Author: Toganian Liana

LPA LEADER CALLS FOR EARLY PARLIAMENTARY AND PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan

Au g 13, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 13, NOYAN TAPAN. The only way out of the current
internal political crisis in Armenia is to hold early parliamentary
and presidential elections, leader of the newly-created Liberal
Party of Armenia (LPA) Hovhannes Hovhannisian stated at the August
13 press conference.

He expressed confidence that the country’s authorities headed by
Serzh Sargsyan will manifest a political will in solution of internal
political problems and will eventually agree to hold early elections:
"Otherwise, it will turn out that they think more about extension of
the period of their power rather than about the people and the future
of the country."

In the opinion of H. Hovhannisian, September will be quite an active
month from the political point of view. By his forecasts, it is
expected that the opposition forces will become even more active and
the outside pressure on the Armenian authorities will grow.

H. Hovhannisian said that the LPA, which has already joined the
Armenian National Congress, will – after its registration – become
a full and equal member of this big political union.

The LPA leader levelled heavy criticism at the Armenian authorities for
the absence of any position on the issue of strained Russian-Georgian
relations.

In his words, in the current strained situation, Armenia should have
offered its sevices of a mediator in the normalization of relations
between its strategic partner Russia and the neighboring Georgia.

BLACKLISTING BY STATE FORBIDDEN, LEGAL PROTECTION LACKING

Today’s Zaman
13 August 2008, Wednesday
Turkey

A list found at the house of Ergenekon suspect Fikret Emek shows
that the TSK Special Forces blacklisted 914 individuals in Ä°stanbul
between 1999 and 2000.

Evidence acquired through a probe into the Ergenekon terrorist
organization, a crime network accused of plotting to overthrow the
government, has revealed that the state is once again blacklisting
citizens based on personal information it has gathered even though
laws exist to prevent this.

The European Union accession process prompted Turkey to introduce
measures to prevent the blacklisting of individuals by the state or
other establishments, but more needs to be done. However, despite all
these shortcomings, blacklisted citizens do have some rights and can
fight any charges brought against them.

The evidence in question shows that the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK)
Special Forces blacklisted 914 individuals in Ä°stanbul between 1999
and 2000. The list classifies the individuals according to alleged
political links or leanings and religious identity. It also indicates
that some of the individuals are linked to the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers’ Party (PKK), various religious groups or the extreme left
or right.

The list was found at the house of Ergenekon suspect Fikret Emek,
who said blacklisting is "routine business" for the TSK Special
Forces. He compiled the list just before retiring.

The list brings to mind the events of Sept. 6-7, 1955. Following
rumors that the house in which Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of
the Turkish Republic, was born was bombed in Thessaloniki, Greece,
riots erupted in Ä°stanbul. The mob targeted the Greek minority,
the Jewish population and the Armenians, all noted on a list whose
owner is unknown.

The first laws making gathering information on private citizens more
difficult came into effect as part of the new Turkish Penal Code
(TCK), which was implemented on June 1, 2005. "The new TCK prohibits
gathering personal data and enshrines the protection of life in a
principle. Laws regulating this were for the first time introduced
with the new TCK, which also indicates that if a civil servant is
involved in the said information gathering, the penalty is greater,"
Fikret Ä°lkiz, a lawyer, says.

Ä°lkiz also notes that another law, known as the "right to acquire
information," enables citizens to ask the Interior Ministry and the
TSK if a record has been kept on him or her. If such a record exists,
the citizen in question has the right to seek reparations.

This may be the case in theory, but when Ahmet Aydın, the deputy
governor of Diyarbakır, filed a case against the gendarmerie,
claiming he was blacklisted, the court ruled against him. The
gendarmerie forces in Diyarbakır denied blacklisting Aydın.

Aydın claimed that personal information kept about him was sent to
him in letters by anonymous senders. He used these documents to prove
his case in court and in July demanded YTL 100,000 in compensation.

"We as citizens have more rights to protect us against blacklisting
today than we did in the past," Ä°lkiz points out, but adds that
further regulations are needed to protect personal data, noting
that this has been a requirement of the EU accession process since
2003. The draft bill for this is ready but has not yet been discussed
by Parliament. According to Ä°lkiz, apart from being an economic and
trade arrangement, this bill defines what constitutes personal data
and is something new in Turkish law.

