Author: Kalantarian Kevo

CONFRONTATION SARKISSIAN-TSAROUKIAN : ROBERT KOTCHARIAN ARBITRE ?

ARMENIE

La > entre Serge Sarkissian et Gaguik Tsaroukian,
president formel de la deuxième formation politique, Armenie
prospère, monopolise l’actualite armenienne. Alors que les leaders
des trois partis d’opposition, Armenie prospère, CNA et Heritage,
s’etaient reunis dans la soiree du 15 fevrier et avaient decide a
cette occasion d’organiser un rassemblement national >
le 20 fevrier prochain (cf. revue du 16.02), la mairie d’Erevan a
fait part de son refus d’autoriser cette manifestation, en invoquant
certaines clauses de la loi sur la liberte de rassemblement (delai de
preavis). Les quotidiens annoncent par ailleurs la defection de deux
deputes entrepreneurs d’Armenie prospère, Aragats Akhoyan et Karo
Karapetian, et n’excluent pas que d’autres deputes ou membres de ce
parti fassent de meme. Vartan Oskanian, ancien ministre des AE affilie
a Armenie prospère a ecrit sur Facebook que si le dirigeant de leur
parti, Gaguik Tsaroukian, etait prive de son mandat parlementaire,
lui et d’autres partisans de M. Tsaroukian, dont Naïra Zohrabian,
secretaire du parti, allaient entamer un sit-in, voire une grève
de la faim. Par ailleurs, RFE/RL fait etat de l’arrestation, ce 17
fevrier, d’un representant d’Armenie prospère, Arthur Mamoyan, chef
de la permanence du parti dans le district Nor-Nork d’Erevan. La
Police a evoque le . Selon RFE/RL, citant une deputee d’Armenie prospère, Elinar
Vardanian, plusieurs representants du parti auraient ete interpelles
par la police a travers le pays. Elle a denonce des > rappelant les annees staliniennes. La maison d’un autre depute du
parti, Roustam Gasparian, aurait ete perquisitionnee. 168 Jam estime
que plus les repressions se poursuivent contre Armenie prospère,
plus le rassemblement du 20 fevrier risque d’etre important. Ce
journal craint la dispersion par la force du prochain rassemblement,
ce qui conduirait l’Armenie a une crise.

Par ailleurs, les commentaires de l’ex-president, Robert Kotcharian,
sont largement rapportes. Ce dernier a declare >. Selon M. Kotcharian,
si le President misait sur le fait qu’en faisant pression sur Gaguik
Tsaroukian, l’on reussirait a scinder son parti politique, alors
l’objectif n’a pas ete atteint. Au contraire, des signes clairs de
consolidation de l’opposition sont evidents, qui se traduisent par
une radicalisation du vocabulaire et des objectifs. M. Kotcharian a
qualifie les arguments (du President Sarkissian) contre G. Tsaroukian
de > et ajoute que, desormais, toute action contre
le president d’Armenie prospère sera consideree comme une persecution
politique denuee de toute legitimite. Selon lui, compte tenu du niveau
de tension sociale et du degre de mecontentement dans le pays, ainsi
que de la grande popularite dont jouit le president d’Armenie prospère,
plus les autorites persistent dans leurs actions, plus forte sera
la consolidation de l’opposition contre elles et plus reelle sera la
perspective d’affrontements politiques. >. Robert Kotcharian a propose aux autorites de s’abstenir
de toute action administrative contre le leader d’Armenie prospère,
puisque leurs intentions envisagees ne s’inscriraient pas dans le
cadre de la constitution et seraient susceptibles de pousser Armenie
prospère et les autres partis d’opposition a organiser des actions
de rue dont les consequences pourraient etre imprevisibles. >, a-t-il conclu.

