addressed to Ayaz Mutalibov and
published on February 18, 1992 in Azadlygh newspaper. ”…If you
don’t resign voluntarily, so the Popular Front of Azerbaijan will
not be able to escape bloodshed”.

Õ~YRuzan ISHKHANIAN

NGOS DEMAND TENT FOR HUNGER-STRIKING HOVANNISIAN

VOTE 2013 | 15.03.13 | 12:58

A number of nongovernmental organizations have circulated an appeal
to Police Chief Vladimir Gasparyan to stop his subordinates from
obstructing the installation of a tent for a hunger-striking former
presidential candidate in Yerevan.

Raffi Hovannisian, the leader of the Heritage Party who is disputing
the election victory of President Serzh Sargsyan, has been stationed
around a bench in Liberty Square in the Armenian capital on a 24/7
basis since Sunday. In what the Ombudsman’s Office said constituted a
violation of human rights, law-enforcement authorities have prohibited
Hovannisian’s supporters from putting up a tent in the square. The
latest attempt by opposition members and civil activists to have
the facility installed on Thursday resulted in a scuffle between
protesters and police officers.

Two dozen NGOs, including Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor, the
Journalists’ Club “Asparez”, Transparency International Anti-corruption
Center, the Helsinki Committee of Armenia, the Women’s Resource
Center, Committee for the Protection of Freedom of Speech, and others,
have issued a statement today calling on Chief of Police Gasparyan
to immediately terminate the “illegal actions” of his subordinates
and call to account those who have been carrying them out, as well
as ensure the installation of the tent for Hovannisian.

“We think that such a working style of the police only aggravates
the situation and puts the police in a position of bearing full
responsibility for possible undesirable consequences in the future,”
the NGOs emphasized.