Author: Toganian Liana

ANC-WR TO HONOR US SENATOR ROBERT MENENDEZ AT 2007 ANNUAL BANQUET

armradio.am
03.08.2007 11:20

The Armenian National Committee-Western Region will be honoring Senator
Robert Menendez with its highest honor, the prestigious ANC-WR Man
of the Year Award this fall. The honor will be bestowed upon Senator
Menendez at the organization’s annual banquet on September 30, 2007
in Los Angeles, California.

On occasion, an elected official in Washington, DC rises so far above
the fray and serves the interests of justice, liberty and freedom,
that it makes all Americans proud beyond belief. United States Senator
Robert Menendez of New Jersey, who has placed a legislative hold on
genocide denier Richard Hoagland’s nomination to serve as America’s
next Ambassador to Armenia, is just such a remarkable elected official.

"We are proud to be honoring Senator Menendez," commented ANC-WR
Executive Director Andrew Kzirian. "The Senator from New Jersey acted
with distinction and guts when he placed a hold on Richard Hoagland’s
nomination. Preventing a denier of genocide from serving as Ambassador
to Armenia is sound public policy. Because sending a genocide denier
to Yerevan would have represented a setback to US-Armenia relations,
and a retreat from our nation’s historic commitment to genocide
prevention worldwide," Kzirian emphasized.

In a statement released when he placed the hold on Richard Hoagland
last year, Senator Menendez said that, "the State Department and
the Bush administration are just flat-out wrong in their refusal to
recognize the Armenian Genocide. It is well past time for American
diplomacy to drop the euphemisms, the wink-wink, nod-nod brand of
foreign policy that overlooks heinous atrocities committed around the
world. If there is any sincerity behind the Bush administration’s
rhetoric about ‘liberty on the march’ – if ‘never again’ is to be
more than a bumper sticker slogan – then American diplomacy should
consist of nothing less than unvarnished honesty with our friends
and enemies alike. And we must call genocide by its name."

For well over a decade, Robert Menendez has been a good friend of the
Armenian-American community in the State of New Jersey. From ensuring
that the United States honestly addresses the issue of the Armenian
Genocide to advocating the right of self-determination for the people
of Nagorno-Karabakh, Senator Menendez has championed truth, justice,
and the principles of freedom so cherished by the Armenian American
community. As a mark of his longstanding respect on Armenian issues,
in 2005 then-Congressman Menendez joined hundreds of Armenian Americans
at a reception in New Jersey honoring His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos
of the Great House of Cilicia.

During the 109th Congress [2005-2006], Senator Menendez received
nationwide attention after making history by placing a hold on the
appointment of Ambassador designate to the Republic of Armenia, Richard
Hoagland. The Armenian American community has overwhelmingly expressed
its concern regarding Hoagland’s testimony before the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee in which he used language denying the Armenian
Genocide qualified as such. Throughout 2006, the Armenian National
Committee of America led a nationwide campaign to call attention to
this matter and demand that the State Department remove the Hoagland
nomination, offer a complete explanation surrounding the controversial
firing of former Ambassador John Marshall Evans, and clarify the
Turkish Government’s influence in the removal of Ambassador Evans.

When the new 110th Congress began in January 2007, the Bush
Administration once again nominated Hoagland to serve as US Ambassador
to Armenia without addressing any of the concerns outlined by the
ANCA and the Armenian American community. Once again, Senator Menendez
placed a hold on the nomination.

When asked about his motivation for doing so, Senator Menendez stated,
"I believe that the United States, Armenia, and all who are committed
to human rights should support an ambassador to Armenia who recognizes
the genocide that took place there more than 90 years ago."

In February of 2007, the Armenian National Committee of New Jersey
honored Senator Menendez at a ceremony hosted in Rockleigh, New
Jersey. More than two hundred Armenian National Committee of New Jersey
supporters and friends were present for the occasion during which the
Senator was granted the ANCA-Eastern Region Man of the Year award. The
program was attended by many Armenian American leaders from the New
York metropolitan area, various Church leaders, and Vahan Hovhannisyan,
Deputy Speaker of the Republic of Armenia’s Parliament.

Robert Menendez grew up the son of immigrants in Union City,
New Jersey. He has served as a school board member, a mayor and
a state legislator. In 1992, he was elected to the United States
House of Representatives. He became the highest-ranking Hispanic in
Congressional history and the third-highest ranking Democrat in the
House of Representatives when his colleagues elected him the Chairman
of the House Democratic Caucus in 2002.