Reagissant aux commentaires de l’ex-president, Vahram Baghdassarian,
chef du groupe parlementaire du parti Republicain, s’est etonne de
ses declarations >, après avoir > Gaguik
Tsaroukian [a des actions irreflechies]. Le pro-gouvernemental Hayots
Achkhar rappelle que, lors de son mandat, l’ex-president n’a pas
hesite non plus a recourir a la repression. Et de s’etonner pourquoi
l’ex-president gardait le silence lorsque M. Tsaroukian menacait de
renverser le pouvoir et se livrait au chantage. Selon Aravot, Robert
Kotcharian ne cherche meme pas a cacher qu’il a ete le mentor de G.

Tsaroukian.

Dans un entretien avec 168 Jam, Hayk Martirossian, docteur en sciences
politiques a la Sorbonne, estime que Robert Kotcharian se trouve
derrière toutes les actions de G. Tsaroukian. R. Kotcharian est, selon
lui, l’unique homme a qui M. Tsaroukian doit sa fortune. Selon lui,
Tsaroukian, aveugle par sa richesse et sa puissance, a perdu le sens
de la realite et a ete manipule par Kotcharian, en devenant ainsi
incontrôlable par les autorites. M. Martirossian laisse presager
des affrontements en Armenie et deplore que la societe armenienne
doit choisir entre le > et le >, a tel point la
scène politique armenienne est devastee. A ses yeux, le >
est l’oligarchie.

NIKOL PASHINYAN DEMANDS THAT NKR AUTHORITIES SHOULD PUNISH THE POLICEMEN WHO BEAT FOUNDING PARLIAMENT’S MEMBERS

by Ashot Safaryan

Tuesday, February 24, 21:05

Armenian MP Nikol Pashinyan demands that the NKR authorities should
punish the policemen who beat Founding Parliament’s members in Berdzor
on Jan 31.

In his today’s speech at the Armenian Parliament, Pashinyan said
that the Berdzor events questioned the legitimacy of the numerous
statements of Armenian delegations to international structures,
who said that the NKR has statehood, law and democracy.

“On Feb 6, the Armenian parliamentary delegation visited Stepanakert
to discuss the issue of liquidation of the Berdzor incident
consequences. During the debates with the NKR authorities, my
stand was unambiguous – those who organized and applied violence
against the motor rally participants should be brought to criminal
responsibility in line with the NKR legislation and the high-ranking
officials of the police should be dismissed. This stand was clear to
Artsakh. However, it is more than strange that no criminal case has
even been instituted”, said Pashinyan.

Pashinyan believes that the only way to liquidate the incident
consequences is to punish the culprits; otherwise, the events in
Berdzor undermine the statehood and the image of the NKR.

To remind, on Jan 31 the representatives of the Founding Parliament,
including the Artsakh War veteran Zhirayr Sefilyan, were severely
beaten by the NKR police on their way to Artsakh near Berdzor. The NKR
police were trying to hinder the motor rally within the frames of the
“Centennial Without Regime” movement, which seeks to shift the power
in Armenia on the threshold of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide.

The movement members say that most of the policemen were wearing
civilian clothes. The police were taking the motor rally participants
out of the cars and beating them with batons. Many activists were
taken to Stepanakert hospital.

ARMENIA’S LATEST STAGED SHOW – YET ANOTHER ANTI-CORRUPTION DRIVE

Armen Arakelyan

21:24, February 20, 2015

Corruption and the struggle against it haven’t been topics of
discussion in Armenia for a while now, and that’s not unintentional.

Only serious issues and problems needing solving are discussed in
Armenia. The public doesn’t talk about corruption any more because
it’s pointless, and the leadership isn’t talking about it because it
believes corruption barely exists in Armenia.

Well, to be correct, the leadership says it exists but in the form
of bribery, and not on the governmental level, but within society.

It was Armenia’s National Assembly President Galust Sahakyan who
exposed this to be the reality in Armenia.

At a press conference held during Vice President of Uruguay Danilo
Astori’s visit last December to Armenia, Sahakyan was quoted as saying
the following:

It’s difficult to prove where bribery exists, where corruption exists.

Of course, corruption exists in Armenia, and there’s a struggle against
it, but it’s not a nationwide struggle, because any given structure
in Armenia that plays a part in the public sphere that isn’t focused
on corruption is certainly focused on bribery. That relates to public
organizations and journalists.”

