NO TO VIOLENCE AGAISNT CHILDREN: COE INFORMATION OFFICE AND FUTURE IS YOURS NGO ORGANISED AN EVENT DEVOTED TO CHILDREN’S RIGHTS
Lragir.am
01 June 06
Yerevan, 1.06.2006. Following the decisions of the Third Summit of
Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe (Warsaw 2005)
a Council of Europe’s programme “Building a Europe for and with
children”, was launched in Monaco on 4 and 5 April 2006. The aims of
this three-year programme are to promote and protect children’s rights,
and to ensure the protection of children from all forms of violence.
To raise public awareness of the theme and ensure the widest possible
application of Council of Europe fundamental values and principles,
on the occasion of International Day for the Protection of Children,
the Council of Europe Information Office in Armenia in cooperation
with “Future is Yours” NGO organised an event entitled “No to Violence
against Children”.
At the event, attended by children, Armenian professionals
active in the field of children’s rights, government officials and
representatives of the international community, the Council of Europe
activities in this field were presented in the welcome address by Ms
Bojana Urumova, the Special Representative of the Secretary General
of the Council of Europe to Armenia.
Narine Sargsyan, the President of “Future is Yours” NGO provided the
local perspective on the issue and outlined the main challenges facing
the Armenian society in this regard. Concluding remarks were made by
Director of the Council of Europe Information Office in Armenia Ms
Susan Marukhyan.
The event, hosted by the “Khnko Aper” library, most importantly
featured the thematic play based on Hovhaness Tumanian’s “The End of
Evil” prepared by the pupils of Yerevan No.3 special boarding school
and exhibition of paintings entitled “Violence against Children
through the Eyes of Children”.
Council of Europe Information Office in Armenia

REPUBLICANS KNOW THEY HAVE NO VOTES AND NEVER HAD
Lragir.am
01 June 06
The government failed to have the National Assembly vote for the bill
on accountability of businessmen for tax evasion. The present coalition
no longer holds the majority in the parliament, but the reason for
the failure of the bill was neither this nor the aspiration of the
parliamentarians to achieve lawfulness in the economic sphere. The
president is said to have been forced by the recent home political
developments to take fundamental measures to keep control over the
situation. The fiasco of the government and namely the Republican was
a show conveying to the Republican Party and the prime minister that
they no longer have political influence.
By the way, an unprecedented opinion poll ordered by the Republican
Party and Serge Sargsyan in 2003, which has aroused a tremendous
retrospective interest among politicians and journalists, suggested
that the rating of the Republican-Serge Sargsyan alliance was below
5 percent. Nevertheless, this alliance held the majority in the
parliament. By the way, the same survey confirms that the collapse of
the coalition was not out of order. The same survey suggests that the
rating and the votes the Orinats Yerkir Party got were consistent,
and under the Republican the votes of Ardarutiun Alliance were
seized. Hence, the news in press that Andranik Margaryan is looking
for support for future is not just for fun.

TIGRAN TOROSYAN WAS ELECTED SPEAKER
Lragir.am
01 June 06
The National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia has a new speaker.
In the voting on June 1 Tigran Torosyan was elected speaker. Of the
97 members of parliament present at the voting 94 voted for Tigran
Torosyan, one voted against, two votes were invalid.
“We must never become disappointed, on the contrary, I believe there
is always a way out and we must attend to our problems and assume
responsibility for those people who really have expectations from the
parliament,” announced the new speaker at the floor of the parliament,
thanking all those members of parliament who had voted for him. The
Republican Party, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, the United
Labor Party, Businessman Parliamentary Group and Orinats Yerkir had
endorsed Tigran Torosyan’s candidacy. The opposition did not vote,
announcing that the parliament is a mere tool in the hands of the
executive.
It should be noted that there was no one else to vote for in the
direct sense of the word. Tigran Torosyan was the only candidate,
nominated by Galust Sahakyan on behalf of the Republican faction.
