Author: Tatoyan Vazgen

Agence France Presse — English
May 11, 2007 Friday

West warns of serious consequences if Armenia vote flawed

by Michael Mainville

Western governments have issued a stark warning to Armenia ahead of
parliamentary elections on Saturday — improve on previously flawed
votes or face serious consequences.

Already contending with closed borders and widespread poverty,
Armenia faces further isolation and cuts in foreign aid if Western
observers rule that Saturday’s vote is not an improvement on previous
polls.

Past elections in this small ex-Soviet country have been marred by
allegations of ballot stuffing, intimidation and other forms of voter
fraud.

The government appears to be taking Western threats seriously and
observers say the pre-election period has shown marked improvement
over previous campaigns.

"This time around the world will not simply say ‘shame on you,’"
Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian said. "This time there will be
negative economic consequences for ordinary people."

The United States and European Union have repeatedly warned of
negative consequences for the Armenian government if they see a
repeat of previous voting irregularities.

US officials have said the provision of 235 million dollars (175
million euros) in aid to Armenia under the Millennium Challenge Fund
would be threatened if the vote is deemed unfair.

The EU has warned that a democratic election is necessary if Armenia
wants to continue to participate in the European Neighbourhood Policy
(ENP) programme, under which the EU has pledged to build stronger
economic and political ties with the country.

Armenia is among the largest recipients of US foreign aid in the
world and is also intent on strengthening relations with Europe.
Short on natural resources, Armenia counts on foreign aid to boost
its small but growing economy.

The country is also isolated by the closure of its borders with
Turkey and Azerbaijan over its seizure of the disputed territory of
Nagorny Karabakh and other Azerbaijani territory in the early 1990s.

Pre-election polls show two pro-government parties, the ruling
Republican Party of Armenia (HKK) and the Prosperous Armenia party of
millionaire former arm wrestling champion Gagik Tsarukian, far ahead
of the opposition.

Anti-government parties allege the election campaign has already been
unfair, with pro-government parties getting preferred media coverage
and officials using state resources to undermine opposition
candidates.

US-born former foreign minister Raffi Hovannisian said his opposition
Heritage party has faced significant hurdles in getting media
coverage and has been repeatedly shut out of potential campaign
venues.

"Unfortunately, Armenia is long on civilization and short on
statecraft," he said.

Heritage, one of the few anti-government parties expected to cross
the five-percent threshold of votes required to enter parliament, is
among a number of opposition groups planning to organize
post-election demonstrations if the vote is declared fraudulent.

Still, longtime observers say this election campaign has already
shown vast improvement over previous votes.

State television has granted equal airtime to all political parties
for campaign advertisements, although wealthier parties can also buy
extra time. Opposition campaign posters are widespread and
authorities have yet to refuse the opposition permission to hold
public rallies.

"It seems to us that in general the government has not restricted at
all access of candidates to the voters," said a senior Western
diplomat who requested anonymity. "It’s good to see. It seems that
the direction from on high has been ‘hands off.’"

Western observers will now be watching election day for signs of
ballot stuffing and other forms of election fraud.

They will also keep an eye on post-election demonstrations to see if
the government reacts with force, as it did when police detained and
beat protesters after Armenia’s 2003 parliamentary vote.

"I expect there will be protests. I hope the government will be
sensible and react without disproportionate force," the Western
diplomat said. "I hope they don’t spoil what has so far been a pretty
good election period."

About 2.3 million of Armenia’s three million people are registered to
vote.

More than 20 political parties and 1,000 candidates will be vying for
seats in the National Assembly. Ninety of the seats will be assigned
under a proportional system based on overall party votes, while the
remaining 41 seats will be taken by winners of individual
constituency votes.

More than 300 observers from the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe will monitor the vote along with hundreds of
other local and foreign observers.

Agence France Presse
12 mai 2007 samedi 9:22 AM GMT

Les Arméniens aux urnes, un vote sous surveillance internationale
(PAPIER GENERAL)

Par Mariam HAROUTUNIAN

L’Arménie, une ex-république soviétique pauvre et isolée à la
frontière avec la Turquie, élit samedi son parlement lors d’un
scrutin contesté par l’opposition, qui devrait reconduire le pouvoir
en place.

