Author: Vanyan Gary

ARMENIAN PARTIES PREPARE FOR ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN START

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.03.2007 17:46 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian political parties have launched
formation works of their electoral campaign headquarters. Three
parties-The Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), ARF Dashnaktsutyun and
"National Unity" (NU) have already appointed their heads of campaign
headquarters.

The chairman of RPA campaign headquarters will be Minister of
Territorial Administration, RPA Council member Hovik Abrahamyan. ARFD
appointed in this post NA Foreign Relations Committee Chairman,
representative of ARFD Supreme Body of Armenia Armen Rustamyan. And the
campaign headquarter of NU will lead Secretary of NU parliamentarian
fraction Aleksan Karapetyan, who occupies the second place in party’s
electoral list.

The People’s Party of Armenia, The Joint Labor Party and "Prosperous
Armenia", as well as "Orinats Yerkir" are still discussing the
question.

175 candidates run for 41 parliamentarian mandates on majority system,
that is to say, approximately 4-5 candidates run for one mandate
on average.

ZHIRAYR SEFILIAN CONSIDERS HIS INTENTION TO CONTROL PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS TO BE IMMEDIATE REASON FOR HIS ARREST

Noyan Tapan
Mar 06 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 6, NOYAN TAPAN. "The immediate reason for my arrest is
the coming parliamentary elections: we were at some extent ready to
prevent falsifiers." Zh.Sefilian gave such a response to the written
question "Which are the main reaons for Your Arrest" of the deputies’
group formed on the case of Zhirayr Sefilian, the coordinator of
the "Defence of Liberated Territories" public initiative. As Armen
Aghayan, the temporary coordinator of the initiative stated during the
"round table" organized on March 6, Zh.Sefilian finds that besides his
intention to control the elections, the rumours about returning the
liberated territories, close ties and cooperation with national forces
of Javakhk and some opposing parties of Armenia became a reason for
isolating him from the society. In attorney Vahe Grigorian’s words,
preliminary investigation bodies did not present any serious reasoning
on the occasion of prolonging his defendant’s arrest. In his words,
the only reasoning is that foreign citizen Zh.Sefilian maybe will take
to flight, appearing in liberty. RA NA deputy Hmayak Hovhannisian
mentioned that the situation created round Zh.Sefilian obliges
to think not only about the latter’s setting free, but also about
preventing similar phenomena in the future. In the deputy’s words,
he was present at the last meeting of the initiative and the sharp
speeches and sharp estimations made there may not become a basis
for arresting a person. In H.Hovhannisian’s words, Article 301 of
the RA Criminal Code which defines responsibility for capturing the
state authorities by violence and for calls addressed to bring down
the constitutional order, is not proper for a country going in the
democratic way. Drawing parallels between Article 301 of the Criminal
Code of Turkey (envisaging responsibility for injuring Turkishness)
and Article 301 of the RA Criminal Code, he mentioned that "Armenia
must get rid of that article earlier than Turkey."

ALEXANDER GRIGORIAN PASSED AWAY

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
March 5 2007

On February 28 Alexander Grigorian, famous Karabakh journalist and
expert on the Caucasian region, passed away at the age of 56.

Alexander Grigorian was the head of the Department of Information
of NKR President. He also cooperated with several media and expert
organizations. We offer condolences to the family and friends of
Alexander Grigorian.

Turkish expert: Turkey and Azerbaijan should conclude security agreement

Arminfo
2007-03-03 12:40:00

"Armenia’s aggressive actions should be always brought to discussion.
France and members of the European Union support Armenia. It does not
seem real that Armenia will release the occupied Azerbaijani
territories, we can even say that Armenia can deepen its aggressive
policy," Gemze Kona, professor of Turkish Military Academy, told the
APA’s Turkey bureau.

Gemze Kona, the author of the books on regional security in Turkish
and English said that "great states" do not condemn Armenia’s
aggressive policy.

"Armenia can maneuver in broad sphere. Alongside with OSCE Minsk
Group, Turkey should strengthen the intergovernmental relations and
support Azerbaijan.

It does not seem convincing that several states will impose sanction
on Armenia. Turkey should strengthen pressure on Armenia and
simultaneously help Azerbaijan," she said.

Genze Kona said that Turkey and Azerbaijan should conclude security
agreements. "Armenia and Russia signed treaty on military cooperation
4-5 years ago.

