Author: Khondkarian Raffi

PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Jake Goshert, Coordinator of Information Services
Tel: (212) 686-0710 Ext. 60; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

May 13, 2004
___________________

DIOCESE WORKS TO BRING COLLEGE STUDENTS TO FAITH

By Jake Goshert

The Eastern Diocese’s newly established college ministry program
completed its first full semester this spring, during which it partnered
with the St. Peter Church of Watervliet, NY, to hold a series of visits
in the Albany area.

“We want to send a welcome to these students, let them know they’re
always a part of our church family,” said Jason Demerjian, the Diocese’s
college ministry facilitator. “We’ve been working to be visible on
campuses, to meet with students, and to answer their questions. College
is a difficult time, and we want them to know we’re there for them
anytime they need our help.”

ARMENIAN IDENTITY

In the Albany area Demerjian and Fr. Stepanos Doudoukjian, pastor of St.
Peter Church, visited with students at the State University of New York
in Albany, Siena College, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Their
first visits were a discussion on the Armenian Christian faith and how
it fit into the concept of Armenian identity.

“This is a good experience to get knowledge of our people,” said David
Mahserjian of Siena College. “I appreciate those of you who support us
and let us continue the things we do as Armenians.”

The campus gatherings brought out dozens of Armenian students to explore
their tradition. The visits were also a chance for students to explain
their faith to non-Armenian friends.

“As a member of the Roman Catholic Church, I found the visit to be
informative and an encouraging sign that faith is important to college
students,” said Meaghan Horn, a student at Siena College. “We want to
hold an inter-church prayer service next year, as something that further
affirms the idea that faith is important to college students.”

CONTINUING EFFORTS

In response to the desires of the RPI students following the initial
visit, Demerjian and Fr. Doudoukjian organized a follow-up barbeque
party. It was a chance for the students to be social, but also served
as the starting point for what could become an officially recognized
Armenian students club at the school.

“The visits were an excellent start to what I hope will turn into a
monthly club meeting, for Armenian college students to gather and
recognize their culture,” said Haig Seferian, a student at RPI. “I
think it was an excellent introduction to how we can get things started.
Thank you Jason and the Diocese for coming up with and initiating this.”

The core group of students at RPI are going to work in coming months to
plan cultural and religious events at the school. They’re also going to
organize service projects for Armenia that can involve the non-Armenian
student population as well.

“We finally took the all-important step of starting a club,” said Jason
Garabedian from RPI. “The school has always had an Armenian population,
and now Armenian kids will have more of a reason to attend RPI, besides
the fact that it is a good school.”

LOCAL SUPPORT

This is the first full semester for the Diocese’s new college ministry
effort. Along with the ventures into the Albany area, Demerjian also
went on a number of successful visits to colleges around Boston, MA.

The goal of the college ministry program is to work with local parish
clergy and lay leaders in identifying students and coordinating
follow-up contacts. Since Demerjian is the sole staffer, he cannot make
regular visits to all campuses with Armenian populations. That’s why
the success of college ministry outreach will depend on people in the
local parishes such — as Fr. Doudoukjian, who has taken an interest in
the success of the Albany area.

“I feel there’s a great need for ministry to college students,” said Fr.
Doudoukjian, who as a deacon in 1993 worked to reach out to college
students. “When 17- and 18-year-olds go to college, there’s a newfound
independence. And with that comes a desire to carve out who they are as
individuals. That’s one of our last opportunities to reach out to youth
through campus ministry. If we come to their home territory on campus
and say, ‘Yes, the Armenian Church cares,’ and provide guidance, the
results can be unbelievable.”

Fr. Doudoukjian also said parents need to take action when their kids go
away to school, so their children can get connected to those new
ministry efforts.

“The parents need to get involved, and let the Diocese and local
parishes know when their kids go away to school,” he said. “Will all
this work and make them involved in the life of the church? If you’re
not in there doing ministry, you have little chance at all. If you are
out there and affecting people’s lives in a positive way, the chance is
greater. You plant the seed, and never know what fruit will blossom.”

— 5/13/04

E-mail photos available on request. Photos also viewable on the Eastern
Diocese’s website,

PHOTO CAPTIO (1): A group of students at Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute (RPI) in the Albany, NY, area gather for a barbeque this
spring with Jason Demerjian, the Eastern Diocese’s college ministry
facilitator, and Fr. Stepanos Doudoukjian, pastor at the St. Peter
Church of Watervliet, NY.

