Author: nina hovnanian

NEW TIMES PARTY LEADER DOESN’T EXPECT PROGRESS IN KARABAKH TALKS

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 27, 2011 – 11:24 AMT

New Times Party leader Aram Karapetyan doesn’t expect any progress
in Nagorno Karabakh talks in the near future.

“The resolution is being hampered by contradicting positions of the
conflicting sides the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries will try to
bring closer in June,” he said when commenting on the joint statement
adopted by Dmitry Medvedev, Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy at the
G8 summit in the French resort of Deauville.

However, he welcomed the call for peace aimed to curb Azerbaijan’s
warlike policy as a positive step.

Member of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia Rafik Petrosyan,
for his part, agreed that the international community condemns the
counties threatening use of force as a means of conflict resolution.

“We…are convinced that it is time for the sides in the conflict over
Nagorno Karabakh to take a decisive step toward a peaceful resolution
(of the conflict),” said a joint statement by Presidents of Russia,
France and U.S. “We firmly call on the leaders of the sides to prepare
their people for peace, not war,” the statement said. “We call on
the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia to demonstrate political
will and finalize…the basic principles (of a peace agreement)
during the forthcoming summit in June.”

System of a Down slays at epic Forum show

OC Register

By BEN WENER
Published: May 25, 2011

Note: If you were there, and are wondering why that doesn’t look like
the Serj you saw, scroll to the bottom for an explanation …

As reunions go, the return of System of a Down this spring-into-summer
is hardly among the most momentous regroupings in rock history, no
matter how rabidly anticipated it has been by fans who went positively
berserk for Tuesday tremendous performance at the Forum — the best SOAD
set I seen, going back to the . Undoubtedly they will go nuts again
tonight at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine, though I wonder if
they’ll scream as loud should a sound-checking tech once again say
“Daron mic … Shavo mic …”

They’re just over-excited, and who can blame ’em? But, as was the case
with Foo Fighters much shorter hiatus, there was never any doubt System
would be back — they said as much before they split for side projects
in 2006. For all those supposed tensions several years ago — they
certainly were evident last time I caught the group at the Greek — this
one-of-a-kind L.A. outfit remains as tight-knit as the Armenian
community it often commemorates in song. They essentially family, much
more so, it seems, than most of their contemporaries. Brothers just need
breathers sometimes.

So they took five years off and pursued endeavors that were
across-the-board intriguing, if also not as satisfying as a proper
System effort. Each served a purpose, however, scratching respective
itches while keeping one another professionally honed — none more so
than vocalist Serj Tankian, who explored his nascent theatricality via
solo tours and refined his dynamic, full-bodied voice with melodies (on
Elect the Dead) that were occasionally richer than the maniacal barking
he provides for SOAD.

Guitarist and co-vocalist Daron Malakian chiefly responsible for the
sound and thematic content of the group last studio recordings — the
erstwhile double-album Mesmerize/Hypnotize, released in two
chart-topping halves six months apart in 2005 — further explored his
industrial tendencies with Scars on Broadway, a far less active machine
powered by drummer John Dolmayan (who also put together his own outfit,
Indicator). Shavo Odadjian, as befits a bassist without a band, ventured
into other grooves, collaborating with the RZA of Wu-Tang Clan as
AcHoZeN and paying some dues as beat-slapper in George Clinton
ever-rotating P-Funk lineups.

Those were all fine stopgaps that kept System of a Down away just long
enough. Any less and it wouldn have mattered — nor would it likely have
produced half as much frenzy as coursed through fans at the Forum like
zaps of lightning. Never mind the surging waves of humanity that lapped
at the stage — I was busy counting how many circle pits would erupt at
the start of each song. Most of the time it was around six, though two
kept widening into a larger one. But when gave way to , the enormous
response reached a boiling point — and nine pit flurries broke out on
the floor.

As with Rage Against the Machine’s minions, the fervency of some System
fans borders on insanity.

Had the band stayed away much longer than six or seven years, though,
some of us might have been left wondering if System of a Down was
ultimately only a generation-specific rock giant, like David Lee
Roth-era Van Halen — crucial, yes, but principally to a very distinct
segment of people.

Unquestionably System is one of the most original and outspoken heavy
rock bands of the last quarter-century, a not-so-bold statement (if you
been paying attention) reaffirmed by Tuesday night galvanic 30-song set.
Naturally it would be a peak performance, the hometown stop on a brief
West Coast swing before the quartet heads overseas for headlining
festival appearances in the U.K., Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden
and Finland, and then later in the year in Brazil.)

