Author: Tvankchian Parkev

ARMENIAN REPUBLICANS TO UNVEIL ‘ANTI-FRAUD’ PLAN
By Karine Kalantarian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
April 4 2007

The ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) will soon unveil a set
of measures aimed at preventing a repeat of serious fraud in next
month’s parliamentary elections, Justice Minister David Harutiunian
said on Wednesday.

The announcement came as the Central Election Commission officially
registered all 24 parties and one alliance that have applied for
participation in the elections under the system of proportional
representation. They will be vying for 90 of the 131 seats in the
National Assembly.

The remaining 41 seats will be up for grabs in single-member
constituencies across the country. More than 150 individual candidates,
most of them affiliated with or endorsed by various parties, have
filed for registration in those constituencies.

"We have no alternative [to holding democratic elections,]" Harutiunian
told RFE/RL in an interview. "There is such will [in the HHK,] and
right now the party is working on measures that will contribute to
the realization of that goal."

"I will be in charge of the effort. We are going to fight against
vote irregularities," he said.

Harutiunian said this will involve, among other things, the launch of a
telephone hot line for citizens witnessing vote buying, ballot stuffing
and other irregularities that marred presidential and parliamentary
elections held in Armenia until now. He declined to detail other
anti-fraud measures planned by a party that has for years been accused
of resorting to vote rigging to dominate Armenian politics.

The initiative is certain to be dismissed by the Armenian opposition
as a pre-election gimmick designed to mislead the public and the
international community. Some opposition leaders have already accused
the Republicans of planning to rig the elections scheduled for May
12. Reports in the Armenian press have said that local government
chiefs affiliated with the HHK are forcing civil servants and other
public sectors employees to join the party or face dismissal.

Harutiunian joined the HHK and was included on its electoral list in
February after months of media speculation about his political plans
for the near future. He said he had considered joining Prosperous
Armenia (BHK), another major pro-establishment party reportedly
sponsored by President Robert Kocharian, but eventually picked the
HHK. The minister admitted that Prosperous Armenia’s refusal to have
unpopular government members among its election candidates was one
of the factors behind his choice.

Harutiunian, who is widely regarded as Kocharian’s protege, denied
suggestions that the Armenian president "sent" him to the HHK as part
of his alleged efforts to hold the governing party led by Defense
Minister Serzh Sarkisian in check. "That is not true," he said. "I had
the freedom to choose between the two parties, and I made a choice."

STEPAN DEMIRCHYAN: POLITICAL CONFLICTS AND CRIMINAL SHOOT-OUTS ARE CHARACTERISTIC OF THE PRESENT REGIME IN ARMENIA

Arminfo
2007-04-03 16:45:00

Political conflicts and criminal shoot-outs are the characteristic
feature of the governance system imposed by the present authorities,
the leader of the opposition People’s Party of Armenia, Stepan
Demirchyan, has told ArmInfo.

He says that the Monday assassination attempt on the mayor of Gyumri
has proved that crime is an integral part of the present ruling
regime. "We condemn such crimes, whoever they are aimed against. Such a
situation before the election is quite inadmissible," Demirchyan says.

SHOEMAKER’S TOOLS WILL RELIEVE THE PROBLEMS OF THE FAMILY

KarabakhOpen
02-04-2007 21:56:18

Hasmik Iskandaryan moved to live in the village of Haterk from Yerevan
when she was a young bride. Her family lived in Russia for a long
time, but in the beginning of the movement of Artsakh they moved to
their native village.

We met Hasmik at a small shop on the edge of the village. She said
she rented the shop to "support the family somehow". Hasmik says she
has to work in the shop because she borrowed money from the bank and
hardly makes both ends meet. There is a problem with her son who has
married recently, and they are going to have a baby soon.

"The family is large, it is difficult to support so many
people. Besides, my second son fell ill. And both are unemployed. We
live in a house with two rooms. I have asked the head of the community
to help us and provide us with an apartment. Now my second son is
going to get married and I cannot have them live in two rooms."

Hasmik says everyone in their family tries to earn. Her husband serves
in the army, soon he will retire and help her with the shop. Her son,
who has disability, also wants to work but he cannot find a suitable
job. The mother says he "is fond of shoemaking", and she wants to
buy instruments for her son to earn money and help the family.

