Author: Takmazian

STATEMENT OF THE BROADCASTING BOARD OF GOVERNORS ON CLOSURE OF INDEPENDENT MEDIA IN ARMENIA

Radio Liberty
March 5 2008
Czech Republic

The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) strongly objects to
the blackout of independent media in Armenia. Under the state of
emergency rules that went into effect on March 2, media were ordered
to cite only official sources when covering national news, and the
Voice of America’s (VOA) Armenian-language TV program and Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty’s (RFE/RL) Armenian-language radio programs are no
longer being broadcast through local affiliated stations. In addition,
Internet access has been curtailed as part of the government efforts
to control news and information as the political crisis has deepened
since the disputed February 19 elections.

"Censorship and harassment of the media are the antithesis of
democracy," said James K. Glassman, Chairman of the BBG, which oversees
all non-military U.S. international broadcasting. "Our broadcasters
wish to serve the audience in Armenia by providing reliable news and
information at this critical juncture.

Unfortunately, that is not an option at the moment, unless you are
a patient and resourceful Internet user."

In the course of the violence over the weekend, a driver for RFE/RL
was beaten by police in Yerevan, despite being identified as a
representative of the media, and another RFE/RL correspondent in the
town of Gyumri, covering a similar demonstration, was manhandled and
threatened by Interior Ministry troops.

VOA and RFE/RL are among the entities that broadcast in 60 languages
under the direction of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, reaching
an overseas audience of 155 million people on radio, television and
the Internet.

YEREVAN WILL CELEBRATE ITS 2790TH ANNIVERSARY OF FOUNDATION THIS YEAR

AZG Armenian Daily
05/03/2008

Social

Yerevan widens its international cooperation and tries to establish
long-lasting relations with its colleague towns, announced Yerevan
Municipality Head of Foreign Relations Davit Gevorgian at a press
conference.

According to him, Yerevan is a member of CIS and Baltic Countries
Cities International Assembly and Congress of Historical Cities.

Touching upon the future programs Davit Gevorgian underlined the
events of the 2790th anniversary of Yerevan foundation when many
guests are expected from different cities.

AZERBAIJAN HOPES SITUATION IN ARMENIA WILL HAVE NO NEGATIVE INFLUENCE ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH PEACE TALKS, KHAZAR IBRAHIM

AzerTag
March 3 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan would not like recent events in Armenia to have negative
influence on the two countries` peace talks over Nagorno-Karabakh,
said an Azerbaijani foreign ministry spokesman.

Khazar Ibrahim said "Azerbaijan had always been against interfering in
the domestic affairs of other countries, and from this point of view,
events in Armenia are its domestic affairs".

The spokesman said, however, Armenia occupied twenty percent of
Azerbaijan`s territory.

"Azerbaijan has always been committed to international legal norms,
and never used foreign countries` problems for its own interests",
Ibrahim added.

Commenting on Armenian President Robert Kocharian`s statement that
the talks were frozen till this autumn, Khazar Ibrahim said "the
negotiations must go on. There must be no pretexts. Armenia must take
a constructive stance for the peace process be a success".

The foreign ministry`s spokesman said during their Baku visit, OSCE
Minsk Group`s co-chairs expressed their interest in the continuation
of the talks.

Armenian presidential candidate Ter-Petrosian challenges election results in court

Interfax News Agency, Russia
Russia & CIS General Newswire
February 29, 2008 Friday 9:36 PM MSK

YEREVAN Feb 29 — Former Armenian President and presidential candidate
Levon Ter-Petrosian has filed a suit with the Armenian Constitutional
Court in an effort to challenge the results of the recent presidential
election.

"The suit filed by the candidate has been accepted for consideration,
and the date for the hearing will be set later," Constitutional Court
press secretary Ovannes Papikian told Interfax on Friday.

In line with the law On the Constitutional Court, the court has to
issue a ruling on disputes regarding results of presidential elections
within ten days upon receiving an appeal.

Tigran Karapetian, another presidential candidate, filed a similar
suit with the Constitutional Court on February 28.

Armenia held presidential elections on February 19, in which nine
candidates ran. Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan was proclaimed the winner
with 52.82% of the vote. Ter-Petrosian was said to have garnered 21.5%
and Artur Bagdasarian 17.7%.

Supporters of Ter-Petrosian have been protesting in Yerevan since
February 20 demanding that the official election results be annulled
and new elections held.

Riot police disperse rally in Yerevan’s Freedom Square, casualties are reported

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
March 1 2008

[ 01 Mar 2008 12:25 ]

Yerevan-APA. Armenian riot police have today dispersed the opposition’s
rally in Freedom Square. APA reports quoting Arminfo that the square
is surrounded by the police and no one, even journalists are allowed
in. The law-enforcement bodies are clearing the demonstrators camped
out in the square.