Des centaines d’observateurs internationaux sont présents sur place,
dont 300 de l’Organisation pour la coopération et la sécurité en
Europe (OSCE) qui avait critiqué le déroulement des précédents
scrutins.

Les Etats-Unis et l’Union européenne, grands pourvoyeurs d’aide à
Erevan avec la diaspora arménienne, ont averti qu’une élection
falsifiée aurait des conséquences négatives dans ce domaine. Aucune
élection en Arménie n’a été jugée transparente depuis son
indépendance de l’Union soviétique en 1991.

Une suspension de l’aide étrangère serait lourde de conséquences dans
un pays sans ressources naturelles où 30% de la population vit avec
moins de deux dollars (1,50 euro) par jour.

L’Arménie, étroitement liée au plan diplomatique et économique à la
Russie, reste par ailleurs très isolée. Ses frontières sont fermées
avec l’Azerbaïdjan depuis la guerre meurtrière entre les deux pays en
1988-94 pour le contrôle du Nagorny Karabakh ainsi qu’avec la
Turquie, sur fond de lourd contentieux après les massacres
d’Arméniens en 1915-17 dans l’Empire ottoman.

Quelque 2,3 millions d’électeurs étaient appelés aux urnes de 03H00 à
15H00 GMT, le résultat devant être communiqué dans les 24 heures
suivant la fermeture des bureaux de vote.

A 12H00 locales (07H00 GMT), la participation atteignait 10,5% et le
scrutin se déroulait normalement, selon la Commission électorale
centrale.

Si les sondages montrent un électorat avide de réformes radicales,
ils prédisent aussi une victoire des deux partis pro-gouvernementaux,
le Parti républicain et Arménie prospère, qui soutiennent le
président Robert Kotcharian.

Face à ces deux partis, Arménie prospère ayant été fondé en 2006 par
le millionnaire et ancien champion de bras de fer Gaguik Tsaroukian,
l’opposition se présente en ordre dispersé. Au total, plus de 20
partis et 1.000 candidats concourent pour les 131 sièges de
l’Assemblée nationale.

"J’ai voté pour le Parti républicain parce qu’il a un leader fort et
que notre pays a besoin d’une poigne de fer", a déclaré Samvel
Isabekian, 23 ans, à la sortie d’un bureau à Erevan en référence au
Premier ministre et ancien ministre de la Défense Serge Sarkissian.

Les leaders de l’opposition affirment d’ores et déjà que l’élection
sera truquée et prévoient des manifestations anti-gouvernementales
dimanche.

"Nous avons des informations sur le versement de sommes énormes à
travers le pays, avant l’élection, par les partis
pro-gouvernementaux", a déclaré Tigran Mkrtchian, porte-parole du
parti Pays de la loi, affirmant que les voix des électeurs étaient
achetées entre 5.000 drams (10 euros) et 20.000 drams (41 euros).

Après avoir mis son bulletin dans l’urne, le président Kotcharian a
déclaré avoir "voté pour le futur de l’Arménie et la continuation des
réformes dans les domaines économique, social et autres".

"J’espère qu’une réelle opposition sera présente au Parlement, pas
une opposition qui représente les intérêts d’Etats étrangers", a-t-il
ajouté, les partis d’opposition étant régulièrement accusés, tout
comme en Russie, d’agir pour le compte de gouvernements occidentaux.

L’élection constitue aussi une forme de répétition générale avant la
présidentielle de 2008 où le successeur de M. Kotcharian, qui
effectue son deuxième et dernier mandat, sera élu.

Leader du Parti républicain, le Premier ministre Serge Sarkissian,
qui a succédé début avril à Andranik Margarian mort d’un infarctus,
est pressenti pour accéder à la fonction suprême l’an prochain.

The Times
May 12, 2007

Isolated nation in a sea of instability puts its democracy to the test
Ballot-stuffing and vote-rigging have discredited past elections. This time
Armenia knows it must get it right
Tony Halpin in Yerevan
Fifteen years after it regained independence from the Soviet Union, the tiny
Caucasus republic of Armenia faces its most important test as a democracy.

Ballot-stuffing and fraud have characterised previous elections in this
impoverished country of 3.2 million. The international community has made
clear it will not tolerate a repeat in today’s parliamentary elections.

