American Chronicle
March 15 2009
Turkish – Armenian Rapprochement to Be Linked on Human Rights
Conditions´ Improvement in Armenia
Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
March 15, 2009 – If Turkey should be further democratized and
harmonized with Europe, then why should Turkey open its borders to
Armenia – a criminal tyranny denounced as such by the HRW in a lengthy
and devastating Report?
In three earlier articles entitled "Turkey´s Ongoing
Colonization: Only Reason for Recognizing Racist Armenian Tyranny"
( ticles/view/94451), "Devastating
HRW on Armenian Tyranny Imposes Cancellation of the Gul ` Erdogan
Pro-Armenian Policy"
( icles/view/94453), and
"Recognition of the Armenian Tyranny by Ankara Equals Colonization of
Turkey by Freemasonic EU ` US"
( s/view/94492), I republished
parts of the devastating HRW Report (the HRW Press Release issued on
the occasion of the Report publication a few days ago, the Contents,
the Summary, the Methodology, and the Background), and called for a
master coup against the unrepresentative Erdogan gang of high
traitors, freemasons and besotted pseudo-Islamists, who implement the
Anti-Turkish colonial agenda of England and France; in fact, the
colonial powers imposed on the Freemasonic pupils Gul and Erdogan the
Turkish ` Armenian rapprochement.
In the present article, I republish the HRW Report chapter on the 2008
Presidential Elections. In forthcoming articles, I will republish
further parts of the devastating HRW Report on the Armenian Tyranny.
IV. The 2008 Presidential Elections
n/6
With Robert Kocharyan coming to the end of his two-term limit as
president, his heir apparent in the 2008 presidential contest was
Prime Minister Serj Sargsyan.[29] The scene for the election had
largely been set by the parliamentary elections in 2007, in which
Sargsyan’s Armenian Republican Party had consolidated its grip on
parliament.[30] Opposition parties had continued to decline in
parliamentary representation, with the principal opposition from 2003,
the Armenian People’s Party, routed.
Levon Ter-Petrossian, after stepping down as president in 1998, had
retreated from public life and avoided contact with the media. His
party, the Armenian Pan-National Movement, had gone into sharp
decline.[31] Ter-Petrossian gave his first public speech since his
resignation on September 21, 2007, sharply criticizing the Kocharyan
administration, calling it a "criminal regime" and denouncing
widespread corruption in the country. In another speech on October 26
he confirmed publicly his intention to run for president against
Sargsyan.[32]
Sargsyan and Ter-Petrossian were the frontrunners in a field of nine
registered candidates when the election campaign officially opened on
January 21, 2008.[33] Media coverage of the candidates was heavily
skewed in Sargsyan’s favor, as noted in critical statements before
polling day by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE) and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human
Rights (ODIHR).[34]
The election, held on February 19, resulted in Sargsyan winning
outright with 52.8 percent of the vote, and Ter-Petrossian gaining
21.5 percent, according to official figures. An international observer
mission comprising the OSCE, the PACE, and the European Parliament
initially endorsed the election, issuing a preliminary report on
February 20 that found the election "mostly in line with the country’s
international commitments."[35] Similar statements followed from
European Union High Representative Javier Solana, European
Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU
presidency, and the Council of Europe’s envoy.[36]
On March 3, however, the OSCE issued a harsher statement, claiming
that there had been irregularities, including implausibly high voter
turnout at some polling stations, high numbers of invalid ballots
especially at some Yerevan polling stations, and significant
procedural errors and irregularities in the vote counting and
tabulation. In addition, it noted insufficient protection for
registering and addressing voters’ complaints.[37] On May 30 the OSCE
issued a final report on the elections that, while maintaining its
original generally favorable assessment, stated that there was "an
insufficient regard for standards essential to democratic elections
[which] devalued the overall election process."[38]
Immediately following the elections, Human Rights Watch documented
nine cases of assailants intimidating, threatening, and even violently
attacking opposition party activists, journalists, and observers. The
victims had been complaining about what they believed to be electoral
fraud and other violations of the electoral rules, such as incorrect
voters’ lists, intimidation of voters, violations of the right to a
secret ballot, and ballot stuffing. In several of the incidents police
were present during the assaults and did not intervene. Some of the
victims reported the attacks to the police, who began
investigating.[39]
Levon Ter-Petrossian himself made accusations of widespread election
falsification and claimed that he had won the election.[40]On March 5,
2008, Ter-Petrossian appealed to the Constitutional Court challenging
the legitimacy of Sargsyan’s victory and seeking to have the election
declared invalid. His challenges were on technical grounds rather than
on grounds that there had been violations in the conduct of the vote,
however.[41] On March 8 the Constitutional Court rejected his
appeal.[42
Notes
29] Sargsyan is a very common Armenian surname. Serj Sargsyan is not
related to his late predecessor as prime minister, Vazgen Sargsyan.