Sahakyan managed to withdraw his candidacy. Member of Parliament
Hakob Hakobyan had nominated him, who had taken up this nomination
with great determination. Nevertheless, Tigran Torosyan ran for the
election alone. The entire parliament had been mobilized to guarantee
the outcome. Even those members of parliament had come, for whom
the visit to the parliament is like a pilgrimage they go on once or
twice a year. Throughout the voting, even before the results became
known, Tigran Torosyan received congratulations from these members
of parliament and thanked them for “coming and staying till the end.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA: WAITING FOR LENIN
By Marianna Grigorian and Gayane Mkrtchian in Lernamerdz
Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
June 1 2006
How an Armenian village chose communism, after the Soviet Union
had ended.
In Soviet times, the village of Lernamerdz was one of the few places
in Armenia that did not have a statue of Lenin. The villagers say
that they were fairly passive communists and that there were only
seven communist activists amongst them.
But then, after Armenia became independent, and statues and busts of
the great leader were taken down all over the country, in 1996 the
people of Lernamerdz (its name means “near the mountains” in Armenian)
erected a basalt bust of Lenin in the middle of the village. It weighs
two tonnes and is now an important part of the village and a source
of great pride.
The villagers say they came to understand the value of communism only
after it had disappeared.
“In 1990, when the Soviet order fell apart, we wanted to know what
was right in this life,” explained Azat Barseghian, secretary of the
local communist organisation in Lernamerdz, situated in the Ararat
valley not far from Yerevan. “It took us six years to work it out,
and in the end we realised that there is only one truth – socialism.
We adopted the communist ideology and we bear our cross to this day.”
“As soon as Lenin returns, water will babble in the streams and people
will begin to live better,” said 41-year-old Ararat.
Lernamerdz is known as “Little Cuba” in Armenia. The spirit of
communism reigns in almost every house. There are 103 households and
530 residents in the village. According to village elder and staunch
communist Saak Mirzoyan, 102 of the 103 households are communist.
Little Cuba has become a tourist attraction. Visitors from Russia,
Vietnam, France, Belarus, Greece, Cyprus and other countries record
their impressions, good wishes and appreciation in Lernamerdz’s
visitors’ book, which has a portrait of Lenin on the first page.
In one corner of a red stone house, 61-year-old Azat carefully adjusts
a large photograph of Lenin. Elsewhere, there is a small bust of Lenin
behind the glass door of a cupboard – a small shrine to communism.
“The statue of Lenin gives us strength, it is witness to our faith
and progress,” said 41-year-old Arthur Pilosian.
Around this source of strength the villagers organise all the
important village events. They celebrate the birthday of the great
leader, the day he died, the anniversary of the October Revolution,
and the socialist holidays of May 1 and November 7.
Under the proud, unwavering gaze of Lenin, children are pronounced
pioneers and are anointed members of the local Komsomol organisation.
On these occasions, the 50 red cravats which Azat keeps carefully in
his house are not enough to go round.
“They often make fun of us in the press, saying we are ‘tying the
dregs of communism around our children’s necks’,” he said. “No,
we are tying cravats around their necks to keep their souls clean.”
Albert Mirzoyan, 14, unlike his contemporaries in other regions of
the country, is quite clear about who Lenin was. He reels off details
of all the communist holidays, which are celebrated with great fanfare.
“Do you know how much we look forward to May Day?” he says excitedly.
“It’s our favourite day. We go to Yerevan and go on parades.”
But 15-year-old Armen Barseghian, who proudly shows off his red cravat,
says he likes the red flags and balloons most of all; the fact that
the whole village, both old and young, takes part in the procession;
and the way everyone shouts, “May Day!”
Lyuda Harutiunian, 38, lives in the neighbouring village of Voskehat.
She says that in Lernamerdz it feels as if they are still living
through an era when everyone lived well, like they used to.