Whether corruption under the guise of bribery exists in only this
sector is proven by work. Recently, thanks to journalism, mostly
doctors, lecturers and rarely inspectors, have been arrested and
detained for corruption. The same applies to judges in isolated cases
as well.

But the government is clearly not ready to deal with that trivial
amount of corruption. To prevent the last grains of corruption to take
root, the government decided to set up an Anti-Corruption Council. And
since it’s only logical that the ones who must get rid of corruption
are those whose hands aren’t dirty and who have made money by the
honest sweat of their brow, it was decided that Prime Minister Hovik
Abrahamyan should head the council.

In addition to two civil society representatives and one member
of each political opposition faction in the National Assembly, the
council will be composed of Minister – Chief of Government Staff Davit
Harutyunyan, Justice Minister Hovhannes Manukyan, Finance Minister
Gagik Khachatryan, and Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan.

It’s a bit upsetting that that the individual best versed about
corruption in Armenia, Galust Sahakyan, will not serve. That this
council is really serious about rooting out the last grains of bribery
and corruption is evidenced by the fact that a committee of experts,
attached to the council, will also be created.

All the anti-corruption initiatives made in Armenia by the council and
committees, including their programs, strategies, piles of concepts,
communications, meetings and round-table discussions conducted with
serious faces and clenched fists are nothing new.

An initiative with practically the same name was introduced in 2004,
and that was also headed by the Prime Minister. After several years
of diligent work, not only did the council draft and approve a
strategy for tackling corruption, but it also drafted reforms for
two generations. And the National Assembly president’s position
that corruption exists only in the public sector comes from that
painstaking work.

Another similar body formed in the early 2000s by the Armenian
President was called the Anti-Corruption Strategy Implementation
Monitoring Commission. Just how that commission concluded its
undertakings is, perhaps, not important. That the work was done is all
that matters. It should go without saying that with this new initiative
led by Hovik Abrahamyan (apparently the previous programs weren’t
well-planned), corruption is condemned and will finally be weeded out.

To achieve those results, the ministers on the council under
Abrahamyan’s leadership, with a wave of the magic wand, will suddenly
start to amicably declare the sources of their billions of accumulated
wealth along with the methods implemented. And they’ll finally explain
how they managed to stack up so many accomplishments with their modest
salaries. They won’t have any choice, because the Chairman of the
Armenian Committee on Ethics is also on the council.

In case you aren’t informed, there is such a committee in Armenia. The
offshore affair, which was tied to former Prime Minister Tigran
Sargsyan, will finally be disclosed.

And the Minister of Justice will reveal what was the “misunderstanding”
that resulted in freeing from jail, after two or three years behind
bars, high ranking police officials found guilty of embezzlement and
other serious criminal offences.

And the Prosecutor General will explain how officials charged with
swindling the Artsakh Army out of millions in a meat provision scam
walked away free after being charged.

In all likelihood, the creation of the new council will also have
an effect on the local oligarchs. They won’t wait any longer for
the president to order the prime minister to examine their tax
liabilities. Of their own accord and feeling their responsibility
as citizens, they will begin to document their real sales numbers,
faithfully pay their taxes, break up their monopolies to encourage
competition and completely stay out of politics. They also won’t
pay out bribes during elections and won’t appear on political party
proportionate lists of candidates.

So things aren’t really as bad as they might seem. We can consider
all of Armenia’s issues with corruption solved with the formation of
the Anti-Corruption Council. We can even start thinking about setting
a non-working holiday marking the victory of the end to corruption.

Now all we have to do is anticipate the beginning of this new show.

Happy viewing.

THE INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE FESTIVAL BERLIN (ILB) AND THE LEPSIUSHAUS POTSDAM

Feb 23 2015

The international literature festival berlin (ilb) and the Lepsiushaus
Potsdam are organising a worldwide reading on the 100th anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide and we are calling on cultural institutions,
radio broadcasters and universities as well as schools to take part
in the initiative and to organise their own readings on April 21, 2015.