30] Sargsyan had assumed the premiership and the Republican Party
leadership only when the 2007 parliamentary elections were already
underway, after the sudden death of prime minister and Republican
Party leader Andranik Margaryan. Sargsyan, then defense minister, had
nevertheless been widely viewed as Kocharyan’s heir apparent even
before becoming prime minister.
31] The ANM failed to win parliamentary representation in 2003, and
after initially registering a candidate list it withdrew from the 2007
parliamentary elections. See OSCE/ODIHR, "Final report on the
parliamentary elections in Armenia, 25 May 2003," July 31, 2003,
533_en.pdf; and "Final
Report on the 12 May 2007 Parliamentary Elections in Armenia,"
September 10, 2007,
26169_en.pdf (both
accessed September 17, 2008).
32]"Armenian Ex-President Confirms Comeback Plans," Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty, November 1, 2007,
4B5FB-EFAC-4463-8E9F-13B3D6FD1714.html
(accessed May 29, 2008).
33] OSCE/ODIHR, "Republic of Armenia Presidential Election, 19
February 2008, Election Observation Mission Final Report," May 30,
2008, en.pdf
(accessed September 15, 2008).
34]"Armenia: Continued progress is key to ensuring public confidence
in democratic election, says PACE delegation," Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe press release, January 31, 2008,
iew.asp?ID03 (accessed
September 1, 2008). "Levon Ter Petrosian is periodically negatively
portrayed in Armenia mass media �" says OSCE/ODHIR,"
January 31, 2008, Arminfo [in
Russian], hive=file_20080131_215900_rus_6144.html
(accessed December 30, 2008).
35] "Armenian presidential election mostly in line with international
commitments, but further improvements necessary," OSCE/ODIHR press
release, February 20, 2008,
(accessed May 30, 2008).
36] "Javier Solana, EU High Representative for the CFSP [Common
Foreign and Security Policy], congratulates the Armenian people on the
orderly conduct of the presidential elections," European Commission’s
Delegation to Armenia press release, February 20, 2008,
2_2008.htm (accessed May
30, 2008); "Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European
Union on the presidential election in Armenia on 19 February 2008,"
European Commission’s Delegation to Armenia press release, February
22, 2008,
02_2008.htm (accessed May
30, 2008); "Statement on the conduct of Presidential elections in
Armenia," EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita
Ferrero-Waldner, February 22, 2008,
ro-waldner/speeches/index_en.htm
(accessed May 30, 2008); "Council of Europe Envoy Praises Armenian
Vote," Armtown.com, February 25, 2008,
200802254/ (accessed May
30, 2008).
37] OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission to the Republic of Armenia
Presidential Election 2008, "Post-Election Interim Report, 20 February
�" 3 March 2008," March 7, 2008,
30090_en.pdf (accessed
September 24, 2008).
38] OSCE/ODIHR, "Republic of Armenia Presidential Election, 19
February 2008, Election Observation Mission Final Report."
39] Armenia: Violence at Polling Station Mars Elections," Human Rights
Watch press release, February 20, 2008, at
iolence-polling-stations-mars-elections
(accessed December 26, 2008).
40] OSCE/ODIHR, "Post-Election Interim Report, 20 February
�" 3 March 2008."
41] "The Constitutional Court Has Placed Landmines Under the
Legitimacy of Serzh Sargsyan," Levon Ter-Petrossian for President,
March 11, 2008, (accessed May
29, 2008). Ter-Pertrossian claimed that according to article 78.1 of
the Electoral Code, a prime minister may only be elected to be
president if he has the status of acting president, which he claims
Sargsyan did not have at this time. He further claimed a breach of
article 53.1 of the constitution, which states that presidential
elections cannot take place under martial law or state of
emergency. Ter-Petrossian argued that the presidential elections refer
to the entire period all the way through to the deadline for appeals
to the Constitutional Court, and that because the Constitutional Court
was in session hearing election-related appeals while the state of
emergency was in force, the election was invalid.
42]Â International Crisis Group, "Armenia: Picking up the
Pieces," ICG Europe Briefing No. 48, April 8, 2008,
=5385&l=1 (accessed May
21, 2008).
Note
Picture: The various pseudo-historical maps, published by the Armenian
Diaspora and forcefully distributed as "History" in Armenia,
constitute a means of Anti-Turkish and Anti-Azeri propaganda that
helps instigate nationalistic hatred against Armenia´s two
neighbours among Armenian schoolchildren and youth are. The grave
falsehood consists in the erroneous interpolation of two very
different historical periods, that of Medieval Armenia and our modern
times. By confusingly using names that refer to different epochs,
today´s Armenian dictators, thugs, and gangsters disrespect
thousands of years of Armenian History, and engulf their
schoolchildren in venomous odium. When Cilician Armenia existed, most
of today´s Turkish territory belonged to the Eastern Roman
Empire, not Turkey. Consequently, the two terms cannot co-exist on one
and the same map. On the other hand, ´Historic Armenia´
is a term that does not exist. The ancient and medieval kingdoms of
Armenia controlled different territories in different eras, and mostly
the Armenian territory was much smaller than what is depicted in this
fallacious map.
ew/94496
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress