Author: Zargarian Hambik

ARMENIA: CANDIDATE CONTROVERSY – A SIGN OF ELECTION TENSION AHEAD?
Marianna Grigoryan and Gayane Lazarian

EurasiaNet, NY
April 11 2007

Armenia’s parliamentary election campaign has formally kicked off.

Officials insist that the election will be free and fair. Yet the
election season already has become engulfed in controversy after a
local court barred two candidates from running in Echmiadzin, the
seat of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

The campaign season officially opened April 8. The district court
ruling two days later disqualified two candidates — Echmiadzin’s
incumbent MP, Hakob Hakobian, along with a non-partisan candidate,
Susanna Harutiunian. The court ruled in both cases that signatures
on registration petitions were forged.

The case, however, touches on more than routine questions of candidate
registration. Both Hakobian, a member of the ruling Republican
Party of Armenia, and Harutiunian allege the court ruling is part
of an overall campaign of intimidation waged by Gen. Seyran Saroian,
a retired commander of the Fourth Army Corps who served under former
Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian, Armenia’s newly named prime minister
and the acting Republican Party leader. [For background see the Eurasia
Insight archive]. Saroian is the Republican Party’s official nominee
for the Echmiadzin seat.

Hakobian and Harutiunian maintain that Saroian is also responsible for
a mysterious shooting and fire that targeted them both. On April 8,
unidentified individuals shot at a car in which Hakobian was sitting
as it was parked outside a local restaurant. Hours later, a fire
allegedly broke out in a Harutiunian-owned factory, which houses her
campaign headquarters. Local police are investigating both incidents.

Republican Party officials have roundly denied the charges that the
organization is attempting to push Hakobian and Harutiunian out of
the race in favor of Saroian. Galust Sahakian, head of the Republican
Party’s parliamentary faction, told reporters on April 11 that the
court decision to disqualify Hakobian and Harutiunian is "final" and
"not subject to political evaluations."

"I am for solutions without pressure [being brought]," he said of
the situation in Echmiadzin.

A spokesman at Saroian’s election headquarters in Echmiadzin, a town
about 20 kilometers outside of Yerevan, insisted that the Republican
Party’s candidate had nothing to do with either the shooting or the
fire. "Those were provocational steps. They simply feel that they will
lose in the elections and are in a panic now," Hakob Martuni said,
referring to Hakobian and Harutiunian. "They themselves staged the
shooting and arson attacks."

Hakobian and Harutiunian, along with their respective supporters,
scoff at the notion that the incidents were staged. "Naturally, it was
not extraterrestrials who organized all that, but it was done with
a clear purpose in mind — to eliminate Hakob Hakobian and Susanna
Harutiunian from the election struggle," said Hakobian’s campaign
manager, Karlen Khachikian.

"If these two strong candidates are eliminated from the field,
even with a turnout of 30 percent Saroian will win the elections,
which is impossible otherwise," he said prior to the court ruling.

Harutiunian told EurasiaNet that she believes the fire was a warning
sign. "Seyran’s men have been constantly intimidating me, making
different proposals for me to drop out of the race," Harutiunian
claimed.

Hakobian’s campaign manager alleged that so-called "administrative
resources" are being brought to bear on his candidate. The homes and
offices of supporters were subjected to police searches after the
April 8 shooting incident, Khachikian told EurasiaNet. Local police
have declined to comment on the investigation.

Hakobian and Harutiunian assert that the district court refused to
subpoena witnesses who could have proven that petition signatures were
valid. The suit to have the two disqualified was brought by another
man named Hakob Hakobian, who is also a member of the Republican
Party and also a candidate for parliament. The pair maintains that
the second Hakobian is in the campaign field solely to confuse voters.

To date, the government has not responded officially to developments
in Echmiadzin. But pro-government media outlets, such as AR TV,
have characterized Hakobian and Harutiunian as "vote-riggers."

On April 10, observers from the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human
Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) met with Hakobian, the incumbent MP, and stated
that they would include the situation in Echmiadzin in the OSCE
election observers’ final reports, OSCE/ODIHR Observation Mission
media analyst Ivan Godorski told journalists.

