Author: Kanayan Tamar

PAS DE REPIT POUR L’OPPOSITION

Le leader de l’opposition Raffi Hovannisian conteste toujours la
legitimite de la reelection du president Serge Sarkissian. Plusieurs
milliers de manifestants se sont reunis a Erevan mardi 5 mars. Raffi
Hovannisian a condamne la communaute internationale qui a approuve
les resultats officiels de l’election du 18 fevrier. Les presidents
americain et russe ainsi que d’autres dirigeants etrangers ont
felicite Serge Sarkissian pour sa victoire. Selon R. Hovannisian,
ils ont commis une ” enorme erreur “.

” Personne ne nous empechera de continuer notre lutte “, a declare
le candidat de l’opposition a la foule rassemblee a Liberty Square,
malgre le froid et la neige.

Hovannisian a annonce qu’il se rendra a Gyumri et a Vanadzor
mercredi et jeudi avant un rassemblement prevu dans la capitale
armenienne vendredi et dimanche. S’adressant a des journalistes dans
la journee, R. Hovannisian a affirme que son plan d’action etait
très clair. Le politicien souhaite toujours prendre les fonctions de
Serge Sarkissian. Hovannisian a egalement invite les autres partis
politiques opposes au gouvernement de Serge Sarkissian a se joindre
au mouvement. Pour l’instant, un seul grand parti, la Federation
Revolutionnaire Armenienne (FRA), l’a rejoint.

Prenant la parole lors du rassemblement, Armen Rustamian, un leader
Dachnaktsoutioun, a laisse entendre que la demission de Serge
Sarkissian n’est pas realiste a ce stade. ” Nous devons prendre le
pouvoir etape par etape “, a-t-il dit.

Armen Rustamian a ajoute qu’une victoire aux elections municipales
a Erevan qui auront lieu au mois mai sera une des premières etapes
pour atteindre cet objectif. ” Le ” mouvement populaire ” dirige par
Hovannisian devrait mettre en place un plan plus elabore et avoir un
programme plus precis pour participer a ces elections “, a-t-il ajoute.

Les autorites armeniennes ont insiste sur le fait que Serge Sarkissian
est bel et bien le vainqueur legitime de l’election presidentielle et
ont rejete les demandes de R. Hovannisian au sujet de l’organisation
d’une nouvelle election.

mercredi 6 mars 2013, Laetitia ©armenews.com

ARF: WE CAN ACHIEVE REGIME CHANGE GRADUALLY, STARTING WITH MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS IN YEREVAN

March 5, 2013

YEREVAN (A.W.)-Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Supreme Council
representative Armen Rustamyan laid out his party’s vision for the
post-election popular movement in Armenia by stressing the importance
of securing a victory at the Yerevan municipal elections on May 5,
2013, as a stepping stone towards achieving regime change.

Rustamyan: We should not get disheartened if we cannot achieve
regime change right away. We can attain that goal gradually. (Photo
by Khatchig Mouradian, The Armenian Weekly) Speaking at a rally on
Freedom Square on March 5, Rustamyan noted that the authorities will
not willingly compromise, let alone concede power. “Only a popular
movement that transforms into a powerful political factor can force
them to do that,” he said.

According to Rustamyan, The final objective of the movement is to
guarantee that the people assume power on all levels. That objective
can best be attained through persistent struggle, by securing a
series of victories. We should not get disheartened if we cannot
achieve regime change right away. We can attain that goal gradually,
he noted, adding that every single person in the movement will have
to work towards that goal.

Rustamyan concluded by saying that securing a victory during the
May 5 municipal elections in Yerevan constitute the first step. In
a country like Armenia, assuming municipal power in Yerevan would
be very significant and would force the authorities to make greater
concessions, he argued.

EXPERT: ARMENIANS’ VISITS TO HISTORIC SITES HELP BOOST ANKARA’S INTEREST

March 5, 2013 – 17:13 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenian -Turkish cultural contacts yield
positive results in the interstate relations, creating atmosphere
of cooperation, founder of Narekavank Tour LLC, turkologist Armen
Hovhannisyan said.

“The larger is the flow of Armenian tourists in the historic
homeland, the greater attention Ankara attaches to those areas,”
he said, citing restoration of Armenian monuments behind the growth
of Armenian pilgrims.

“In the light of growing tourist flows, local authorities of Van
stressed the need to hold a discussion on plans that would further
boost the influx,” the expert said.

Director of Narekavank Tour Ashot Soghomonyan, in turn, noted
development of tourism industry as Turkish government’s sole goal in
this respect.

A direct Yerevan-Van flight will become available through the efforts
of Narekavan Tour travel agency founders.

