Author: Karagyozian Lena

Azerbaijani veterans of the Karabakh war are out for blood

2008-02-16 13:46:00

ArmInfo. Azerbaijani veterans of the Karabakh war are out for blood.

As Azerbaijani Zerkalo says, public organization "Disabled persons and
Karabakh veterans" applied to the president of Azerbaijan with a
statement in which they expressed readiness to the battle actions if
peaceful negotiations on the conflict give no certain result.
Initiators of the statement presented their position at yesterday’s
press-conference. "We are ready to war and we think this is the only
way of liberation of our lands from the hostile forces", – the head of
the organization Etimad Asadov said in particular.

To note, "Disabled persons and Karabakh veterans" public organization
was set up in 2001 and registered at Justice Ministry five years later.
The activity of the organization was mainly directed to resolving of
social problems of disabled persons and war veterans.

Ter-Petrosian’s ally considers the opposition’s coming to power `inevitable’

February 15, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. `Opposition’s coming to power on February 20 is
inevitable’, Head of the pre-election headquarter of Levon
Ter-Petrosian in the Yerevan Malatia-Sebastia community, Ex-Mayor of
Yerevan Vahagn Khachatrian stated in Yerevan today.

According to him, `the authority of the Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian
falls and the authorities undergo a state of panic’. He stated that the
authorities `try to suppress the realization of a mass rally of our
supporters on February 16′.

`We will not yield to the provocations of the authorities and we are
planning to defend the right of each elector’, Vahagn Khachatrian
stated.

ACCORDING TO ARMEN RUSTAMIAN, DASHNAKTSUTIUN IS DECISIVE IN STRUGGLE AGAINST ELECTORAL FALSIFICATIONS

Noyan Tapan
Feb 15, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 15, NOYAN TAPAN. In the forthcoming presidential
elections the Dashnaktsutiun will decisively struggle against
electoral falsifications. This statement was made by Armen Rustamian,
the representative of the Supreme Body of the ARF Armenia and the
Head of the pre-electoral headquarters of the candidate of the ARF
Dashnaktsutiun, during the meeting with a group of intellectual women
on February 14.

He mentioned that Dashnaktsutiun has members of commissions and
empowered people in all the 1923 electoral stations. According to
Armen Rustamian, the representatives of Dashnaktsutiun are ready to
cooperate with the empowered people of the other candidates as well
with regard to the control over the elections. He expressed hope
that the sealing of passports will make the possibility of a double
ballot rather difficult. The innovation, according to which people can
vote in a place they are not registered, according to him, creates
a possibility for electoral falsifications. Armen Rustamian did not
exclude the possibility of the use of electoral bribes towards the
members of the commissions as well. He stressed that giving bribes
and taking bribes are criminally punished deeds. In order to exclude
such activities, it is necessary to punish those, who are guilty,
a thing, which, according to Armen Rustamian, the authorities will
not do and the Dashnaktsutiun has no such opportunity.

In response to the question of a participant of the meeting on whether
Dashnaktsutiun, the candidate of which is leading a rather successful
electoral struggle, does not have an arrangement with the current
authorities and, in particular, with the President of the country,
Armen Rustamian gave a negative answer.

On the occasion of depriving the RA citizens, who are abroad, of the
possibility to vote, Armen Rustamian mentioned that that has been done
particularly to allay the fear connected with the dual citizenship
suggested by Dashnaktsutiun, according to which the citizens, who
are abroad, can decide the fate of the republic.

Indian Express, India
February 13, 2008 Wednesday

AUSTRALIA SAYS SORRY TO ABORIGINALS ON DAY OF HEALING

Thousands of Aborigines and other Australians hugged, sobbed or stood
applauding on Wednesday as the country unitedfor a new era in race
relations. In city plazas, gardens, schoolrooms and offices, millions
were encouraged to pause as Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered
an apology for past injustices, including the forced removal of
children,after a decade of conservative refusal.

"My heart feels like it is going to burst out of my chest,"
saidAboriginal state lawmaker Linda Burney in Sydney. "I believe our
country needs this to have happened so we can havea new beginning,"
said Melbourne woman Julia Bain, who watched Rudd’s apology live on a
huge television screenin the city’s heart.