PHOTO CAPTION (2): With the energy provided by the Eastern Diocese’s
college ministry program, students at RPI in Albany, NY, are now working
on creating an on-going Armenian cultural association.

PHOTO CAPTION (3): Social gatherings organized through the Eastern
Diocese’s new college ministry outreach program — such as this barbeque
at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute near Albany, NY– give the local
priests and Diocesan staff a chance to get to know and serve as role
models for Armenian college students.

# # #

Greece, Turkey seek end to feud
By Andrew Borowiec, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Washington Times
May 14 2004

NICOSIA, Cyprus — Greece and Turkey have embarked on what diplomats
describe as a period of “optimism and hope” with the ultimate goal
of ending their centuries-old feud.

A meeting in Athens last week between Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Greek counterpart, Costas Karamanlis,
sparked diplomatic dispatches and newspaper editorials forecasting
an unprecedented era of cooperation.

Above all, the prime ministers pledged not to let their long-standing
dispute over Cyprus stand in the path of a rapprochement.

“The European Union has accepted the whole of Cyprus — with a
special dispensation for its northern sector,” Mr. Karamanlis said.
“For us, the issue has been solved and has been dealt with.”

He also stressed Greek backing of Turkish efforts to join the European
Union and for planned Turkish political and economic reforms.

Mr. Erdogan said, “Greek-Turkish relations must not be affected by
the Cyprus issue. … The improvement of bilateral relations between
Greece and Turkey will be to the benefit not only of the two countries
but to stability, peace and cooperation in the whole region.”

The statements caused considerable concern in Greek-Cypriot political
circles, where it was understood that the new chapter in Greek-Turkish
relations was facilitated by the Greek-Cypriot rejection of a U.N. plan
to unite the island — and a Turkish-Cypriot vote of acceptance.

International sponsors of the plan quickly moved to reward the hitherto
ostracized and boycotted Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, putting
the legal Greek-Cypriot government on the defensive.

The fear now is of a loss of international interest in the island’s
future.

Since the Ottoman massacre of Armenians and the post-Ottoman wars of
the 1920s, Greece and Turkey have rarely seen eye to eye. Although
both are partners in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, their
military preparations have been mostly aimed at each other.

Greece and Turkey nearly went to war three times in recent years —
in 1974 because of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in retaliation for
a Greek coup, in 1987 when Turkey sent an oil drilling ship into
the disputed areas of the Aegean Sea, and in 1996 over a disputed
uninhabited Aegean islet.

The Erdogan-Karamanlis meeting follows a steady search for better
relations, marked by 25 bilateral agreements in the past five years.

The conservative Athens daily Kathimerini, however, added a note
of caution:

“Both men seek to hammer out relations based on sincerity and trust
which will allow them to resolve nagging hitches. But the EU will
never begin accession negotiations with a state in which political
life is under the shadow of the military.”

Turkish officials and diplomats insist that Turkey has made strides
toward major changes in its political outlook.

Hakan Altinay, of the Open Society Institute in Turkey, said, “A
transformation wrought by the soft power of the European Union has
gone unnoticed by Europe. … The death penalty was repealed, draconian
laws that restricted speech and the press for decades were abolished.

“The state of emergency that curtailed basic liberties in southeast
Turkey was lifted after 25 years. The extraordinary powers of the
National Security Council which subordinated civilian rule to military
authority were eliminated.”

Turkey Wants Good Relations With Armenia

Anadolu Agency
May 12 2004

ANKARA – Turkey wanted good relations with Armenia, Turkish Foreign
Ministry Spokesman Namik Tan said on Wednesday.

Tan told a weekly press briefing that the Caucasus and Armenia were
important regions for Turkey.

Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Tan stated that there were chronic
problems in the region.

Everybody should fulfil his responsibilities, Tan noted.

Tan added that only Turkey`s efforts would not be sufficient to
overcome those chronic problems.

Institute for War and Peace Reporting
May 12 2004

Azerbaijan: No Glory for Veterans

Former combatants struggle to survive, and veteran status offers
little solace or practical help.

By Mamed Suleimanov in Zakatala and Baku (CRS No. 233, 12-May-04)

Rahim volunteered to go to the front in the war against the Armenians
in 1992, when he was 23. In January 1993, he was wounded and taken
prisoner near the town of Fizuli.