Under the bill, no agency will have the authority to gather information
about an individual’s race, political opinions, philosophical beliefs,
religion, denomination or other types of convictions, membership in
an association, foundation or a union, health condition or private
affairs. It also introduces tough restrictions on the handling of
police and criminal records. The bill allows the gathering of personal
information only when the interest of the public good necessitates
such information gathering — and only as long as there is legislation
in place ensuring the confidentiality of such data. The bill entails
citizens’ right to know whether at any point personal information
about them has been recorded, the right to review any such data
and demand correction in cases of erroneous, mistaken or inadequate
data. Data collection shall not take place without the permission
of the relevant individual, with the exception of cases where legal
obligations might be involved, the bill proposes.

Yusuf AlataÅ~_, a lawyer and the former chairman of the Human
Rights Association (Ä°HD), points out that this bill introduces some
regulations but gives the impression that it was prepared to please
the EU.

"When you read the draft carefully, you can see that the main idea is
to protect the state but to also give some rights to citizens. In a
country like ours, where the human rights record is poor, the mentality
should be to expand the rights of citizens. ‘Public interests’ and
‘state security’ should be strictly defined," he says.

Ä°lkiz and AlataÅ~_ also note that the Code on Criminal Procedure (CMK)
and the Law on Police Powers regulate data gathering, too. For example,
the CMK regulates under which conditions surveillance is allowed. Under
the Law on Police Powers, the state may gather information on
individuals who commit offenses that carry long prison terms, offenses
against public security and property, smuggling or vagrancy, those
who work in brothels, as prostitutes and their procurers and those
who prosecutors or courts of law ask to be investigated.

AlataÅ~_ says when the Ergenekon evidence brought to light the
blacklisting of citizens, some comments suggested that the state had
the right to collect data on its citizens for its interests but that
the data gathering in Ä°stanbul overstepped the limits.

"The real danger is this mentality. To say that the judiciary is
taking care of this crime is not enough. The government has to devise
and implement strict measures to regulate this matter," he says.

–Boundary_(ID_BIMqsNquivzu/ki+J0l94g)–

Weeke nd Edition
August 9 / 10, 2008

The West Would Be Wise to Stay Out
Plucky Little Georgia?

By MARK ALMOND

For many people the sight of Russian tanks streaming across a border in
August has uncanny echoes of Prague 1968. That cold war reflex is natural
enough, but after two decades of Russian retreat from those bastions it is
misleading. Not every development in the former Soviet Union is a replay of
Soviet history.

The clash between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia, which escalated
dramatically yesterday, in truth has more in common with the Falklands war
of 1982 than it does with a cold war crisis. When the Argentine junta was
basking in public approval for its bloodless recovery of Las Malvinas, Henry
Kissinger anticipated Britain’s widely unexpected military response with the
comment: "No great power retreats for ever." Maybe today Russia has stopped
the long retreat to Moscow which started under Gorbachev.

Back in the late 1980s, as the USSR waned, the red army withdrew from
countries in eastern Europe which plainly resented its presence as the
guarantor of unpopular communist regimes. That theme continued throughout
the new republics of the deceased Soviet Union, and on into the premiership
of Putin, under whom Russian forces were evacuated even from the country’s
bases in Georgia.

To many Russians this vast geopolitical retreat from places which were part
of Russia long before the dawn of communist rule brought no bonus in
relations with the west. The more Russia drew in its horns, the more
Washington and its allies denounced the Kremlin for its imperial ambitions.

Unlike in eastern Europe, for instance, today in breakaway states such as
South Ossetia or Abkhazia, Russian troops are popular. Vladimir Putin’s
picture is more widely displayed than that of the South Ossetian president,
the former Soviet wrestling champion Eduard Kokoity. The Russians are seen
as protectors against a repeat of ethnic cleansing by Georgians.

In 1992, the west backed Eduard Shevardnadze’s attempts to reassert
Georgia’s control over these regions. The then Georgian president’s war was
a disaster for his nation. It left 300,000 or more refugees "cleansed" by
the rebel regions, but for Ossetians and Abkhazians the brutal plundering of
the Georgian troops is the most indelible memory.

