Author: Kanayan Tamar

UNITED BY BOYCOTT: PAP, ANC IN MORE PRESSED RANKS AFTER PARLIAMENT MAJORITY BLOCKS DEBATE ON CHANGES IN ELECTION LAWS
By SIRANUYSH GEVORGYAN

ArmeniaNow
22.11.12 | 12:43

Words such as “consolidation” and “single candidate” appeared to sound
more convincing when uttered by initiators of the Wednesday special
meeting of parliament that was boycotted and effectively thwarted by
the ruling majority.

The opposition Armenian National Congress had initiated the meeting
to debate amendments to some election laws that it said would exclude
fraud in next year’s presidential election. The Dashnaktsutyun and
Heritage factions as well as the faction of the Prosperous Armenia
Party, which has increasingly positioned itself as an “alternative”
to the current government seconded the motion that eventually secured
signatures from more than a third of lawmakers – enough to convene
a special meeting under the Armenian Constitution.

The (ruling) Republican Party of Armenia and its junior coalition
partner, Orinats Yerkir, who together hold more than half of the seats
in the National Assembly, did not show up in the chamber, which led to
the absence of quorum and consequently the meeting could not be held.

Only 44 members were registered at the meeting, while the quorum in
the 131-seat body requires the presence of at least 66 members.

After the failed meeting ANC and PAP held a joint picket in front of
the National Assembly building, “naming and shaming” the lawmakers
who had not attended the session. From PAP the picket was attended
by the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, MP Vartan Oskanian and
parliamentary faction secretary Naira Zohrabyan.

Oskanian, who wrote on his Facebook account the day before that most
PAP members were inclined to see Gagik Tsarukyan, the leader of the
party, as a presidential candidate in the February election, addressed
the crowd of opposition supporters outside the parliament building,
saying that they were standing “in front of a watershed”.

“Non-establishment political forces are forming common approaches
towards our future plans. And I’d like to hope that, indeed, during
the next week we will be able to form a common political agenda. We
need to put aside our narrow party and personal interests, consolidate
and with a united agenda – and, why not, with a single candidate –
contest the presidential election,” he said.

Participants in the picket mostly consisting of ANC supporters received
Oskanian’s words by chanting: “Levon, Levon!”, implying that they
would like to see ANC leader and ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosyan
running for president again.

ANC parliamentary leader Levon Zurabyan, however, again did not give
a definite answer whether the ANC would field its own candidate or
would back a single candidate representing another force.

“Consultations are in progress, and I think there is no point in
speaking about any positions in advance,” Zurabyan told media.

Earlier, the senior ANC member did not rule out the possibility of
ANC and PAP contesting the February vote with a single presidential
candidate.

Interestingly, PAP leader Tsarukyan, who until recently would duck
all questions regarding his decision on the format of contesting the
election or even whether he had such a decision or not, in an interview
with the pro-PAP website Zham.am published on Wednesday said that he
already had made his decision, but was not going to make it public
yet as the electoral law allowed him to do it later.

(Under Armenian legislation, nominations of candidates in presidential
elections are to start 55 days prior to and end 45 days before Election
Day, i.e. from late December 2012 to early January 2013.)

“Naturally, such key decisions are not made at the last moment.

Furthermore, I have already made my own decision. But since the
electoral law still allows me not to publicize it, I’m going to use
this opportunity,” said Tsarukyan.

“On the other hand, this is also an optimal period of time to listen
to the views of and the proposals of friends within the party and
the partner parties in the political field,” he added.

While opposition forces are still in consultations around possible
consolidation ahead of the election, the ruling party appears to
treat such a possibility with a great deal of skepticism. Leading
members of RPA have said that the opposition won’t manage to unite
ahead of the election and have described the latest developments in
the opposition camp as “political shows”.

“MAXIMALISM CANNOT YIELD ANY POSITIVE RESULTS IN ANY ISSUE,” NAIRA ZOHRABYAN SAYS TO HRAYR TOVMASYAN

NOVEMBER 21, 2012 12:22

inquired of Naira Zohrabyan, the secretary of the
Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) parliamentary group, which part of
the Justice Minister’s speech made her realize that it was still an
ordinary thing for him that convicts sewed their mouths and eyes. She
replied,

“They claim that yes, this is an ordinary thing, they do it for
13-14 times, so it is normal. However, even if one does it for 13-14
times, it should be extraordinary every time, it should be abnormal,
it should be out of order; this is the problem. I think that the
respected minister shouldn’t respond to a question so emotionally.