The OSCE has never recognized any of Armenia’s previous parliamentary
votes in the post-Soviet era as free and fair. The government,
including Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian, has stressed that it wants
this election to be different. Armenia’s official campaign period
ends on May 10, two days before the elections. Twenty-four political
parties and one bloc are contesting 90 seats on proportional party
lists, while 134 candidates are vying for 41 first-past-the-post seats.

Editor’s Note: Marianna Grigoryan and Gayane Lazarian are reporters
for the ArmeniaNow Online weekly in Yerevan.

WITHOUT SETTLING TRANSPORTATION PROBLEMS OTHER ISSUES OF ARMENIA-RUSSIA PARTNERSHIP ARE SENSELESS
By A. Harutiunian

AZG Armenian Daily
12/04/2007

"Problems cannot be avoided, especially among friends," said deputy
Prime Minister of Russia Sergey Ivanov during a joint press conference
with Serge Sarkisian, the Armenian Prime Minister. The problems,
as he said, are mainly referring to the Russian enterprises on
the territory of Armenia. Nevertheless Ivanov stated progress in
the relations between the two states and noted that Russia is the
first biggest investor into the economy of Armenia. He said that in
spite of the rather complicated situation in the region the problems
of Armenian-Russian partnership are on the way of being resolved,
particularly the problem of transport communications.

Serge Sarkisian also emphasized the transportation problem and said
that 200% growth of commodity circulation between Armenia and Russia
is insufficient and the indicator is still to be increased. On the
way of solving the transportation problem the Russian deputy Foreign
Minister emphasized the implementation of the Caucasus-Poti ferry
railway. "Without settling transportation problems other issues of
Armenia-Russia partnership are senseless," he added.

The Prime Minister of Armenia emphasized the question of automobile
vehicle transportation, as for example, each summer 10 thousand tons
of apricots are exported from Armenia to Russia. Although the ferry
will soon be ready for exploitation, the question of the Abkhazian
railway and the Upper Lars checkpoint remains unsettled.

In connection with the soon election both in Armenia and Russia
Mr. Sarkisian said that pre-election activity takes much time
and efforts of the political powers and slackens the work of the
executive branch of the government. He noted that on the other hand
the elections are the culmination point of political activity and
each political power is trying its best to work more effectively on
the eve of elections.

Sergey Ivanov stated that Armenia is a strategic partner of Russia
and is its outpost in the South. He said that Russian military bases
in Armenia serve to the benefit of both the sates. He underlined
that the activity of Russian foreces in Armenia is by no means aimed
against any third state.

In an interview to "Financial Times" Serge Sarkisian said that Armenia
has no intention of hosting NATO bases yet. On the interview with
Sergey Ivanov he a little detailed that statement: "New borderlines in
our region will be of no benefit for our security system. Moreover,
Russia is reducing its forces in Armenia. And others are not to
increase their own forces while Russie decreases".

STATE SHOULD PAY MORE ATTENTION TO ECONOMY

A1+
[07:08 pm] 11 April, 2007

Khachatur Sukiasyan And Hrant Vardanyan Share Their Contemplations

Today the Mirror Club hosted businessmen Hrant Vardanyan and Khachatur
Sukiasyan, who debated on the upcoming parliamentary elections.

"I don’t care who the governor is. The representatives of two great
business families, who rank among the top five in the RA tax field,
are sitting here. Please, do not compare Hrant Vardanyan or Khachatur
Sukiasyan with Gagik Tsarukyan. We are the pillars of the country,"
Hrant Vardanyan, president of "Grand Candy" announced.

Mr. Vardanyan didn’t want to debate with Mr. Sukiasyan as, in his
words, he have similar views on many issues.

Hrant Vardanyan assures that he isn’t engaged in any pro-governmental
party although he doesn’t conceal his affection towards them. "The
main merit of a businessman should be his dignified attitude towards
the state budget," the two businessmen claim.

"The problem mainly arouses between corrupted businessman who are
in close ties with the acting officialdom and make fortune through
illegal methods; they try to get a deputy mandate with those sums to
protect their property," Hrant Vardanyan says.

Khachatur Sukiasyan claims that the results of his recent
survey revealed that political figures possess more capital than
businessmen. Besides, there are people who made fortune without any
minor business.