Georgians have nursed their humiliation ever since. Although Mikheil
Saakashvili has done little for the refugees since he came to power early in
2004 – apart from move them out of their hostels in central Tbilisi to make
way for property development – he has spent 70% of the Georgian budget on
his military. At the start of the week he decided to flex his muscles.

Devoted to achieving Nato entry for Georgia, Saakashvili has sent troops to
Iraq and Afghanistan – and so clearly felt he had American backing. The
streets of the Georgian capital are plastered with posters of George W Bush
alongside his Georgian protege. George W Bush avenue leads to Tbilisi
airport. But he has ignored Kissinger’s dictum: "Great powers don’t commit
suicide for their allies." Perhaps his neoconservative allies in Washington
have forgotten it, too. Let’s hope not.

Like Galtieri in 1982, Saakashvili faces a domestic economic crisis and
public disillusionment. In the years since the so-called Rose revolution,
the cronyism and poverty that characterised the Shevardnadze era have not
gone away. Allegations of corruption and favouritism towards his mother’s
clan, together with claims of election fraud, led to mass demonstrations
against Saakashvili last November. His ruthless security forces – trained,
equipped and subsidised by the west – thrashed the protesters. Lashing out
at the Georgians’ common enemy in South Ossetia would certainly rally them
around the president, at least in the short term.

Last September, President Saakashvili suddenly turned on his closest ally in
the Rose revolution, defence minister Irakli Okruashvili. Each man accused
his former blood brother of mafia links and profiting from contraband.
Whatever the truth, the fact that the men seen by the west as the heroes of
a post-Shevardnadze clean-up accused each other of vile crimes should warn
us against picking a local hero in Caucasian politics.

Western geopolitical commentators stick to cold war simplicities about
Russia bullying plucky little Georgia. However, anyone familiar with the
Caucasus knows that the state bleating about its victim status at the hands
of a bigger neighbour can be just as nasty to its smaller subjects. Small
nationalisms are rarely sweet-natured.

Worse still, western backing for "equip and train" programmes in Russia’s
backyard don’t contribute to peace and stability if bombastic local leaders
such as Saakashvili see them as a guarantee of support even in a crisis
provoked by his own actions. He seems to have thought that the valuable oil
pipeline passing through his territory, together with the Nato advisers
intermingled with his troops, would prevent Russia reacting militarily to an
incursion into South Ossetia. That calculation has proved disastrously
wrong.

The question now is whether the conflict can be contained, or whether the
west will be drawn in, raising the stakes to desperate levels. To date the
west has operated radically different approaches to secession in the
Balkans, where pro-western microstates get embassies, and the Caucasus,
where the Caucasian boundaries drawn up by Stalin, are deemed sacrosanct.

In the Balkans, the west promoted the disintegration of multiethnic
Yugoslavia, climaxing with their recognition of Kosovo’s independence in
February. If a mafia-dominated microstate like Montenegro can get western
recognition, why shouldn’t flawed, pro-Russian, unrecognised states aspire
to independence, too?

Given its extraordinary ethnic complexity, Georgia is a post-Soviet Union in
miniature. If westerners readily conceded non-Russian republics’ right to
secede from the USSR in 1991, what is the logic of insisting that
non-Georgians must remain inside a microempire which happens to be
pro-western?

Other people’s nationalisms are like other people’s love affairs, or,
indeed, like dog fights. These are things wise people don’t get involved in.
A war in the Caucasus is never a straightforward moral crusade – but then,
how many wars are?

Mark Almond is a history lecturer at Oriel College, Oxford.

This article originally appeared in the Guardian<;.

YEREVAN RESIDENTS TO ELECT NEW PREFECTS AND MEMBERS OF ELDERS’ COUNCILS SEPTEMBER 7 AND 28

ARKA
Aug 5, 2008

YEREVAN, August 5. /ARKA/. Elections to self-government bodies of
Yerevan will be held in the twelve districts of Yerevan September
7 and 28, Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission of Armenia
Garegin Azaryan has said.