Aid to the Yerevan Government, worth hundreds of millions of pounds, is at
risk if international observers judge that the elections have been neither
free nor fair.

Washington has tied the prospect of $235 million (£120 million) to clean
elections. The EU has raised doubts about Armenia’s involvement in its
European Neighbourhood Policy if results are rigged again.

Despite annual economic growth that has hit double digits in the past six
years, the impact of aid cuts would be felt hard in a country where close to
a third of the population survive on about £1 a day.

And yet opposition parties say that the corruption in these elections,
although more subtle than before, has been just as pervasive. Several have
already announced plans for street demonstrations tomorrow, convinced that
the results will be rigged.

Spread out in the valley below Biblical Mount Ararat, Armenia claims a rich
history stretching back to the beginnings of civilisation. It was the first
nation to adopt Christianity as the state religion in 301. But its
postSoviet history has been marked by economic collapse, war, a crippling
earthquake and mass emigration.

Neighbouring Georgia became the West’s democratic darling when the Rose
Revolution in 2003 swept Mikheil Saakashvili to power, soon after the last
parliamentary elections in Armenia that were widely condemned as fraudulent.

Today’s elections are a test for Serge Sargsyan, the Prime Minister, and his
ambition to succeed Robert Kocharyan as President next year. Mr Sargsyan,
with a background in the secret services and the military as well as being a
former Defence Minister, was seen as the country’s most powerful figure long
before he became acting prime minister on the sudden death of his
predecessor, Andranik Margarian, in March.

He knows that he must repair his country’s battered image at a critical
moment for its international reputation. In an interview with The Times, the
Prime Minister, whose softly spoken, almost reticent demeamour, belies the
extent of his control of the country, expressed confidence that the
elections would be the "best in the history of independent Armenia", but
acknowledged that a failure to deliver clean results would be costly.

"It will be very bad. The political power that forms a government will be a
weak one that doesn’t enjoy the trust of the people and it will not have
confidence in dealing with its international partners," he said.

Such international partners are critical for a landlocked country whose
every border is afflicted by instability or diplomatic conflict.

Armenia is in talks to settle the 19-year conflict with neighbouring
Azerbaijan over the Armenian-populated enclave of Nagorno Karabakh. Mr
Sargsyan, like Mr Kocharyan, is from Karabakh, and played a central role in
organising military forces that eventually routed the Azeri Army.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia more than a dozen years ago as a
gesture of support for Azerbaijan. Ankara also refuses to establish
diplomatic relations because of Yerevan’s campaign for international
recognition of the genocide of more than one million Armenians by Ottoman
Turkey in 1915.

Armenia depends on Georgia and Iran for access to outside markets. But
Russia’s border with Georgia has been closed since October in a row over
spying, and Armenia fears its economy would be almost completely isolated if
international pressure on Iran over its nuclear ambitions, particularly from
the US, leads to an economic embargo.

Armenia has received $1.6 billion from the US since 1992, making it one of
the largest recipients of American foreign aid per capita, thanks mainly to
its influential diaspora. Iran is a major trading partner and a vital source
of gas supplies.

"A deterioration in American-Iranian relations is a very undesirable
development for us. We are concerned not only because Iran is our way to the
outside world but also because of our economic cooperation . . . all of this
would be in jeopardy," Mr Sarkisyan said.

His Republican party is expected to emerge as the largest in the 131-seat
parliament, which it controlled in coalition with two other groups after the
2003 elections. Its principal rival this time is Prosperous Armenia, a party
established only a year ago by Gagik Tsarukyan, a millionaire businessman
and former world arm-wrestling champion.

Mr Kocharyan encouraged the burly oligarch to set up his party, apparently
to draw support away from opposition groups. Critics have repeatedly accused
Mr Tsarukyan’s team of buying votes, but he also seems increasingly popular
with ordinary Armenians who admire his muscular physique and business
acumen.

About 5,000 cheered him at a final campaign rally in his home town of
Abovian, a bleak community about 15 miles outside the capital. Many had been
drawn to the event by the offer of lottery tickets to a draw for prizes that
included a car, televisions and dvd players.

