Author: Kanayan Tamar

EU HAS CONCERNS ABOUT ARMENIAN VOTE

United Press International UPI
Feb 20 2013

BRUSSELS, Feb. 20 (UPI) — The European Union said it expects there
may be outstanding issues following the release of preliminary results
of the Armenian presidential election.

Incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan secured a second term with a
preliminary majority of the vote cast in Monday’s election.

Catherine Ashton, the top foreign policy chief for the European
Union, and EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule issued a statement
Wednesday saying they welcomed the conduct of the elections.

“We expect a number of outstanding concerns to be followed up
appropriately in the future, including reported instances of partiality
by public servants, claims of misuse of administrative resources,
unclear interpretation of campaign financing provisions and cases of
pressure on voters” their statement added.

An international election observation mission expressed similar
concerns, saying that while the election was calm and orderly,
there were signs of interference at the polls, primarily by those
representing Sargsyan.

In 2008, opposition leaders in Armenia called for protests in the
capital city citing irregularities in the presidential elections.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports “several thousand” supporters
of the main challenger, former Foreign Minister Raffi Hovannisian,
called for the latest results to be overturned.

INTL OBSERVERS’ PRESS CONFERENCE IN YEREVAN BROUGHT TO HALT BY HISSES AND SHOUTS

Interfax, Russia
Feb 19 2013

Armenian opposition activists have derailed a press conference by
international election monitors from the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe’ Office for Democratic Institutions and
Human Rights.

As the international observers were presenting a report, young men
broke into the audience and demanded that they leave Armenia and stop
interfering in Armenia’s internal affairs.

The press conference was cut short and the speakers had to leave to
the audience’s shouts and hisses.

No policemen can be seen in the audience, an Interfax correspondent
reported.

The head of the OSCE/ODIHR’s election observation mission, Heidi
Tagliavini, said before the opposition activists appeared in the
audience that abuses had been uncovered, but they could not influence
the outcome of the elections.

The mission is to release its final report in a two months’ time.

Sd

GRYBAUSKAITE CONGRATULATES ARMENIAN PRESIDENT ON HIS RE-ELECTION

LETA, Lithuania
February 19, 2013 Tuesday

President Dalia Grybauskaite extended congratulations to President
Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia on his re-election for the second term in
office, the presidential press service said.

“I sincerely hope that during the second term of your presidency
relations between Lithuania and Armenia will be further consolidated
through the development of economic, cultural and political ties. I
also strongly wish that the process of Armenia’s rapprochement with
Europe, which has already gained momentum, should create a strong and
mutually beneficial bond between our two nations. I have strong hope
that during the EU Eastern Partnership Summit to be held in Vilnius
this coming autumn we will be able to highlight the achievements of
Armenia attained in this field,” the President wrote in her message of
congratulations. Dalia Grybauskaite wished the President of Armenia
continued health and strength in his responsible position.

ARMENIA ELECTION MARRED BY LACK OF COMPETITION – OBSERVERS

Financial Mirror
February 19, 2013 Tuesday

Armenia’s presidential election was an improvement on recent elections
in the former Soviet republic but was not genuinely competitive,
international observers said on Tuesday.

Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe said Monday’s election, in which
President Serzh Sarksyan was re-elected, was peaceful and generally
well conducted.

“However, the limited field of candidates meant that the election was
not genuinely competitive,” they said in a written statement. “The
candidates who did run were able to campaign in a free atmosphere and
to present their views to voters, but the campaign overall failed to
engage the public’s interest.” Several of Sarksyan’s potential rivals
decided not to run in the election because they feared the election
would be skewed in the president’s favour.

TURKEY HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS TO ALIYEV: END LYNCHING CAMPAIGN!

February 20, 2013

ISTANBUL, Turkey (A.W.)-Four Turkish human rights and anti-racism
groups sent a letter to the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev
urging him “to urgently put an end to the lynching campaign against
Ekrem Eylisli” for his positive portrayal of Armenians.

Ekrem Eylisli The Armenian Weekly publishes the text of the letter
in full.

***

Mr. Ä°lham Aliyev

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Baku, Azerbaijan

Dear Mr. President,

We, the defenders of human rights in Turkey and supporters of fight
against racism, nationalism, and hatred, are appalled by and deeply
concerned with the aggressive campaign and threats of violence
against the writer Ekrem Eylisli in your country. The only crime
committed by your fellow citizen Ekrem Eylisli, whose security is
your responsibility, is to have defended in his recent novel the
solidarity of peoples.