Even if one does it for 100 times, it should be abnormal, extraordinary
every time. It wasn’t understandable for me that this issue was
politicized by saying that a political force that had ambitions… you
know what, I said and I repeat maximalism doesn’t yield any positive
results in any issue. I think we should solve the problems along with
the Ministry of Justice. This will not be the only case. We will be
consistent in solving problems in this field, in solving problems
that are under legislative regulation through legislation.”

Naira Zohrabyan is not worried that the head of the correctional
institutions department doesn’t come to the parliamentary hearings.

According to her, the minister himself has leverage, he is a superior
official, “Unfortunately, the direct dialogue wasn’t successful,
but I hope that we will be able to optimally work with the ministry
too. We will find joint solutions, involving also the public sector,
the Ombudsman’s office. We should try to find systemic solutions as
a result of different institutions’ joint work. This shouldn’t be
a problem to be solved only by the parliament. We should join our
efforts, and the more tolerant we are toward each other’s opinions,
ideas and the less we try to politicize the problem, the easier we
will find solutions.”

Hripsime JEBEJYAN

GERMANIAN-ARMENIANS STRUGGLE FOR ENCRYPTING THE WORD “GENOCIDE” ON THE CROSSTONE, WHICH WILL BE ERECTED IN HALLE

09:30, 22 November, 2012

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 21, Armenpress: The Armenian Community of Halle
city of the Germany initiate a petition against the decision of the
Committee of the Culture of the Municipality.

As the Committee of the Culture of the Municipality informed
“Armenpress” that the Mayor of Halle Mrs. Dagmar Szabados gave
her agreement to the Armenian Community about erecting a monument
dedicating to the memory of the genocide victims. The word “Genocide”
was initially written on the template of the crosstone which will be
erected in 2015. But the Committee of the Culture of the Municipality
of Halle proposed to replace it with “massacre and deportation” words,
pointing on the resolution about that issue ratified on 2005 by German
Parliament the Bundestag.

However the Armenians from Halle claim that the existence of the word
“Genocide” on the crosstone does not imply a legal obligation either
for the administration of the city, or even for cultural committee.

THE PLACE OF FLORA MARTIROSYAN’S CIVIL FUNERALS AND BURIAL WILL BE CLARIFIED TODAY

10:44, 22 November, 2012

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Whether the civil funerals and
burial of People’s Artist of Armenia Flora Martirosyan will be held
in Armenia or not will be clarified today on November 22. The Deputy
Minister of Culture of the Republic of Armenia Artur Poghosyan stated
this in a conversation with “Armenpress”.

The Deputy Minister stated that he had a conversation with a relative
of the beloved singer, who assured that the ceremony will be held
in Armenia. Notwithstanding the Ministry of Culture of the Republic
of Armenia is looking forward to the decision of Flora Martirosyan’s
family members – her husband and children. After the positive answer
of Flora Martirosyan’s family members in accordance with the decision
of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia a special committee
will be created for the organization of the civil funerals and burial
in Armenia.

Among other things Artur Poghosyan recalled that the procedure of
preparation of all necessary documents for repatriation takes a
long time in the United States of America. The Chief Consul of the
Republic of Armenia in Los Angeles is seeing to the preparation of
those documents.

People’s Artist of the Republic of Armenia Flora Martirosyan passed
away. The cause of death was the difficulties, which arose after
she was operated on for her gall-bladder. Flora Martirosyan was the
founder of the International Musical School after Komitas, “Artists
for Peace” Charity Organization and the initiator of the cultural
movement “Never Again”.

Flora Martirosyan was born in Gyumri on February 5, 1957.

AZERI POLITICAL PARTIES, WEB USERS CONDEMN ISRAELI ATTACKS ON GAZA

Turan news agency
Nov 20 2012
Azerbaijan

Some parties and experts in Azerbaijan have condemned the latest
Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, urging the international community
not to remain indifferent to the developments.

“Unfair stance”

The Islamic Party of Azerbaijan slammed the escalation of violence
in Gaza.

“Mass killings of Palestinians committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip
is a result of injustice and lawlessness,” private Turan news agency
quoted the deputy chairman of the Islamic Party of Azerbaijan, Natiq
Karimov, as saying.

