Author: Chakhmakhchian Vatche

Armenia head threatens action as opposition rallies
Sat Feb 23, 2008 12:21pm EST
By Margarita Antidze

YEREVAN, Feb 23 (Reuters) – Armenia’s president won the support of top
security and army chiefs on Saturday for tough action against
opposition supporters protesting this week’s election, which they say
was rigged.

Crowds of opposition supporters gathered for a fourth straight day in
the capital’s central Freedom Square, demanding authorities annul the
results of the Feb. 19 presidential election won by Prime Minister
Serzh Sarksyan.

Sarksyan, who is 53 and is an ally of incumbent President Robert
Kocharyan, won nearly 53 percent of the vote compared with 21.5 percent
for his nearest rival, former President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, according
to official results.

Ter-Petrosyan’s supporters say the election was rigged and charge
ballot stuffing and intimidation.

Saturday’s rally in the Caucasus mountains country, which lasted for
about five hours and was attended by around 35,000 people, was the
largest opposition protest since the election.

"Robert Kocharyan characterised the events taking place in Armenia as
an attempt to seize power by illegal means," the presidential press
service said in a statement issued after Kocharyan’s meeting with top
police officers.

"Our actions will be resolute and tough, they will be directed towards
safeguarding stability and the country’s constitutional order," the
statement quoted Kocharyan as saying.

Kocharyan then met the chiefs of the army and national security
service. "The nation’s stability should in no case become a bargaining
chip," he told senior security officials.

Ter-Petrosyan shrugged off the threats.

"Our struggle will continue as before, by lawful means," he told
Reuters. "Our rallies will go on, just as well as marches and
picketing," he added.

"They (the authorities) themselves are the ones who violated the
country’s constitutional order."

"Levon is the president!" chanted the rally. "Victory!" and "We will
fight till the end", shouted the protesters.

An opposition tent camp will continue its night vigil in central
Yerevan.

Armenia, an ancient Christian nation of 3.2 million, lies in a region
that is emerging as a key route for pumping Caspian Sea oil and gas to
world markets, though Armenia has no pipelines of its own.

Western election monitors said the ballot was broadly in line with the
country’s international commitments but further improvements were
necessary.

Kocharyan and Sarksyan are both natives of Nagorno-Karabakh, a region
over which Armenia and neighbouring Azerbaijan fought a war in the
1990s. Some analysts say that still-unresolved conflict could flare
again into violence.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia and froze diplomatic relations in
solidarity with Turkic-speaking Azerbaijan.

Relations with Ankara are also complicated by the massacre of Armenians
by Ottoman Turks during World War One, viewed by Yerevan as genocide, a
charge Turkey strongly denies.

Turkey congratulated Sarksyan on his election win and said it hoped for
better ties with the Christain neighbour. (Additional reporting by
Hasmik Lazarian) (Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Mary Gabriel)

LEVON TER-PETROSIAN CALLS ON STUDENTS TO GO ON STRIKE WITHOUT TIME LIMIT

Noyan Tapan
Feb 21, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, NOYAN TAPAN. In all likelihood the participants
of the February 21 rally in Freedom Square of Yerevan will spend the
night there.

In particular, the chairman of the "Republic" party Aram Sargsian
announced that he goes on strike. Several young men accompanying
businessman Khachatur Sukiasian carried packages of warm clothes and
blankets to the platform.

A lot of students and young people attended the rally. Addressing them,
Levon Ter-Petrosian called on them to go on strike from February
22. The chairman of the Conservative Party Mikael Hayrapetian and
student of the Medical University Narek Manukian made the same appeal
to students and lecturers of the higher educational institutions.

The former foreign minister Alexander Arzumanian informed those present
about the statement of the U.S. Department of State which expressed
its concern at the problems in connection with the counting of the
votes in the Armenian presidential elections.

The chairman of the "New Times" party Aram Karapetian urged all those
present to rely on the wisdom of L. Ter-Petrosian and accept all his
decisions without bargaining". In his words, Levon Ter-Petrosian, who
"succeeded in working a political miracle over 27 days" after being
out of politics for ten years, has calculated all the steps.

TURKISH PRESIDENT CONGRATULATED SERZH SARGSYAN ON VICTORY IN PRESIDENTIAL RACE

PanARMENIAN.Net
21.02.2008 17:32 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey’s president said on Thursday he hoped the
victory of Serzh Sargsyan in Armenia’s presidential election would
lead to a normalization of relations between their estranged countries.