Still, outside of explosive (but inconsistent) live shows, the band
reputation rests only on a formative debut and two masterful double
albums, if you paste together the last two discs and consider the sonic
breakthrough Toxicity (2001) and its bootlegged-then-released
counterpart Steal This Album! (2002) as halves of a greater whole. Toss
in widely circulated demo tapes dating back to 1995 and that still isn
much quality output in the same amount of time it took Zappa (one of
their heroes) to crank out four times as many albums.

But what a remarkable and increasingly relevant body of work it is.
There are scarce few tracks in the System songbook that don jab the
brain with sociopolitical subject matter: in Hollywood and are more
localized examinations of ego and celebrity, while this night one-two
opening grenade, Song and .Y.O.B. ( do they always send the poor?!), was
a stunning reminder of how succinctly SOAD can skewer national/global
travesties of might (or wrong) over right.

Just in case any unenlightened college kids turned up solely for a party
that they were too young for five years ago, Tankian, in the only time
he said much more than and you to the audience Tuesday night, made sure
the overriding message was heard. reached the point of our own
extinction, he said just after and during the build toward Mountains, an
icy alpine backdrop (one of several draped behind the band throughout
the night) giving way to a scene of infinite cosmos. We approached our
inevitable doom a horde of locusts we been without giving, reaping
without nurturing we are the Hitlers of the 21st century we are the
Stalins of the 21st century. Yet are also love we can be inclusive we
can grow we are not just flesh, we are spirit that moves through all
things. He doesn believe in governments and flags, he said — just
people and their inalienable right to build peaceful future going
forward.

All of that came through loud and clear — and was perhaps even digested
by the majority of headbanging guys and their equally aggressive
girlfriends — throughout System generous, ferociously played
performance, the musicianship of which matched the lyrical sting. A
colleague tells me he found Sunday set in Chula Vista perfunctory — he
felt more passion coming from opening act Gogol Bordello, the punk
ensemble that was rousing as ever at the Forum, thanks to smartly
revised pacing.

But Tuesday night System was anything but perfunctory. I, too,
half-expected them to play like they were picking up a paycheck on the
way to bigger sums in Europe; there no other impetus for these shows,
apart from hopefully (as with No Doubt) directing them back to their
mojo. have no master plan of sorts, they admitted on their website when
the hiatus was ended. are playing these shows simply because we want to
play together again as a band and for you, our amazing fans.

That isn falsely humble: it a simple aim that is now being epically
achieved. Either they rehearsed for months to get this robust again, or
the half-dozen dates before these Southern California shows has really
tightened them. Or maybe they just that good. (Or maybe we had time
enough to forget how instinctively skilled they are at pulling off such
diabolical music.) Whatever the case, Tankian has never sung better,
Malakian has never played better (nor integrated his weirdo stage
persona into the mix with such finesse), and the rhythm section can now
hold its own against Metallica’s.

They sounded revitalized from the break yet as seasoned as a band that
never stopped touring. Apparently free from whatever was ailing it half
a decade ago, a matured but no less striking System of a Down has picked
up where it left off, amazingly in flawless form, marshaling their best
material into a brain-rattling, body-hurling hurricane of thought bombs.
I didn know how much I miss their shrapnel until they took it away.

Setlist: System of a Down at the Forum, Inglewood, May 24, 2011 Prison
Song / B.Y.O.B. / Know / Needles / Deer Dance / Attack / Radio/Video
Hypnotize / Question! / Suggestions / Psycho / Chop Suey! / Lonely Day /
Soldier Side Intro Soldier Side Bounce / Kill Rock Roll / Lost in
Hollywood / Forest Science / Holy Mountains / Aerials / Tentative /
Cigaro / Suite-Pee War? / Toxicity / P.L.U.C.K. Sartarabad / Sugar

A note about the photos: Both shots of Serj Tankian, by Stefan Gosatti,
are from Big Day Out in Perth, Australia, February 2009. They are the
most recent live pics available from Getty Images. Photographers were
not allowed to shoot at the Forum, nor at any other stateside dates, as
far as I can tell. Why? Beats me. But I thought it better to post what
Serj more or less looks like now, rather than run a System shot from
late 2005, when he had long hair. He did wear a white shirt Tuesday
night, anyway. But he left the top hat at home.

U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA HAS NO INTENTION OF CREATING PARTY COMPOSED OF U.S. COLLEGE GRADUATES

Interfax
May 20 2011
Russia

An official with the U.S. embassy in Armenia has denied the media
reports stating that U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Marie Yovanovitch is
planning to create a party in Armenia.

