Author: Toganian Liana

Thousands will gather to commemorate Dink

armradio.am
19.01.2008 11:56

A ceremony is to be held in Istanbul to mark one year since the murder
of the ethnic Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink. Hrant Dink campaigned
for his country to confront one of the darkest chapters of its past:
the mass killing of Ottoman Armenians in 1915.

He was convicted of "insulting Turkishness," which many say labelled
him a traitor to extreme nationalists. Despite EU pressure on Turkey to
change or abolish the law under which he was convicted, Article 301
still remains.

Thousands of people are expected to gather close to the spot where
Hrant Dink was murdered. It was 14:57 local time, and at that time
exactly, one year on, the crowd will mark a moment of silence.

At a short ceremony led by Hrant Dink’s close friends and family, they
will remember a man who dared to speak out about one of the most
sensitive issues there is here – the killing of hundreds of thousands
of Ottoman Armenians. Modern-day Turkey denies it was genocide. Hrant
Dink’s stance made him a hate figure for extreme nationalists.

But his friends believe it was his conviction under the controversial
Article 301 – for "insulting Turkishness" – that singled him out as a
target.

WFP REPRESENTATIVE IMPRESSED BY RESULTS OF THE PRSP IMPLEMENTATION

armradio.am
18.01.2008 18:02

On January 18 RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian received the newly
appointed Chief of the World Food Programme Representation in Armenia
Maria Dolores Castro Benites.

Greeting the guest, Minister Oskanian congratulated her on assuming
the management of the Armenian Office of the renowned organization
and highly assessed the effectiveness of the programs the World Food
Programme implements in Armenia.

In turn, Mrs. Castro Benites said she is impressed by the results of
the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) the Armenian Government
implements and highly appreciates the cooperation established between
RA Government and the World Food Programme.

ARMEN RUSTAMYAN: ARF DASHNAKSTYUN’S CREED IS TO GUIDE OTHERS IN CIVILIZED FIGHT BY ITS BEHAVIOR

2008-01-17 15:38:00

ArmInfo. The main creed of the ARF Dashnaksutyun Party is to guide
others in the civilized fight by its behavior, Armen Rustamyan,
an MP from the ARFD faction, a member of the ARFD Supreme Body, the
head of Vice Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Vahan Hovhannisyan’s
campaign headquarters, told journalists, Thursday.

According to him, ARF Dashnaktsutyun doesn’t intend to offend this or
that candidate and is ready to cooperate with each of them. Rustamyan
also said that the party suggested that all the candidates to set
election control headquarters. This suggestion was accepted, however,
when it comes to specification of the issue, for some reason, the
contenders to the presidential post try not to interfere. As the head
of the headquarters said, ARFD will set 500-600 campaign headquarters
of V. Hovhannisyan. "10 mln AMD have already been transferred to
V. Hovhannisyan’s election campaign fund account, however the size
of the fund continues to increase".

Rustamyan noted that ARFD has its representatives at all 1923 polling
stations where Hovhannisyan’s election agents will also be present. To
note, Vahan Hovhannisyan is running under the slogan "Our old friend
is the new president of the country".

RELIGIOUS MINORITY FACES DISCRIMINATION IN ARMENIA

Amnesty International
Jan 16 2008

Jehovah’s Witnesses in Armenia face discrimination and imprisonment
because of their beliefs, according to a new Amnesty International
report.

Many young men in the religious organization are jailed because their
faith prohibits them from doing military service, while others have
been attacked – including allegedly by supporters of the country’s
dominant religious group.

"Young male Jehovah’s Witnesses continue to be imprisoned. Since
there is no alternative civilian service in Armenia, Amnesty
International considers them prisoners of conscience and calls for
their immediate and unconditional release," said Laurence Broers,
Amnesty International’s researcher on Armenia.

There are an estimated 9,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses in Armenia. They have
been subjected to an apparently increasing number of attacks since
they gained more prominence in 2004, following their registration
as a religious organization (after a series of rejections). Amnesty
International is concerned at the authorities’ reported failure to
fully investigate and prosecute these clear human rights abuses.