RUSSIA MOVES TO REPAIR TIES WITH AZERBAIJAN
Sergei Blagov

EurasiaNet, NY
April 2 2007

Russian leader Vladimir Putin is intent on reducing tension with
Azerbaijan, one of the Caspian Basin’s key energy producers.

During and informal get-together March 27 in Moscow, Putin was
unusually solicitous toward Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. "I
am grateful to the president of Azerbaijan for using any opportunity
for meeting," the Itar-Tass news agency quoted Putin as saying. Putin
went on to say that Aliyev "always was a welcome guest."

Putin’s charm offensive is linked to geopolitics and Russia’s
unstinting efforts to maintain its commanding Caspian Basin energy
position. Starting in late 2006, Azerbaijani-Russian relations took
a nosedive after the Kremlin-controlled conglomerate, Gazprom,
attempted to dramatically raise the price of natural gas exports
to Azerbaijan. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. At
the time, Aliyev essentially told Russia to take a hike, saying that
Azerbaijan would not tolerate "commercial blackmail."

Most former Soviet states are energy-dependent on Russia, and thus
have little leverage in pricing negotiations with Russian energy
suppliers. Not Azerbaijan, which is projected to more than double
its oil production over the next three years, from 237 million
barrels to 476 million barrels, according to a report published by
the Moscow Times. Baku is also expecting to significantly increase
in gas production over the same period.

The Aliyev administration reacted to the Gazprom move by declaring
that Azerbaijan would cease importing Russian gas, and suspend oil
exports via Russian pipelines. Baku’s action got the Kremlin’s
attention. Increasing the pressure on Russia to make amends
was Azerbaijan’s zealous efforts to establish good relations
with Turkmenistan, which, if successful, could pave the way for
a trans-Caspian gas pipeline. [For background see the Eurasia
Insight archive]. That potential export route would break Russia’s
stranglehold over Central Asian gas exports, potentially dealing a
severe blow to the Kremlin’s energy policy. [For background see the
Eurasia Insight archive].

Details of the March 27 discussions between Aliyev and Putin proved
elusive, but the two appeared to ease the bilateral chill. Putin
invited Aliyev to attend St. Petersburg’s 11th International Economic
Forum and an informal CIS summit this June. In response, Aliyev
said Baku was ready to discuss bilateral issues. He added that the
two countries enjoyed "stable, friendly and cooperative relations,"
and indicated that he would attend the events in St. Petersburg. The
Azerbaijani news agency APA, quoted Aliyev as saying the two presidents
had a "fruitful exchange."

Strategic considerations perhaps prompted Aliyev to mend fences with
Moscow. Azerbaijan has in recent months sought to bolster support
for its negotiating position in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks. A
settlement has eluded Azerbaijan and Armenia in the long-running
negotiations. Nevertheless, international mediators hope that a
breakthrough can be achieved in 2007. Aliyev and members of his
administration insist that any settlement must leave the disputed
territory under Azerbaijani control. Armenian leaders are equally
adamant that a peace deal leave Karabakh independent of Baku.

During a March 28 visit to Baku, Russia’s Federation Council Speaker,
Sergei Mironov, characterized the lack of a Karabakh settlement as
a "wound that does not heal." In comments broadcast on Azerbaijani
television, he went on to express confidence that "Russia will do
its best to help resolve the issue as soon as possible."

In Baku, Mironov also discussed economic issues with Parliament
Speaker Ogtay Asadov and Prime Minister Artur Rasizade. "Our positions
on international problems coincide," Mironov said, noting that
bilateral trade turnover experienced a surge in 2006 and stood at
over $1.5 billion for the year. Russia runs a healthy trade surplus
with Azerbaijan.

Russian officials have moved to reassure Baku over a new law that went
into effect April 1 that imposes a ban on foreign citizens from selling
goods at markets in Russia. Mironov announced during a March 28 news
conference that the legislation would not impact the large number of
Azeris in Russia, many of whom sell produce and other goods at market
across Russia. "Nothing will change in the lives of Azerbaijanis in
Russia," Mironov insisted.

Editor’s Note: Sergei Blagov is a Moscow-based specialist in CIS
political affairs.

World music awards are announced

Story from BBC NEWS:
ainment/6514573.stm

Published: 2007/03/31 17:12:15 GMT

The winners of the BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music have been announced at
a ceremony in London.
Malian singer and guitarist Ali Farka Toure took album of the year with
Savane while Somali hip-hop artist K’naan won best newcomer.
French vocalist Camille came out top in the Europe category while Lebanese
singer Ghade Shbeir winning the Middle East and North Africa section.
The poll-winners concert will be at the Barbican on 27 May.