As the agency director Armen Hovhannisyan told journalists, the first
flight was scheduled for April 3.

The flight will be operating on Wednesdays and Sundays jointly with
Borajet Turkish company. The ticket for a 40-minute trip is priced
at $250, with a 20% discount offered for April flights.

According to Hovhannisyan, the flight will increase the already
significant tourist inflow to Van to boost business ties between
Armenia and Turkey.

NEWSPAPER: PROSPEROUS ARMENIA IS DISCUSSING WITH RPA ITS POSSIBLE ACCESSION TO GOVERNMENT OF NATIONAL ACCORD

ARMINFO
Tuesday, March 5, 18:19

Prosperous Armenia Party is discussing with the Republican Party
of Armenia its possible accession to the Government of National
Accord, Hraparak newspaper reports with reference to sources close
to Prosperous Armenia.

“Having seen that the people no longer trust them, the authorities
have decided to form a new structure with new personalities, and if
they appear with a national program for the next three years, they
will guarantee their success,” the newspaper says, noting that by the
national program Prosperous Armenia means first of all the change of
the Prime Minister.

Hraparak also reports that in the next few days Leader of Prosperous
Armenia Gagik Tsarukyan will meet with President Serzh Sargsyan.

Stephen Blank: Azerbaijan Strongly Resembles Arab Regimes

Azeri Report
March 4, 2013

WASHINGTON, DC. March 4, 2013: Stephen Blank, Professor at Strategic
Studies Institute of US Army War College, articulated his concerns at
the US Congress over a variety of threats in Azerbaijan `raised by the
combination of misrule and foreign or state sponsorship.’

`Azerbaijan’s security, by virtue of its geography and energy
capabilities, is a vital US interest..

Nevertheless its political system resembles most of those in
post-Soviet times in its authoritarianism and ideological
justification of such a regime by virtue of a strong president
centralizing power and authority in his hands,’ he stated during the
testimony on `Islamist Militant Threats to Eurasia’ hosted by the
House Foreign Affairs subcommittees later last week, with
participation of State Department assistant secretary and other top
analysts, TURAN’s US correspondent Alakbar Raufoglu reports.

In other words, he emphasized, `like Middle Eastern and Central Asian
autocracies, Azerbaijan also contains a strong element of familial and
even dynastic aspiration.’

President Aliyev, has astutely expanded and transformed the elite from
regional clan groupings into bureaucratic factional ones, linked by
patronage in typical patron-client relationships. Despite its current
apparent stability, Azerbaijan `is vulnerable,’ according to the
analyst.

Among the stability factors, the US expert listed the self-confidence
of the ruling elite, the prevalence of strong informal institutions
and a government based on `understandings’ rather than formal
institutional and legal accountability and rules among that
elite. Furthermore, if the energy price and demand for Azeri
hydrocarbons stay high the regime can buy time to buy off potential
threats to itself from within.

As a political system, Stephen Blank says, Azerbaijan =80=9Cstrongly
resembles other post-Soviet and even Arab regimes in its basic
structures’ such as the ones he listed below:

– Overwhelming domination by and even many manifestations of the cult
of personality of the ruler, President Ilham Aliyev;

– Strong signs of an attempt to make the ruling family permanently
dynastic and dynamic element of the regime that could last even after
the current president;

– The absence of guaranteed human rights and increasing signs of
repression.

`Indeed, there are more political prisoners in Azerbaijan than in
Belarus – hardly an enviable record. This could become dangerous,
especially as more signs of opposition make themselves felt, e.g. the
rise of Salafi Islam preachers and congregations. But that is not the
only potential source of Islamist opposition’, he said.

Some of the characteristics that he listed are below.

– Despite the economic growth signs of regional and other forms of
widespread inequality in the distribution of economic wealth.

– A form of politics heavily weighted to familial connections or to
strong patron-client ties making the entire system a vast patronage
network;

– Anti-liberal and anti-democratic political culture buttressed by
repression, and manifested in the prevalence of `understandings’ or
informal institutions and ties over formal-legal rule;

– A low-trust society and a weak, disorganized civil society and
divided opposition;

– Excessive domination of the economy by the hydrocarbon industry
leading to the well-known resource curse that features prominently in
energy-dominated economies;

– Signs of the oppression or repression of ethnic or religious
minorities leading to ever more recurrent protests;

– Ongoing efforts by the state to formulate and disseminate a state
nationalist ideology to create a legitimacy narrative and an image of
a united state. In Azerbaijan’s case, this effort is buttressed by the
threats connected with the unresolved conflict with Armenia in
Nagorno-Karabakh.