Mr Tsarukyan told the crowd that he was a man of action not words and that
he would not be making "empty promises like those other politicians". His
assistant underlined his style by announcing: "We are not buying your votes,
we want clean elections. But because Mr Tsarukyan has a good heart, he is
giving two ambulances to the town today."

The 2003 elections sparked street protests that were broken up violently by
police. Several opposition parties boycotted parliament, arguing that it was
illegitimate.

This time round, opposition leaders say that teachers and other public
employees have been threatened with the sack unless they support the ruling
party, while television stations, which are under strong official influence,
have been heavily biased in favour of pro-Government candidates. TV
advertising rates have risen sharply.

Others have alleged dirty tricks. The Rule of Law Party, seen as one of the
more serious opposition contenders, complained that its telephones were
being tapped by the Armenian National Security Service.

An attempt was made to discredit party leader Artur Baghdasaryan when a
newspaper close to the authorities published excerpts from a clandestine
recording of a restaurant meeting between Mr Baghdasaryan and a senior
British diplomat. President Kocharyan accused Mr Baghdasaryan of "treason"
for comments on the tape urging the international community to declare the
elections unfair.

Mr Baghdasaryan, a former Speaker of Parliament who now opposes the regime,
said: "I have always said that Armenia has international commitments and if
it doesn’t respect them then there should be a reaction. The traitors of our
country are the ones who rig elections.

"Serious grounds have been created for falsifying the results this time
because the inequalities in the campaign have been so great that there is no
possibility for fair competition.

"We have been ready to tolerate all this, but at least let the election day
be fair. If there are irregularities then we will go out on to the streets
to struggle for our political rights."

Compatriates

– Cher, real name Cherilyn Sarkisian, is of Armenian extraction. She
travelled to the country to support relief workers after the devastating
earthquake in 1988

– Kirk Kerkorian, an Armenian-American investor with a fortune estimated at
$10 billion (£5 billion), played a central role in shaping Las Vegas

– William Saroyan (1908-81), the son of Armenian immigrants, wrote Pulitzer
prizewinning plays and stories of American life in the Great Depression

– Garry Kasparov, below, was born to an Armenian mother in Baku, Azerbaijan,
in 1963. The one-time world chess champion is a political opponent of
President Putin

– Jack Kevorkian, voluntary euthanasia advocate, was born to Armenian
parents. Currently imprisoned in Michigan for second-degree murder of a
patient whose suicide he assisted

– Aram Khachaturian (1903-78), the composer of symphonies, ballets and the
famousSword Dance, was born to Armenian parents in Georgia

Sources: Forbes Rich list; amazon.com ; The William Saroyan Society;
Armenipedia.org ; Armeniandiaspora.com

THE RELATIVE STABLITY OF TURKEY
By J.R. Dunn

American Thinker, AZ
May 9 2007

Nicolas Sarkozy’s triumph was not the only good news for the
resurgant West this past weekend. The Islamists also suffered a
setback in Turkey, by way of the May 5 announcement by Abdullah Gul,
the fundamentalists’ favorite candidate, that he will no longer seek
election as prime minister. For this we have to thank a man who has
been dead for seventy years.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was one of the most fascinating, impressive,
and unlikely figures of the past century. A Muslim from birth who
became a champion of the secular state, a dictator who established
the sole working democracy in the Muslim world, an ascetic visionary
who died of complications of alcoholism, Kemal deserves to be much
better known than he is. He accomplished with Turkey what many insist
even today is an impossibility: dragging a battered, defeated, nearly
medieval Muslim state into the modern era by main force, and without
the wholesale brutality demonstrated by nearly all other nationalist
leaders of his era.

No one seeing Kemal in the years prior to WW I would have expected
anything of the sort. He was an army officer who had aroused the
suspicions of the ruling triumvirate of the Young Turks – Djemal,
Enver, and Talat. Few ever survived such suspicions, and Kemal might
have suffered the same fate if he hadn’t spent much of his time
outside the country.

During WWI, Kemal played a crucial role in the Battle of Gallipoli as
a divisional commander. It was largely through his efforts that the
British landing was contained and at last turned back. He led from
the front, at one point making his way alone into the center of no
man’s land before giving the signal to attack.