The violence has coincided with increased friction with the Armenian
Apostolic Church, to which around 90 per cent of the population
formally belongs.

"The Armenian authorities are ignoring the fact that Jehovah’s
Witnesses are specifically targeted for attacks, including allegedly
by representatives of the Armenian Apostolic Church," said Laurence
Broers.

As a Council of Europe member, Armenia is obliged to provide a
genuinely civilian alternative to compulsory military service. But
Armenia’s alternative service is still under the control of the
military, making it incompatible with the beliefs of Jehovah’s
Witnesses and others. As of 26 September 2007, there were 82 Jehovah’s
Witnesses imprisoned as conscientious objectors in Armenia.

"All those wrongly imprisoned must be released immediately and
receive adequate compensation. The Armenian authorities must also
ensure that they are not denied documents necessary for them to enjoy
full rights as civilians – including the right to freedom of movement
and the rights to entry into public sector employment or marriage,"
Laurence Broers said.

MORE THAN 200 BIG AND MEDIUM-CAPACITY BUSES TO BE BROUGHT TO YEREVAN
THIS YEAR

YEREVAN, JANUARY 14, NOYAN TAPAN. 3.9m runs were implemented by
mini-buses in 2007 in Yerevan, during which 101.4m passengers were
served and 39.8 thousand runs were implemented by medium-capacity
buses, during which 1.6m passengers were served. Karen Yedigarian, the
Director of the Yerevantrans CJSC, said this at the January 14 press
conference.

According to him, first of all micro-buses should be replaced by big
and medium-capacity buses in order to improve the situation in the
public transport sphere in Yerevan. In his words, for that purpose it
is envisaged in 2008 to reduce the number of micro-buses in operation
and to increase the number of buses brought. According to K.
Yedigarian, 32 buses will be brought to Yerevan in the coming days,
some batch of buses is in the Poti-Ilyichevsk port and they will be
also brought to Yerevan soon. And it is envisaged to bring another 150
buses by the end of the year. For comparison it was mentioned that 89
Bogdan buses were brought to Yerevan last year. It was also mentioned
that henceforth buses will be brought by private companies.

Touching upon administrative fines imposed on micro-buses’ drivers for
smoking, K. Yedigarian said that 500 protocols were made up and
companies serving the routes were subjected to administrative fines
from April 1, 2007 until the end of the year. According to K.
Yedigarian, it is not excluded that for such violations some routes
will be deprived of their licences. The Director of the Yerevantrans
CJSC called citizens for phoning by 39-16-53 number informing about
such cases.

January 13 marks 18th anniversary of the beginning of Armenian pogroms
in Baku

2008-01-13 17:53:00

ArmInfo. January 13 marks the 18th anniversary of the mass pogroms of
Armenians in Azerbaijan’s capital.

On January 13, 1990, after the People’s Front of Azerbaijan (PFA)
finished its regular rally in Baku, several thousands of pogromists
started attacking the apartments of Armenian residents in Baku, whose
addresses had already been hung on the walls of PFA headquarters.

"Yesterday mass disorders began in the city, there are a lot of victims
and wounded people. We have got together to prevent further
developments", First Secretary of the Central Committee (CC) of the
Azerbaijani Communist Party (ACP) Abdurahman Vezirov said at the Jan 14
emergency meeting of the ACP CC Bureau. Soviet generals who came from
Moscow the same day, started the deployment of additional 10 thsd
contingent of internal troops.

However, the situation had entirely been out of control by that moment.
As the central press reported several days later, the capital of Soviet
Azerbaijan practically passed to the complete control of "the extremist
forces of the People’s Front". The military units dislocated in the
city were blocked near the Salyan billets.

Ethnic ground violent murders took place in Baku. To note, Sumgait
experienced similar mass murders two years earlier. Dozens of thousands
of native Armenians in Baku were driven out of their own apartments,
and hundreds of them were beaten. According to official data, 91 people
were killed during the Armenian pogroms in Baku. The victims were
"chiefly Armenians", as the joint statement of the Azeri leaders
Vezirov, Kafarova and Mutalibov published in the "Bakinskiy Rabochiy"
newspaper said.