“Celebrations in this village take me back to my school days, when
we marched in red ties,” she said.
“The people of this village are very friendly and I think that this
is the result of the idea of solidarity which is part of communism,”
said the headmaster of Lernadzor school, Zaven Grigorian, who lives
in the neighbouring village of Aghavnatun.
Until recently pupils in Lernamerdz’s village school graduated wearing
their red cravats.
However, the village people say that after an “order from above”, and
the arrival of a new headmaster, pupils no longer had to wear them,
since they were not “part of the progamme”. But neither the end of
the cravats, nor attempts to “outlaw” learning poetry about Lenin
and socialism, broke the spirit of the villagers, according to the
new headmaster, Zaven Grigorian.
“Everyone thinks the same way, and, most importantly, everyone is
united,” he said. “And this is passed on to the children. I think
you can achieve a lot through unity.”
The villagers of Lernamerdz agree with this point of view. They say
their faith in the future and the fair ideals of communism help them
to overcome the social hardships which every household has experienced
since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
But life has been no easier here than in other villages in Armenia,
especially since village land has been privatised.
Lernamerdz is famous not only for its newfound commitment to communism,
but also for its high quality tarragon, which allowed them to survive
in hard times.
The villagers say that in the Nineties from April to winter, tarragon
from Lernamerdz was delivered directly to Tbilisi, providing the
villagers with a decent and stable income. Nowadays, middlemen get
the lion’s share, buying the tarragon at very low prices in large
quantities and then selling it on for several times the amount.
“People say there was no freedom in communist times,” complained one
Lernamerdz resident. “But now people are tied to their homes even
more than during communist times.”
One villager proudly said that Lernamerdz is the only village
in Armenia where socialism still survives and the villagers have
remained true to the ideas of their ancestors. And he believes its
time is coming again.
“It was possible to destroy a strong state which had existed for
70 years, so why can’t you destroy a government built on the sands
left over from that state?” he said. “I think communism will win in
the end.”
(For a photo essay accompanying this story go to
;s=f&o=321321 &apc_state=henpcrs )

44 MILITARY HARDWARE UNITS HEAD FROM BATUMI BASE TO ARMENIA
ITAR-TASS, Russia
June 1 2006
TBILISI, June 1 (Itar-Tass) – The train with 44 military hardware
units from the Russian military base in Batumi, Georgia, has left
for the Russian base in Gyumri, northwestern Armenia, a source at
the Georgian Defence Ministry told Itar-Tass on Thursday.
It will bring KamAz, Ural, GAZ-66 trucks, two armored personnel
carriers BTR-60 and four 120-millimeter mortar launchers.
The first train that headed for Gyumri on May 24 delivered 54 hardware
units and military equipment.
Georgian military accompany the train and ensure security.
Another four convoys with hardware and munitions are expected to be
delivered from Batumi to Gyumri in the upcoming months.
In compliance with the Russian-Georgian agreements, the military base
in Batumi should be closed in 2008.
All hardware and munitions will be pulled out from Georgia in 2006-2007
and redeployed in Russia’s military bases and Armenia’s Gyumri.
Last summer two Russian amphibious ships delivered 40 military hardware
units from Batumi to Russia.

DARCHINYAN-MALDONADO ARTICLE
SaddoBoxing.com
June 1 2006
Alwa ys entertaining Vic Darchinyan is in action in the chief supporting
fight to the Diego Corrales-Jose Luis Castillo rubber match on
Showtime when he defends his flyweight title against an unbeaten but
little-known Mexican, Luis “Titi” Maldonado.
Last Saturday we saw little men in a dull tactical bout when Jhonny
Gonzalez edged out Fernando Montiel. With Darchinyan in the ring,
though, we know that we will see uncompromising aggression and big
hitting. The Armenian-raised Australian does not hang about: he goes
straight after his opponents and he tries to hurt them early with
big left hands and right hooks from out of his southpaw style.