He accused the international community and organizations of
indifference to the developments.

“Against the background of mass killings, no-one condemns criminals,
however, the protection of Israel by the US president is a
demonstration of an unfair stance on the whole Islamic world,” he said.

“Heavy blow” to Israeli reputation abroad

In the meantime, the chairman of the Centre for the Protection of
Religion and Freedom of Conscience in Azerbaijan and head of the Cuma
religious community in Azerbaijan, Haci Ilqar Ibrahimoglu, urged an
end to “intervention” in Gaza.

“We call on… the international community not to turn a blind eye to
these crimes, not remain indifferent and show a principled position,”
the opposition Yeni Musavat newspaper quoted Ibrahimoglu as saying.

The opposition People’s Front of Azerbaijan Party deputy chairman,
Razi Nurullayev, said that the killing of civilians in Palestine had
a negative impact on the peace process and increased the regional
tension.

“All difficult issues can be resolved at a [negotiating]
table…Similar developments took part during the 2008 parliamentary
election [in Israel] and it can be assessed as [part of the] Israeli
election campaign. This is a heavy blow to Israel’s reputation abroad
while it can work in favour of Israel inside,” the opposition newspaper
quoted Nurullayev as saying.

Web user comments

Most web users in Azerbaijan shared similar views.

In a comment posted on the website of the Azeri Service of Radio
Liberty on 20 November, user “Rauf Azeri” said that the developments
“openly show that how unfair the US and European countries are”. User
“BozQurd” believes that the USA and Europe “are covertly eliminating
Muslims”.

User “Diplomat” slammed the US “double-standard” to global conflicts.

“If we start a military operation in Nagornyy Karabakh, Obama will
not say that Azerbaijan has the right of liberating its lands from
occupation, he will say that Azerbaijan has violated talks and norms
of international law. A glaring example of double standards in the
world,” the user said.

In a comment posted on the website of the privately-owned website
Qafqazinfo on the same day, user “Ey Zaur” urged an end to “this
vandalism”.

In the same website, user “Burhan” questioned the lack of a “serious”
approach by major states to “this extent of injustice and atrocity”.

CONTROVERSE AUTOUR DU PRESIDENT D’AZERBAÏDJAN POUR DES TWEETS ANTI-ARMENIENS
Stephane

armenews.com
mercredi 21 novembre 2012

Le compte Twitter du president azerbaïdjanais Ilham Aliev etait au
coeur d’une controverse mardi, après que des dizaines de messages
très virulents envers l’Armenie y ont ete publies, provoquant l’ire
de cette autre ancienne republique sovietique voisine.

La plupart des messages sont des extraits d’un discours que le
president Aliev a prononce la semaine dernière devant les membres de
son parti a l’occasion des celebrations de ses 20 ans d’existence.

“Le lobby armenien est notre principal ennemi et nous sommes leur
principal ennemi”, est-il notamment ecrit.

“L’Armenie est un pays sans aucune valeur. C’est en fait une colonie,
un avant-poste dirige de l’etranger. (…) La preuve en est l’exode
massif du peuple armenien vers d’autres pays”, indique un autre tweet.

La publication de ces messages sur le compte officiel du president
a ete vivement denoncee par le vice-president du Parlement armenien,
Edouard Charmazanov, qui a qualifie le president Aliev de “dirigeant
totalitaire d’un Etat totalitaire”.

“Aliev montre avec ces proclamations cyniques qu’il y a encore des
partisans du fascisme au 21e siècle, et que cette ideologie fleurit
grâce a des dirigeants tels que lui”, a-t-il dit a l’AFP.

De son côte, Ali Gassanov, un haut responsable de l’administration
presidentielle d’Azerbaïdjan, joint par l’AFP, n’a pas tente de calmer
le jeu, mais au contraire a indique que M. Aliev “avait decrit des
faits et realites de l’Armenie actuelle” dans son discours.

L’Azerbaïdjan et l’Armenie se disputent depuis des annees autour
du Nagorny Karabakh, region a majorite armenienne, rattachee a
l’Azerbaïdjan pendant la periode sovietique, et qui a proclame son
independance, non reconnue par la communaute internationale, après
une guerre qui a fait 30.000 morts et des centaines de milliers de
refugies entre 1988 et 1994.