Earlier on Friday, some Armenian media reported that Yovanovitch
intends to create a party composed of U.S. colleague graduates
before she leaves Armenia. The reports stated that the party is to
be registered by May 26, 2011.

Yovanovitch will complete her three year mission to Armenia in June.

In Washington, she is expecting to be appointed aide to the assistant
secretary of state on Northern and Central Europe.

On Thursday, U.S. President Barrack Obama nominated John Heffern
as the new ambassador of the U.S. to Armenia. Heffern is currently
deputy head of the U.S. mission to NATO.

GEORGIA CLOSE TO “CIRCASSIAN GENOCIDE” STATEMENT
By Nino Kharadze

Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR)
CAUCASUS REPORTING SERVICE, No. 592
May 24 2011
UK

Some analysts warn that delving too deep into other people’s history
could create problems in the here and now.

Georgia’s parliament is moving closer to stating officially that
Russia’s expulsion of the Circassian people from their homeland in
the 19th century was an act of genocide. If it does so, the move is
certain to do more damage to an already troubled relationship with
Moscow, which rejects this description of the historical events.

Parliament began its consideration of the issue on May 13 by hearing an
expert report by Merab Chukhua, a professor at Tbilisi’s Javakhishvili
State University. Chukhua recommended that legislators acknowledge that
Russian imperial action against the Circassians qualified as genocide.

He said the evidence available indicated that from 1763 to 1864, “the
political and military leadership of the Russian Empire thoroughly
planned and implemented ethnic cleansing of Circassian territories”. A
20 per cent loss in population over this period of conquest meant
the term “genocide” was justified, he added.

Chukhua said more than 90 per cent of Circassians were killed or
expelled from their homeland, while Russians and Cossacks were
systematically settled in these areas.

Around five million Circassians now live outside the northwest
Caucasus, mainly in Turkey, and only a million still live in what
was their homeland until Russia began its southward expansion.

Nugzar Tsiklauri, chairman of the parliamentary committee for diaspora
and Caucasian affairs, said he and his colleagues would discuss the
professor’s findings and decide whether to submit them for a full
debate in the legislature.

Analysts believe the issue has come to the fore because of Georgian
anger at Moscow’s recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as
sovereign states in 2008. Both entities have been de facto separate
from Georgia since conflicts in the early Nineties.

Also in the mix is the fact that the 2014 Winter Olympics will take
place in Sochi, part of the Circassian’s heartland before they were
driven out from Black Sea coastal areas. Some Circassian organisations
have protested against the games being located here. Sochi is also
close to Russia’s border with Abkhazia.

Tsiklauri denied a direct connection between the winter games and
the genocide debate, although Georgian deputy prime minister Giorgi
Baramidze said in November that Russia did not deserve the Olympics
because of its past policies in the North Caucasus.

“I don’t think the Olympic movement has much to do with the murder of
hundreds of thousands of people in the North Caucasus, in Chechnya
and elsewhere,” he said. “Sochi, as you well know, is very close to
the border with Georgia, and [Abkhazia] is under illegal occupation.”

Gigi Tevzadze, the rector of Ilia State University in Tbilisi, sees
a direct connection between the two issues.

“The fact that genocide occurred on the lands where they’re holding
the Olympcics could give people serious pause for thought,” he said.

Tevzadze added that a formal statement on Circassian genocide would
improve Georgia’s relationships with the peoples of the North Caucasus.

Most analysts, however, warned politicians against provoking Russia.

Even if the proposed genocide decision is right, they argue, it will
not benefit Georgia politically.

“Recognising the genocide isn’t going to persuade the international
community not to hold the Olympics in Sochi,” Paata Zakareishvili,
head of the Institute for the Study of Nationalism and Conflict, said.

“Russia may well take retaliatory action, for example by accusing
Georgia of organising acts of terrorism in the North Caucasus, or of
inflaming the situation generally.”

Zakareishvili’s comments were echoed by experts like Mamuka Areshidze,
head of the Caucasus Centre for Strategic Studies, who said he opposed
a formal genocide statement, even if 19th century history had to be
considered as Georgia formulated its policy towards the North Caucasus.

One result, Areshidze warned, would be that “other nations which
believe they too are victims of genocide will appeal to Georgia –
first and foremost the Armenians and the Meskhetian Muslims”.