As the Human Rights Watch has declared in its global press release,
Eylisli has been targeted with an increasingly aggressive campaign of
enmity and defamation, further endorsed by official spokespersons and
the media, only because he has written a novel in which he has chosen
not to represent Armenians as an object of hatred. Since January 31st,
the said transgressions have included protests in front of his house,
insults and threats, and book-burning.

Notorious for her racist views, member of Azerbaijani parliament
Melahat İbrahimkızı has accused Eylisli of offending not only
Azerbaijan but the entire Turkish nation, thus sending a message to
Turkey and provoking the same campaign of hatred against Armenians
in Turkey.

Eylisli’s family too has been subjected to retribution: His son
Necep Naibov, employed by the Ministry of Customs, and his wife
Galina Alexandrova, a library director, have been dismissed without
just cause.

The lynching campaign has reached its peak with the pro-government
Moderna Musavat Party leaders putting a reward of ten thousand Manat
on Ekrem Eylisli’s ears.

And you, Mr. President, in your capacity as the higher most leader
of the state of Azerbaijan, have endorsed and even encouraged threats
against Eylisli’s life by signing the presidential decree on Eylisli’s
divestiture of the title “Writer of the People” and on the termination
of his entitlement to pension.

We are the defenders of human rights and opponents of racism,
discrimination, and hate in a country where, throughout its history,
writers have fallen prey to unsolved cases of murder, or left to
rot in prison. Ours is a country where those who express diverse
views remain under constant threat. We know well how the racist,
nationalist, and discriminatory state politics have driven the masses
to the streets and turned individuals into murderers, even of their
own neighbors. We have lost many in such attacks, but we also bear
witness to the fact that the people will not be silenced by oppression.

At the same time, we have seen firsthand how your state and the rulers
of the Republic of Turkey have joined endeavors in inciting enmity
among their peoples against Armenians. The hateful slogans against
Armenians in the “Hocalı Protest” in Taksim Square, Istanbul, are
still ringing in our ears; the banners bearing the words “You are
all Armenians, you are all bastards” are still before our eyes. As
a result of our opposition, those carrying these banners have been
charged and indicted. For us, the defenders of rights and opponents
of racial hatred in Turkey, opposing enmity against Armenians and
diverse ethnic and religious identities is a foremost duty.

As the proponents and defenders of peace, democracy, and justice,
of solidarity of the peoples and equal coexistence, we invite you, Mr.

President, to use your office and enlist all your subordinates to
urgently put an end to the lynching campaign against Ekrem Eylisli.

Leaders who have incited peoples to transgressions of racist hatred,
who have condoned such transgressions or turned a blind eye to them,
have come to be known in history as a disgrace, whereas the memory
of those who strive for peace will forever live to honor humanity.

HELSINKI CITIZENS ASSOCIATION

SAY STOP TO RACISIM AND NATIONALISM INITIATIVE

HUMAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATION TURKEY

ASSOCIATION FOR FACING HISTORY

PEOPLE FOUND REAL STRENGTH TO VOTE IN ANOTHER WAY, PUBLIC FIGURE

TERT.AM
16:04 ~U 20.02.13

Public figure, ethnographer Hranush Kharatyan came to the news
conference with high mood saying it is agreed with the unexpected
election outcome.

“I saw and became very proud of our people for finding enough strength
to overcome the alarm and pressures by the authorities and vote in
another way,” she said.

Kharatyan noted that the elections had such outcome despite the
opposition splits, disputes during the election campaign, despite the
circumstance that Raffi Hovhannisian did not have any real or serious
resource and without serious engagement in the election commissions.

“Even if to calculate these votes, it obviously shows that our people
have really found strength to vote in another way,” she said, noting
that it is a psychological victory.

Hranush Kharatyan said she is convinced that at least second round
of elections was to take place.

Kharatyan said she does not know the way Raffi Hovhannisian will
choose but it is obvious that people expect struggle.

“There are x number of people in the square, there are those who are
not in the square but have joined the people. I do not know how Raffi
Hovhannisian will meet these expectations but I think a real struggle
has started,” she said.