He was appointed to the United States Senate by New Jersey Governor Jon
Corzine and sworn in to the Senate on January 18, 2006. In November of
that year, he was elected by the people of New Jersey to serve a full
six-year term as United States Senator. He currently serves on the
Senate Committees on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; Energy and
Natural Resources; Budget; and Foreign Relations. Senator Menendez is
also the Chairman of the Subcommittee on International Development and
Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs, and International Environmental
Protection.

SERGE SARGSYAN: ARMENIA OPEN FOR TALKS WITH TURKEY

armradio.am
01.08.2007 16:01

Armenia’s Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan said in an interview with Al
Jazeera that he is ready to negotiate with Turkey’s new Government
after more then 90 years of severed ties.

"We can’t stay in a situation without having communication and talks
with our neighbor because the easiest way of resolving this issue is
dialogue and negotiations."

"A row over the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during
the First World War is at the heart of the issue. Turkey says they
were casualties of war, but the people of Armenia want what happened
to be recognized as genocide.The continuing closure of the border has
isolated Armenia, which is a landlocked country, hitting the economy
hard," Al Jazeera reported.

Armenia has only two out of four borders open. It has stopped the
economy from moving forward hundreds of millions of dollars of
trade are lost every year. That is why PM Serge Sargsyan said he
wants change.

He had this message for Turkey’s newly elected government: "We didn’t
choose the location of where we live and whatever happens we will have
to be neighbors for a very long time. I think it would be better if
Armenians and Turks come to an understanding."

JAILED EDITOR BLAMES KOCHARIAN FOR PAROLE REJECTION
By Ruzanna Stepanian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Aug 1 2007

Arman Babajanian, the jailed editor of the pro-opposition newspaper
"Zhamanak Yerevan," claimed on Wednesday that President Robert
Kocharian is personally responsible for his failure to secure an
early release from prison.

Babajanian went on a brief hunger strike late last month in protest
against a state commission’s rejection of his request to be set free
on parole. Under Armenian law, he is eligible for parole, seeing as
he has already served more than one third of a three-and-a-half-year
prison sentence which he received for draft evasion.

The commission in question was formed by Kocharian in July 2006 and
is headed by Hovannes Hunanian, deputy chief of the Armenian police.

It gave no reason for its decision to keep the 31-year-old editor
behind bars despite a positive recommendation from the administration
of Yerevan’s Nubarashen prison.

"It is obvious that the decision was made as a result of a political
order," Babajanian told RFE/RL in a prison hospital where he was
taken on Monday after complaining of high blood pressure and other
health problems.

"Instructions on my case come directly from the presidential
administration," he said. "The president of the republic is
consistently trying to avenge activities against these authorities
which I began in Los Angeles in 2003 … continued in my country
[in 2006.]"

"The decision not to grant me early release underscores the pettiness
and weakness of these authorities," he charged.

Babajanian was arrested and charged with forging documents to evade
compulsory military service in June 2006, just weeks after returning
to Armenia from the United States where had lived for the past eight
years. During his subsequent trial he admitted resorting to fraud
after failing to extend the deferment of his military service but
said he did so after military authorities unjustly dismissed medical
documents testifying to his poor health.

Babajanian and his newspaper staff have repeatedly condemned the case
as an attempt to intimidate and muzzle a publication highly critical
of Kocharian and his government. The Armenian authorities deny this,
arguing that the editor’s guilt has been proven.

Local and foreign human rights groups point out, however, that draft
dodgers in Armenia usually get shorter jail terms. The rejection of
Babajanian’s parole application only added to the perceived political
dimension of the case.

Babajanian said on Wednesday that the Kocharian-appointed commission
must not have decided his fate in this first place because it was
set up one month after his arrest. A Yerevan court is due to consider
this month a relevant lawsuit filed by his lawyers. The latter also
appealed earlier this year to the European Court of Human Rights to
overturn their client’s conviction.

OSCE MINSK GROUP’S CO-CHAIRMEN CARRY ON MEETINGS IN RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Aug 1 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / Òrend corr S. Aghayeva / The Russian Secretary of
State, and Deputy Foreign Minister Grigoriy Karasin and the Co-Chairmen
of the OSCE Minsk Group on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, Yuri Merzlakov (Russia), Bernard Facie (France), and Mathew
Bryza (United States), as well as the OSCE Chairman-in-Office’s
Personal Representative on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Andrzej
Kasprzyk (Poland) held subject consultations in Moscow on 1 August.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the current issues on the
activities of the OSCE Minsk Group’s Co-Chairmen regarding settlement
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as well as the direction of OSCE’s
further efforts in the settlement of the conflict, were discussed at
the meeting.