The text selected for the reading has been taken from
chapters seven and eight from The Book of Whispers by Varujan
Vosganian. You can access the text in 15 languages on our website
at Shortly you will also find
information there about where readings will be taking place.

More than 300 authors from more than 65 countries are supporting
this initiative, among them Nobel Prize for Literature laureates
Mario Vargas Llosa, Herta Muller, Elfriede Jelinek, Orhan Pamuk,
Gunter Grass and John M. Coetzee.

If you would like to organise a reading, please send
us the relevant information by the 30th of March 2015 to
[email protected], including details of the
exact location and time of your event as well as the name of the
participants.

Thank you for your support and for passing on this appeal.

My very best regards,

Jessica Araya

[email protected]

RELATIVES OF MURDERED GYUMRI FAMILY GIVE PROSECUTOR GENERAL 4 DAYS TO ANSWER THEIR QUESTIONS

02.24.2015 11:53 epress.am

The relatives of the Avetisyan family that was massacred in Gyumri
on January 12, gathered in front of the Shirak Marz (Province)
prosecutor’s office yesterday, February 23, demanding that RA General
Prosecutor Gevorg Kostanyan meet with them. Avetsiyan’s relatives
noted that they wanted answers to their questions from the Prosecutor:
“We will not leave here until our questions are answered. We’ve waited
for 42 days, we have no where else to go.”

The relatives of the murdered family wanted to know, in particular, how
the Russian soldier Valery Permyakov charged with the murders was found
on the Armenian-Turkish border and taken to the Russian military base,
and whether the clothes he was wearing had actually belonged to the
Avetisyans. The relatives also demanded that the content of Kostanyan’s
letter to the Russian General Prosecutor Yuri Chayka be published
so it could be clear, whether the General Prosecutor had actually
demanded that the case be transferred to Armenian law enforcement.

Shirak Marz Prosecutor Raffi Aslanyan told the relatives in his
office that the Provincial Prosecutor had no authority over the issue,
because the investigation of the case is being carried out by Special
Investigative Service and is supervised by the RA General Prosecutor.

The Avetisyans’ successors stated that they would not leave the
prosecutor’s office until Kostanyan came and met them. However,
Aslanyan told them that waiting would be in vain because the General
Prosecutor would not arrive in Gyumri.

Some time later, the relatives left the prosecutor’s building and
decided to give Kostanyan until Thursday, in case the latter does
not respond they will organize a protest on Friday. The relatives
were confident that if they protested all of Gyumri would join
them. They stressed that the incidents on January 15 could repeat,
where thousands of people protested demanding that Valery Permyakov
be transferred to Armenian law enforcement.

“We’ve waited for 42 days, we can tolerate being ignored these 3
days also. If [Kostanyan] respected our grief, he would be here,”
said one of the Avetisyans’ relatives.

Six members of the Avetisyan family were murdered on January 12 in
their Gyumri home. The family’s seventh member, 6-month-old Seryozha
Avetisyan, who had serious injuries, was transferred to the hospital
and died 7 days later. Russian soldier Valery Permyakov is the central
murder suspect of the case. Currently, Russian officials are not
transferring Permyakov to Armenian law enforcement, although Russia
is supposed to under an agreement signed between Armenia and Russia.

BHK CONFERENCE IN THE BEGINNING OF MARCH: AZATUTYUN

16:23 | February 24,2015 | Politics

In the beginning of March the 8thconference of Prosperous Armenia
Party (BHK) will be held, BHK press secretary Tigran Urikhanyan told
“Azatutyun”.

Asked whether the issue of BHK leader Gagik Tsarukyan’s resignation
as the Party Head will be included in the conference’s agenda,
Urikhanyan answered, “The issues of conference’s agenda and the future
developments will be commented and discussed when decisions are made.”

More here

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR KHOJALY EVENTS, LOOK FOR THEM IN AZERBAIJAN: ARTAK ZAKARYAN

19:21, 24 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Speaking at the Parliament today, Chairman of the National Assembly’s
Standing Committee on Foreign Relations Artak Zakaryan referred to
the Azerbaijani propagana campaign on the so-called “Khojaly” events:

“Azerbaijan’s costly propaganda in different corners of the world is
continuing its fraud march, which in these days is devoted to so-called
“Khojaly,” actually to the Aghdam events. What happened?