He later served in the Caucasus, fighting the Russians. He had
nothing to do with the Armenian massacres, instigated by the vicious
and paranoid Djemal Pasha. At the end of the war he was commanding an
army on the Palestine front. He escaped Edmund Allenby’s breakthrough
at Megiddo, keeping most of his command intact. Retreating to Aleppo,
he reorganized and succeeded in holding the British at the border
of Anatolia, on the line that still exists as the frontier between
Turkey and Syria.

Turkey was now a defeated empire, facing occupation and partition
by the Allies, who had decided to solve the longstanding Turkish
Question by eliminating Turkey itself. The discredited Young Turks
had fled, leaving a power vacuum. Kemal began organizing a Turkish
national movement to resist the occupiers. Fleeing to Anatolia just
ahead of an execution order, he set up a government at Ankara, the
new parliament first sitting in April 1920. The sultan’s government
in Istanbul effectively lost legitimacy after signing the Treaty
of Sevres, which agreed to Allied occupation of Anatolia. Kemal
immediately picked up the reins.

Allied forces moved against Kemal, attacking on no less than
three fronts. Kemal allowed them to advance within fifty miles of
Ankara before striking. The three-week long battle of Sakarya in
August-September 1921 turned back the Greek army. After a diplomatic
blitz which persuaded the French and Italians to withdraw their support
from the occupation, Kemal routed the British-backed Greek forces at
Dumlipinar on August 30, 1922. Within weeks all foreign forces had
fled the country.

Kemal now began the reform of Turkish society from top to bottom. He
effectively dismissed the sultan, ending centuries of Ottoman rule.

In the sultan’s place, he set up a representative government, with
the balance of power resting in the parliament. He completely severed
relations between government and Islam, insisting on secularism as
the basis of the new Turkey. Kemal was so insistent on democratic
forms that he not once but twice founded opposition parties to serve
as competition for his own Republican People’s Party.

His actions reached deep into the daily lives of the Turks. He
banned the fez, internationally recognized as the symbol of Turkey,
on the grounds that modern nations wore modern hats. He liberalized
the dietary laws, particularly as involved alcohol. (He himself was
grievously addicted to raki, the Turkish national liquor.) He was an
adamant proponent of the rights of women. Two of his adopted daughters
pioneered new roles for women in Turkish society. Afet Inan became a
professor of sociology at a time when few women in the West held such
positions. Sabiha Gokcen joined the Turkish air force and became the
world’s first female combat pilot.

Some of these changes went down with difficulty in a traditionalist
society for centuries kept in ignorance and isolation. Several revolts
occurred, the most serious of them a 1925 religious revolt triggered by
Sheik Said Piran in the guise of a Kurdish nationalist uprising. But
no one else joined the rebels and they were defeated in a little over
a month.

Kemal had an easy solution for such throwbacks – he had them shot.

But as ruthless as he could be in defense of his vision of a new
Turkey, he never approached the excesses committed by other nationalist
leaders of the period. He considered Mussolini and Stalin to be thugs,
and Hitler no better than a maniac.

Kemal’s drinking caught up with him at last in November 1938, when he
died of cirrhosis. He was succeeded by his comrade-in-arms and chosen
successor Ismet Inonu, who continued his reforms. Kemal today is
known today as "Ataturk", Father of Turks. He remains a legend among
the Turks, a combination of Washington, Pericles, and Suleiman. The
Kemalist state endures to this day, the oldest governmental institution
in the Islamic world.

One of the things that has preserved it is an odd and unique system
of checks and balances in which the army acts as the guarantor of
the Turkish state. If extremism or corruption of any sort threatens
the state, the army intercedes. It generally does not take over
governing on its own, but stabilizes the situation and makes way for
a new civilian government. It has on several occasions overthrown
rulers it considers to be fundamentalist, the last time occurring
in 1997, when the army forced Necmettin Erbakan out of office. This
is not a procedure anyone would wish to import or encourage, but it
has unquestionably worked to keep Turkey a democratic nation. While
Kemal himself would probably have disapproved, it cannot be denied
that the process grew directly out of the Kemalist system.