Before the meeting, the intermediaries had met with another Russian
Deputy Foreign Minister, Alexander Grushko.

–Boundary_(ID_AuJA8Uq82pCLpyisEN7c/Q)–

AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT ISSUES EXECUTIVE ORDER ON APPOINTING JUDGES OF COURTS OF FIRST INSTANCES

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
July 30 2007

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev issued an executive order on
appointing judges of first instances, president’s press service
told APA.

According to the executive order, 221 judges have been appointed
to the courts of first instances. According to the other executive
order issued by the president, chairmen to several courts of first
instances, deputy chairman of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic Supreme
Court, board chairmen and some courts’ chairmen have been appointed.

Tofig Pashayev presiding at the trial of ex-economic development
minister Farhad Aliyev at Court of Grave Crimes has been appointed
chairman of Khatai district court, chairman of Nasimi district
court Aladdin Jafarov chairman of Yasamal district court, lawyer
for Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov accused of killing Armenian
officer Gurgen Markaryan in Hungary Ikram Shirinov judge of Nasimi
district court, Justice Ministry’s press secretary Khagani Tagiyev
judge of Yasamal district court and Nasimi district court chairman
Famil Nasibov has been appointed judge of Sabayel district court.

80th ANNIVERSARIES OF PHILOSOPHER HAMLET GEVORGIAN AND HISTORIAN HRACH BARTIKIAN CELEBRATED IN NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Noyan Tapan
Jul 30, 2007

YEREVAN, JULY 30, NOYAN TAPAN. The jubilee celebration held in the
National Academy of Sciences of Armenia on July 27 was dedicated to
the 80th anniversaries of Hamlet Gevorgian (philosopher-Armenologist)
and Hrach Bartikian (historian-Byuzandologist), who are prominent
Armenologists, scientists and academicians.

Congratulating the two deserved and grey-headed scientists, Radik
Martirosian, the Chairman of the National Academy of Sciences,
mentioned that they have passed a true way of an intellectual and
devoted all their lives to science. "Their scientific activities
were great in the sphere of their profession, as well as in that of
adjacent sciences, including Armenology," Radik Martirosian stressed.

According to Ashot Melkonian, the Head of the Institute of History of
the National Academy of Sciences, extreme modesty is characteristic
of the two scientists: "They have never been proud of their works and
till now they turn red like a teenager every time they are addressed
with words of appraisal."

PRESS RELEASE
The Heritage Party
31 Moscovian Street
Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+374 – 10) 53.69.13
Fax: (+374 – 10) 53.26.97
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Website:

July 30, 2007

Raffi Hovannisian Meets with Matthew Bryza

Yerevan–Heritage Party leader and MP Raffi K. Hovannisian met today
with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia
Matthew Bryza, who is visiting Armenia as the US co-chair of the OSCE
Minsk Group. They discussed regional developments, Armenia’s foreign
and public policy agenda, pacific resolution of the Karabagh conflict,
and Armenian-American relations.

Founded in 2002, Heritage has regional divisions throughout the land.
Its central office is located at 31 Moscovian Street, Yerevan 0002,
Armenia, with telephone contact at (374-10) 536.913, fax at (374-10)
532.697, email at [email protected] or [email protected], and website
at

ANKARA WISHES TO COMPLETELY WITHDRAW TERM ‘GENOCIDE’ AS REGARDS 1915 EVENTS

PanARMENIAN.Net
27.07.2007 12:58 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "The purpose of the so-called "secret decree" by
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is complete exclusion of
term ‘genocide’ as regards of the events of 1915," member of the ARF
Dashnaktsutyun supreme body, chairman of the permanent parliamentary
commission for foreign affairs Armen Rustamian told a PanARMENIAN.Net
reporter.

This decree carries no other information, according to him.

"The replacement of notions in this case doesn’t concern the essence
of the issue and Turkey’s stance on the Armenian Genocide recognition,"
he underscored.

For his part, director of the Institute of the Armenian Genocide
Hayk Demoyan told our reporter that Mr Ergodan did not sound a new
idea. "It doesn’t matter how you call it. The essence doesn’t change.

Generally, academicians rate non-recognition of the Armenian Genocide
as bad form. This is a historical fact, however Ankara may represent
it. Erdogan’s statement was meant for internal use," Mr Demoyan said.