Darchinyan is one of those fighters who proves that the small men
can make exciting fights and deliver knockouts. He has crunched 20
opponents in his 25 consecutive wins. We saw him on ShoBox in March
when he battered the game Filipino, Diosdado Gabi, in the eighth. It
was Darchinyan’s seventh successive stoppage win.
I think that his trainer, Aussie great Jeff Fenech, would like to see
Darchinyan move his head and slip and duck punches a bit more than
he does instead of marching straight in. Darchinyan, though, has such
confidence in his physical strength and punching power that he thinks
he can walk through anyone. So far he has been able to do just that.
His challenger is one of those mystery fighters. Even though Maldonado
has a great record statistically with 33 wins and a draw in 34 fights,
25 stoppages, he has had all but one of his fights in Mexico against
mostly obscure opponents.
What might be significant is that in the three fights where Maldonado
faced his toughest opposition he had problems each time, winning by
split decision over Gilberto Keb Baas and the southpaw Tomas Rojas
and, in his last fight, being held to a draw by the solid Cristian
Mijares. This suggests to me that he is a little out of his class
against Darchinyan.
Maldonado is likely to be tough and game but I really do not know
what to expect from him. We do know what to expect from Darchinyan,
though, and we definitely will not be bored.
The offshore over/under of 8.5 rounds looks about right and I would
lean a little towards the under, with Darchinyan probably blasting
his way to victory around the eighth.

RUMANIA IS IMPORTANT PARTNER OF AZERBAIJAN – NOVRUZ MAMMADOV
Author: R.Abdullayev
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
June 1 2006
The Rumanian president Trayan Basesky is expected to pay a visit to
Azerbaijan by the end of 2006, Trend reports with reference to Novruz
Mammadov, the chief of the international relations department of the
president’s office.
According to Mammadov, Rumania is an important partner of Azerbaijan
and official Baku is interested in realization of projects, as well
as energy projects on bilateral and multilateral base.
“The talks are being held on this issue and will continue. The visit
of the Rumanian president to Azerbaijan will put the final point,”
said Novruzov.
By touching on the visit of Azeri president Ilham Aliyev to Bucharest,
Mammadov stressed that the country is the most ponderable state of
the region, and the Azerbaijani government desires to take this into
consideration.
By commenting on the statement of different solution models of Karabakh
problem formed on base of the separation of Chernegoria from Serbia,
Mammadov told that if Armenia desires to establish its state, let
them live in Armenia. “Chernogoria, as Armenia, was a part of a big
country and its de-fact separation was an expected process.
Armenian people have own country – Armenia and each Armenia may live
in Armenia,” told Mammadov.

ARMENIAN ARMY ‘SCAPEGOATS’ FACING LIFE IN PRISON
By Emil Danielyan
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep
June 1 2006
Three Armenian army soldiers are facing a life in prison, accused
of a double murder which they say they did not commit and which
their lawyers believe was the work of their military commander in
Nagorno-Karabakh.
An appeals court in Yerevan convicted this week Razmik Sargsian,
Musa Serobian and Arayik Zalian of killing two fellow conscripts
in December 2003, in a trial denounced by Armenian human rights
organizations as a parody of justice.
The high-profile case has cast a rare media spotlight on dozens of
out-of-combat deaths that occur in Armenia’s Armed Forces each year.
Official figures show that Armenian servicemen are at much greater risk
of dying at the hands of their commanders and comrades than from enemy
fire. Hundreds of them have lost their lives as a result of hazing and
other chronic army abuses since a Russian-mediated ceasefire agreement
stopped the Armenian-Azerbaijani war in Karabakh 12 years ago.
Young conscripts Roman Yeghiazarian and Hovsep Mkrtumian added to
this grim statistics when their swollen corpses bearing traces of
violence were recovered from a reservoir in Karabakh’s northern
Martakert district in January 2004. Several soldiers of their unit
were promptly arrested by military prosecutors on suspicion of
involvement in the crime. One of them effectively testified that the
killings were committed by none other than Captain Ivan Grigorian,
the Karabakh Armenian commander of their battalion.