The Meskhetians were removed wholesale from Soviet Georgia in the
1940s, and are only now beginning to return, while Armenians have
consistently pressed for Ottoman Turkish actions in 1915 to be
recognised as a genocide.

“It would be hard for us to explain to the Armenians why we won’t
recognise their genocide – yet then we would lose our strategic
partners Turkey and Azerbaijan,” Areshidze said.

Backing the Circassian cause could also have serious effects in
the already smouldering North Caucasus. The Circassians who still
live there have struggled to unite as they live spread over several
autonomous areas, shared with the Karachay, Balkar and other ethnic
groups. A growth in nationalism and attempts to unify Circassian
groups could lead to land disputes and bloodshed in the region.

United States officials have already appealed for calm. In February,
James Clapper, director of United States national intelligence,
noted Georgia’s attempts to engage in the North Caucasus.

“Moscow’s continued military presence in, and political-economic
ties to, Georgia’s separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia,
combined with Georgia’s dissatisfaction with the status quo, account
for some of the tensions,” he told a Senate select committee hearing.

“Georgia’s public efforts to engage with various ethnic groups in
the Russian North Caucasus have also contributed to these tensions.”

Nino Kharadze works for Radio Liberty in Georgia.

AZERI EUROVISION WIN POSES ARMENIAN DILEMMA
By Samira Ahmedbeyli

Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR)
CAUCASUS REPORTING SERVICE, No. 592
May 24 2011

Both nations uncertain whether Yerevan should send singer to 2012
contest in Baku.

Azerbaijanis and Armenians struggle to find common ground on most
issues. Now Azerbaijan’s victory in the Eurovision Song Contest has
generated a debate in both countries over whether Armenian artists
should go to Baku for next year’s event.

The unexpected victory of “Running Scared” by duo Ell & Nikki – Eldar
Gasimov and Nigar Jamal – sparked two days of wild celebrations in
Azerbaijan. Young people danced in the streets as the police, normally
quick to crack down on public demonstrations of any kind, looked on.

In neighbouring Armenia, where the national contestant disappointed
early expectations and failed to qualify for the finals, Azerbaijan’s
victory caused dismay.

The two countries have never concluded a formal peace deal to end
the war over Nagorny Karabakh which is controlled by Armenians but
is internationally regarded as part of Azerbaijan. That stand-off
complicates the question of whether, politically, Armenia can send a
performer to take part when the 2012 contest is hosted by Azerbaijan,
as this year’s champion.

Asked about Armenian participation at the press conference following
his victory, singer Eldar Gasimov was clear in his support for the
idea, saying, “Culture makes people come together.”

But this opinion was not widely shared back in Azerbaijan, particularly
among the hundreds of thousands of people who had to flee their homes
in the Karabakh war and see little prospect of returning home.

“Our organisation is categorically opposed to all visits to Azerbaijan
by representatives from Armenia – and by Azeris to Armenia as well
– until the territories occupied by Armenians are liberated,” said
Akif Nagi, head of the Karabakh Liberation Organisation. “Europe and
the world must understand and support us on this. Our organisation
will use every permissible means to prevent Armenia participating in
Eurovision-2012. That is absolutely unacceptable.”

Many Armenian commentators were worried about the prevalence of such
views in Azerbaijan, and suggested it would not be safe for performers
to travel there.

The head of Armenian public television – a member of the European
Broadcasting Union which is behind Eurovision – declined to comment
on whether the country would be taking part next year.

In an interview with the Armenian service of Radio Liberty,
Eurovision-2011’s executive director Jon Ola Sand made it clear
Azerbaijan would have no choice in the matter.

“We expect that the hosting country, being a responsible partner of
the European Broadcasting Union, will ensure the security of every
delegation which arrives in Azerbaijan, Baku. And there cannot be
any exceptions,” he said.

Leaders of Azerbaijan’s opposition parties said that under the
circumstances, the country should not make a fuss about hosting
Armenian performers.

Natiq Adilov, spokesman for the Popular Front of Azerbaijan, pointed
out that Baku hosted an Armenian wrestling team two years ago, and
the country’s flag was raised when one of the visiting athletes won
a bronze medal.

The head of the Armenian Church has also visited Baku, where he
offered prayers for peace.

“Azerbaijan has already received military, diplomatic, religious
and sporting delegations from Armenia. Why can’t Armenian cultural
delegates also come here? There’s nothing in this,” Adilov said.

Many Azerbaijanis said the competition should reflect their country’s
tradition of hospitality, and not to rake up old disputes.