July 3 PM Erdogan signed a secret decree forbidding to use
the term "sozde" (so-called, alleged) as regards the Armenian
Genocide. According to the decree, the Armenian Genocide should be
henceforth represented in official documents as "events of 1915" or
"Armenian claims regarding the events of 1915."

DASHNAKS TO FIELD OWN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
By Ruzanna Khachatrian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
July 27 2007

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) will not
support Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian in next year’s presidential
election and will nominate its own candidate instead, a leader of
the influential pro-establishment party said on Friday.

"I am sure that that person will be a member of the party,"
Armen Rustamian said of the presidential candidate to be backed by
Dashnaktsutyun. The candidate will be chosen at a party congress this
autumn, he said.

Rustamian’s remarks are the most explicit indication that
Dashnaktsutyun will not endorse Sarkisian for the presidency despite
being represented in his government formed as a result of the May
12 parliamentary elections. The fact that Sarkisian agreed to let
Dashnaktsutyun retain three of its four ministerial portfolios fueled
speculation that he hopes to win such endorsement.

Rustamian predicted that President Robert Kocharian will throw his
weight behind Sarkisian, rather than a Dashnaktsutyun candidate. "I
don’t think the president will back our candidate," he told
reporters. "It will be good if he does. But I’m sure he will back
the prime minister."

Sarkisian is widely regarded as Kocharian’s preferred successor and
the favorite to win the 2008 vote owing to his Republican Party’s
(HHK) pervasive control of government bodies and electoral processes.

The HHK heavily relied on its so-called "administrative resources"
to score a landslide victory in the May polls.

Nonetheless, Rustamian said he believes that the presidential ballot
will be tightly contested and will likely involve two rounds. "I find
it very likely that the elections will not end in one round," he said.

The Dashnaktsutyun leader, who heads the Armenian parliament’s
foreign relations committee, further announced that his party will
open consultations in September with other major political groups,
including those opposed to Kocharian, on ways of ensuring the proper
conduct of the vote. He confirmed that it is particularly keen to
cooperate with Raffi Hovannisian’s Zharangutyun party, one of the
two opposition forces represented in the new National Assembly.

"There is some ideological similarity between us," Rustamian said.

"Raffi Hovannisian’s approaches are totally acceptable to us. Our
relationship has always been constructive and based on [shared support
for] national ideology."

"This enables us to see possibilities of closer cooperation and even
some future programs," he added without elaborating.

Hovannisian has had an extremely strained relationship with Kocharian
ever since he implicitly accused the Armenian leader in late 2005 of
sponsoring political killings and rigging elections. Dashnaktsutyun,
by contrast, has been a staunch ally of Kocharian throughout his
nearly decade-long rule.

KARABAKH STAGES FIRST "GENUINE" LEADERSHIP CONTEST
By Dmitry Avaliani, Karine Ohanian and Akhra Smyr in Nagorny Karabakh (CRS No. 403 25-Jul-07)

Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
July 25 2007

Unrecognised territory holds election in defiance of international
criticism.

Nagorny Karabakh elected a new leader, former military commander Bako
Sahakian, on July 19, in a ballot condemned as illegitimate by the
outside world but seen by Karabakh Armenians as the first genuine
leadership contest in the region.

Sahakian, the official candidate, received the backing of both
pro-government and opposition parties, winning 85 per cent of the vote.

Before his victory, Sahakian, 46, was little known to the wider
public in the entity, whose self-declared independence has not been
recognised by the international community.

In the 1991-4 Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Karabakh, he was
a military commander, then became interior minister and head of the
Karabakh’s security service.

Sahakian’s supporters maintain that despite his career in the security
services he is a democratically-minded man, who has served several
times as an intermediary between government and opposition.

His election campaign rested on the assertion that he was a simple
honest man who would respond to the complaints of ordinary citizens.

Sahakian faced four other candidates, only one of whom, deputy foreign
minister Masis Mailian, mounted a credible campaign, ending up with
12 per cent of the vote.

Despite working for the local government and although the two
opposition parties in parliament supported Sahakian, Mailian became
in effect the opposition candidate, appealing to those in society
who were discontented with the governing elite. His main base support
was the professional intelligentsia in the capital, Stepanakert.

Mailian’s supporters said that Sahakian depended too closely on
outgoing leader Arkady Ghukasian, who backed his protege openly on
television, at public meetings and in interviews.