Aboriginal flags flew on major buildings, including Sydney’s Harbour
Bridge, or werecarried by thousands of others who cheered as Rudd’s
speech began. Many had gathered since dawn, staking out prize places
to watch history unfold.

"After all this time it’s finally happened and I’m here to support
allthose mothers who went through so much pain at having their
children taken away," said Aborigine EvonneGoolagong-Cawley, who won
Wimbledon titles in 1971 and 1980. Malcolm Fraser, conservative prime
minister from 1975 to1983, said he saw "a new chapter for Australia,"
telling Sky television he wished he had apologised when aleader.

Another former prime minister Paul Keating said Australia had
witnessed a day of "open hearts".

"The Stolen Generation was a cut right across the spirit of those
people and the soul of the country," Keatingsaid. Prominent
indigenous leader Pat Dodson, considered the father of the push for
reconciliation between Aboriginesand non-indigenous Australians, said
the government should now look at compensation for the victims of
past policies.

"The whole issue of making good for the past, including compensation
for the Stolen Generation, should indeed bepursued," Dodson told the
National Press Club. "But let us do it in a considered and negotiated
manner as partof a carefully constructed process, aimed at building
an Australian nation that recognises and respects Aboriginalhistory,
culture, language and society," Dodson said. But not everyone
supported Rudd, with some fearing theapology could open the door to
billions of dollars worth of legal claims for the past hurt suffered
by Stolen Generationchildren.

Outspoken conservative politician Wilson Tuckey, known as Ironbar for
his uncompromising views, walked out of parliament before the
apology, saying it would do little for Aborigines. "Tomorrow there’ll
be no petrolsniffing, tomorrow little girls can sleep in their beds
without any concern – it’s all fixed, the Rudd spin willfix it all,"
Tuckey quipped.

In the outback town of Bourke in western New South Wales state, which
has often beenthe scene of racial violence, many white Australians
also opposed apology. "I don’t think we should beapologising because
it wasn’t our generation that stole them," one female resident told
Australian radio.

But Aboriginal leader Geoff Clark, who himself has had run-ins with
Australian law, said most people saw the day as a start of healing.

A look at other formal apologies issued by governments to oppressed
populations

1998: Canada apologises to its native peoples for past acts of
oppression, including decades of abuse at federally funded boarding
schools whosegoal was to sever Indian and Inuit youths from their
culture and assimilate them in white society.

1992: South AfricanPresident FW de Klerk apologises for apartheid,
marking the first time a white leader in the country expressed
regretfor the system of legalised segregation that allowed 5 million
whites to dominate 30 million blacks.

1990: The Soviet Union apologises for the murder of thousands of
imprisoned Polish officers shot during World War II and buried in
massgraves in the Katyn Forest.

1988: The US Congress passes a law apologising to Japanese-Americans
for their internment during World War II and offering $20US,000
payments to survivors.

1951: West German Chancellor Konrad Adenaueracknowledges the
suffering of the Jews in the Holocaust and the following year,
Germany agrees to pay reparations toIsrael.

In 1990, the then East German Parliament issues an apology to Israel
and all Jews and others who suffered. Butsome still didn’t The US has
never issued a formal apology for the African slave trade or paid
reparations toslave descendants.

In 2007, Virginia became the first state to apologise for its
involvement, followed by Alabama,Maryland and North Carolina. No
state has offered reparations. The US has never apologised to
American Indians forpast actions, including forced relocation and
broken treaties and promises. American Indians have received
compensation for their lands over the years, but no formal apology.

Armenia has repeatedly requested an apology from Turkey for
thekillings of what historians estimate was up to 1.5 million
Armenians by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I. Turkey
maintains the toll has been inflated and that those killed were
victims of civil war and unrest.

China has accused Japan of not fully atoning for its invasions and
occupation of China in the 1930s and 1940s, including
wartimeatrocities like the Rape of Nanjing, in which Japanese troops
massacred as many as 300,000 people while taking theChinese city in
1937.