Other winners were Debashish Bhattacharya (Asia/Pacific), Gogol Bordello
(Americas), Gotan Project (Club Global) and Maurice El Medioni & Roberto
Rodriguez (Culture Crossing).
The winners were revealed on BBC Radio 3’s World Routes which was broadcast
from the Pigalle Club.
The event which saw performances from Mahmoud Ahmed – winner in the Africa
category – and Arto Tuncboyaçiyan who won of the 2006 Audience Award withthe
Armenian Navy Band.

The Russian-Germans in Tajikistan
( 174)

Posted by J. Otto Pohl | in _History_
( D34) | on March 29th, 2007
Author Archive: _J. Otto Pohl_ ()

Neweurasia.net, Europe

Editor’s Note: What follows is part of _a cross-blog survey_
() that sheds light at the rich ethnic tapestry of Central
Asia. This post is cross-posted at _Otto’s Random Thoughts_
( an-germans-in-tajikistan.html)
By 1999 almost all of the 30,000 Russian-Germans that had been recorded as
living in Tajikistan in 1989 had left. Although large scale German settlement
in the Russian Empire dates back to 1764, the migration to Tajikistan took
place much later. It is almost entirely a product of events that took place near
the end of World War II.
Tajikistan unlike other eastern areas of the USSR such as Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Altai Krai and Omsk Oblast did not receive any appreciable voluntary
settlement by ethnic Germans from the Volga, Ukraine and northern Caucasus in
the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Nor did Tajikistan serve as a destination for Russian-Germans deported to
special settlements during the collectivization of agriculture or the cleansing
of the Soviet border regions during the 1930s. The 1939 Soviet census lists
only 2,022 ethnic Germans in Tajikistan, the smallest concentration of any
Soviet republic except Armenia with only 433 Germans.
The growth of the Russian-German population in Tajikistan prior to this date
is difficult to track. The 1937 census did not count Russian-Germans in the
four Central Asian republics of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and
Tajikistan. The 1926 census gives a combined figure of 4,646 for both Uzbekistan
and Tajikistan. The separation of the Tajik ASSR from the Uzbek SSR and the
upgrading of this territory to the Tajik SSR only occurred in 1929.
The vast majority of the Russian-German population, however, must have been
in Uzbekistan proper. This larger republic had a Russian-German population of
10,049 in 1939. The Russian-German population of Tajikistan thus remained
quite small until the events of World War II. (For comparative census dataon
Russian-Germans from 1926, 1937 and 1939 see Krieger, table 1, p. 133).
Tajikistan also did not serve as a major destination for the Russian-Germans
deported from the European areas of the USSR during the fall of 1941. The
NKVD initially sent almost all of these deportees to Kazakhstan and Siberia. The
official report from 25 December 1941 lists a total of 856,168
Russian-Germans deported to Kazakhstan and Siberia by rail. On 1 January 1942, the NKVD
officials in these regions reported that 799,459 Russian-Germans had arrived in
these regions.
The vast majority of the missing 56,709 deportees presumably died during
transit to their new destinations from typhus, gastro-intestinal diseases and
other illnesses. The poor sanitary conditions in the train wagons used to
relocate the Russian-Germans made this massive mortality inevitable. Out ofthe
nearly 800,000 Russian-Germans deported east of the Urals in 1941, the NKVD
authorities reported that 385,785 had arrived in Kazakhstan by 1 January 1942.
Already by 25 November 1941, their counterparts in Altai Krai, Krasnoiarsk
Krai, Novosibirsk Oblast and Omsk Oblast had recorded the arrival of 396,093
Russian-German deportees. Thus nearly all the surviving Russian-Germans
deported in 1941 ended up in either Kazakhstan or Siberia. (For statistical
information on the 1941 deportations see Bugai, docs. 43 and 44, pp. 74-75and
Milova, doc. 9, pp. 63-69 and doc. 47, pp. 147-148).
The Russian-Germans in Tajikistan did not arrive in this impoverished corner