"Whatever post he’s held, he’s been my best and most reliable
colleague," Ghukasian told IWPR.

The backers of the new president say that he is determined to fight
corruption and that he benefited from a wide base of support that
stretched beyond government.

"Just give him time," said a young man named Alexander Harutiunian.

"We’ll speak in a year and then you’ll see!"

"Karabakhis believe that Karabakh needs a strong hand and that Sahakian
is capable of playing that role," said political analyst David Babayan,
explaining his emphatic victory.

The electoral programmes of the two main candidates barely differed
from one another. Both share the view that Karabakh should be
recognised as an independent state and represented at peace talks
with the Baku government.

During the election campaign, Sahakian talked mainly about social
issues and made promises to help young married couples and large
families. "I campaigned on the slogan ‘Together for the sake of
Karabakh’ and I intend to stick to this principle in future," he said.

Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry issued a statement saying that the
elections "contradict the constitution of Azerbaijan, the norms and
principles of international law and have no legal force".

The statement said that the poll could only be regarded as legitimate
if "the Azerbaijani population expelled from [Nagorny Karabakh]
takes part in them".

The Azerbaijani authorities also complained to the Russian parliament,
the State Duma, for allowing a parliamentary deputy to monitor the
polls as an observer. And it warned the Russian television broadcaster
RTR, which ran a report on the elections, that a continuation of its
license to broadcast in Azerbaijan would depend on "mutual respect
by television channels of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan
and Russia".

Karabakh Armenians reject the accusations that the election was
undemocratic.

Defeated candidate Mailian said that he was pleased that "we achieved
one of the goals set us – to guarantee really contested elections as
a means of guaranteeing the democratic image of the Nagorny Karabakh
republic".

Many of the 100 or so unofficial international observers who monitored
the elections also said that they were conducted fairly.

"People know who they are voting for and why," said Giuletto Chiesa,
the well-known Italian journalist, now a member of the European
parliament and visiting in an unofficial capacity. "It’s no worse
here than in Italy."

Mailian’s campaign headquarters did complain that the election process
had been stacked against their candidate, with Sahakian receiving
backing through official channels and the media. The Mailian team
made four complaints to the central electoral commission during the
campaign and 20 complaints on election-day itself.

However, Mailian himself conceded that the violations had not been
"decisive" in his defeat.

"We know that the atmosphere put real pressure on people but all the
same we cannot not accept that it was a conscious choice," he said.

"People could have acted otherwise but they did not. That is their
right. We understand their right and accept their choice."

Following his defeat, Mailian said he was now considering his
options. He could continue to work in government or be at the head
of a new opposition movement.

In the semi-ruined town of Shushi (known to Azerbaijanis as Shusha),
there were few voters and IWPR found little campaigning. Local
headmaster Albert Khachatrian, representing Sahakian, told IWPR,
"In a situation of no war and no peace, there is no need for fierce
competition between the candidates. Just as before, we need to be
united in everything. Bako Sahakian will give us this unity."

The only person in Mailian’s Shushi headquarters was one elderly
watchman, while none of the other candidates were represented.

At the town’s two polling stations, there was more activity. IWPR
tried to talk to a group of soldiers, but was stopped from doing so
by their captain, who said all questions should be directed to him.

"Campaigning is forbidden in the armed forces but the soldiers have
access to television, radio and the newspapers," said Captain Balayan,
as his men went to vote in groups of three.

In the eastern village of Aigestan, there was a queue of voters to cast
their ballots at the polling station. Zoya Barseghian confided to IWPR,
"I like Mailian’s programme more but I will vote for Sahakian. I have
to do that."

All international bodies have declared the elections in Nagorny
Karabakh illegitimate. However, there is a general feeling of
satisfaction within Karabakh that they have taken place.

Outgoing leader Ghukasian parried the criticism by saying, "If the
international community does not recognise electoral processes in
our country, they should offer an alternative. Nagorny Karabakh is
holding elections not for the world but for its people."

Dmitry Avaliani is a journalist with 24 Hours newspaper in Tbilisi,
Georgia; Karine Ohanian is a journalist with Demo newspaper in
Nagorny Karabakh; Ahra Smyr is a journalist with Chegemskaya Pravda
newspaper in Abkhazia. All three are members of IWPR’s Cross Caucasus
Journalism Network. IWPR’s Azerbaijan Country Director Shahin Rzayev
contributed to the article. The terminology used in this article to
describe Nagorny Karabakh was chosen by IWPR, not by the authors.