On February 26, 1992, Aghdam events took place, which are
interpreted as “Khojaly massacre” by Azerbaijan. During these events,
the Azerbaijani armed groupings ruthlessly shot down a number of
residents of Khojaly settlement in a territory under their control. In
order to overthrow President Muthalibov, the opposition Azerbaijani
National Front used the forced operation of Karabakh armed forces
aimed to suppress the Azeri shooting, as this was where capital
Stepanakert and surrounding areas were being shelled from. This is
also evidenced by President Ayaz Mutalibov in his interview on 2th
of April, 1992 to ” Nezavisimaya Gazeta.” Before the operation, the
Karabakh side, according to the norms of humanitarian law, informed
Khojaly authorities about planned operation and leaving a corridor
for the safe evacuation of Azerbaijani population.

After the tragic events in the territories controlled by Azerbaijanis
Azeri journalist Cnigiz Mustafaev photographed and filmed the dead
bodies which were not disfigured. The existing files confirm that
the Karabakh side physically was not able to access the territories
where the people were killed and the bodies were disfigured.

After the upheaval followed by Khojaly provocation, the Azerbaijani
new leadership headed by Abulfaz Elchibey, initiated a deliberate
falsification of the events to conceal his monstrous crime interpreting
it as “a massacre” of civilians by Karabakh forces.

This policy is being continued by official Azerbaijan till today. By
distorted propaganda of presenting Aghdam events as massacre of Khojaly
Azerbaijani authorities are trying to hit the international reputation
of two Armenian states, to impose the distorted interpretation of
the events on the international community to boost anti-Armenian moods.

I call on our partner parliamentarians from different states,
municipal and provincial councils to avoid the pitfalls of Azerbaijani
propaganda. Don’t buy into false information and fictitious events.

Keep clean the parliamentary agendas and don’t let the Azerbaijani
propaganda penetrate there. If you are looking for those responsible
for Khojaly events, so look for them in Azerbaijan.”

ISLAMIC STATE OVERRUNS HISTORIC CHRISTIAN AREA IN SYRIA, ABDUCTS 90

Dalje.com , Croatia
Feb 24 2015

Islamic State extremists have abducted at least 90 Christians after
storming villages in the historic heartland of the country’s Assyrian
minority, a monitoring group said Tuesday.

Villagers fled the jihadist advance, launched early on Monday, to
the cities of al-Hassakeh and Qamishli where they were sheltered by
local churches.

“There are dozens of families whose fate is still not known,” one of
the refugees, Shmouna Yunan, told dpa by phone from al-Hassakeh.

“Terror is everywhere in our areas, the sound of bullets has been
keeping our children awake.”

A local Assyrian militia which fights alongside Kurdish forces said
they were trying to recapture villages along the Khabur river west
of al-Hassakeh seized by the jihadists.

A spokesman for the Syriac Military Council said it did not yet have
an estimate for the number of people abducted. The Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights put the number at at least 90.

The Britain-based group earlier said its sources had heard Islamic
State fighters in conversation on walkie-talkies discussing the
capture of “56 crusader prisoners.”

An official of the Assyrian Church in Beirut, who asked not to be
named, said that four churches – one of them among the oldest in
Syria – had been burned down by the jihadists.

The curate of one al-Hassakeh church appealed for aid for the refugees,
saying the local churches were not able to cope with the influx.

“The weather is cold and there is nowhere warm for them to stay. Food
and medicine prices are high,” the curate, who asked not to be named,
said. “Syrians, Muslims and Christians alike are faced with a human
tragedy and nobody pays any heed.”

Other refugees said local Christians were being exposed to ethnic
cleansing.

“We are falling victim to genocide, they torture us and expel us
and nobody comes to our aid,” said Ninos Khoshaba, an agricultural
engineer in his 30s, adding that hundreds of families were still
fleeing to Qamishli and al-Hassakeh.