`This is an Achilles heel of all such regimes and the prospect of a
succession crisis interacting with other crises generated by
authoritarian misrule could lead to a partial or even more complete
disintegration of the system as we have seen in the Arab world,’ the
US expert argued.

As a result, he added, apart from the pressure of the unresolved
conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia, both Moscow and Tehran have
sought to undermine Azerbaijan and incite unrest, and in Iran’s case,
violence. Both Russia and Iran have sought to exploit fissures arising
out of the Azeri government’s domestic policies.

As for the topic of the testimony, all participants agreed that there
are no imminent threats from the Arab region’s Islamist radical groups
to Caucasus and Central Asia, but there is concern that the groups
could become a threat after the US withdraws from the region after the
2014 troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Contributions to radical groups emanate from the Persian Gulf in legal
forms like zakat, according to Ariel Cohen, senior research fellow for
Russian and Eurasian Studies at the Heritage Foundation.

Drug trafficking is the other major source of money for radical
Islamist groups, he said. Afghan poppy products, both heroin and
opium, provide major fiscal support to these groups, he said.

Adding to the dilemma is that `we have no reliable way of measuring
the incidence or likelihood of terrorism in the region’, said Blank.

The problem is, he argued, virtually every form of dissent and
opposition has been labeled by local governments as Islamic
fundamentalism or worse and then harshly repressed. As a result there
is neither a political vocabulary or movement or space available to
dissenters other than the religious one of Islam and that is driven
underground.

`Indeed I know of no published research that accurately tracks the
likelihood or incidence of genuinely militant or terrorist (not
necessarily the same thing) movements in Central Asia. A further
problem here and in Azerbaijan is the fact that in all these places
the religious authority is an arm of the state and thus inherently
politicized,’ he concluded (Turan).

Provocation à l’A.N. : René Rouquet réprouve une attitude indigne

Publié le : 04-03-2013

Info Collectif VAN – – « II semble légitime de
s’interroger sur les motivations réelles de ces deux personnes, qui
n’étaient visiblement pas présentes à cette réunion pour commémorer le
vingt-cinquième anniversaire du drame de Soumgaït, mais pour provoquer
les participants de cette conférence et pour raviver des ranc`urs
nationalistes dans un contexte déplacé et inopportun. Je réprouve très
fermement cette attitude inacceptable et indigne, qui n’honore pas
leurs auteurs et leurs commanditaires. » Le Collectif VAN diffuse ici
le communiqué de presse du député René Rouquet, Président du groupe
d’amitié France-Arménie à l’Assemblée nationale.

Affaire de l’Assemblée nationale

Communiqué de René Rouquet

Le mardi 26 février 2013, s’est tenue à l’Assemblée nationale une
conférence relative à « la situation actuelle et aux perspectives
d’avenir pour le peuple du Haut-Karabagh, 25 ans après les pogroms de
Soumgaït », organisée par le Bureau Français de la Cause Arménienne et
le Comité de Défense de la Cause Arménienne.

Cette conférence, à laquelle plusieurs parlementaires français ont
assisté, s’est déroulée dans de très bonnes conditions. Après la
diffusion d’un documentaire retraçant les évènements qui se sont
produits à Soumgaït les 26, 27 et 28 février 1988, j’ai pris la parole
en compagnie de Monsieur Franck Papazian, Co-président du CCAF et
Co-président de la FRA pour l’Europe occidentale, de Monsieur
Hovhannes Kevorkian, Représentant de la République du Haut-Karabagh en
France, et de Son Excellence Monsieur Viken Tchitetchian, Ambassadeur
d’Arménie en France.

Au terme de la conférence, alors qu’il était demandé par les
organisateurs de respecter une minute de silence en mémoire des
victimes de ces pogroms, deux personnes ont troublé ce moment de
recueillement en tenant des propos anti-arméniens. Face à cette
attitude indécente et à la menace physique de ces perturbateurs envers
un des organisateurs de la conférence, les esprits se sont alors
échauffés, provoquant une vive bousculade.

II semble légitime de s’interroger sur les motivations réelles de ces
deux personnes, qui n’étaient visiblement pas présentes à cette
réunion pour commémorer le vingt-cinquième anniversaire du drame de
Soumgaït, mais pour provoquer les participants de cette conférence et
pour raviver des ranc`urs nationalistes dans un contexte déplacé et
inopportun.

Je réprouve très fermement cette attitude inacceptable et indigne, qui
n’honore pas leurs auteurs et leurs commanditaires.

J’ai toujours prôné un discours de paix et de dialogue au sujet du
Haut-Karabagh, et ces regrettables évènements ne doivent pas nous
détourner de l’objectif poursuivi à l’occasion de cette conférence :
donner des perspectives d’avenir satisfaisantes au peuple de
l’Artsakh.