Elections in Armenian provinces are scheduled for this October.

Elections in Yerevan will be held in two phases. At the first phase,
the residents of the districts of Erebuni, Kanaker-Zeytun, Arabkir
and Nubarashen will elect new prefects and members of the elders’
councils, while the residents of Malatia-Sebastia and Achapnyak will
elect members of the elders’ councils.

At the second phase, the residents of the districts of Kentron and
Nork-Marash will elect a new perfect and members of the elders’
council, while residents of Avan, Davidashen and Shengavit will
only elect members of the elders’ councils 820.5mln drams have been
earmarked by the state budget for this purpose most of the funds to
be paid to the members of electoral commissions.

The chairman of the Central Electoral Commission said elections to
the self-government bodies in Yerevan will be kind of a rehearsal
of mayor’s elections to be held after the parliament passes the law
"On Local-Government bodies and Territorial Administration in Yerevan."

U.S. SENATE CONFIRMS MARIE YOVANOVITCH AS NEW AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA

ARMENPRESS
Aug 4, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 4, ARMENPRESS: The U.S. Senate has confirmed Marie
Yovanovitch as new ambassador to Armenia, AP reported.

Earlier on July 29 her nomination was confirmed by Senate’s Foreign
Relationships Commission.

She served as ambassador to Kyrgyzstan since 2005. Before that she
served as an aide to deputy U.S. secretary of state.

Former ambassador John Evans was recalled in 2006. Before Yovanovitch’s
nomination, President Bush picked Richard Hoagland as a nominee to
serve as ambassador to Yerevan, but his candidacy was put on hold
twice by Senator Robert Melendez after Hoagland refused to term the
1915 massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Turkey as genocide.

The White House withdrew Hoagalnd’s candidacy in 2007 August.

ARMENIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY MULLS INCREASING NUMBER OF PROFESSIONAL SERVICEMEN

ArmInfo News Agency (in Russian)
Aug 1 2008
Armenia

Col Seyran Shahsuvaryan, the Defence Ministry’s press secretary,
told Arminfo that issues related to increasing the number of
contract-based servicemen were discussed at the meeting. The meeting
that was attended by all the top officials of the Defence Ministry
and the General Staff of the armed forces was held at the newly built
Defence Ministry building, the construction of which is getting to
an end. The heads of the departments, services and divisions had
a chance to see their new offices. Ohanyan gave some instructions
regarding the construction process of the building.

EU URGES AZERBAIJAN, ARMENIA TO RESOLVE KARABAKH CONFLICT PEACEFULLY

Interfax News Agency
July 31 2008
Russia

The European Union welcomes further Karabakh settlement negotiations
between Azerbaijan and Armenia, EU Special Representative for the
South Caucasus Peter Semneby said on Thursday.

the sides should work on a peaceful settlement of the conflict on
the basis of fundamental principles and coordinate their actions with
the OSCE Minsk Group, he said.

Semneby has had negotiations with Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar
Mamedyarov, President Ilham Aliyev and representatives of non-
governmental organizations.

He said they had discussed the Karabakh conflict, the pre-election
situation in Azerbaijan, Azeri efforts to hold free elections, and
the Azeri role in the provision of energy security of Europe.