Eleven years on, Rahim is reluctant to talk about his time as a
prisoner-of-war. “I’ve told this story so many times to the state
commission on prisoners, so go and talk to them,” he told IWPR.

But over a cup of tea, he relented and agreed to tell his story.

“I spent more than a year in captivity. For about a month they kept me
behind bars next to another Azeri man called Oktay. Then I ended up in
the family of an Armenian man whose son had also been taken prisoner. I
spent many long months in the countryside around Hadrut, in this
man’s house. His name was Kamo. They treated me much better there.”

After more than a year in captivity, Rahim’s family managed to win
his freedom after paying a ransom. He was exchanged for a body of an
Armenian plus some money. He declined to say how much money changed
hands, but said that it was the intermediary who kept it anyway –
a field commander nicknamed Fantomas, a former tractor driver who
spent the war involved more in the “business” of trading prisoners
than in the actual fighting.

Rahim returned an invalid to the small town of Zakatala in
north-western Azerbaijan where he lives. Even though he cannot move
the fingers on his left hand because of war wounds, he managed to
become a professional hairdresser.

The local authorities gave him a small room in a local hotel, which
he turned into a hairdressing salon. Then his luck turned sour again.
Survivors of a fire in an apartment block were re-housed in the hotel,
so Rahim lost his means of making a livelihood.

Now Rahim is unemployed. He has a family and three children, but
no house and nowhere to turn to for help. The town authorities have
long forgotten about him, and now he is saving up to move to Russia,
where he hopes he can find a job as a market trader.

Another veteran, 38-year-old Azer, had more luck. He too volunteered
for the war, serving as a driver ferrying ammunition to the front. He
was badly wounded by a landmine in Aghdam, and spent over a month in
intensive care. Twelve years later, he still gets bad headaches from
the skull injury he suffered.

After he left hospital, Azer managed to get a fairly lucrative job by
local standards, working at a customs checkpoint on the border with
Georgia. He says that to avoid standing out from his colleagues, he
took bribes and shared them with his superiors, just like the other
customs officers.

After ten years on the job, he managed to save up a decent sum, got
married, bought a house in Baku and started his own business. But a
year ago he was sacked from customs because, he says, “they sold my
workplace to someone else”.

The stories of both Rahim and Azer illustrate how Azerbaijan’s veterans
of the Nagorny Karabakh war have had to fend for themselves in the 10
years since the ceasefire agreement of 1994. Most say they are ignored
by the state they fought for, and that they survive only on their wits.

Recently a local television channel reported that a war invalid from
the town of Imishli has been living with his wife and children in an
old bus for three years, because he lost hope that he would ever be
able to get a proper home.

The primary concern for most veterans is feeding their families. The
pension for invalids from the war is about 27 dollars a month, well
below the bread line.

Veterans used to enjoy some benefits, travelling free on public
transport and receiving gas and electricity supplies for nothing.
However, former Azerbaijani president Heidar Aliev cut those benefits
from the beginning of 2002.

Rei Kerimoglu, a spokesman for the Karabakh Gazileri (Karabakh
Warriors) organisation, one of several veterans’ groups, told IWPR that
benefits for invalids are sometimes misappropriated. For instance,
specially-adapted vehicles should be provided to invalids free of
charge, but officials demand a bribe of 300 to 400 dollars to hand
them over.

Kerimoglu said that in recent years, abject poverty has driven 36
war invalids to kill themselves, and 75 more have been treated by
doctors after attempting suicide.

Mekhti Mekhtiev, chairman of the Public Union of Karabakh War
Invalids, Veterans and Families of Martyrs’ Families, told IWPR, “We
have been facing a difficult situation since our benefits were cut.
When Baku mayor Hajibala Abutalibov had illegally-built structures
demolished, some trading booths belonging to Karabakh veterans also
got destroyed. These people are unable to work due to their health,
and trading is their only source of income. Now many veterans are
simply starving.”

Labour and welfare minister Nagiev denies that veterans are being
neglected. He said the 8,000 Karabakh war invalids on his ministry’s
books get priority treatment from the state. “Compared with others,
they have much higher pensions, they receive free medical treatment
at home, and those who need to have treatment abroad are given a
certain amount of money every year,” he said. The minister said the
state has handed out nearly 800 cars and 350 apartments to veterans
free of charge since 1997.