René ROUQUET

Député du Val-de-Marne Président du groupe d’amitié France-Arménie à
l’Assemblée nationale

——————————-

Lire aussi :

Il y a 25 ans, les pogroms anti-arméniens de Sumgaït [Azerbaïdjan] – I

Il y a 25 ans, les pogroms anti-arméniens de Sumgaït [Azerbaïdjan] – II

Il y a 25 ans, les pogroms anti-arméniens de Sumgaït [Azerbaïdjan] – III
Ilham Aliyev : « Nos principaux ennemis sont les Arméniens du monde entier »

Incidents à l’Assemblée nationale : la députée UMP Valérie Boyer réagit

« Le peuple français doit découvrir le vrai visage de la diaspora arménienne »

Une provocation qui en dit long

Turquie : « Les braises de 1915 brûlent toujours »

Les événements de Khojaly : Communiqué de presse du Collectif VAN

Khojaly : les terribles mensonges azéris

Le Parlement tchèque décide de réécrire l’Histoire

Khojaly : une exposition au musée de la Diaspora de Tel Aviv

Appel urgent pour défendre les Justes azéris

Azerbaïdjan : haro sur le héros

Azerbaïdjan : un écrivain accusé de « sympathie pour les Arméniens »

L’assassin qui valait 3 milliards d’euros

Breivik demande à être extradé en Azerbaïdjan

ASALA : le faux grossier diffusé par l’Azerbaïdjan

Aliyev devrait être accueilli à Paris comme `l’homme à la hache en chef’

Amnesty : le gouvernement d’Azerbaïdjan attise les violences ethniques

Affaire Safarov: confession d’un meurtrier raciste

Indignation face à la remise en liberté du meurtrier azéri

Azerbaïdjan : le tueur à la hache

Affaire Safarov : le Président de l’APCE exprime son inquiétude

L’Azerbaïdjan menace la paix régionale en glorifiant un crime raciste

Azerbaidjan : grce octroyée à M. Safarov

Grce de l’assassin Ramil Safarov : Obama préoccupé

Azerbaïdjan : le pogrom de Soumgaït

Le procès des crimes de Soumgaït (Février 1988)

Les 20 ans du pogrom anti-arménien de Soumgaït

Maragha : Avril, le mois des génocides…

Maragha : Caroline Cox parle du Golgotha contemporain

Des pirates informatiques qui ont des assassins pour héros

Xocali.net : le site qui dénonce la contrefaçon azérie

Azerbaïdjan : appel au piratage informatique

Janvier 1990, les pogroms anti-Arméniens de Bakou

Retour à la rubrique

TÉLÉCHARGER :
Communiqué de René Rouquet

WorldBulletin.net, Turkey
March 4 2013

Armenian presidential election loser refutes results

The party will apply to constitutional court for cancellation for
announcement of the real results of the election to public.

World Bulletin / News Desk

Raffi Hovhannisyan, leader of Heritage Party of Armenia who lost the
presidential election on February 18, will make complaint at the
central electoral committee of Armenian Constitutional Court, claiming
that results had been manipulated.

Hovhannisyan defended that the official declaration of central
electoral committee on February 25 twisted the truth, and the
presidential election results should be canceled.

The party will apply to constitutional court for cancellation for
announcement of the real results of the election to public.

Hovhannisyan got 539,639 votes, %36.7, was the first runner-up in
presidential election on February 18, and Serzh Sargsian won the
election.

Hovhannisyan and his voters claimed that they won the election by
getting the highest vote, and Sargsian conducted electoral
manipulation.

Gun Shy Assassin
March 3 2013

Hear A Song Allegedly Written By Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi

Posted by Chris Harris on March 3, 2013

Tony Iommi
Well, co-written.

I find it hard to believe, having listened to the song at the end of
this post. Listen for yourself.

If Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath did, in fact, have a part in writing
that song as this report claims, I have little to no hope the new
Sabbath will be even remotely decent – not that I think it is going to
be phenomenal.

The song is Armenia’s entry into something called Eurovision Song
Contest, which I know little about.

Dorian frontman and life-support system for one of Europe’s most
beloved unibrows, Gor Sujyan, sings the tune, called `Lonely Planet.’

The song was selected by national vote over the weekend, and will be
performed at Eurovision in Malmö, Sweden.

The identity of the song’s composers – Iommi and Vardan Zadoyan – was
being kept secret.

Now the secret’s out.

Warning: You can’t unhear this shit.