This is what stymied Abdullah Gul on April 27. The army expressed its
displeasure with Gul’s Islamist inclinations and policies, and clearly
implied he would not be allowed to take office. Gul has obviously
thought the better of his ambitions. While this is far from what
we would call democratic, it’s possible to disapprove while still
retaining the ability to appreciate the results – this is, after
the Middle East, where worse happens every hour. Turning respect for
democracy and its forms into what amounts to an ideology accomplishes
nothing and succeeds nowhere. (Anyone who doubts this is invited to
look at the current situation in the Palestinian Authority.) We can say
with some confidence that Turkey will not go Islamist anytime soon –
and that’s a good day’s work by anyone’s measure.

The Islamists have been stymied by the hand of a dead legend reaching
out of the past. Think about that when the war appears to have gone
on too long and the defeatists are all you can hear and a Jihadi
victory appears inescapable. There are currents beneath the surface
that are operating in ways that we cannot even begin to fathom,
and not all of them are operating against us. History keeps its own
counsel, and makes no one any promises. Mustafa Kemal, the soldier
who salvaged a nation, would be the first to agree.

J.R. Dunn is consulting editor of American Thinker.

ost_6.html

MORE SCUFFLES ARE EXPECTED

A1+
[09:40 pm] 10 May, 2007

Today RoA Police Service informed that yesterday’s riot organized by
Republic and New Times parties and "Impeachment" Alliance turned into
an illegal rally in the result of the organizers’ provocative actions
and appeals. According to the police report, the participants of the
rally walked along Mashtots and Sayat Nova avenues and Nalbandyan
Street violating civil order, showing disrespect towards the society,
violating the constitutional right of free transposition.

Police officials said that suchlike instigative actions initiated by
the parties had happened during the previous riots too. "However as
promised in their previous meeting, they brought to life their surprise
for May 9", the police report states. "In Nalbandyan street Nikol
Pashinyan together with a group of people forced their way through
the chain of police officers in the direction of the main entrance
of the National Security Service building causing a disorder in the
consequence of which three policemen had been injured and hospitalized.

"Taking into account the unprecedented nature of the created situation
the police took security measures.

Two participants who were more actively trying to destabilize the
situation had been taken to Yerevan Police Department and later were
set free after identification", states the police report.

RoA Police announces that the situation in the country is under
control and law enforcement bodies do their best to maintain the
constitutional rights of citizens and civil order.

AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT TALKS PEACE, RECEIVES MEDAL IN EGYPT

All Headline News
May 8 2007

Joseph S. Mayton – AHN Middle East Correspondent Cairo, Egypt (AHN) –
The President of Azerbaijan received the golden medal while visiting
the People’s Assembly of Egypt this week.

Nagorno Karabakh’s trip to Egypt was highly anticipated because of
Egypt’s close relations with Armenia, a nation currently in conflict
with and partially occupied by.

The Azerbaijani President’s visit centered on economic relations and
the realization of projects of international importance. No specific
deal was discussed or announced by Cairo.

Egypt’s parliament emphasized the need for Armenia to withdraw from
Azerbaijani territory and finding a quick resolution in ending the
conflict between the two neighbors. Members of Parliament said that
the issue of refugees must be addressed and allowed to return to
their homelands.

Egypt has been increasing international activity over the past
year or so in an attempt to move the economy out of stagnation. The
government has signed economic agreements with a number of countries,
most notably China and Kazakhstan.

es/7007280400

NO NATO FOR NOW SAYS ARMENIAN PM
By M. Alkhazashvili
(Translated by Diana Dundua)

The Messenger, Georgia
May 8 2007

Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan says Armenia’s integration
into NATO is not on the agenda and will not be in the near future.

A correspondent for the Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta asked
whether Armenia wouldn’t find it difficult as Georgia and possibly
Azerbaijan are planning to join the organization.

Sargsyan responded that each state had a right to select a system of
security for itself.

"Russia is Armenia’s strategic partner. I hope that Georgia and Russia
will find a way out of the existing situation without a negative
influence on our security," stressed Sargsyan.

THEY WILL TRACK THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE SOLDIERS WHO LIBERATED SHUSHI 15 YEARS AGO

KarabakhOpen
09-05-2007 12:24:47

On May 9 Nagorno-Karabakh celebrates a triple holiday – the 62nd
anniversary of the victory in World War II, the 15th anniversary
of the liberation of Shushi and the creation of the NKR Defense
Army. There is a demonstration of military force at the central square
of Stepanakert. The guests of the demonstration are the president of
Armenia Robert Kocharyan and Speaker Tigran Torosyan.