In Hrant Vardanyan’s opinion the state pays little attention to the
sphere of economy. "In case the economy weakens we shall be deprived
of culture, sports, etc."

The guests of the club disagreed only in view of the Armenian-Turkish
frontier opening. Mr. expressed his approval, whereas Mr. Vardanyan
was against the frontier opening. "The opening of the frontier will
be of no importance lest the Genocide conflict between Turkey and
Armenia is settled," he states.

ELMAR MAMMADYAROV MEETS WITH SYRIAN FOREIGN MINISTER

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 11 2007

Azerbaijan Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov visiting Syria met with
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shaara, Azerbaijani honorary consul
to Lebanon accompanying the minister Nazih Gassub told the APA.

He said the Ministers discussed regional cooperation, development
of mutual cooperation, existing situation on the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, opening of Azerbaijani Embassy in Syria
and other issues.

Azerbaijani minister will also meet with Syrian President Bashar Asad,
Parliament speaker Mahmud al Abrashem, heads of Syrian cities’ chambers
of commerce and industry nter to the visit program of Mammadyarov.

Mammadyarov will end his visit to Syria tomorrow and then will visit
Lebanon on April 12-13.

Foreign Minister will conclude four agreements on cooperation in
different fields in Lebanon and Syria. These agreements will cover
economical fields. Mammadyarov will end his visit in the Middle East
on April 13.

40 CLASSICAL ARMENIAN MOVIES RESTORED

Arminfo
2007-04-10 19:32:00

Since the launch of its film restoration program, Hayfilm Studio has
digitized 40 movies, says the chairman of the Union of Cinematographers
of Armenia, the chairman of CS Films-Studios Ruben Gevorgyants.

All original negatives are brought from Moscow State Film Library. The
films are digitized in presence of their photography directors so
that their original tonality be preserved. Gevorgyants says that in
the future the digitized movies may be put up for sale.

This year the studio is to digitize 150 more films. The key problem
is electricity: the high precision Da Vinci revival system often
fails because of unstable voltage.

The first digitized movie was "Men" by Edmond Keosayan (1973)
with legendary actors Armen Jigarkhanyan, Azat Sherents and Frunze
Lazarian.

ELINA DANIELIAN SHARES WITH 5.5 POINTS 2nd-8th PLACES AT EUROPE CHESS INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Noyan Tapan
Apr 11 2007

DRESDEN, APRIL 11, NOYAN TAPAN. The 7th stage meetings took place
on April 9 at the Europe Chess Individual Championship being held in
the city of Dresden, Germany.

Andrey Volokitin (Ukraine) gained 6 points from the 7 possible ones at
the men’s tournament and is the indivual leader. Among the delegates
of Armenia, Artashes Minasian, Tigran L. Petrosian and Arman Pashikian
gained 4.5 points and, correspondingly, occupies the 54th, 57th and
97th places. Rafayel Vahanian, Zaven Andriasian and Gabriel Sargsian
have 4 points each, and Tigran Kotanjian and Karen Asrian have 3.5
points each.

The individual leader of the women’s tournament is Tatyana Kozintseva
(Russia) who has 7 points from the 7 possible ones. Elina Danielian
shares the 2nd-8th places with 7 participants, having 5.5 points
each. And Lilit Mkrtchian and Siranush Andriasian have 4 points each.

Levon Aronian is also in Dresden. He watches performances of his
team-mates.

After the competition he will return Armenia with the national team
and prepare for the speed chess competition with Vladimir Kramnik to
be held in Yerevan in May.

April 10 is stated a resting day at the Europe Chess Individual
Championship.

April 11, 2007

PRESS RELEASE
Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate
6252 Honolulu Avenue
La Crescenta, CA 91214
Tel: (818) 248-7737
Fax: (818) 248-7745
E-mail: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
Website: <;

CELEBRATION OF EASTER IN PRELACY CHURCHES

Throughout the past week, Western Prelacy churches were filled
with faithful commemorating Holy Week and preparing to celebrate the
Glorious Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

On Sunday, April 8, H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian,
Prelate, celebrated Easter with Holy Mass at St. Mary’s Church in Glendale.
In his sermon the Prelate reminded the faithful that the Resurrection is a
celebration of the triumph of good over evil and of light over darkness, and
prayed for the light of Christ to illuminate our lives.