“It would be stupid not to host the Armenians,” Aliya Hagverdi, a
30-year-old businesswoman, said. “We must show them our hospitality,
our tolerance, and feed them black caviar and Caspian sturgeon so
that when they go home, they have nothing they can hold against us.”

Others, however, were worried that Armenia might not approach the
event in the same spirit.

“I don’t care whether Armenia takes part in Eurovision-2012 or not.

This event is a much bigger thing than whatever Armenia wants to do
or can do,” Kenan Guluzade, a 35-year-old journalist, said. “But I
am sure that Armenians will play up the issue and lay stress on it,
so everyone is talking about Eurovision and Armenia, rather than
Eurovision in Azerbaijan.”

Samira Ahmedbeyli is an IWPR reporter in Baku.

STOCK EXCHANGE OWNER SHOT IN ARMENIA (PHOTO)

news.am
May 27 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – Robbery attack occurred on Thursday in Yerevan,
photojournalist Gagik Shamshyan informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

According to witnesses, Arthur Hakobyan, 35, and his father, Davit
Hakobyan, 81, were attacked and are currently hospitalized at Armenia
medical center.

Arthur is an owner of several stock exchanges in Yerevan. Previously
one of his stock exchanges has also been attacked.

Investigation is underway to find out circumstances of the accident
and the stolen car.

ANCA Welcomes Arrest of Indicted Genocide Perpetrator

Armenian Weekly
Thu, May 26 2011

WASHINGTON-The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) welcomed
the Serbian government’s arrest, today, of Ratko Mladic, a former
Serbian General who spent 15 years as a fugitive from justice after
being charged in 1995 by the International Criminal Tribunal for
the former Yugoslavia with genocide, war crimes, and crimes against
humanity during the Bosnian War.

Mladic

“We join Armenians throughout the United States and around the world in
welcoming today’s arrest by the Serbian government of indicted genocide
perpetrator General Ratko Mladic,” said ANCA executive director Aram
Hamparian. “The differences between Serbia’s and Turkey’s response to
genocide could not be greater: The Serbian government, to its credit,
has acknowledged the truth of its own history and accepted moral and
legal responsibility for past crimes, while Turkey-with the complicity
of the U.S. government-continues to evade the truth and escape its
moral and material responsibilities for the Armenian Genocide.”

The White House, earlier today, congratulated the Serbian government
for arresting Mladic. Speaking on behalf of the Obama Administration,
Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes, who is traveling with
President Obama at the G8 summit in France, stated that his capture
underscores that, “justice will come to those who carry out these
types of crimes against humanity, that the international community
will be unrelenting in the pursuit of that justice.”

LES PRESIDENTS DES ETATS-UNIS, DE FRANCE ET DE RUSSIE PRESSENT L’ARMENIE ET L’AZERBAIDJAN DE TROUVER UN ACCORD
Gari

armenews.com
vendredi 27 mai 2011

En marge du sommet des pays du G8 a Deauville, les presidents des
Etats-Unis, de France et de Russie ont appele jeudi 26 mai l’Armenie
et l’Azerbaïdjan a s’engager au plus vite sur la voie d’un accord en
vue de regler le conflit du Haut-Karabagh, au risque sinon de voir
remise en cause la sincerite de leur volonte affichee de trouver une
solution pacifique au conflit.

“Nous … sommes convaincus que l’heure est venue pour toutes les
parties du conflit du Haut-Karabagh de faire un pas decisif vers un
règlement pacifique “, ont notamment fait savoir dans une declaration
conjointe les presidents Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy et Dmitry
Medvedev reunis dans la station balneaire de la côte normande lors
du sommet du G8 place sous haute surveillance.

“Nous demandons donc aux presidents de l’Armenie et l’Azerbaïdjan de
demontrer leur volonte politique en finalisant les principes de base
[d’un règlement du conflit du Karabagh] lors de leur sommet a venir
en juin” poursuit le texte de la declaration, en ajoutant que d’autre
retard dans la conclusion d’un compromis ne pourrait que “remettre
en question l’engagement des parties a parvenir a un accord”.

En qualite de dirigeants des trois pays qui copresident le Groupe
de Minsk de l’OSCE en charge du processus de règlement du conflit
du Karabagh, MM. Obama, Sarkozy et Medvedev en ont appele a ” la
dernière version des principes de base ” qui ont ete examines par
les presidents armenien Serge Sarkissian et azeri Ilham Aliyev lors
de leur dernière reunion sous l’egide du president russe a Sotchi en
mars. M.Medvedev doit organiser un autre sommet entre l’Armenie et
l’Azerbaïdjan en juin prochain.