There will be a solemn meeting in Stepanakert, during which medals
will be delivered. At night the Wedding in Mountains operation will be
launched, and the young people from Armenia and Karabakh will track
the footsteps of the Karabakh soldiers who launched the offensive of
Shushi 15 years ago.

Shushi is 900 m above sea level. The town looks to the capital of
Stepanakert and the adjacent villages. During the war since 1991 from
Shushi the Armenian population of which was displaced in 1989 a daily
300-350 shells were shot at Stepanakert.

According to the NKR minister of defense Seiran Ohanyan, the liberation
of Shushi not only provided the security of Stepanakert but also
allowed opening the Stepanakert-Goris road which remains the only
communication with the world in the war continuing since 1989.

PPA IS ONE OF MOST ACTIVE PARTIES TAKING PART IN ELECTION CAMPAIGN, PARTY CHAIRMAN SAYS

Noyan Tapan
May 09 2007

YEREVAN, MAY 9, NOYAN TAPAN. The People’s Party of Armenia is
one of the most active parties in this election campaign. Party
Chairman Stepan Demirchian expressed such opinion at the May 9
press conference. He said that PPA has already visited more than 100
populated areas, including such villages where no other political
force or official has been.

In S. Demirchian’s words, the meetings proceed in a warm atmosphere,
people ask many questions and many of the meetings remind of 2003. PPA
Chairman explained lack of inspiration of that time in the people by
the circumstance that people connect possibility of changes rather
with presidential elections and turnout at parliamentary elections
is always low.

S. Demirchian said that pressures are exerted upon people, but they
are not open. In his words, the peculiarity of these elections is
voter buying in large amounts. In S. Demirchian’s words, the main
problem is that people have lost their faith in the elections. "The
prevailing majority does not believe that it is possible to achieve
anything in a civilized way," he said.

Emphasizing that the role of the parliament has increased as a result
of constitutional amendments, PPA Chairman called everybody for taking
part in the elections and gave assurance that on May 12 the people
will deny "those buying voters."

In S. Demirchian’s words, PPA pretends not to more than 5% votes,
but to such representation in the future parliament, which will give
a possibility to have an impact on political processes.

If the authorities falsify the results of elections, PPA, in the
words of party Chairman, will be among the first ones to protest
against this. He said that opposition forces can take part in the
elections independently and consolidate after the elections. And
whether the opposition will consolidate, in S. Demirchian’s words,
this will become clear after May 12.

"Uprising" in Georgia’s Armenian-populated region said unlikely

Rezonansi, Tbilisi
3 May 07, pp 1, 4

The United Javakhk political movement functioning in Georgia’s
Samtskhe-Javakheti region predominantly populated by ethnic Armenians
has said that the Georgian government’s actions have brought the
region’s Armenian population to the brink of a popular uprising, the
Georgian newspaper Rezonansi has reported. The newspaper said that the
United Javakhk’s statement followed the detention of its member on
hooliganism charges. The newspaper quoted Georgian MP Van Baiburt as
saying that viewing regular hooliganism in political context is
stupid. The following is an excerpt from the report by Elza Tsiklauri
in Georgian newspaper Rezonansi on 3 May headlined "United Javakhk is
starting rebellion? ‘Tbilisi government’s actions have led Javakheti’s
Armenians to brink of popular uprising’"; subheadings have been
inserted editorially:

Ethnic Armenian group threatens with "popular uprising"

The United Javakhk, an organization functioning in Samtskhe-Javakheti
[region of Georgia predominantly populated by ethnic Armenians],
demanded that Artur Poghosyan, member of their organization who was
detained for hooliganism several days ago, be released. It says that,
otherwise, Georgia’s central government will be held fully responsible
for destabilization in Akhalkalaki. The organization members are
talking about an uprising too. They said that "the Georgian side’s
actions and pressure on the Armenian-speaking population" has prompted
them to do this.

The United Javakhk made the statement after the 24 April incident and
accused employees of the local law-enforcement bodies of
anti-Armenian, provocative actions. They provided as an argument the
arrest of their organization members, Artur Poghosyan and former
Akhalkalaki Mayor Nairi Iritsyan, by the police several days ago.