On Monday, April 9, by the ordinance of the Prelate requiem
services took place at the Hollywood Hills and Glendale Forest Lawn with the
participation of Prelacy clergy and presided over by His Eminence.

In keeping with tradition, on Monday, April 10, the Prelate and
clergy visited Ararat Home in Mission Hills and conducted Easter Holy Mass
celebrated by Rev. Vazken Atmajian of St. Mary’s Church, who also delivered
the sermon. Prior to Mass, the ceremony of house blessing was conducted in
the hospital section of Ararat Home. Following church services, the Prelate
and clergy met with the directors and residents of Ararat Home and conveyed
their well wishes.

On Good Friday and Easter Eve, Prelacy faithful commemorated the
burial of Christ and the lighting of candles ceremony respectively. The
Prelate commemorated Good Friday at Forty Martyrs Church in Orange Country
and Easter Eve at St. Garabed Church in Hollywood.

AMOUNT OF INVESTMENTS IN ELECTRIC NETWORKS OF ARMENIA MADE BY ONLY 22.5%

Noyan Tapan
Apr 10 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 10, NOYAN TAPAN. The interdepartmental commission
examining the qualitative indices of electricity supplied to consumers
will soon submit its final conclusion and proposals regarding the
activities of Electric Networks of Armenia company to the Armenian
government for approval. The RA Deputy Minister of Energy Areg Galstian
said on April 10 that in particular, the commission proposes installing
current registering devices in 110 kilowatt-tension networks, which
will enable to get more exact information about electricity losses.

According to the draft conclusion, the amount of investments envisaged
by the company in 2005 was made by only 22.5%, with investments aimed
at improving the quality of services (the program’s priority) being
made by 6.6%.

I HOPE THAT YOU WILL FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE
Wolf Bruhn

KarabakhOpen
09-04-2007 16:40:43

Acoording to KarabakhOpen the Karabakhi section of the ARF considers
supporting a single candidate.

Unfortunately, parties always tend to take possession of the state. In
order to prevent this from happening both a multiple party system
and a critical society are needed. As the Dashnaks say, the Karabakhi
society is apathetic and it seems they are right. Clever as they are,
the Dashnaks use the very first chance to force a certain candidate
predetermined by the parties on the people. But even given a multiple
party system and a critical society, it is difficult to avoid that
a multiple party system as a whole takes possession of the state,
as you may study in the West–and that is exactly the Dashnaks try
to do right now.

I say this because I cannot believe that any sensible person may
think that elections are the cause why a society is divided. It
may happen that a society besomes more devided on the occasion of
elections (or the opposite) but in any case one has to distinguish
between desease and symptom. The Karabakhi section of the ARF has
decided to fight symptoms but not the desease and they, obviously,
want to be paid for for this "broad social consensus" with posts. I
am very disappointed by them.

I hope that the Karabakhi society will not allow the parties to seize
the state. This will not a only harm Karabakh, moreover, it will have
the consequence that the entire world will consider Karabakh to be
a shammed democracy. According to Wikipedia, oligarchy is "a form
of government where political power effectively rest with a small,
elite segment of society (wether distinguished by wealth, family
or military prowess)". Does this definition fit for Karabakh? Yes,
I fear. But even more important than this is the question wether
Karabakh drives in the right direction! I was very optimistic after
noticing Ghoukassian’s statement that he will not run for a third
term but now I am pretty worried.

The peak oil production in Azerbayjan will be in 2012-2014. This
time will be critical for Karabakh. One has to agree that preserving
the status quo since 1994 is inherently a great success. The task is
to preserve the status quo for ten more years, if you achieve this,
the world will recongnise your independence, I am sure. During the
next ten years you are "condemned" to make progress in the social
and economic field. Therefore Karabakh has to take not Belorussia but
Estonia as an example. I hope that you will fight for your right to
vote instead of nodding the predetermined candidate through!