MM. Aliyev et Sarkisian avaient indique a l’issue du sommet de Sotchi
que celui-ci avait ouvert des perspectives pour la resolution du
conflit. Cependant, chacune des parties s’etait accusee par la suite
de vouloir torpiller le processus de negociation. Au debut du mois,
M.Sarkissian avait affirme que l’Azerbaïdjan se preparait a une autre
guerre en vue de reconquerir le territoire conteste. Il avait egalement
laisse entendre que Bakou et Erevan avaient des interpretations
differentes des deux principes cles du droit international au
c~ur du plan de paix propose que sont le droit des peuples a
l’autodetermination et l’integrite territoriale des Etats.

Une mise au point qui semblait principalement destinee aux dirigeants
azerbaïdjanais, alors que les presidents americain, russe et francais
ont fait savoir que toute tentative visant a regler le conflit du
Karabagh par la force pourrait etre condamnee par la communaute
internationale.

” Nous exhortons les dirigeants de chacune des parties a preparer
leurs populations a la paix, non a la guerre ” ont-ils dit. MM.Obama,
Sarkozy et Medvedev avaient deja fait des declarations conjointes sur
le Karabagh par le passe, la dernière en date ayant ete diffusee en
marge du sommet du G8 qui se tenait au Canada en juin 2010.

Dans cette dernière declaration, ils avaient de meme affirme que
l’Armenie et l’Azerbaïdjan doivent ” passer a l’etape suivante
et terminer les travaux sur les principes de base pour permettre
l’elaboration d’un accord de paix prealable “. Le ton se fait cette
fois un peu plus pressant.

FREQUENT AMNESTIES SIGNAL TO AUTHORITARIANISM

A1+
25 May 2011

“The amnesty will be applied to people arrested after the tragic
events of March 1, 2008. Serzh Sargsyan is taking steps to mitigate
the political tension,” MP Victor Dallakyan said in parliament on
Wednesday.

Dallakyan pointed out three reasons behind the amnesty proposal-
the goodwill of the authorities, the pressure of the opposition and
intervention of the international community.

“The authorities demonstrated goodwill and mercy by declaring an
amnesty. The amnesty will enable the authorities and opposition to
build up their relations in a civilized way,” he said adding that
the acting president is not as vindictive as his predecessor.

Speaker of the National Assembly Hovik Abrahamyan is confident that
the political atmosphere will change after the amnesty is applied.

“The amnesty will be of great humanitarian and political significance,
and I’m sure that it will have a positive influence on the political
field. Our political assessment is definitely positive. I am convinced
that the President made a right decision at the right moment. The
amnesty is a manifestation of humanism and can help mitigate the
tension and create a basis for cooperation,” he said.

“We welcome the amnesty proposal, though we consider it belated,”
said the head of ARF-Dashnaktsutyun faction Vahan Hovhannisyan.

“A lot of people will be released from prisons under the general
amnesty proposed by Serzh Sargsyan. However if we study the history
of democratic countries, we can see that they do not grant amnesties
so frequently, for they believe that their courts are fair and those,
who are behind bars, are real criminals,” said Hovhannisyan.

“Frequent amnesties signal to authoritarianism. One of the shortcomings
of our authorities is that they create a problem and then start
solving it,” he concluded.

EXPERT: RUSSIA TO TAKE NEUTRAL POSITION IN CASE OF NEW WAR IN KARABAKH

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 25, 2011 – 14:39 AMT

Director of the Center for Public and Political Studies Vladimir
Evseev said the international community usually provides one month
for conflict’s military resolution. It is proved by Israel’s example
in Gaza Strip, Evseev noted.

“In my opinion, hardly the Karabakh conflict will be resolved
completely in a month. That is why the problem has no military
solution,” the Russian political analyst said.

Besides, according to him, Russia will take a neutral position in
case of resumption of hostilities in Nagorno Karabakh. “Russia has
a military base in Gyumri and it has certain obligations for the
protection of Armenia, but not of Nagorno Karabakh. I am also concerned
over the fact that a great number of Armenians or persons having
close ties with the host country serve at the Russian military base
in Gyumri. It is difficult to predict or control these servicemen’s
behavior in case of resumption of hostilities in Karabakh. Some forces
in Armenia, possibly, will exert efforts to involve Russia in the
military conflict. But hopefully Moscow will be able to withstand
these attempts, as it is not within Russia’s national interests,”
Day.az quoted Evseev as saying.