The investigators, however, dismissed the testimony, releasing the
suspects and arresting three other soldiers that were subsequently
given life sentences. The conviction was based on a videotaped
“confession” made by one of them, Razmik Sargsian, after fours
days of interrogation in April 2004. Sargsian and a team of lawyers
representing the three men insists that the confession was extracted
under sadistic duress and threats of rape. The 20-year-old has alleged
that Armenia’s chief military prosecutor, Gagik Jahangirian, personally
punched him in the face.
Although Sargsian’s face was clearly swollen and bruised in video of
the interrogation shown during a court session in Yerevan last year,
the investigators have strongly denied torturing him. A court in the
Karabakh capital Stepanakert, which has a legally questionable status
of an Armenian district court contradicting Armenia’s constitution,
refused to investigate the torture allegations before sentencing the
three servicemen to 15 years in prison one year ago.
On Tuesday, Armenia’s Court of Appeals not only rejected an appeal
filed by their attorneys but also replaced the lengthy jail terms
with a life imprisonment at the behest of the military prosecutors.
Anahit Yeghiazarian, the trial prosecutor, argued in a court speech
on April 18 that Sargsian could not have been severely beaten up
as he hismself had written his self-incriminating testimony with a
“nice and neat handwriting.”
Yeghiazarian added that the court should take into account not
only factual evidence but also her and other prosecutors’ personal
beliefs. “I am guided not only by evidence but also by my internal
conviction,” she declared.
Zaruhi Postanjian, one of the defense lawyers, condemned the resulting
harsh verdict on Thursday and said she will appeal to the Court of
Cassation, Armenia’s highest criminal justice body. “I am convinced
that my clients are innocent,” she told RFE/RL, adding that the appeals
court deliberately refused to question most of the key witnesses in
the case.
Postanjian also claimed that the lower-court ruling against her
clients was toughened to discourage anyone from challenging military
prosecutors in the future. “Their message boils down to the following,
‘Look, power is in our hands. If you appeal our rulings, then rest
assured that you’ll end up in even greater trouble.'”
Human rights campaigners who have closely monitored the case also
strongly criticized the ruling. “It will further deepen public distrust
in Armenia’s judiciary and armed forces,” said Avetik Ishkhanian of
the Armenian Helsinki Committee. “It is a vivid of example of the
state of criminal justice in Armenia.”
Larisa Alaverdian, Armenia’s former human rights ombudsperson who has
personally dealt with the case, likewise decried “blatant violations”
of due process which she believes were committed during the pre-trial
investigation and the court hearings in Stepanakert and Yerevan.
According to the official version of events, Sargsian, Serobian and
Zalian brutally murdered the two other soldiers near the Karabakh
village of Mataghis and dumped their bodies into the reservoir
on December 24, 2003 after a dispute over a food parcel that was
delivered to one of the servicemen. The defense lawyers say there are
numerous facts disproving the charges and have come up with a totally
different theory. According to it, Grigorian, the battalion commander
who allegedly suffers from alcoholism, beat Roman Yeghiazarian to
death and killed the other victim, Hovsep Mkrtumian, after the latter
refused to “confess” to the crime.
Lawyer Postanjian claimed that there are eyewitness soldiers who
would testify that Mkrtumian was still alive as of December 31, 2003.
She pointed to a January 2004 autopsy which found that Mkrtumian died
at least two weeks after Yeghiazarian.
It has also emerged that the commander of the Karabakh Armenian army,
Lieutenant-General Seyran Ohanian, sent a letter to the top military
prosecutor in Yerevan in early 2004 asking him not to bring charges
against Grigorian. Ohanian argued in the letter that the Karabakh
captain is a prominent veteran of the 1991-1994 war with Azerbaijan.