Altay Mamedov, who heads the Azerbaijani Association for Veterans of
the Great Patriotic War, an organisation originally set up to help
Second World War participants, said part of the problem is that there
are so many different veterans’ groups.

“In other countries there is one centralised body that deals with all
the problems facing veterans. But we have nine state organisations
doing it, and as a result there are differing interpretations of the
criteria for granting veteran status, and varying numbers of veterans
are cited,” said Mamedov. “The state claims there are 74,000 veterans
of the Karabakh war in the country. But our data indicates that the
number of war veterans is exaggerated. Our association is proposing to
unite all organisations that [have the power to] grant veteran status.”

Neither Rahim nor Azer is a member of any of the veterans’
organisations.

“It’s all politics, and the heads of all those organisations just
want to grab a piece of the pie,” said Rahim. Azer agreed, saying,
“If you hang around waiting for help from the state, you could easily
starve to death.”

Neither man likes reminiscing about the war, and they do not take
part in army reunions. The memories of what they did then are a burden
they carry alone.

Mamed Suleimanov is a reporter for the Baku newspaper Novoe Vremya.

International Journalist’s Network
May 7 2004

Armenian news directors to learn new computer program

A seminar for Armenian TV news directors and editors is aimed at
teaching them how to use News Factory – software that can help them
organize their newsrooms.

Internews-Armenia has scheduled the seminar for May 24 at its offices
in Yerevan. No more than one representative from each participating
TV company may attend.

Trainers Konstantin Naumov and Denis Shchevchenko of Internews-Russia
will lead the seminar. They will present the News Factory program,
which facilitates the organization of newsroom work for TV stations.

Internews-Russia created the software to help regional stations
automate their news production, while creating computerized archives
of their local news reports. According to an October 2003 release
from Internews, more than 300 stations across Russia are using the
software.

For more information about the software, visit

For information about the course, contact David Aslanyan at
[email protected], telephone +374 1 58-36-20. Internews-Armenia:

ArmenPress
May 5 2004

AVET TERTERIAN FESTIVAL SLATED FOR AUTUMN

YEREVAN, MAY 5, ARMENPRESS: The Union of Armenian Composers will
hold a festival in autumn dedicated to the 75-anniversary of great
composer Avet Terterian. The chairman of the Union, Robert
Amirkhanian, told Armenpress the festival will bring to Yerevan
prominent performers, critics and composers from many countries.
Considered by many as one of the most progressive and original
composers of the end of the 20th century who introduced new and
revolutionary ways in the development of modern symphony. Terterian
is the author of eight symphonies (the ninth was left incomplete),
two operas “Ring of Fire” and “The Earthquake”, ballet “Richard the
3rd”, vocal-symphonic cycle, and many chamber works. His symphonic
works are often performed in the European musical centers and his
opera “The Earthquake” received its world premiere in Munich in 2003
with an unprecedented public reception and wide ranging critical
acclaim.
Avet Terterian was awarded by German Az-Abendzeitung newspaper the
title of Star of the Year for his opera “The Earthquake.”
Terterian’s creativity is rooted in the ancient traditions of
Armenian music. Melodic flourishes are present, but are used as sound
gestures contrasting with passages rich in tone color. The point of
departure of Terterian’s style is often a single tone held out over
long stretches of time.
Terterian was born in Baku, Azerbaijan in 1929 and died in 1994 in
Yekaterinburg, Russia.

A1 Plus | 17:30:22 | 28-04-2004 | Politics | PACE SPRING SESSION |

CE FOLLOWING EQUALITY PRINCIPLE

CE Secretary General Walter Schwimmer whose CE commissions end this June
said at today’s press conference that CE role becomes wider.

“Council of Europe is more important than European Union. It is beyond
controversy that CE must and does support all the states which are on the
democratization way”, Mr. Schwimmer said.

Talking about Armenia’s problems he voiced hope that CE will have its good
offices for establishing stability in Armenia.

CE demands the Armenian Authorities to honor the democratic ideas towards
CE, human rights and legality and to engage in a dialogue with the political
powers.

“Ayb-Fe” asked Walter Schwimmer: “What do you mean saying the situation in
Armenia must be settled in a democratic way only?”. “Respect to lawfulness
of human rights, responsibility of the Armenian Government and the legal
bodies not to commit violence against the protestors, especially freedom of
MPs, are the most essential. I call both Opposition and protestors for the
same. But it is impossible to come out of the political crisis through
violence and rallies. Sides must engage in a dialogue and to find peaceful
ways. CE is well-experienced for eliminating crisis and our representative
can assist parts in the dialogue”, Walter Schwimmer said.