Such a treaty was signed between Greece and the southern part of
Cyprus. "Caucasus security treaty" was brought to discussion in the
reign of Suleyman Demirel and five times underwent changes. This
treaty was not signed, as Armenia and Russia did not want it. These
countries avoid Turkey’s and Azerbaijan’s resistance. I consider that
Turkey and Azerbaijan should immediately conclude security
agreement. Turkey should stand for ensuring Azerbaijan’s security.

As Azerbaijan has oil, great states will try to protect their
interests in your country. The name of the treaty to be signed between
Azerbaijan and Turkey is not so important, its’ signing is very
important. Why have Armenia and Russia signed such an agreement but
Turkey and Azerbaijan have not concluded it yet? Azerbaijan’s
security is important for the security of Turkey, Middle East and
Caucasus," she said.

AZERBAIJAN NOT TO ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE IN WAR AGAINST IRAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.03.2007 15:41 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azerbaijan will not actively participate in the war
against Iran, but we should nod ignore the fact that Baku, as always,
will raise the problem of Iranian Azerbaijan (ancient Atrpatakan),
again and again underlining the same false and funny thesis that
their brothers live there, specialist in Persian philology Tadevos
Charchyan told in the interview to the PanARMENIAN.Net. He said,
it’s not a secret for anyone that residents of Iranian Azerbaijan
are Azeris, in other words, Turkish speaking Iranians.

"I thin, Baku will not take any actions, it will remain neutral,
since from the one hand Azerbaijan will not want to harm not so good
relations with Islamic Iran, and from thee other hand, it will not
dare offend the United States," he stressed.

In the context of Turkey Charchyan noticed that anyway it has
pro-American moods. "Though it is very difficult to predict. Let us
see how the events will develop," he underscored.

INDICTED MP SNUBBED BY OWN PARTY
By Ruzanna Stepanian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
March 1 2007

Hakob Hakobian, a controversial lawmaker prosecuted for tax evasion
and assault, will not be backed by his governing Republican Party
of Armenia (HHK) in the upcoming parliamentary elections, it emerged
on Thursday.

The HHK decided late Wednesday to endorse instead a newly retired
top army general who will be running for parliament in Hakobian’s
single-mandate constituency covering the southern town of Echmiadzin
and surrounding villages. The move set the stage for one of the most
intriguing and potentially tense individual election races.

Major-General Seyran Saroyan was relieved of his duties as commander of
Armenia’s Fourth Army Corps last month to be able to participate in the
May 12 polls. Media reports said the HHK leadership wants Saroyan to
unseat Hakobian as it considers the latter a political liability. Both
men have extensive business interests in the area south of Yerevan.

Hakobian, who joined the HHK last year, was charged with "hooliganism,"
tax evasion and other financial irregularities in October immediately
after fellow lawmakers agreed to lift his legal immunity from
prosecution. The charges stem from a mass brawl at a gas distribution
facility near Yerevan that was allegedly provoked by the wealthy
parliamentarian. State prosecutors completed a criminal investigation
into the incident in January and were due to forward the case to the
court shortly.

Hakobian, better known as "Choyt," said the decision not to back his
reelection bid was made by "one or two" top Republicans, rather than
the party’s governing board. "My friends tell me that such an issue
was not even discussed by the board last night," he told RFE/RL. "I
don’t know why they decided so."

Asked how he plans to compete with the feared general, the 43-year-old
said, "I’m not going to compete. I’m just going to present my programs
to the people and the people will decide whom to vote for."

Hakobian also insisted that he will not drop out of the race. "Do I
look like a man who would quit mid-way through the race?" he said.

BARGAVACH HAYASTAN PARTY SUBMITS APPLICATION OF NOMINATION TO RA CEC

Noyan Tapan
Mar 01 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, NOYAN TAPAN. On March 1, the Bargavach Hayastan
(Prosperous Armenia) Party submitted an application on nomination by
proportional system to RA Central Electoral Commission (CEC). As Noyan
Tapan correspondent was informed by CEC Secretary Hamlet Abrahamian,
there are 112 candidates on the preelection list of Bargavach Hayastan
Party. The list is headed by Party Chairman, RA MP, Chairman of
Armenian National Olympic Committee Gagik Tsarukian.