"I hope your new position … will permit the creation of the necessary
environment for normalizing relations between the Turkish and Armenian
peoples, who have proven over centuries they can live together in
peace and concord," President Abdullah Gul said in a message of
congratulations to Sargsyan.

"I sincerely wish that … an atmosphere based on reciprocal trust
and cooperation can be established that will contribute to regional
peace and prosperity," Gul said, Reuters reports.

Turkey has no diplomatic relations with Armenia and keeps their land
border closed since 1993. It denies that the mass killings of ethnic
Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915-16 amounted to a Genocide and also
insists on return of Nagorno Karabakh to Azerbaijan

SERGE SARGSYAN RECEIVES CONGRATULATIONS FROM PRESIDENTS OF GEORGIA AND NKR

armradio.am
21.02.2008 10:35

Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili congratulated RA Prime minister
Serge Sargsyan on the victory in the presidential elections and wished
him success.

NKR President Bako Sahakyan also congratulated Serge Sargsyan on his
firm victory in the Armenian presidential elections. Bako Sahakyan
noted that Serge Sargsyan’s victory symbolizes the development of
stable economic system and the victory of democracy. NKR President
expressed confidence that Serge Sargsyan’s experience, knowledge
and devotion to national and state interests will serve to the
strengthening and prospering of Armenia.

SARKISYAN WINS ARMENIAN PRESIDENTIAL POLLS

RIA Novosti
13:13 | 20/ 02/ 2008

YEREVAN, February 20 (RIA Novosti) – Armenian Prime Minister Serzh
Sarkisyan has won February 19 presidential elections, the country’s
central election commission announced on Wednesday.

With 100% of the vote counted, Sarkisyan was declared the winner with
52.86% (863,000 votes). His nearest rivals, Armenia’s first president
Levon-Ter-Petrosyan and ex-parliamentary speaker Artur Bagdasaryan
received 21.5% (351,300 votes) and 11.6% (272,300 votes), respectively.

Vaan Ovannisyan, a deputy parliamentary speaker and a member of the
Dashnaktsutyun party’s bureau, garnered 6.1% (100,900 votes). Five
other candidates failed to clear the 1% hurdle.

A total of 1.67 million people took part in the country’s elections,
with voter turnout of 69.2%. The polls were monitored by 14,000
observers from 39 local and six international organizations.

The final protocol was signed by six of the seven members of the
election commission.

Artur Baghdasarian voted for "new Armenia"

February 19, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Presidential candidate, Leader of "Orinats
Yerkir" party (OYP) Artur Baghdasarian stated in Yerevan today that
he "voted for new Armenia, in which there is no place for poverty
and permissiveness".

Mediamax reports that, answering the questions of the journalists
at the polling station, Artur Baghdasarian stated that the
pre-election staff of OYP has already received a few alarms on minor
violations. "There is the possibility of falsifications, and we will
struggle against them", Artur Baghdasarian stated.

"I repeatedly stated that the President, elected with the help of
falsification and pre-election bribes, will become a nuisance for
Armenia", Artur Baghdasarian stated, expressing hope that the election
will be open, free and transparent.

CHIEF PROSECUTOR AND GERD-HENRIKH ARENS ARRANGE TO CONTINUE MEETINGS

Panorama.am
20:35 16/02/2008

Armenian Chief Prosecutor Aghvan Hovsepyan yesterday met with
OSCE/ODIHR presidential elections mission head, ambassador,
Gerd-Henrikh Arens. Mrs. Karen Geiner, expert in legal issues, and
Deputy Chief Prosecutor Aram Tamazyan took part at the meeting.

The chief prosecutor informed that the law enforcement bodies received
52 reports as of February 15 and 11 criminal cases were instituted
based on those reports.

Hovsepyan assured that each report is processed according to
law. Decisions are issued based on prepared materials and the
information is posted at the official web page of the Armenian
prosecutor’s office.

The chief prosecutor also mentioned that fake calls and complaints are
many and sometimes those who complaint know about it from the start.

At the request of the observers, the chief prosecutor detailed about
the initial investigation of the criminal cases, among those the
cases of hooliganism in Talin and Artashat. Hovsepyan assured that
the law enforcement bodies have determination and potential to prevent
election breaches as well as to call those guilty for responsibility.

The parties arranged to continue meetings, chief prosecutor’s office
informs.

The Moscow Times, Russia
Feb 18 2008

Karabakh Ponders Kosovo’s Independence

By Karine Ohanyan
Special to The Moscow Times

Kosovar Albanians waving Albanian flags in the center of Kosovo’s
capital, Pristina, on Sunday after the enclave declared its
independence from Serbia.