of Asia until 1945-1946. During 1941, the rapid advance of the Wehrmacht into
the USSR saved some 350,000 Russian-Germans from deportation to Kazakhstan
and Siberia. The vast majority of these people spared from Stalin’s ethnic
cleansing in 1941 lived in Ukraine. During 1942-1944, the German military
evacuated most of these Russian-Germans westward.
At the end of the Second World War the Soviet Union rounded up those
Russian-Germans that had escaped deportation in 1941 and sent them to work under
special settlement restrictions in the Urals, Siberia, Soviet Far East and
Tajikistan. In total the Soviet Union received 203,796 Russian-Germans including
69,782 minors under 17 repatriated from areas formerly under Nazi rule. Soviet
forces apprehended 195,191 of these men women and children in Germany.
American and British soldiers forcibly turned over many of these displaced
Russian-Germans to Soviet forces in accordance with the Yalta Accords. Only
about 100,000 Russian-Germans in Germany avoided repatriation to the USSR.
Tajikistan for the first time became a center for the exile of Russian-German
special settlers due to the forced repatriations. (For the number of
Russian-German repatriates see Bugai, doc. 45, pp. 75 and 76 and Berdinskikh, doc. 8,
pp. 339-343.)
The Stalin regime sent the repatriated Russian-Germans judged physically
incapable of heavy labor to cotton kolkhozes in Tajikistan. Here they suffered
from a lack of proper housing, food, sanitation and medical care. A report from
Peoples Commissar of Health Miterev to Malenkov on 24 January 1946 noted
that extremely poor material conditions for special settlers in Kurgan-Tiubin
Oblast Tajikistan had led to excessive mortality.
They lived in appalling sanitary conditions and suffered from famine like
food shortages. Each person received only 200 grams of wheat or barley a day,
their accommodations lacked floor coverings and roofs and they completely
lacked soap and linen. The unhealthy conditions of work in the cotton fields also
contributed to the health problems of the Russian-Germans in Tajikistan.
The dust and pollen caused numerous infections of the lungs, eyes and cuts
and scrapes especially among children. Trachoma, a debilitating eye disease
that can cause blindness, became especially wide spread among the
Russian-Germans assigned to cotton farms in Tajikistan. These miserable conditions
afflicted tens of thousands of Russian-Germans.
By 1948 the number of Russian-Germans special settlers in Tajikistan had
reached 18,184 people. This number had grown to 27,879 of which 17,770 consisted
of repatriates by the summer of 1950. Thus a little less than ten percent of
the Russian-Germans forcibly repatriated back to the USSR ended up in
Tajikistan. (For a reproduction of the report from Miterev to Malenkov seeBekirova,
chapter 2, p. 3, for a personal account from a Russian-German repatriated
from Germany to Tajikistan see Daes, pp. 141-150, for statistical data on the
number of Russian-Germans in Tajikistan see Eisfeld and Herdt, doc. 312, p.319
and doc. 341, p. 361).
During 1954 to 1956, the Soviet government dismantled the special settlement
regime, officially releasing deported and repatriated Russian-German adults
from this legal disability on 13 December 1955. The Russian-German population
in Tajikistan grew slowly after this date reaching a high of 38,853 in 1979.
It then shrunk down to 32,678 from 1979 to 1989 and completely collapsed due
to emigration from 1989 to 1999. A significant Russian-German population only
lived in Tajikistan for about a half a century.
The Russian-German population in Tajikistan consisted mostly of people
forcibly repatriated back to the USSR after being evacuated to Germany from
Ukraine by the German military during World War II. Their initial years of life in
Tajikistan involved great physical hardship and persecution. They lived as
special settlers on cotton kolkhozes and lacked both material necessities and
human rights. In the 1990s the survivors of the repatriations and their
descendents almost all left Tajikistan due to that country’s civil war.