The three young men may now spend the rest of their lives behind bars
because of what another human rights campaigner, Mikael Danielian,
regards as yet another high-level cover-up of army deaths. “This case
is not unprecedented,” he told RFE/RL. “There have been numerous such
cases. It’s just that they did not have so much resonance.”
Danielian cited the fate of Artur Mkrtchian, who was sentenced to death
in 1996 for allegedly murdering five other soldiers despite pleading
not guilty to the accusations. The death penalty was subsequently
commuted to life imprisonment.
The Armenian military insists that the number of deaths within its
ranks has steadily declined since the late 1990s. However, even the
official death statistics shows that it is still far from eliminating
the problem. According to the Military Prosecutor’s Office, 89 soldiers
died in the course of last year and only 15 of them were shot dead
in skirmishes with Azerbaijani forces on the Karabakh frontline and
the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
Ishkhanian estimated that at least 1,000 Armenian conscripts aged
between 18 and 20 have lost their lives in out-of-combat incidents
since the 1994 truce. He could not recall any instances of senior or
mid-ranking army officers prosecuted in connection with those deaths.

AFTER APPEARANCE OF I ALIYEV IN PA NATO, NEW OPINION FORMED ABOUT AZERBAIJAN – NOVRUZOV
Author: J.Shahverdiyev
TREND, Azerbaijan
June 1 2006
The spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO completed
its work, Trend reports with reference to deputy Siyavush Novruzov,
the member of the Azeri delegation in PA NATO and also the deputy
executive secretary of the “Yeni Azerbaijan” (New Azerbaijan) party.
The head of the “Links” Organization (Great Britain) Denis Samut
delivered a report on the topic “The role of NATO in Southern
Caucasus region”. During his appearance, Samut expressed his
opinion about Southern Caucasus including the development process
in Azerbaijan. Another report on this topic was prepared by the
British deputy Stanford. “However, this report was prepared without
visit to the region. The reporter himself said this in his report,”
said Novruzov. The Azeri delegation expressed its opinion related to
the report.
Novruzov told that one of the important aspects of the session of PA
NATO became the appearance of the Azeri president Ilham Aliyev who
participated at the session at the invitation of the president of
the assembly Pyer Lellush. “In his appearance, Aliyev spoke about
the energy security, economic development of Southern Caucasus,
aggression of Armenia and the issue that our occupied territories
still remain uncontrolled. After the appearance, Aliyev answered the
questions of the deputies” said Novruzov.
The Georgian and Azerbaijan presidents personally participated at the
session. The Armenian president gave consent to participate first,
but then, he refused.
After the appearance of Aliyev and the replies to the questions of
deputies, a quite new opinion formed in PA NATO about Azerbaijan. The
Azerbaijani delegation held meeting in respective committees of
the assembly.
The Azeri delegation participated at the spring session of PA NATO
under the leadership of the first deputy chairman of Milli Mejlis
Ziyafet Askerov, the head of our delegation in the organization.
During the session, there was held exchange of opinion related to
the topics such as cooperation in the Black Sea region, the role
of NATO in Southern Caucasus, energy security, security in Asia,
nuclear policy of Iran and other issues.

ARMENIA AMBASSADOR TO IRAN PROPOSED TEHRAN TO BRING MILITARY FORCE FROM HIS COUNTRY TO STOP ACTIONS IN SOUTH AZERBAIJAN
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
June 1 2006
Armenia ambassador to Iran Gegam Garibjanian holding secret talks
with government of Iran proposed bringing of military force from his
country to stop the actions in South Azerbaijan.
World Azerbaijanis Congress and South Azerbaijan National Movement
Support Committee member Sirus Azadi has informed. Azadi has stated
that there is no doubt to understanding between the sides. “Special
destination forces might be taken from Armenia to stop the actions
in South Azerbaijan.”