Agence France Presse — English
February 14, 2008 Thursday 3:22 AM GMT

Armenia to hold presidential vote after bitter campaign

Mariam Harutunian
YEREVAN, Feb 14 2008

Ex-Soviet Armenia holds a presidential election next Tuesday after a
bitterly fought campaign marked by opposition allegations that the
vote will be rigged.

With President Robert Kocharian barred from running for a third
five-year term, polls show his hand-picked successor, Prime Minister
Serzh Sarkisian, well ahead of his eight opponents in this tiny
mountainous state on Russia’s southern border.

But analysts say Sarkisian may struggle to win the more than 50
percent required to avoid a potentially risky second round.

They had initially predicted the campaign would be a cakewalk for
Sarkisian, whose Republican Party of Armenia took a majority of seats
in parliamentary elections last May.

But the race received a surge of electricity last year when former
president Levon Ter-Petrosian broke 10 years of silence and threw his
hat into the ring as a challenger to Sarkisian.

Ter-Petrosian has alleged widespread corruption and branded the
government a "criminal regime," while also saying Kocharian has done
too little to mend ties with neighbours Azerbaijan and Turkey.

Azerbaijan and Turkey have cut off diplomatic relations with Yerevan
and closed their borders in retaliation for Armenia’s support for
ethnic Armenian separatists in Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorny
Karabakh region.

Ter-Petrosian has won important backing from several opposition
parties, including the Heritage Party of US-born former foreign
minister Raffi Hovannisian.

Another serious contender is former parliamentary speaker Artur
Baghdasarian, who has vowed a more pro-Western course in contrast to
the ties with Moscow pursued by Kocharian.

Both Ter-Petrosian and Baghdasarian accuse the Sarkisian camp of
making unfair use of state resources to promote his candidacy,
something denied by Sarkisian.

They allege widespread vote buying, intimidation of opposition
activists and media bias in favour of the prime minister.

"No other candidate has conditions equal to those of the authorities’
candidate," said Baghdasarian, whose Rule of Law party is the largest
opposition force in parliament.

The government "is using all of its administrative, financial and
security powers" against the opposition, said Ter-Petrosian’s
spokesman, Arman Musinian.

Ter-Petrosian says that his office has been firebombed and that some
of his supporters have been attacked and earlier launched an
unsuccessful bid to have the constitutional court postpone the vote.

Sarkisian and his supporters deny any violations and say the
opposition is fabricating incidents in order to win support.

"We want legitimate elections and a legitimate president," said
Sarkisian’s campaign spokesman, Eduard Sharmazanov.

Sharmazanov also issued an oblique warning as opposition leaders
vowed to call their supporters onto the streets in the event the vote
is unfair.

"If there are forces who want to cause provocations by calling into
question these elections, the authorities are ready to do everything
to protect the constitutional order of the country," he said.

Pre-election polls show Sarkisian hovering at around 50 percent
support, with Ter-Petrosian and Baghdasarian trailing with 10-15
percent. Opposition candidates have questioned the polling companies’
independence.

As the campaign intensifies, many analysts predict a second round,
two weeks after the first vote.

"Everyone is now speaking about the inevitability of a second round,"
said Amyak Hovannisian, head of the Armenian Union of Political
Scientists.

About 600 foreign observers are to monitor the vote and analysts say
the government is keen to win international legitimacy for the
result.

Parliamentary elections last May were the first to be declared
largely in accordance with international standards.

About 2.3 million people are registered to vote.

Earthtimes, UK
Feb 15 2008

Armenia: A Russian outpost in the Caucasus? – Feature
Posted : Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:08:04 GMT
Author : DPA

Moscow/Yerevan, Armenia – Just as Russia has aggressively increased
its economic presence in Armenia, impending presidential elections
that have aggravated relations with its neighbouring states have seen
the political leadership leaning toward the West. Armenia is perched
high in the Caucasus Mountains flanked on one side by Georgia,
internationally important for security reasons, and by crucial
players in the energy game, Iran and Azerbaijan, along its southern
border.