ANTHONY GODFREY: FAIR ELECTIONS ARE NOT ONLY COMMITMENT ASSUMED BY ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT, BUT AN INTERNATIONAL OBLIGATION

Noyan Tapan
Feb 27 2007

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 27, NOYAN TAPAN. According to the surveys, though
the majority of RA citizens is going to take part in the May 12
parliamentary elections, nevertheless, many of them are not convinced
that the elections will be free and fair. Acting U.S. Ambassador
to Armenia Anthony Godfrey said this at the opening of three-day
seminar on the subject "Electoral Falsifications and Manifestations of
Corruption Connected with Them" organized by the Embassy. He stated
that fair elections are not only the political commitment assumed by
the Armenian government, but also are an international legal obligation
in the context of precedents of European Convention on Human Rights and
European Court. In the words of Aram Tamazian, RA Deputy Prosecutor
General, in Armenia "criminal liability is determined for falsifying
results of elections or voting, for obviously wrongly calculating
votes, for hampering activity of CEC and/or nominated candidates,
observers, media representatives, empowered persons, for spreading
slandering information for disorienting voters, for voting instead
of other persons." As he affirmed, the seminar will contribute to
working out efficient ways of fighting vicious phenomena in the
electoral process.

On the first day of the seminar the courses were conducted by experts
from Latvia and Estonia.

NATIONAL UNITY PARTY AND IMPEACHMENT BLOC SUBMIT APPLICATIONS ON NOMINATION BY PROPORTIONAL SYSTEM TO CEC

Noyan Tapan
Feb 27 2007

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 27, NOYAN TAPAN. Two applications on nomination
by proportional system for the forthcoming parliamentary elections
were submitted to RA Central Electoral Commission (CEC) on February
27. Noyan Tapan correspondent was informed about it by CEC Secretary
Hamlet Abrahamian. The Impeachment bloc was the first to apply
to CEC. The bloc includes the Democratic Homeland Party headed
by Petros Makeyan and the Conservative Party headed by Mikayel
Hayrapetian. According to the requirement of the Electoral Code,
the decision of these parties’ permanently acting bodies on being
included in the preelectoral bloc was submitted to CEC. On the basis
of the above mentioned decision the bloc will be registered in CEC
in the coming two days. The National Unity Party submitted the second
application. The party’s preelectoral list headed by leader of National
Unity faction Artashes Geghamian includes 72 candidates.

YEREVAN SIGNALS UNEASE OVER POLISH WITHDRAWAL FROM IRAQ
By Karine Kalantarian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Feb 26 2007

Official Yerevan signaled its unease on Monday over Poland’s plans to
withdraw its troops from Iraq, a move which would complicate continued
Armenian participation in the U.S.-led "coalition of the willing."

The issue was on the agenda of Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian’s
talks with his visiting Polish counterpart Anna Fotyga.

A small contingent of non-combat Armenian troops has been serving in
Iraq since the beginning of 2005 as part of a Polish-led multinational
division deployed in Shia-populated areas south of Baghdad. Poland’s
governing coalition is pressing for the withdrawal of the division’s
900-strong Polish personnel by the end of this year.

According to Fotyga, the government in Warsaw hopes that President
Lech Kaczynski will agree to their pullout. "Of course, the government
has made such a request, but no decision has been made yet," she told
a news conference in Yerevan.

"I raised this issue during our meeting," said Oskanian. "The minister
gave me the same answer. If there is a decision, they will certainly
inform us. But there seems to be no such problem at the moment." He
would not say whether Yerevan will maintain its modest troop presence
in Iraq in case of a Polish withdrawal.

The Armenian parliament agreed last December to extend the mandate
of the 46 Armenian servicemen by another year. A senior U.S. diplomat
expressed hope last month that they will remain in Iraq next year.

Anthony Godfrey, the U.S. charge d’affaires in Yerevan, said "Armenia
understands that it must be a contributor to international security."

Fotyga also discussed with Oskanian and Prime Minister Andranik
Markarian bilateral economic ties and Armenia’s efforts to forge
closer ties with the European Union and NATO. The two foreign
ministers signed a memorandum of Polish-Armenian cooperation on
"European integration issues" in 2007 and 2008. Fotyga said her EU
and NATO member country will assist in Armenia’s participation in
the EU’s European Neighborhood Policy framework.

Markarian was quoted by his office as telling Fotyga that Yerevan
also counts on Polish assistance in the implementation of Armenia’s
Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) with NATO. In Oskanian’s
words, "concrete steps are already being taken in that direction."