RIA OREANDA
Economic Press Review
April 28, 2004 Wednesday

Opposition Meeting in Armenia

Yerevan. GAZETA.RU

On Tuesday evening another opposition meeting, organized by the
Justice and National unity parties, with the only demand to shift the
authorities of the republic took place in the downtown of Yerevan.
Twenty five thousand people were reported to take part in the meeting
whereas according to information given by the police, the meeting
counted roughly 3 thousand men. Setting out the Armenian opposition s
vision in the Parliament, the Justice faction deputy, Stepan Zakarayn
said that they put in a claim to the Parliament majority to accept
the opposition demands and let the Armenians move freely about the
country according to the Constitution. More over, the Justice party
leader considered the discussion of Armenia s situation at the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) meeting to be
required. Copyright (c) 1997-2004 RIA “OREANDA”

The Express Times, PA
April 29 2004

Witness: Problems started in Russia
Adopted boy suffered from mental issues, psychologist says.

By BILL BRAY
The Express-Times

FLEMINGTON — A Russian-born psychologist Wednesday described Viktor
Matthey as a severely mentally disabled boy with problems rooted in
his mother’s alcoholism — problems that manifested themselves until
his death at age 7.

Viktor died of heart failure 10 months after he was adopted by Robert
and Brenda Matthey of Union Township.

Anait Azarian, a child psychologist who specializes in post-traumatic
stress disorder, said Viktor Matthey likely suffered from numerous
mental problems including fetal alcohol effect that was brought on by
his biological mother’s heavy drinking during pregnancy.

Azarian, who grew up in the Soviet Union and once ran a clinic for
children suffering from post-traumatic stress associated with
earthquakes in Armenia and the Chernobyl nuclear accident, said
Viktor’s early life of neglect and abuse saddled him with problems
that could not be cured by a good home and loving parents.

“He was a very complex child with lots of problems,” said Azarian, a
defense witness.

The Mattheys are on trial in Superior Court in Hunterdon County for
manslaughter, aggravated manslaughter, endangering the welfare of a
child and witness tampering in connection with Viktor’s death. He
died Oct. 31, 2000, in a New Brunswick, N.J., hospital three days
after he was rushed to Hunterdon Medical Center.

The defense could rest its case today.

Prosecutors allege the Mattheys abused Viktor by using excessive
corporal punishment such as hitting him with a bat and a whip,
forcing him to eat uncooked beans, taping his mouth shut and making
him sleep in an unheated basement pump room.

The prosecution contends Viktor’s exposure to the cold inside the
pump room before he died led to hypothermia and eventual heart
failure. Viktor had a body temperature of 83 degrees when he arrived
Oct. 29, 2000, at Hunterdon Medical Center.

The defense claims the abuse and neglect Viktor endured in Russia
caused him to suffer from a nutritional disorder that prevented his
body from absorbing proteins and that eventually led to hypothermia
and heart failure. The defense also claims Viktor’s mental problems
resulted in self-mutilating behavior such as picking at his skin
until it bled and throwing himself into walls or down a short flight
of stairs in the Matthey home.

During her testimony Wednesday, Azarian said Viktor’s mother drank
almost every day for the two years prior to his birth in 1993. Viktor
showed several signs of fetal alcohol effect such as small teeth,
thin hair, a big head, developmental delays and speech problems,
Azarian said.

When Viktor was born, his parents — both alcoholics, according to
Azarian — paid no attention to him.

“She was giving birth only for income,” Azarian said of the boy’s
natural mother. Viktor’s parents received food aid based on the
number of children they had and in turn used the money to buy vodka.
Their lack of love and attention was the first in a chain of abuses
that led Viktor to also develop reactive attachment disorder and
post-traumatic stress disorder, Azarian said.

“They never built a fundamental base of trust,” Azarian said of
children like Viktor.

His lack of trust spurred Viktor to want to be in control at all
times.

“They want to be in control; they need to know what’s going on,”
Azarian said of children such as Viktor.

Viktor’s bed-wetting and habit of soiling himself were ways to show
he was in control, Azarian said. His lack of sleep was directly
related to his need to know what was going on around him at all
times, Azarian said.