Center for Research on Globalization, Canada
March 4 2013

Georgia President and Azerbaijan Deputy Prime Minister: Azerbaijan
`Must be Ready to Fight the Russians’

By Global Research News
Global Research, March 04, 2013

When Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili made an official visit to
Azerbaijan last week, he took with him a bit of his unique brand of
anti-Russia rhetoric, saying that Baku today faces a similar threat
from Russia as has Tbilisi. From Civil.ge:

After visiting Baku, President Saakashvili said that Russia was
preparing the same `scenario’ for Azerbaijan, which was applied
against Georgia in last year’s parliamentary elections when, as he put
it, `oligarchs, Russian funds, blackmailing and provocations’ were
used.

In particular, Saakashvili mentioned the establishment of a diaspora
organization in Russia made up of rich businessmen of Azeri origin,
which he said posed the same sort of threat as did Bidzina
Ivanishvili, the Georgian-born businessman who made billions in Russia
and then became prime minister of Georgia on a platform of improving
ties with Russia. Saakashvili also noted that Ivanishvili’s government
pardoned an ethnic Armenian activist, which he said was done `to
please’ Russia.

Azerbaijan has traditionally been very careful not to provoke Russia;
while it similarly feels a threat to its sovereignty from Moscow, it
has followed a somewhat more multi-vectored approach than has Georgia,
maintaining good relations with Russia, alongside its ties to Turkey,
Europe, the U.S, Israel. and others. And Russia, for its part, has not
taken an aggressive position against Baku, seeming more interested in
maintaining a regional balance of power between Armenia and
Azerbaijan. So it’s not surprising, as the opposition news site
Contact.az notes, that officials in Baku publicly ignored
Saakashvili’s comments.

But in a meeting with a group of Turkish reporters in Baku, Deputy
Prime Minister Ali Hasanov made the relatively rare claim that in a
fight to regain Nagorno-Karabakh, the breakaway territory that has
been controlled by Armenian forces for two decades, Azerbaijan would
not be fighting just Armenians but Russians:

`President Ilham Aliyev has always promised a military solution to the
[Nagorno-Karabakh] conflict and he still has the issue on the agenda.
The option of a military solution is always on the table, but the most
important thing is how this kind of operation will be carried out. We
need to become much stronger so that if we become involved in combat
in Nagorno-Karabakh we can stand up to Russian troops, because that is
who we will have to face. Did Armenia occupy our territories? Do you
think Armenia’s power is sufficient for that?’ asked Hasanov….

Recalling his home city, which is also in the occupied territories of
Azerbaijan, Hasanov said the occupation was accomplished with the
military support of Russia. `I saw Russian soldiers get out of tanks
and celebrate their victory with champagne.’

Russian support of Armenia twenty-plus years ago certainly does not
guarantee Russian support in a future war. In theory, Armenia’s
membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization obligates
Russia (and other CSTO members) to come to Armenia’s aid if it were
attacked, but 1. if the war were limited to Karabakh (still
internationally recognized as Azerbaijani territory), that wouldn’t be
a factor and 2. even if the war did spread to Armenia, it’s not hard
to imagine Russia thinking that it was not worth it to get involved.
But if Hasanov is telling the truth, and Azerbaijan really believes
that it needs to built up its military to be able to match Russia’s,
when does he think that would ever happen? Or is this a pretext, meant
to buy time after so many years of bragging about Azerbaijan’s growing
military might that people might start wondering why Azerbaijan
doesn’t pull the trigger already?

The Happy Planet Index: Armenia is the happiest country in Caucasus

19:46 04/03/2013 » SOCIETY

British research center `New Economic Foundation’ published a new
survey on `The Happy Planet Index’, which is a composite indicator of
measuring the level of happiness in the world. Armenia is the 53rd in
the world and is located next to Italy (51st place), and Sweden (52nd
place). Azerbaijan is on the 80th place, following just Haiti, and is
above Libya (81st place). Georgia is on the 55th place.

The compilers of the index calculated formula of happiness in the
following way, the, quality of life multiplied by the duration of life
and share the situation with the environment. The index is based on a
study of 151 countries of the world.

The happiest people of the CIS, according to the survey live in
Kyrgyzstan: the country is on the 38th place in the ranking. Moldova
is on the 40th, Tajikistan – 43, Turkmenistan – 95, Ukraine – 100,
Belarus – 102, Kazakhstan – 119, Russia – 122.

Costa Rica, Vietnam, Colombia are top rated, and the ranking close
Qatar, Chad and Botswana. France is on the 50th place in the world,
United Kingdom is the 41st, Italy is 51st, Canada is 65th, Switzerland
is 34th and Germany is on the 46th places.

Source: Panorama.am