A NEW U.S. AMBASSADOR IS ARRIVING IN YEREVAN TWO YEARS AFTER JOHN EVANS WAS RECALLED

PanARMENIAN.Net
31.07.2008 GMT+04:00

Most likely the U.S. Armenian Community and Hay Dat have been satisfied
with Marie Yovanovitch and the State Department’s claims that a
"Great massacre" occurred in 1915.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations has approved of Marie
Yovanovitch’s candidacy as the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia. Senators
approved the candidacy after the U.S. State Department had given
written answers to the question on mass killings of Armenians in
Ottoman Turkey during the World War I. The Committee confirmed the
nomination by roll call, with Senator Boxer going against it. Final
decision on the Ambassador’s nomination will be announced on the August
session of the Senate. Marie Yovanovitch is to give a final approval.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ At last a U.S. Ambassador Plenipotentiary will
lead the U.S. diplomatic mission in Armenia, and there will be
finally put an end to the rumours that the U.S.-Armenian relations
have worsened lately. Though many Armenian experts relate it to the
February 19 Presidential Elections, it is already 22 months since
the U.S. Ambassador left Armenia. Most likely the U.S. Armenian
Community and Hay Dat have been satisfied with the statements of
Marie Yovanovitch and the State Department claiming that a "Great
massacre" occurred in 1915. "The Administration recognizes that the
mass killings, ethnic cleansing, and forced deportations of over one
and a half million Armenians were conducted by the Ottoman Empire. We
indeed hold Ottoman officials responsible for those crimes." stated
the letter of the State Department issued to the Chairman of the
U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Joe Biden in response
to the questions on nominating Marie Yovanovitch to the post of
the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia. US Assistant Secretary Matthew
Reynolds stated in the letter that during the Senate hearings Marie
Yovanovitch had mentioned the International Visitors Program under
consideration that would bring archivists from Turkey and Armenia
to the United States for professional training. "Our goal is to
help archivists protect the evidence of the past so that future
generations will have the documentation of the mass killings and
deportations of Armenians committed by Ottoman soldiers and other
Ottoman officials in 1915. Our goal is not to open a debate on whether
the Ottomans committed these horrendous acts; it is to help preserve
the documentation that supports the truth of those events" declared
Matthew Reynolds in the letter. "In her testimony, Ms. Yovanovitch
tried to convey her deep empathy with the profound suffering of the
Armenian people and in no way sought to cast any doubt on historical
facts," the U.S. Assistant Secretary concluded.

In his turn Director of the Hay Dat Office Giro Manoyan noted that
approval of Ambassador-designate Marie Yovanovitch culminated an
important milestone toward recognition of the Armenian Genocide by
the U.S. executive branch. "Twenty-two months after Senator Menendez
put his hold on Richard Hoagland’s nomination, through the written
responses and clarifications of the Ambassador-designate Marie
Yovanovitch and the U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary for Legislative
Affairs, the US Department of State affirms that: a) Over one and
a half million Armenians have fallen victim to the mass killings,
ethnic cleansing, and forced deportations conducted by the Ottoman
Empire", b) The US does not cast any doubt on the reality, and its
goal is to help preserve the memory of one of the greatest tragedies
of the 20th century, the Great Calamity. The refusal to qualify the
tragedy of the Armenian nation as Genocide is simply a manifestation of
the U.S. President’s policy. The recent developments showed that the
policy and efforts of the Armenian-American community in general and
of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) in particular,
have proved efficient. I am confident that the Armenian-Americans
and their US supporters will soon achieve the recognition of the
Armenian Genocide by the US President. Turkey must be troubled by the
US current policy, since soon will arrive the day when the United
States of America, its legislature, its executive branch and its
President will require Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide,"
Mr. Manoyan concluded.

Everything is accurate, except for one thing: Ronald Reagan called
the 1915 occurrences "Genocide". And, as far as we can remember,
Turkey did not protest it much. Indeed, it was a different time;
Armenia was under the USSR rule and no one could picture that the
Karabakh War would break up and Ankara would have to take Azerbaijan’s
side. It was exactly then that Turkey became Azerbaijan’s hostage,
lobbying its interests in the U.S.A. By twist of fate, the author of
the U.S. Resolution 106 on the Armenian Genocide was Adam Schiff,
Jew by origin and some of the senators, who voted against Richard
Hoagland, were Jews too…

As Washprofile claims the U.S. policy depends on the rigid influence
of the Israeli lobby. It is a rather fragile coalition (composed of
individuals and organizations), not controlled by a general center,
its members sharing no common political ideology. In fact, there
is only one thing that unites the coalition members: it is their
aspiration to direct the American foreign policy toward stable and
absolute support of Israel by the U.S. Thus, the Israeli lobby works
in two fronts. It puts pressure on the legislative and executive
bodies of the U.S., meanwhile forming a favourable image of Israel
in public. And in order to carry out its intentions Israel is trying
to put the discussions on the Near East problems into such a line of
development that even theoretic prospect of changes in the U.S. policy
would appear anti-national and absurd in the region. As a most vivid
example of the Israeli persistence can serve the fact, that the
latter has hardly ever been seriously criticized by either House of
the Congress. Moreover, Dick Armey, Former House of Representatives
Majority Leader, declared in September 2002 that one of his principal
foreign-policy priorities was the defence of Israel and not that of
the U.S.A, as it was expected. And since Turkey is one of Israel’s
allies, it is quite logical that the Israeli lobby has gripped Turkey
as well and the most painful issue for Ankara is the Armenian Genocide.