It was possible to establish order in Baku only after the belated
decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Council dated January 19,
when Soviet army troops entered the city in the face of resistance of
the PFA fighters who had managed to partially armed themselves. In the
long run, over 200 thsd Armenian residents, who lost their whole
property, were expelled from Baku. Most of them still live in bad
social conditions in Armenia, Russia and other countries.

ARMENPRESS

VULNERABLE PEOPLE TO GET FREE ANTI-FLU VACCINATION

YEREVAN, JANUARY 11, ARMENPRESS: Armenian health
ministry has started distribution of anti-flu vaccines
to clinics around the country which will be followed
by free vaccination of the most vulnerable sections of
population.
Lilit Avetisian, head of a health ministry’s
department overseeing infectious diseases, said to
Armenpress that 33,000 people will be vaccinated
against flu in February.
She said the vaccines are to protect people from A
type of influenza which experts say poses the biggest
danger to public health.
Vaccinated people acquire immunity against the
disease that may last from 1 to 3 years.

Lragir, Armenia
Jan 11 2008

GALUST SAHAKYAN IS SURE OF VICTORY IN FIRST ROUND

The deputy leader of the Republican Party Galust Sahakyan held a news
conference today and stated that it is important to his party to hold
a high-level election because nobody will benefit from a bad
election, and the country will suffer. At the same time, Galust
Sahakyan reasserted the confidence of other Republicans that their
candidate will get about 65-68 percent in the presidential election,
and there will be no run-off election. Therefore, the Member of
Parliament says, the Republican Party will use its entire political
resource and will set up 1500 offices across Armenia. The activists
and supporters of Bargavach Hayastan and the other parties and
organizations which endorsed Serge Sargsyan who count about 60
thousand will work at those offices. The members of commissions have
been trained for a better knowledge of the legislation.

Galust Sahakyan said he is dissatisfied with Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s
election program, noting that it is rather an address to a rally than
a program. At the same time, Galust Sahakyan is against that their
candidate debate with Levon Ter-Petrosyan. `I would feel insulted, I
might keep silent if our candidate tried to meet him.’

GEORGIAN PROSECUTOR GENERAL OFFICE CHARGES PATARKATSISHVILI OF COUP D’ETAT ATTEMPT

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.01.2008 16:43 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Badri Patarkatsishvili, a Georgian tycoon and
former presidential hopeful, was charged of coup plot, organization
of assault on a political figure and organization of a terror attack
in compliance with appropriate articles of the Georgian Penal Code.

As Patarkatsishvili is not in Georgia at present, his family will be
reported the decision of the prosecutor general.

In the interests of the investigation, Patarkatsishvili’s personal bank
accounts in the JSC Standard Bank were blocked, Prime News reports.

Head of Vazgen Manukyan’s campaign headquarters: Election programme of our candidate fundamentally differs from other candidates’ programmes

arminfo
2008-01-10 15:53:00

ArmInfo. The election programme of Armenia’s presidential contender,
leader of the National-Democratic Way Vazgen Manukyan fundamentally
differs from other presidential candidates’ programmes, Head of Vazgen
Manukyan’s campaign headquarters, leader of the "National State" party
Samvel Shahinyan said at today’s press-conference in "Azdak" club.

As S. Shahinyan said, none of the candidates, except V. Manukyan,
talks of the necessity to carry out structural reforms and none of
them, except V. Manukyan, insists on the necessity of keeping the
national interests and the national ideology, S. Shahinyan emphasized.

Touching upon the forthcoming election, he said that 21 campaign
headquarters have been formed in the republic’s different regions
and their number will expectedly grow. The work of the regional
headquarters is coordinated by the central headquarters, which
includes, besides S. Shahinyan, leaders of four political parties more,
supporting V. Manukyan’s candidacy, their deputies and assistants
– total of 12 people. S. Shahinyan complained of more than modest
financial capacity of V. Manukyan’s supporters, in view of which the
main emphasis during the election campaign will be put not on the
trips to the regions that is extremely difficult also because of the
weather conditions, but on agitation by TV and radio, distribution
of audio and video materials and CDs.