Un cessez-le-feu a ete signe en 1994, mais Bakou et Erevan n’arrivent
pas a se mettre d’accord sur le statut de la region qui reste une
source de tension dans le Caucase du Sud, une zone strategique situee
entre l’Iran, la Russie et la Turquie.

mercredi 21 novembre 2012, Stephane ©armenews.com

ARMENIA SEEKS LIFTING OF IRAN’S BAN ON EXPORT OF ITS SOME PRODUCTS

APA
Nov 20 2012
Azerbaijan

Baku. Konul Jafarli – APA. Armenia is making efforts to lift Iran’s
ban on export of its some products. APA reports that on November 6,
the Armenian government gave instructions to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs to start negotiations with Iran for the solution of the
problem. Spokesman for the Armenian MFA Tigran Balayan didn’t want
to speak about the steps taken to the solution of the problem.

Iran banned the export of its 52 kinds of products to foreign
countries, including Armenia. It is still unknown, when Iran lift
these bans. Polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene are among
the goods, which were banned for export.

STRONGER UAE-ARMENIAN TRADE RELATIONS DISCUSSED

WAM – Emirates News Agency
Nov 20 2012
UAE

WAM ABU DHABI: Minister of Foreign Trade, Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid Al
Qasimi, and Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Edward Nalbadian,
today today discussed ways to strengthen and promote trade and
investment relations between the two countries.

In remarks at the meeting, Sheikha Lubna stressed on the UAE’s
commitment to supporting and developing its relations with Armenia,
pointing out to the need to develop joint investments in the food and
agriculture sectors and the abundance of green farmlands and pasture
areas in Armenia.

She also urged Armenian companies to benefit from the UAE’s unique
geographic location as a gateway between east and west, adding that it
would provide Armenian food companies with an opportunity to reach
many world markets. She also called on them to take advantage of
the UAE’s attractive and flexible investment legislations and high
standards of living, underlining the importance of strengthening and
utilizing the role of air transport in widening the channels of trade
and investment between the two countries.

Sheikha Lubna also pointed out to the advanced global position the
UAE now holds with regards to its imports of agricultural and food
products and to the growth and development of its investments in the
food sector, which has witnessed many advances especially in the dates
industry, in which that UAE has become a highly competitive producer
and exporter. She also added that the country is currently ranked at
the foremost in the world in the re-export of a number of strategic
agricultural products.

She also discussed with the visiting delegation supporting and opening
up export channels for domestically produced commodities to markets
neighboring Armenia such as Russia and Eastern Europe.

ARMENIAN-POLISH RELATIONS HAVE BEEN DEVELOPING MULTILATERALLY IN 20 YEARS-AMBASSADOR

YEREVAN, November 21. /ARKA/. The Armenian-Polish bilateral relations
have been developing in very different directions, Poland’s ambassador
to Armenia Zdzis³aw Raczyñski told reporters on Wednesday in Yerevan.

“Relations between Armenia and Poland are rooted back to the middle
ages and have a long-history,” he said.

The ambassador also added the both states have partner relations
based on the mutual trust and cooperation.

He also noted that not only the authority bodies but also the private
sectors of the both states are collaborating.

He said at the period when Poland was a chair of the EU Council last
year, the talks between Armenia and EU had stepped up. The negotiations
over the agreement on “a deep and comprehensive free trade area and
visa facilitation regulations had been kicked off.

On February 27, the EU Trade Commission decided to launch negotiations
on a deep and comprehensive free trade area with Armenia. After
ratifying the agreement, Armenia will have an opportunity to diversify
its export structure and enter the European market under the favorable
conditions. -0-

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION BLOC MAY APPEAL TO CONSTITUTIONAL COURT?

news.am
November 21, 2012 | 17:10

YEREVAN.- Armenia’s Constitution allows parliamentary minority to
convene a special session, collecting 44 signatures. The parliament
must hold the session, secretary of the opposition bloc Aram Manukyan
told reporters on Wednesday after the Armenian National Assembly
failed holding a special session.

The Armenian National Congress bloc’s parliamentary group held a
meeting to discuss the issue, he noted.

“We must discuss the issue. In case there are unconstitutional actions,
we will appeal to the Constitutional Court. At the moment we have
neither decision nor legal implication,” Manukyan noted.

He said ARF Dashanktsutyun plans to appeal to the parliamentary
committee on ethics.

Armenian parliament’s special session convened on the initiative of
the opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) bloc did not take
place. Quorum was not obtained during three hours necessary for
registration of MPs.