Once Barack Obama occupies the Oval Office, changes will take effect in
the foreign policy of the U.S. Israel will remain a priority country
for the U.S., but Washington will certainly reconsider its position
towards other countries, including Turkey.

Meanwhile the Turkish newspaper "Tasam" writes: "Certain U.S. groupings
keep accusing Turkey of the Armenian Genocide. This fact may shake the
Turkish-Armenian relations, which, on the official level, did not exist
anyway. The strategic cooperation Moscow-Yerevan-Tehran on the one
hand and Turkey-Azerbaijan on the other hand serve as the main reason
why there are no relations established between Turkey and Armenia."

ZURAB TODUA: "AZERBAIJAN DOES NOT SEEM WILLFUL TO RETURN ITS TERRITORIES"

PanARMENIAN.Net
28.07.2008 13:51 GMT+04:00

"Azerbaijan does not seem willful to return its territories," according
to a Russian expert.

"Let’s imagine the following situation: President of Azerbaijan Ilham
Aliyev declares that patience of the Azerbaijani people has been
exhausted and it will settle the Karabakh problem independently. Then
Azerbaijan will start hostilities. How many volunteers will go to the
front to return the lost lands? How much money will Azeri officials
spend for army needs? How many of them will reject their villas,
yachts and limos and other luxurious things to bear wartime hardships
and miseries alongside with ordinary citizens? How many victims is
the Azerbaijani society ready to give for the sake of the return of
the lost lands? If you give an honest answer to these questions, you
will admit that Turkey has the right to take care of its national
interests, which also envisages normalization of relations with
Armenia," political scientist Zurab Todua said.

Asked about "improvement" of the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, he
said, "If you mean prospects of "return" of Nagorno Karabakh, then
it is unreal. On the whole, Armenian-Turkish dialogue will not have
a serious influence on the Azerbaijani-Armenian relations, I think."

"There is no place of naivety in the politics and Turkey and Armenia
primarily settle their own tasks at the bargaining table," he added,
Day.az reports.

Today.Az, Azerbaijan
July 26 2008

Armenian parliamentarian: "Azerbaijan tries to prove that there are
parallels of violence between the Balkans and Nagorno Karabakh"

26 July 2008 [10:46] – Today.Az

"Armenia signed the Roman statute, but did not ratify it, which means
that it is not the territory, falling within the scope of the Hague
tribunal", said member of the Armenian Republican party, Armenian
parliamentary Armen Ashotyan on July 25.

"I share the opinion of the politicians, who consider that collection
of signatures for bringing Robert Kocharyan to Hague tribunal is a
nonsense", said Ashotyan. He noted that legally the collection of
signatures can be called absurd as the international Hague tribune
can only consider cases of the countries, which have ratified the
Roman statute.

"Armenia signed the statute, but not ratified it, which means that it
is not the territory falling within the scope of the Hague tribunal",
said Ahotyan, noting that opposition leaders should have known
it. Ashotyan added that there is a low possibility to initiate any
criminal case through the mediation of the UN Security Council, which
makes the activity of the opposition even more absurd.

Ashotyan called the said initiative of the opposition absurd from the
political point of view. "Azerbaijan tries to mislead the world
society and show that that there are parallels between the Balkans and
Nagorno Karabakh in the sense of violence and crimes against
humanity", said Ashotyan adding that this issue has already been
reflected in the Azerbaijani press and the Azerbaijani officials will
make use of this opportunity.

"The statements of the opposition, which say that velvet revolution
will occur in Armenia on August 1 can not be taken seriously", said
Ashotyan adding that the peak of opposition’s energy has passed and
opposition makes statements only for propaganda".

/Regnum/

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