The jihadist assault on the Khabur villages came as the Kurdish
People’s Protection Units claimed advances against Islamic State
north-east of al-Hassakeh.

The Observatory said the Syrian Kurdish forces, backed up by US-led air
raids and cross-border artillery fire from the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga,
had captured 30 settlements from the jihadists in recent days.

The United Nations Monday released a report saying that Islamic State
had committed possible acts of genocide when it targeted Yezidi,
Christian and Shiite communities in Iraq last year.

Earlier this month the group published a video showing its fighters
in Libya beheading 21 mostly Egyptian Christian migrant workers,
whom it also termed “crusaders.”

Assyrian Christians have for centuries lived in several dozen villages
in the fertile land along the banks of the Khabur river west of
al-Hassakeh.

Local sources say that the river forms the effective boundary between
areas controlled by the YPG and those held by Islamic State, and that
many civilians had already left the villages on the south bank.

The Assyrians follow an ancient Eastern Christian rite and speak a
form of Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Their largest communities
are in north-eastern Syria and nearby areas of northern Iraq.

They have suffered several waves of persecution, most notably during
the massacres often referred to as the Armenian Genocide in Turkey
in 1915.

THE US REITERATES CALL TO RETURN AZERI SABOTEURS AS A “HUMANITARIAN GESTURE”

14:05, 24 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

The United States reiterates call to release two Azeri nationals
Dilham Askerov and Shahbaz Quliyev, who were convicted last year on
charges that include the murder of a teenager.

“We have previously advocated through Ambassador Warlick and others
the release of these two prisoners to the Government of Azerbaijan,”
Spokesperson for the Department of State Jen Psaki told a daily
briefing.

She reminded that during the recent visit to the region, US Assistant
Secretary of State Victoria Nuland also urged relevant authorities
to return the two prisoners to the Government of Azerbaijan.

“The sides have generally found a way in the past to return prisoners
as a humanitarian gesture, and such humanitarian gestures have been
shown to reduce tensions and build trust between the sides. So that’s
what she was referring to,”

Speaking to Public Radio of Armenia last week, Spokesman for the NKR
President David Babayan ruled out the return of the Azeri nationals.

Pashinyan: Berdzor incident is a threat to NKR’s international reputation

Wednesday,
February 25

The incident that took place in Berdzor on January 31 was a severe
blow to Artsakh’s statehood, the deputy of Armenian National Congress
(HAK) faction Nikol Pashinyan said in the Armenian parliament today.

In his words, the incident called into question the legitimacy of
the Armenian parliamentary delegations’ statements in international
organizations that there is democracy and rule of law in the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic (NKR).

‘That incident endangered all our achievements since the start of the
Karabakh movement. On February 6 of this year a delegation of the
Armenian parliament went to Stepanakert to discuss the elimination
of the Berdzor incident consequences. My position was and remains the
same – those who used violence should be held criminally liable under
the law of NKR. Besides, high-ranking officials of law-enforcement
bodies should resign,” Pashinyan said.

He stressed that this position seems to have been perceived by the
authorities of NKR, but strangely, no criminal case was opened,
although 24 days have passed since the incident.

N. Pashinyan said that he would like to remind everyone that those
who used violence against the participants of a peaceful procession
of cars should be held criminally liable, while those guilty of
negligence should be dismissed.

“It is not someone’s whim, but requirements of morality and NKR’s
legislation. The authorities of Artsakh should realize that it is the
only way to overcome the incident’s consequences. Unless we follow
that path, the incident will become a problem and pose a threat to
the international reputation of the NKR,” Nikol Pashinyan said.

As was reported, on January 31 Pre-parliament civil initiative was
going to stage yet another protest against the current authorities
by organizing a ‘procession of cars’ in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

Yet information appeared soon about “a clash between protest
participants and law enforcers of Artsakh”. Pre-parliament issued a
statement saying that on January 31 “some unknown people in police
cars” hindered actions of protesters not far from Berdzor. They used
violence against protesters, inflicted injuries on them, broke their
cameras and damaged cars.