Armenian riot police used truncheons, tear gas and other means to break
up the protest action, witnesses said. According to the unconfirmed
reports, casualties are reported. Addressing the protesters at 7.00
a.m. leader of the opposition, ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosyan warned
them about dispersion of the rally. He called on the protesters not to
panic, or confront with the police. After that the government forces
started to disperse the protest action. Levon Ter-Petrosyan demanded
a relevant decision from the law-enforcement bodies for dispersing
the rally, but he was ignored. The riot police took him in an unknown
direction by force. Later it became known that ex-president was taken
home and is banned from leaving home.

The protest action started on February 20. Despite the warnings of
president Robert Kocharian and law-enforcement bodies, the protesters
did not stop the rally. They protested against the results of the
presidential elections held on February 19. Central Election Commission
had declared Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian’s victory in the elections.

VATICAN’S DELEGATION TO ARRIVE IN ARMENIA MARCH 2

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Feb 29 2008

YEREVAN, 29.02.08. DE FACTO. On March 2 Vatican’s delegation headed
by Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcizio Bertone will visit
Armenia on the invitation of Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II.

In the course of the meeting Cardinal Tarcizio Bertone is scheduled
to meet with RA President Robert Kocharian, the head of Armenian
Apostolic Church, Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II, RA PM Serge
Sargsian and RA FM Vardan Oskanian, RA MFA Press Office reports.

Vatican’s Secretary of State will visit the Memorial complex to the
memory of the Armenian Genocide victims, Matenadaran, Sisters’ Center
of Mother Teresa, Mkhitarian Centre and Surb Grigor Lusavorich Church
(the Church of St. Gregory Enlightener).

Vatican’s delegation will also visit Shirak region, Khor Virap,
Noravank and Geghard.

On March 6 Vatican’s delegation will leave Armenia.

COALITION BASED ON LARGE-SCALE BLUFFING
Gevorg Sargsyan

Lragir
20:19:50 – 29/02/2008

Apparently the Armenian government has finally realized that the
popular movement gathering momentum in the country is impossible to
stop. The hopes that it is possible to implement the plan of handing
out presidential power to Serge Sargsyan are vanishing day by day.

It was expected that at some point the acting and declared presidents
would resort to various political devices to gain additional resource
for every possible thing. The information that the leader of the
Orinats Yerkir is offered the post of secretary of the Council for
Security is a vivid representative of that class of devices.

If Baghdasaryan had been offered the post of speaker of the
National Assembly, he would have been appointed to that post today
(it is possible to elect a new speaker of parliament in one day) and
ostensibly the government would be trying to knock up a coalition. It
would be possible to understand the logic of Baghdasaryan.

However, appearing in the position of secretary of the Security
Council of Armenia only means that he is under consideration
for the new presidential candidate of the government in case
the Constitutional Court repeals the results of the presidential
election. At least, perhaps this is what the government has inspired
to Arthur Baghdasaryan. He would hardly agree to another game with
the government.

The fact that nobody is going to make Baghdasaryan president is
obvious to everyone. But the fact that the coalition is going to
be formed through large-scale bluffing means that the government of
Armenia is in total panic.

Let us wait to see what bluffing they will put up with the ARF
Dashnaktsutyun.

FORMER PRESIDENT LEVON TER-PETROSYAN’S SUPPORTERS ARE BEING REPRESSED
by Gayane Sahakyan

Aravot, Armenia
Feb 28 2008

Participants in the rallies organized by the first president of Armenia
[Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who was president 1991-1998], especially those
who make speeches, are being subjected to repeated persecution and
harassment. Police officers search their apartments.

They are dismissed from their jobs. Besides, some individuals are
calling the most active participants of the rally and threatening
them, "If you don’t stop going to Freedom Square, we will harm your
family members."

A citizen of the Gegharkunik Region town of Vardenis, Smbat Shaboyan,
was dismissed from his job as an inspector for the Armenian Water
Company, because he was actively participating in Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s
rallies.

[Passage omitted: Shaboyan describes circumstances of his dismissal]

Smbat Shaboyan is a Yerkrapah [member of veterans’ organization]
and was maimed on the battlefield. After his cooperation with Levon
Ter-Petrosyan, the authorities deprived him even of the disability
pension.

[Passage omitted: Shaboyan says his sister is also threatened with
dismissal]

During the rally yesterday, participants from Vardenis claimed that
in their town members of the [ruling] Republican Party of Armenia
are privileged and have access to good positions, while those who
are not Republicans are unemployed.

