U.S. VOICES ‘SOLIDARITY’ WITH ARMENIAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Dec 20 2006

A senior U.S. diplomat on Wednesday heaped praise on Armenia’s leading
human rights defenders, saying that the United States believes their
activities are "critical" for the country’s democratic future.

Anthony Godfrey, the U.S. charge d’affaires in Yerevan, voiced
Washington’s strong backing for human rights advocacy at a special
lunch with the state Ombudsman Armen Harutiunian and three independent
campaigners.

"In Armenia, the United States stands in solidarity with you — the
country’s brave men and women who are doing such essential work as
supporting a free press, fighting against trafficking in persons,
advocating for freedom of religion, and supporting women’s rights,"
Godfrey told them, according to the U.S. embassy.

"We thank you for your efforts to further Armenia’s democratic reforms,
and for your dedication to fighting for those people who often don’t
have a voice," he said.

The U.S. State Department has described the Armenian authorities’ human
rights record as "poor" in its annual reports released in recent years.

A statement by the U.S. embassy said the lunch meeting, apparently the
first of its kind, was dedicated to International Human Rights Day that
was marked around the world on December 10. Two of its participants,
Avetik Ishkhanian and Mikael Danielian, are outspoken critics of the
Armenian government that have long accused it of condoning police
torture, violations of due process and other human rights abuses.

Ishkhanian, who leads the Armenian Helsinki Committee, said the U.S.

and the West in general have done "more than enough" to highlight
these problems and press the authorities in Yerevan to tackle them.

"The reasons why the situation with human rights in Armenia is
disastrous are purely domestic," he told RFE/RL. "We have only
ourselves to blame for that."

But Danielian disagreed, saying that Western powers "could and should
have done more" to bring Yerevan to task. "I expect tougher action
from them," said the chairman of the Armenian Helsinki Assembly.

Interestingly, the meeting at the U.S. mission in Armenia coincided
with the professional holiday of the employees of the National Security
Service (NSS), the Armenian successor to the Soviet KGB. It marks the
establishment on December 20, 1917 of the VChK, Bolshevik Russia’s
infamous secret police which historians blame for the deaths of
millions of people. The agency changed several names before becoming
the KGB in 1954.

President Robert Kocharian, who reinstated the Soviet-era holiday
after coming to power in 1998, used the occasion to award medals to
the entire leadership of the NSS. Among the 17 decorated officers
were the agency’s director, Gorik Hakobian, and the head of a hitherto
unknown NSS directorate tasked with protecting "constitutional order"
and combating terrorism. Kocharian’s office said they were decorated
for their "considerable contribution" to Armenia’s national security.

Ishkhanian scoffed at the official explanation, saying that the
ex-KGB’s main function is to help the Kocharian administration stifle
dissent and hold on to power. "This ceremony only testified to the
deplorable state of human rights protection in Armenia," he charged.

In a rare newspaper interview given two years ago, Hakobian said
his agency is learning and drawing inspiration from the "glorious"
experience of its Soviet predecessor. He also described former KGB
informers as "patriots" who honestly served their country.