[Passage omitted on the details of the incident which resulted in the
detention of Poghosyan and Iritsyan]

Poghosyan was transferred to the detention facility in Tbilisi while
Iritsyan was released on bail.

The United Javakhk organization called the incident "a provocation
planned in advance" and demanded that Poghosyan be immediately
released by the Georgian authorities.

"The United Javakhk Democratic Alliance reaffirms its criticism of the
massive violation of the Armenian population’s rights and intimidation
of people by means of illegal, strong-arm and provocative actions. We
also condemn the detention of political figures ‘uncontrolled’ by the
Tbilisi government which is based solely on false accusations. Such
actions have brought Javakheti’s Armenians to the brink of a popular
uprising, which will have undesirable results in the future.

"The alliance demands that Artur Poghosyan, who is being illegally
held in Tbilisi’s detention facility, be immediately released and
false criminal proceedings initiated against him be terminated. Also,
we inform the public that, should the detainee fail to be released and
pressure related to language and religion continue, the Georgian
central government and its puppet government in Javakheti will be
fully responsible for destabilization.

"The alliance confirms that it will struggle for the constitutional
rights of the Javakheti population and will contribute to the
democratization process in Georgia," the statement disseminated by the
United Javakhk says.

It is a noteworthy circumstance that the United Javakhk has made harsh
anti-Georgian statements and [threatened] to start destabilization in
the region several times now. Apparently, however, this did not go
beyond statements. Today too, the talk about insurgency in
Samtskhe-Javakheti is being called unrealistic.

Georgian MP says Armenians won’t take to the streets

Georgian MP Van Baiburt criticized the United Javakhk’s statement and
said that the incident should not be given a political underpinning.

"No rally was held in Akhalkalaki and no one was detained for making
harsh statements there. It was regular hooliganism and the culprit has
to be held responsible. An offender must be punished regardless of
whether he or she is Armenian or Georgian. Staging political actions
because of hooliganism and giving it a political underpinning is
stupid. Today, however, this incident and the arrested member of the
United Javakhk alliance are being capitalized on.

"I want to tell you, though, that Armenians from Akhalkalaki are not
the kind of people to take to the streets and stage a rebellion. They
would have already done this had they wanted to. Only the detainee’s
supporters will stage a small rally on account of this concrete
incident. In addition, the local authorities will not allow disorder
either. If the United Javakhk members think that they control
Akhalkalaki District, they are very much mistaken.

"This is why, should the investigation of this incident start and the
court hearing be held, I want them to be unbiased and reveal the truth
about what happened in Akhalkalaki on that day," Baiburt added in
conversation with Rezonansi.

Georgian pundits rule out "uprising" by Armenians

Paata Zakareishvili, conflictologist [affiliated with the opposition
Republican Party], ruled out [a possibility of] uprising in
Akhalkalaki too.

"If a person is guilty, he or she has to be held responsible according
to the law, there is no doubt about it. It is interesting, however,
why Artur Poghosyan was transferred to Tbilisi and why was he not left
in the local police [facilities]. It was precisely Poghosyan’s
transfer to Tbilisi that gave a political context to the incident,
which is certainly not good for us.

"As for disorder and destabilization, such statements were being made
before and during the Russian military bases’ withdrawal but,
fortunately, nothing happened. I do not think that something will
happen this time. Such a stir was raised only because Poghosyan was
transferred to Tbilisi," Zakareishvili said.

Mamuka Areshidze, expert in Caucasus affairs, called the United
Javakhk’s statement impossible to implement. He said that official
Yerevan itself will not allow such demonstrations on the part of
Akhalkalaki’s Armenian-speaking population.

"After this incident, part of Akhalkalaki’s Armenians demanded once
again that Armenian be given the same status as Georgian. This
resulted in [Armenian President] Robert Kocharyan’s statement in
response. He said that Akhalkalaki’s Armenians must know Georgian
because they are Georgian citizens and live in Georgia.

"It cannot be ruled out that the United Javakhk will express its wish
to stage actions again but, given Kocharyan’s statement, I do not
think that these will develop into a large-scale upheaval. Armenia
does not welcome disturbances," Areshidze said.