Mher Muradyan, a Ter-Petrosyan supporter from Vardenis, not only
cannot find work in his native town, but he was recently deprived of
the Paros benefit [for low-income families] after he started to attend
the rallies. He has two small children, and nobody works in his family.

The president of the Dilijan branch of the Test of Spirit [veterans]
organization, Gevorg Amirkhanyan, told Aravot that he and his family
have been constantly terrorized for two weeks now. At six o’clock
yesterday morning, ten Dilijan police officers and a group of men in
civilian clothes entered Amirkhanyan’s flat, turned everything upside
down, and took away Amirkhanyan’s passport.

"I was not at home at the time," Gevorg said. "I was at the rally.

They destroyed my possessions. Besides my passport, they took the
records of Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s rallies. It is ridiculous, but they
confiscated from my apartment a nunchaku, which I used for exercises,
saying it was an unauthorized weapon."

Gevorg hasn’t been home for seven days. During all this time, pressure
was put on his family to make Gevorg return. There were threats that
if he didn’t come home, something bad would happen. "If I go home,
I am sure I will be arrested immediately," he said.

The persecution also affects students who participate in Levon
Ter-Petrosyan’s rallies. Students of the Armenian Agrarian University
said that the doors of their institution are closed against them: "As
soon as the lecture starts, the doors of the auditorium are closed,
so nobody can go to the rally. We were threatened that we would be
expelled from the University if we go to the rally."

U.S. URGES TURKEY TO WITHDRAW TROOPS FROM N. IRAQ

PanARMENIAN.Net
28.02.2008 14:40 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The United States called on Thursday for NATO ally
Turkey to end its major ground offensive against Kurdish PKK rebels
in northern Iraq as soon as possible, but Ankara said it would stay
until the job was done.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters in Ankara that he had
been given no timetable for a Turkish withdrawal.

"The key is for us to make clear what our interests are, our concerns
about the situation in Iraq," he said after meeting with Turkey’s
defense minister.

Washington fears that a prolonged Turkish operation will undermine
stability in the region, particularly Iraq.

"It should be clear that military action alone will not end this
terrorist threat," Gates added, saying Ankara must also take political
and economic steps to isolate the PKK guerrillas and help support
Turkey’s large ethnic Kurdish minority, Reuters reports.

For his part, Turkish Prime Minister’s chief foreign affairs adviser
Ahmed Davutoglu said that decision on withdrawal terms has not been
taken yet.

Some 100 thousand Turkish troops crossed the Iraqi border on February
22 night. 173 Kurdish rebels and 17 Turkish soldiers are reported to
be killed.

ARMENIAN PEOPLE CAN NO LONGER GO ASTRAY BY SLOGANS "AHEAD, ARMENIA" OR "BACKWARD, ARMENIA", LEVON TER-PETROSIAN SAYS

Noyan Tapan
Feb 27, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 27, NOYAN TAPAN. Power of the current
president Robert Kocharian has always been illegal, the first
Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosian stated at the February 27
rally, saying that R. Kocharian did not even have the right to be
nominated as presidential candidate. According to L. Ter-Petrosian,
R. Kocharian’s nomination was a violation of the RA Constitition. "When
the president breaks the Constitution, it means the end of the state,"
L. Ter-Petrosian remarked. In his words, "this man has no right to
accuse us of holding unsantioned actions". He added that a few days
ago R. Kocharian again violated the Constitution by depriving six
employees of the foreign ministry of their diplomatic ranks: no such
right is reserved for the president by law.

In the words of L. Ter-Petrosian, the current authorities "made
use of the October 27 assassination and created the current power
pyramid". According to him, the businessmen make up part of this
pyramid: they have become "dolls" because it is impossible to do
business without being part of that system. "It is regrettable that
our oligarchs did not realize that our struggle is also for their
freedom," he said. In his opinion, if these authorities remain in
power, Armenia will move not towards Western values but will go along
the path of becoming a Pakistan, Afghanistan or Iraq.

"They also say that I would allegedly give Karabakh at that time,
and they have come to save it," L. Ter-Petrosian said. As he put it,
some extremist opinions on the Karabakh problem existed at that time,
and some other opinion just "would not be accepted". The first Armenian
president said that when one is cold, it is impossible to explain
the reason for this cold to this person. And today when the people
is not cold, it already understands the reason for the cold of that
time. Just as he left power in 1998 because it was impossible to make
the people understand how the Karabakh problem was to be solved. "I
gave the others the opportunity to propose other solutions.

These people have had an opportunity for 10 years. Now the state
has become a robber state, the Nagorno Karabakh Republic has lost
15 thousand people, all of them have been brought here and given
positions," the first president said. He expressed an opinion that the
Armenian people can no longer go astray by slogans "Ahead, Armenia"
or "Backward, Armenia".