Armenia’s unique situation – with over one-fifth of its nationals
living abroad – has significant economic influence on the smallest
post-Soviet state, though the diaspora is stripped of voting power.

According to data from the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development, remittances from the 8-million-strong Armenian diaspora
pushes the country’s GDP per capita higher than that of its
neighbour, rising economic power Georgia.

Formerly known as the Soviet Union’s manufacturing hub, Armenia has
remained firmly within Russia’s radius since its industry fell apart
with the 1991 collapse of the communist regime.

Compounding its military presence in the country, Russia has ramped
up its economic presence in recent years, now owning near total
control over Armenia’s energy and transportation sectors.

A vital pipeline project to diversify energy dependency away from
Russia by carrying gas from Iran has also come under Russian gas
monopoly Gazprom’s control in 2006.

Russian ties are in part to offset political embargoes along two of
its borders due to unresolved territorial disputes with Azerbaijan
and a failure to achieve reconciliation over the 1915 Armenian
genocide by the Ottoman Empire.

But amid election campaign opposition accusations that Russia’s
growing economic presence poses a threat to Yerevan’s sovereignty,
the current administration has been more circumspect about its
alliances.

The special relationship showed fault lines over Russia’s warming
relations with Armenia’s longtime foe Azerbaijan and its economic
blockade of Georgia, which has a spill-over effect on Armenian
business.

In response, Yerevan has turned towards the West, where a large
Armenian diaspora is actively lobbying the small state’s interest.

"Yerevan is finding it increasingly important to balance Russia
against a dialogue with NATO and interesting the European Union,"
said Thomas Gomart, head of the Russian/CIS programme at Paris-based
Institut Francais des Relations Internationales.

But whatever the inter-state relations, Armenia’s ties to Russia
through the diaspora there are the most important, said Gegam
Khalatyan, the president of the Association of Armenians in Russia.

The Armenian diaspora in Russia counts about 2 million, and – unlike
other diasporas – has grown exponentially in the past five years with
over two thirds of immigrants making Russia their home.

Remittances sent home from Russia amount to 1 million dollars – the
total Russian investment in the country last year.

Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov tacitly displayed Russia’s
interest and support for the incumbent presidential candidate by
paying his counterpart a visit two weeks before Armenia’s elections.

The meeting reinforced Russia’s economic domination with crucial
bilateral deals signed that handed Russia’s state railway company the
management of Armenia’s network for the next 30 years.

The joint construction of Armenia’s first power plant and smoothing
out the last wrinkles in dividing almost total control of the
country’s energy sector between Russian state-monopolies Gazprom and
Unified Energy Systems was also agreed upon.

But, surprisingly, the latest Russian takeovers in the region – where
it is fast loosing influence to the West – seemed to reinforce the
leadership’s move for closer ties to other governments.

Though none of the nine Armenian candidates competing for the
executive office are indifferent to Russia, opposition leaders and
local analysts have grown increasingly suspicious of Russia’s
economic power during the election campaign.

ENDORSEMENT MAY COST HAKOB HAKOBYAN EXPENSIVE

Lragir
Feb 12 2008
Armenia

In a news conference on February 12 Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan
denied rumors on charges against Member of Parliament Hakob Hakobyan
(Lady) who is the founder of a union of Yerkrapah volunteers and stated
February 9 he supports Levon Ter-Petrosyan and took part in the rally.

However, although he denied that charges were brought against Hakob
Hakobyan, Aghvan Hovsepyan told about a case which relates to Hakob
Hakobyan but not directly. The point is that the Office of Prosecutor
General states to have revealed a brothel, a motel located in the
Anush clothes factory on one of the outskirts of Yerevan which is
not registered anywhere and pays no taxes. On December 9, 2007 the
administrator of the motel reported to the Office of Prosecutor
General that someone had extorted 50 thousand drams from him. The
Office of Prosecutor General exposed the extorter who explained
his action. It turned out that a customer had caught syphilis,
is now getting treatment and has therefore extorted money from the
administrator. Eight prostitutes were exposed, who told the brothel had
existed for a long time and has some tens of thousands of dollars of
profit a month, the prostitutes give the money to the administrator,
the administrator gives the money to the worker of the buffet, and
the latter hands out the money to the so-called director of the model
a certain Galstyan, who is Hakob Hakobyan’s friend and neighbor, and
according to Aghvan Hovsepyan, has signed an agreement with Hakobyan
to occupy part of the factory for the motel, without any charge and
time limit.