AS YEREVAN PRESS CLUB CHAIRMAN FORECASTS, POLITICIANS DEPRIVED OF POSSIBILITY TO SPEAK ON TV HENCEFORTH WILL SPEAK ON TV OFTENER

Noyan Tapan
Mar 30 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 30, NOYAN TAPAN. Three opposition parties,
Zharangutiun, Nor Zhamanakner and Hanrapetutiun, had been deprived of
the possibility to speak on TV so far, but the situation has changed
lately. Chairman of Yerevan Press Club Boris Navasardian stated this
at the March 30 discussion on the subject Armenia on the Threshold
of Elections. Supposing that country’s TV companies have received
permission to invite some politicians by the authorities, he forecast
that as a result the latters will start to speak on TV too often.

RUSSIA TO ACCEPT ANY DECISION ON KARABAKH SETTLEMENT – FEDERATION COUNCIL SPEAKER

ITAR-TASS, Russia
March 28 2007

BAKU, March 28 (Itar-Tass) – Russia and Azerbaijan have strategic,
confidential and partnership relations, Federation Council Speaker
Sergei Mironov told, when the parliamentary delegation began its
visit to Azerbaijan.

"Trustful personal relations between the Russian and Azerbaijani
presidents are a pledge of continuity in the two countries’ policies
after 2008," he said.

"On Tuesday during his visit to Moscow Azerbaijani President Ilkham
Aliyev had a good and open talk with Vladimir Putin. All issues have
been discussed and mutual understanding found," he said.

"We are parliamentarians and our task is the formation of a legal
field that consolidates agreements at the high level," Mironov said.

In reply to journalists’ question whether the problem of Nagorny
Karabakh will be on the agenda of the Federation Council delegation’s
visit, Mironov said "it would be wrong to be in Baku and not to touch
on this problem, this open wound."

He pointed out that "only Baku and Yerevan have the way out of this
problem." Russia "will accept any decision the two countries will
reach. If they wish, Russia will provide assistance guarantees."

MONTHLY DEMAND FOR STANDARD BANK GOLD BARS IN ARMENIA IS 0.5 TONS

Arminfo
2007-03-28 10:22:00

The monthly demand for standard bank gold bars in Armenia is 0.5 tons,
says the director of the Dealing Center of Ararat David Haroutyunyan.

Over 50% of the demand is satisfied by Ararat Bank, who supplies 12.5
kg gold bars from Europe (Austria and Switzerland) every week. There
is also demand for smaller bars but it is constrained by VAT taxation
and consequent high price.

Haroutyunyan says that the price of gold at Ararat Bank complies with
London Gold Exchange quotations. For example, today the price is $664
per ounce, while in Nov 2006, when the bank first started operations
with gold bars, it was $620. In the last three years the world gold
price has almost redoubled and the factor of speculations has become
decisive. Haroutyunyan says that the price will continue to grow.

Before the advent of Ararat Bank, only two banks sold gold bars in
Armenia – VTB and Unibank. According to the Ranking of the Commercial
Banks of Armenia by the Agency of Rating Marketing Information
(ArmInfo), the volume of the gold bar operations carried out by the
above two banks in 2006 totalled 307.8mln AMD ($847,000), which is
almost 8 times as much as in 2005.

PRESS RELEASE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of Australia & New Zealand
10 Macquarie Street
Chatswood NSW 2067
AUSTRALIA
Contact: Laura Artinian
Tel: (02) 9419-8056
Fax: (02) 9904-8446
Email: [email protected]

27 March 2007

ARMENIANS OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA WELCOME THEIR PRIMATE

Sydney, Australia – At the invitation of the Armenian Community of South
Australia, Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of Australia and
New Zealand, His Eminence Archbishop Aghan Baliozian made his first pastoral
visit for the year to the capital city of Adelaide over the weekend of 24-26
March, 2007.

The Archbishop was met at the airport by committee members of the Armenian
Cultural Association of South Australia (ACASC) whose role is to bring
together the small but highly spirited group of Armenians in Adelaide.

On Saturday evening, community members gathered in a suburban community hall
to honour the Primate at a reception and enjoy traditional Armenian
hospitality with bountiful food, laughter, conversation and a cultural
performance. During the evening, Archbishop Baliozian enlightened the
guests on his recent travels abroad firstly accompanying His Holiness
Karekin II Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians on the
Pontifical Visit to India and his subsequent visit to the Mother See of Holy
Etchmiadzin for the Supreme Spiritual Council Meeting.

On Sunday morning, the faithful congregated at the Chapel of the Christian
Brothers College where the Archbishop celebrated the Divine Liturgy of the
Armenian Apostolic Church. The sermon of the day focussed on the individual
‘s need for edification of one’s faith and the importance of maintaining a
strong connection to the Armenian Church.

The same evening, Mrs Takouhi Safrazian hosted a dinner at her home when
community members had another opportunity to enjoy the Archbishop’s company
before his departure on Monday.

The Primate returned to his residence in Sydney on Monday, 26 March. He
will next visit the parish of Melbourne to celebrate an Episcopal Mass on
Palm Sunday at St Mary’s Armenian Apostolic Church.

For information on Armenians in Adelaide contact the President of the ACASC
Mr Gevik Abedian at [email protected] or Honorary Secretary Mr Alec
Balayance at [email protected]