STEPANAKERT, Nagorno-Karabakh — "What is Kosovo, and what do you eat
it with?" quipped Yuan Go, a Chinese cook living in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Yuan, who speaks the Karabakh dialect of the Armenian language
fluently and goes by the Armenian name of Gurgen, moved to this de
facto independent republic more than a year ago. He and two other
Chinese cooks work at a hotel restaurant.

Yuan, 25, cracked the joke when asked what Kosovo’s declaration of
independence Sunday meant for Nagorno-Karabakh.

He and many other residents seem to have little idea what to expect,
but they are hoping that life stays calm in the enclave, which
Azerbaijan insists is part of its territory even though its Armenian
majority declared independence more than 16 years ago.

Unlike Kosovo, the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic enjoys
no strong support from the European Union or the United States in its
bid for independence. But Karabakh Armenians, who, with the support
of Armenia, won a bloody war against the Azeris in the 1990s, are
seeing parallels with Kosovo and the long struggle of its Albanian
majority. For Karabakh’s leaders, international recognition of
Kosovo’s independence would set an important precedent.

"We are confident that the recognition of Kosovo by the international
community or by individual countries will strengthen our position in
negotiations to resolve the conflict with Azerbaijan," Georgy
Petrosyan, the foreign minister of the unrecognized republic, said in
an interview.

Azerbaijan has offered Nagorno-Karabakh broad autonomy within the
country during ongoing talks mediated by the Organization for
Cooperation and Security in Europe. But Nagorno-Karabakh’s population
has insisted on independence. The enclave has a population of
137,737, 99.7 percent of whom are Armenian, according to the most
recent census, taken in 2005.

"It is important that Kosovo might become an example of a country’s
independence being recognized against the will" of the country from
which it is seceding, Petrosyan said.

He said he believed that the solution for Kosovo in its conflict with
Serbia should also work for Karabakh in its conflict with Azerbaijan.

"A denial of this thesis would amount to a denial of the nature of
the precedent and its role in contemporary international relations,"
he said.

Ashot Gulyan, speaker of Karabakh’s parliament, agreed. "The
situation around Kosovo cannot be perceived as a one-off case," he
added.

Karine Ohanyan / For MT
People walking down a street in Stepanakert, the main city in the
self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

The leaders do not seem discouraged by the fact that Russia,
Armenia’s closest ally, has avoided mentioning Karabakh when listing
other self-styled republics in the former Soviet Union that might be
affected by Kosovo’s independence bid. During his annual news
conference last week, President Vladimir Putin once again accused the
West of adopting double standards in insisting that Kosovo’s case was
unique. He listed Georgia’s republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia
and Moldova’s Transdnestr as territories that might seek to follow
Kosovo’s lead. Putin, who has been trying to forge closer ties with
oil-rich Azerbaijan, did not name Karabakh.

Petrosyan said the omission might be an indication that Russia, which
is participating in the OSCE negotiations, "is avoiding statements
that would put its impartiality as a mediator in doubt." Russia,
however, has also been involved in similar talks between Georgia and
South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The Karabakh war erupted after the parliaments of Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh held a joint session on Dec. 1, 1989, to declare the
unification of their territories. Azeri deputies from the
Nagorno-Karabakh parliament did not participate in the vote.

The first clashes along the Armenian-Azeri border broke out the next
year, and full-scale fighting started in 1991.

On Dec. 10, 1991, Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian majority overwhelmingly
backed a referendum in support of independence for their homeland.

The enclave’s newly elected parliament established the independent
Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh on Jan. 6, 1992.

The war ended in 1994, with Armenian forces driving Azeris out of the
enclave and seizing control of several neighboring Azeri districts,
forcing their population to flee. Armenian forces still control these
districts, while Azeris control the northern tip of Nagorno-Karabakh,
from which the Armenian population has fled. A conflict-resolution
proposal suggested by OSCE mediators calls for Karabakh to return the
districts to Azerbaijan in exchange for the right to hold a new
referendum on the enclave’s status.

Many Karabakh residents do not appear hopeful that international
recognition of Kosovo’s independence might mean a change for their
homeland.

"Such issues are resolved the way that world powers want them
resolved, even though our cause for independence is more just than
Kosovo’s," said Juleyetta Arustamyan, a 44-year-old singer who lives
in the enclave’s main city, Stepanakert.