Aghvan Hovsepyan says charges were brought for pimping and tax
avoidance, three have been arrested, investigation continues. The
reporters tried to find out when charges had been brought, considering
that the report came on December 9, whereas the case was revealed
after Hakob Hakobyan has endorsed Levon Ter-Petrosyan. The Prosecutor
General said the report on extortion took time to reveal the extorter,
the circumstances, to interrogate the prostitutes, as well as other
procedures. As to detention, Aghvan Hovsepyan says the three people
were arrested on February 11.

DOES MOSCOW BACK ARMENIA’S EMBATTLED LEADERS?
By Emil Danielyan

Eurasia Daily Monitor
Feb 12 2008
DC

As the outcome of Armenia’s upcoming presidential election looks
increasingly unpredictable, Russia is exercising unusual caution in
backing a transfer of power from outgoing President Robert Kocharian
to his chief lieutenant, Prime Minister Serge Sarkisian. Moscow has
only indirectly and timidly endorsed Sarkisian’s presidential bid,
avoiding the kind of aggressive pre-election interference to which
it has resorted in other former Soviet republics, notably Ukraine.

Kocharian and Sarkisian have moved Armenia even closer to Russia during
their decade-long joint rule and have reason to expect a payback
from the Kremlin in the run-up to the February 19 vote. It came in
the form of a February 6 visit to Yerevan by Russian Prime Minister
Viktor Zubkov, which officially focused on bilateral commercial
relations. The two sides signed a number of agreements that will
further reinforce Russia’s economic presence in the South Caucasus
state. In particular, Russia’s state railway formally assumed long-term
management of Armenia’s rail network.

The two governments also agreed to set up a joint venture that will
explore and develop Armenia’s uranium reserves. More importantly, the
Russians reaffirmed their strong interest in the planned construction
of a new Armenian nuclear plant, which is expected to replace the
existing Soviet-era facility at Metsamor by 2016. Sergei Kiriyenko,
head of the state nuclear energy agency, Rosatom, said Russian
companies are well placed to win a relevant tender by the authorities
in Yerevan (Kommersant, February 7).

Speaking at a joint news conference after the talks, Zubkov and
Sarkisian welcomed a 65% surge in Russian Armenian trade which totaled
about $700 million in 2007 and may well pass the $1 billion mark
this year. Zubkov said Moscow will help expand a rail-ferry service
between the Georgian Black Sea port of Poti and Russia’s Port-Kavkaz,
which was launched last year and mainly caters for cargos shipped to
and from landlocked Armenia (Armenian Public Television, February 6).

Few observers doubt that the main purpose of Zubkov’s visit, the
second in less than six months, was to boost Sarkisian’s electoral
chances in a country where pro-Russian sentiment has traditionally run
high. As an unnamed Armenian government official quoted by Moskovskii
Komsomolets on February 7 explained, "The authorities are alarmed by
street protests staged by the [Armenian] opposition every day. They
are attended by more and more people. The visit by your prime minister
will demonstrate to the electorate on whose side Russia is."

Moscow has clearly not been interested in regime change in Yerevan
until now. After all, Sarkisian, who also co-chairs a Russian-Armenian
inter-governmental commission on economic cooperation, has played a
key role in the signing of controversial agreements that have left
virtually the whole of Armenia’s energy sector and other industries
under Russian control in the last several years. Several Russian
dailies quoted an unnamed official accompanying Zubkov as saying
that a "continuity of power" is essential for the development of
Russian-Armenian relations.

Vyacheslav Nikonov, a prominent pro-Kremlin pundit, agreed.