“These children can be awake for days and days at a time,” Azarian
said. Robert and Brenda Matthey testified earlier that they gave
Viktor a sedative the night before his collapse after he failed to
sleep for several days.

Under cross-examination, Azarian said fetal alcohol effect,
post-traumatic stress disorder and reactive attachment disorder are
not fatal problems. Azarian said the Mattheys should have taken
Viktor to a medical professional for care.

Under questioning by Assistant Prosecutor Harvey Lester, Azarian
acknowledged the Mattheys agreed to adopt a mentally or physically
abused child or a child that suffered abuse. Azarian also agreed the
Mattheys’ alleged abuse of Viktor could have contributed to his
mental problems.

Azarian said she was amazed by how quickly Viktor learned English and
said he was obviously a bright boy. Lester suggested that Viktor’s
ability to learn English is contrary to Azarian’s claim he had fetal
alcohol effect.

The jury Wednesday also heard a tape of the 911 call made by Brenda
Matthey on Oct. 28, 2000.

Matthey, who sounded worried and upset, was heard taking
cardiopulmonary resuscitation instructions from a 911 operator and
pleading with Viktor not to die.

“Oh my God, come on (Viktor), come on,” Matthey is heard saying in
the background on the tape as she tried to give the boy rescue
breathing. Within minutes of her call, the first rescue workers
arrived and took over CPR. Viktor, who had stopped breathing and had
no pulse, was resuscitated at Hunterdon Medical Center 80 minutes
later.

“Oh, he’s so lifeless, please,” Matthey said to the operator as she
unsuccessfully attempted to get Viktor to breathe. Near the end of
the tape, Matthey sounds like she begins to cry, prompting the
operator to encourage her to continue.

“You are doing everything that anybody could possibly do for him
right now,” the operator said. “Just do what you’re doing. So you’re,
you’re doing great, OK,” the operator said.

Testimony will continue today with Boris Skurkovich, a pediatrician.

Reporter Bill Bray can be reached at 908-475-1596 or by e-mail at
[email protected].

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
April 29 2004

PACE GAVE TIME TO ARMENIA
[April 29, 2004, 19:05:45]

At the session of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on
28 April, discussed was the question “Situation in Armenia”,
correspondent of AzerTAj reported from Strasbourg

French deputy Rene Andre and Polish deputy Zherzi Zhaskiernia have
informed on the events, which have occurred in Armenia recently. .
Both lecturers have condemned the violent measures applied concerning
peace meetings on which the opposition expressed mistrust to
President Robert Kocharyan, have stated that in the country did not
carry out democratic reforms, human rights are violated, freedom of
press is strangled, and have demanded from authorities written
explanation in connection with the latest developments. The report
reflects gross infringements during the presidential elections in
Armenia, ignoring by authorities of protests of the Council of Europe
in this occasion, the requirement to the Country’s management about
realization of serious steps on the way of stabilization of
situation.

Ten deputies have spoken in discussions on the report. They have
especially noted the arbitrariness of police during dispersal of
peace meetings, having emphasized, that thus did not spare even
women, have stressed importance to start dialogue between authority
and opposition. It was stressed the necessity of direction to Armenia
special expert group for check of performance of resolution of the
January session the PACE concerning Armenia, even is recommended to
follow example the neighboring Georgia (“velvet revolution”), make
amendments to the Constitution of the country connected with
presidential and parliamentary elections. If before the last events
it was informed, that in Armenia there are no political prisoners,
now the situation changed, hundreds people are arrested. In
statements, has found reflection extremely heavy political situation
in the country. And some statements contain requirements about
introduction of sanctions concerning the country, which have applied
force over the citizens.

Some deputies demanded dialogue between authority and opposition,
have noted importance of sending to Armenia a monitoring group, and
special representative to study situation, have made offer on giving
to Armenia time until September session for settlement of the
question

Amendments to the resolution made by session in connection with the
events which has occurred in Armenia, also have caused rough
discussions among deputies. Despite of diligence and protests of the
Armenian deputies, in the draft resolution have found reflection many
amendments, including about carrying out in the country of mass
arrests, giving to authorities of Armenia time till September for
stabilization of situation by peace way (otherwise, the delegation of
Armenia in the PACE will be deprived all powers). During voting, the
majority of deputies supported these amendments. Thus, time for
normalization of situation developed in the country is given to
Armenia.