Nune Khachatryan, the 35-year-old owner of a fashion store in
Stepanakert, said she is happy for Kosovo’s Albanians but not
interested in politics. "Honestly speaking, I don’t care whether
others recognize us or not," she said. "With or without recognition,
we will continue to live happily on our own land."

PanARMENIAN.Net

Russia may recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia independence?
15.02.2008 16:40 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russia has indicated it may change its policy
towards breakaway regions in Georgia if the West recognizes the
independence of Kosovo. Moscow has repeatedly hinted it could
recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia if Kosovo separates from
Serbia. The Foreign Ministry said Moscow would "take into account"
developments in Kosovo, but did not say how. Kosovo may declare
independence this weekend, and the U.S. and most EU states are
expected to recognize it quickly. Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaci
is expected to say later on Friday that the declaration of
independence will be made on 17 February, the AFP reports quoting a
source in Mr Thaci’s office. Serbia earlier urged the UN Security
Council to oppose Kosovo’s expected move. Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk
Jeremic said Belgrade would not use force to stop the secession of the
southern province but warned that allowing it would give a green light
to other separatist movements. "We will, without doubt, have to take
into account a declaration and recognition of Kosovo independence in
connection with the situation in Abkhazia and South Ossetia," Russia’s
foreign ministry said in a statement. The statement came after Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met the leaders of South Ossetia and
Abkhazia in Moscow, BBC reports.

Agence France Presse — English
February 15, 2008 Friday 1:53 AM GMT

Armenian poll frontrunner says peace with Azerbaijan close

by Michael Mainville
YEREVAN, Feb 15 2008

Armenia is close to reaching a peace deal with arch-foe Azerbaijan
and is keen to re-establish diplomatic ties with neighbouring Turkey,
said the man tipped to win next week’s presidential election.

Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian spoke to AFP as opinion polls
suggested that he enjoyed a substantial lead ahead of Tuesday’s vote.

Serious progress had been made in talks with Azerbaijan over the
rebel Azerbaijani region of Nagorny Karabakh, he said.

The two countries remain officially at war over Karabakh, a mostly
ethnic Armenian enclave that broke away from Azerbaijani control
during a war in the early 1990s.

In an interview this week in his plush office overlooking Yerevan’s
central Republic Square, Sarkisian said he agreed with international
mediators who said "very few things remain unresolved around the
issue of Nagorny Karabakh."

Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey cut diplomatic ties and sealed their
borders with Armenia over its support for the separatists. Ankara has
also been deeply angered by Yerevan’s efforts to have mass killings
of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire internationally recognized as
genocide.

Sarkisian said Armenia remained ready to re-establish ties with
Turkey at any time and blamed Ankara for the impasse.

"The ball is in the Turks’ court. We are ready to establish
diplomatic relations with Turkey without any preconditions. It is the
Turks who are making preconditions," he said. "We cannot meet the
demand of the Turks when they ask us to join them in denying the
Armenian genocide."

Sarkisian predicted he would win Tuesday’s presidential election with
more than 50 percent of the vote, avoiding a potentially risky
second-round run-off. He dismissed allegations that the authorities
were rigging the vote to ensure his victory.

"Have you ever seen a country where the opposition does not come up
with allegations against the authorities, especially during the time
of elections?" he said. "Ninety-nine percent of these allegations
have nothing to do with reality."

Sarkisian, 53, is facing eight opponents in the race, including
former president Levon Ter-Petrosian and former parliamentary speaker
Artur Baghdasarian.

With President Robert Kocharian barred from running for a third
five-year term, the election marks the first time an incumbent is not
in a presidential race since the tiny mountainous country gained its
independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Sarkisian’s opponents have warned they will call supporters to the
streets if they believe the vote was rigged, but Sarkisian said he
had little fear of post-election unrest.

"I’m sure that nothing serious will take place," he said. "Over the
last 15 years our law-enforcement bodies have been strengthened and
can handle any tasks put before them."

Kocharian tapped Sarkisian as his successor after the prime
minister’s Republican Party swept parliamentary elections in May.

The two are longtime allies — both are from Karabakh — and
Sarkisian is widely seen as a hawk in relations with Azerbaijan and
Turkey.

A former head of the separatist army, Sarkisian held key positions in
the Armenian government before becoming prime minister, including as
chief of the interior and defence ministries.

If elected he planned to continue in Kocharian’s footsteps, he said.

"Kocharian’s policy is very simple — to make economic growth
sustainable, to become a member of the European family of nations, to
normalise relations with our neighbours and to peacefully resolve the
problem of Nagorny Karabakh. Do you see anything bad in this?" he
said.