"Strategically, Sarkisian’s nomination [for the Armenian presidency]
suits Moscow, which has given him support at the top level," Nikonov
wrote in a February 7 commentary for RIA-Novosti agency. "It would
be appropriate to take steps that would demonstrate our readiness to
render Armenia substantial economic assistance," he said.

Yet Moscow is treading more carefully that one would expect. Neither
President Vladimir Putin, nor his handpicked successor, Dmitry
Medvedev, have made any public statements in support of Sarkisian’s
election victory so far. Even Zubkov stopped short of explicitly
doing that in Yerevan. "This was a very successful visit," he told
reporters before flying back Moscow. "Whatever the course of the
elections, everything should work out for Sarkisian. He is doing his
job sincerely and wholeheartedly."

"It remained unclear to journalists whether he was referring to the
work of the intergovernmental commission headed by Sarkisian or the
upcoming presidential elections in Armenia," Nezavisimaya gazeta
commented the next day. Nor is it clear why another top Russian
official, State Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov, did not even talk to
journalists during a separate trip to Yerevan a week earlier.

Sarkisian is in even greater need of Russian backing now that his
election victory no longer seems a forgone conclusion. His most
formidable challenger, former president Levon Ter-Petrosian, has
pulled massive crowds during the ongoing election campaign and has
even won over some government loyalists. Ever since his dramatic
political comeback in September 2007, Ter-Petrosian has been at pains
to differentiate himself from the staunchly pro-Western leaders of
democratic revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine and to express his
commitment to maintaining close ties with Russia. Speaking at a news
conference on January 11, he emphasized the fact that Armenia had
agreed to a long-term presence of Russian in troops on its soil and
signed a comprehensive friendship treaty with Russia during his rule.

At the same time, Ter-Petrosian made it clear that he believes that the
Russian-Armenian relationship has ceased to be one of two equal allies
since his resignation in 1998, implying that his country will be less
subservient to its former Soviet master if he returns to power. The
Russians will also hardly like the former president’s enduring belief
that the best guarantee of Armenia’s national security is "normal"
relations with all neighboring states, rather than a military alliance
with Russia or any other foreign power.

Furthermore, Ter-Petrosian reportedly (and unexpectedly) left for
Moscow on February 11 and was rumored to have met Medvedev. Such a
meeting, if it really took place, could have far-reaching consequences
for the Armenian election results.

But as things stand now, the Kremlin is not lending the Armenian prime
minister the kind of vocal support which Ukraine’s Viktor Yanukovych
enjoyed before and during the 2004 Orange Revolution. In the end,
Yanukovych’s aggressive promotion by Putin proved fruitless and
further complicated Russian-Ukrainian ties.

Writing in Polit.ru ahead of Zubkov’s arrival in Yerevan, Russian
analyst Sergei Markedonov warned that a similar "crude interference"
in the Armenian presidential race could only antagonize many
Armenians angry at their rulers. "Moscow had better not succumb to the
‘Ukrainian temptation’ and support only the ‘correct’ candidate against
‘incorrect,’ ‘orange’ and other ‘colored’ ones," he said.

YEREVAN UNAWARE OF AZERI AND ARMENIAN MPS MEETING IN LONDON

PanARMENIAN.Net
12.02.2008 14:48 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Armenian MPs have not received any proposal to
meet with Azeri counterparts," RA NA Speaker Tigran Torosian told a
PanARMENIAN.Net reporter when commenting o reports on a meeting of
Azeri and Armenian MPs in London in April 2008.

Head of the Armenian delegation to PACE Davit Harutyunian said he
doesn’t possess such information either.

According to APA, Azeri Milli Mejlis first deputy chairman Ziyafyat
Askerov said Azeri and Armenian parliamentarians will meet in London
in April.

LEVON TER-PETROSIAN LEAVES FOR RUSSIA

Noyan Tapan
Feb 11, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, NOYAN TAPAN. The first Armenian president,
a candidate for presidency of the RA Levon Ter-Petrosian left for
Moscow on February 11.

Mass media reported that this information was confirmed by the
pre-electoral headquarters of L. Ter-Petrosian. No details were given
about the purpose of his visit to Moscow and the possibility of any
meetings there.