ARMENIA OPPOSITION REFUSES TO RECOGNISE PRESIDENT’S WIN

Ahram Online, Egypt
Feb 19 2013

The leading challenger to Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian refused
Tuesday to recognise the incumbent leader’s victory in presidential
elections AFP , Tuesday 19 Feb 2013

Former Armenia foreign minister Raffi Hovannisian, who came second
in Monday’s presidential poll rejected the outcome of the elections
saying the “vote was not fair and the (official) results do not
reflect people’s will.”

Speaking to hundreds of supporters at a rally in Yerevan’s central
Liberty square, Hovannisian insisted that he was the true winner.

“We will not let the authorities to steal the people’s victory,”
he said, adding that he might seek the overturning of the official
results in the Constitutional Court.

Sarkisian won Monday’s poll with 58.64 percent of the votes against
Hovannisian’s 36.75 percent of votes, the central election commission
said after counting results from all the precincts.

Observers from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly said the election was
an improvement on past polls but lacked real competition after two
leading candidates pulled out late last year.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT WINS SECOND TERM BY WIDE MARGIN

EurActiv, EU
Feb 19 2013

Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan won a second five-year term, the
Central Electoral Commission said on Tuesday (19 February).

Police said after polls closed on Monday that they had received 70
reports of voting violations, including bribery at polling stations,
and that they had opened two criminal investigations.

The president, 58, has vowed to improve the economy in his landlocked
South Caucasus country and said before the vote he would ensure
stability and security after years of war and upheaval, though he
outlined no big policy changes.

Sarksyan, like many of his generation, is a veteran of the
Nagorno-Karabakh war, and has accused neighbouring Azerbaijan of
threatening a new conflict. Baku denies it is the aggressor and says
Armenia should hand back control of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The continued peace of a region where pipelines take Caspian oil
and natural gas to Europe is a concern for foreign investors and
neighbours.

Preliminary results released by the Central Electoral Commission
showed Sarksyan had won 58.6% of the votes cast. His closest rival,
American-born Raffi Hovannisian, who served previously as foreign
minister, was winning nearly 37% of votes.

The opposition Heritage Party said that some ballots cast for
opposition parties had been thrown out, although there was no
indication whether it would challenge the vote, which passed without
any major violence.

Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for
Security and Co-operation in Europe said the election was peaceful
and generally well conducted.

“However, the limited field of candidates meant that the election was
not genuinely competitive,” they said in a written statement. “The
candidates who did run were able to campaign in a free atmosphere and
to present their views to voters, but the campaign overall failed to
engage the public’s interest.”

The last presidential election, in 2008, was marred by clashes in which
10 people were killed, but there were no reports of violence this time.

EurActiv.com with Reuters

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION MP PRESENT AT RAFFI HOVANNISIAN’S RALLY

Nikol Pashinyan, an MP of the opposition bloc Armenian National
Congress (ANC), was present at a rally and a meeting with journalists
Raffi Hovannisian, major rival to incumbent Armenian president Serzh
Sargsyan in the Feb. 18 presidential election, held in Yerevan’s
Freedom Square on Tuesday.

The 168.am website reports that a group of people complained about the
election results. “No one is going to serve our homeland to us on a
tray ¦ We have not drawn lessons from our mistakes,” Mr Pashinyan said.

With respect to the reasons for his presence in Freedom Square, Mr
Pashinyan said: “No comments on my presence in Freedom Square until
the people’s power has been established in Armenia.”

Asked about the consequences of Mr Hovannisian’s meeting with
journalists on Tuesday and his rally planned for Wednesday, Mr
Pashinyan said: “The most important thing for me and for each person
present here is his being here. As long as Armenian citizens come to
Freedom Square, he is a winner.”

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT RE-ELECTED

Europe Online Magazine
Feb 19 2013

By our dpa-correspondent and Europe Online

Yerevan (dpa) – Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan was re-elected
with 58.64 per cent of the vote, the election commission said Tuesday
in Yerevan.

Former foreign minister Raffi Hovannisian was second with 36.75 per
cent after all the votes were counted.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe is due to
give its verdict on the election’s fairness on Tuesday.

Turnout in the poll was 60.05 per cent, according to official
statements.

Sargsyan, a pro-Russian who came to power in 2008, is is limited to
two terms by law. Author: Benedikt von Imhoff and Awet Demurjan

dpa bvi/dem ses tlo