Massis Weekly Vol. 25 No. 24
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June 25, 2005.

– 20 Martyrs 90th Anniversary Commemorated In Uruguay

– Ruling Party Wins Karabakh Parliamentary Vote

– Homenmen Athletes Participate in the 35th Annual Armenian Summer Games

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– 20 Martyrs 90th Anniversary Commemorated In Uruguay
Uruguay Vice-President Key Note Speaker

MONTEVIDEO — On June 15th, the Armenian community of Uruguay
commemorated the 90th anniversary of the martyrdom of the 20 Armenian
heroes. The solemn event was organized by the Social Democrat Hunchak
party’s Uruguayan central committee. Dignitaries who attended the
commemoration included; keynote speaker Vice-President of the Oriental
Republic of Uruguay Mr. Rodolfo Nin Nova, Uruguayan Minister of Housing
and Territorial Development Mr. Mariano Arana, Greek Ambassador Nikolaos
Diktakis, Primate of the Armenian Apostolic Church of Uruguay Archbishop
Hagop Kellendjian, Primate of the Armenian Catholic Church of Uruguay
His Eminence Antonio Keshishian, Owner and Director of Uruguay’s Radio
Armenia, Mrs. Araksi Roupenian, as well as officials of Uruguayan
Armenian organizations.
In his speech, Archbishop Kellendjian noted `remembering the Hunchakian
20 martyrs, is parallel to remembering crucial parts of Armenia’s
history. It is through their heroic actions and martyrdom that (the
Armenian) people lives on.’
Addressing the overflowed auditorium, Uruguayan Vice-President Mr.
Rodolfo Nin Nova stressed that the 20 Hunchakian Armenian martyrs are
not just Armenian heroes but heroes for all humanity. The Vice-President
also announced to the attendees that he sent a letter to the EU urging
them to advise Turkey to accept historical truths and recognize the
Armenian Genocide.
Representing the S.D. Hunchakian Central committee, Mr. Santiago
Odabashian thanked the dignitaries, and assured the attendees that the
Social Democrat Hunchak Party, and its sub-organizations will continue
to pursue the aspirations of the 20 martyrs, and continue to work and
sacrifice for the betterment of Armenia, recognition of the Armenian
Genocide, and protection of the Armenian people and culture.

– Ruling Party Wins Karabakh Parliamentary Vote.
Elections Praised By Western Monitors

STEPANAKERT — Political groups loyal to Nagorno-Karabakh President
Arkady Ghukasian swept to a surprise landslide victory in a weekend
parliamentary election which was praised by international observers.
Preliminary results released by Karabakh’s Central Election Commission
(CEC) on Monday showed Ghukasian’s Democratic Party of Artsakh (AZhK)
winning 12 out of the 33 seats in the republic’s legislature. The Azat
Hayrenik (Free Fatherland) party, an obscure pro-establishment group,
finished second with 10 seats.
The CEC said eight other seats were won by individual candidates not
affiliated with any party. Most of them are also thought to be loyal to
Ghukasian. The CEC put the voter turnout at 78 percent.
The official figures gave the main opposition bloc uniting the local
branch of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) and the
Movement-88 party only three seats. All of them were won on the party
list basis that covered one third of the parliament seats. The 22 other
seats were contested under the first past the-post system.
Some local observers regarded the Dashnaktsutyun/Movement-88 bloc as a
front-runner during the election campaign, making its poor showing
particularly humiliating. Dashnaktsutyun alone had nine
deputies in the previous legislature and all of them were elected from
single-mandate constituencies.
The Ghukasian administration’s conduct of the vote was largely praised
by over 120 Western monitors representing international non-governmental
organizations.
`This was a transparent election,’ said Paul Williams of the U.S.-based
Public International Law and Policy Group. `The voting procedures were
properly conducted and we had no complaints about the actual conduct of
the election proceedings from either ordinary voters who we spoke to or
from proxies or members of election commissions or observers in the
polling stations,’ agreed Mark Almond of the British Helsinki Group.
Significantly, the poll was also endorsed by representatives of
Armenia’s largest opposition group, the Artarutyun (Justice) alliance.
`It would be great to have such transparent elections in the Republic of
Armenia,’ Arshak Sadoyan, head of Artarutyun’s election monitoring team,
told a news conference in Stepanakert. Predictably, reaction from
Azerbaijan was very critical of the elections.
`Armenia is eager to legalize the occupation,’ Azerbaijan’s Central
Election Commission charged in a written statement on Saturday cited by
AFP. `Elections and referendums on the occupied territories must be
conducted only after the territory’s restoration to Azerbaijan,’ it said.
Turkey, Azerbaijan’s staunchest ally, echoed the condemnation. `Turkey
believes that such unilateral initiatives… will not help efforts for a
peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem and considers those
elections as illegitimate,’ said a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in
Ankara.
The elections were contested by seven parties and 185 individual
candidates. The new Karabakh parliament will serve for a five-year term.

– Homenmen Athletes Participate in the 35th Annual Armenian Summer Games

Glendale’s Armenian Athletic Association Homenmen `Vanig’ track and
field team, along with Homenmen Pasadena’s `Artsakh’ basketball team
participated in the 35th annual Western Armenian Athletic Association’s
Armenian summer games in Clovis (near Fresno) California 17thth through
19th of June, 2005. `Vanig’ track and field team competed along with
hundreds of other athletes of Armenian origin, competing in 22 events
and gaining 22 medals (17 gold, 3 silver, and 2 bronze).
Participating in track and field were, Homenmen Glendale `Vanig’
members, Alex Kojababian, Simone Darakjian, Taline Kojababian, Mher
Margosian, Sebou Kouyoumjian, Araz DerTavitian, Vartan Kojababian, and
Razmig DerTavitian. Representing Pasadena’s Homenmen `Artsakh,’ Raffi
Koroghlian competed in track and field as well.
Pasadena’s `Artsakh,’ basketball team competed against Fresno’s three
main Homenetmen Sasoon teams. Friday night, `Artsakh’ basketball team
won a close game against Sasoon 2, 32-31, when Serge Djaghalian made two
free throws as time lapsed. Saturday morning `Artsakh’ lost against
Sasoon 3, 73-28, but made a great come back Saturday afternoon against
Sasoon 1, 49-34.
Even though the win gave Homenmen `Artsakh’ a spot in the championship
game and a rematch against Sasoon 3 the following morning, Homenmen was
dealt a blow when their center; Serge Djaghalian was sidelined due to
injury.
On Sunday morning `Artsakh’ players were determined to redeem their
reputation, and played valiantly in a game filled with excitement with
the was frequently exchanging. But with a man down Homenmen `Artsakh’
was not able to overcome the hometown team, as they lost to Sasoon 3,
and secure second place in the tournament.
Pasadena `Artsakh’ team was composed of the following members; Taron
Eliazaryan, Raffi Krikorian, Hovig Boyadjian, Raffi Koroghlian, Vicken
Banjarjian, Serge Djaghalian, Joe Djaghalian, Levon Avakian, Chris
Boyadjian, and their coach Peter Koroghlian.

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