HETQonline
They Either Don’t Know about Us, or Don’t Want to Know
April 9, 2007
.html
For people residing at 127/2 Gurgen Mahari Street (the former vocational
culinary school in Vardashen) extreme poverty is all the future offers.
According to Harutyun Sargsyan, a department head at the Erebuni district
administration, there are many people like this in their community.
77-year-old Harutyun Harutyunyan and his wife Shushik live in the kitchen of
the former cooking school. When they go to bed they cover themselves with
plastic bags to protect against the rainwater that drips through the
ceiling. Their possessions consist of what they have been able to gather on
the streets, since their apartment was robbed several years ago and all
their bedding and kitchenware were stolen. There is no running water or
bathroom facilities here. The elderly couple walk on a bare concrete floor
and sleep with their clothes on.

Shushik is blind and bedridden and thus unable to do housework. Twice a
week, every Monday and Wednesday, her husband gets two packets of sour cream
and two hot dogs from a nearby soup kitchen. On other days their menu
consists of boiled potatoes and bread. But their greatest cause of sorrow
and concern is their 35-year-old son Artur’s worsening disability. Over the
last years Artur has lost all movement in his legs. The couple hasn’t
received social allowances for several years now. "What do I know? One day
they told me that I was not entitled to it and they stopped paying,"
Harutyun Harutyunyan said hopelessly.
We were informed by the territorial department of the Erebuni district
social services that they were no longer eligible for government aid because
of the recent increase in their pensions – the husband’s pension is 14,551
drams (about $39) and the wife’s is 9,441 drams (about $25) per month.
Department head Siranuysh Poghosyan noted that there were 3,462 aid
recipients in the Erebuni district and many pensioners had been stricken
from the lists when their pensions increased by a few hundreds of drams. It
is more advantageous for the state to show higher pensions than more aid
recipients.
"If the people in need are left off the lists we try to help them by other
means. In many cases, for example, by decisions of the community assistance
council, once every three months we render them assistance in the form of
money or foodstuff. But we do not know about them unless they themselves
come here," Siranuysh Poghosyan said. It is not customary in Armenia for
social workers to go out looking for these people. If they don’t come in
themselves, it’s as if they don’t exist.
The worst problem for the residents of 127/2 Gurgen Mahari Street is the
miserable state of their housing. Harutyun Sargsyan of the Erebuni District
Administration notes that this is all that is available; the community has
no vacant housing resources. "The condominium associations are supposed to
deal with the improvement of the living conditions in the apartment
buildings but often they are unable to do it because of a lack of resources.
In these cases the district administration assists them. I don’t know what
the conditions are like in that particular building is but I assure you that
there are many buildings in an emergency situation in our community,"
Sargsyan said.

"We have written dozens of applications asking them to come and take a look
but they don’t come because they are not interested. If they were they would
have come and found out that our building is in critical condition. And, in
general, they either don’t know about us or don’t want to know," said Hasmik
Daveyan, a resident of #127/2 Gurgen Mahari Street says.
The floor of Hasmik Daveyan’s apartment is being destroyed by the damp. Her
nine-year-old daughter, Ani, attends Boarding School #11, a special school
in Sovetashen. When she was little Ani suffered a head injury and has
difficulties reading and writing. "I have to bring her home on weekends but
I don’t know how to keep her. There is no place to sleep here," Hasmik said.

All Hasmik’s neighbor Ruzanna owns is some bedding she found on the street
and the old clothes that serve pillows and blankets. She works as a cleaner
at the Gum market. Her old house burnt down and she found herself in a
dilapidated room on the top floor of 127/2 Gurgen Mahari Street, a room she
doesn’t even own. Her main concern is that her two sons are going to
graduate from the Sovetashen boarding school and will then be homeless. She
placed her five-year-old daughter in the children’s home in Gavar.

Christine Khachatryan was forced to send her eight-year-old son, Movses, to
the boarding school, too.
The mother is worried that after spending a few years in the school for
mentally disabled children her son will fall behind his peers. But she has
no other choice.
"I know that at least he is not hungry at the school and has a place to
sleep," Christine explained.
In this building, people send their children away to a school for the
disabled so they can have something to eat each day and a place to sleep.
The elderly live on a hundred grams of sour cream and two pieces of bread
from a soup kitchen. Their floors are bare and cold, and their walls are
damp and covered with mold.
Lena Nazaryan