Saturday 17 May 2008

Political & Semi-Political News from Armenia


NEW ARMENIAN CABINET UNVEILS STRATEGY
by Natalia Leshchenko
Global Insight
April 29, 2008

The Armenian parliament is discussing today the five-year
development strategy proposed by the newly formed government of
Tigran Sarkisian. The programme pledges the strengthening the rule
of law, improving the business environment and implementing other
"second-generation" reforms. Economy Minister Nerses Yeritsian said
that the programme aims to sustain Armenia's economic growth by
guaranteeing fair business competition and taking other measures to
improve the overall investment climate. The main locus of such reforms,
the Prime Minister pointed out, will be the improvement of the work of
the tax and customs agencies that are still often accused of arbitrary
action. The parliament is highly likely to pass the strategy since it
is worked out with the representatives of all parliamentary factions,
and the government controls the parliament to a nearly full extent.

Significance:The governmental programme is a predictable continuation
of the policies of President Serzh Sargsyan, who had stepped into
the position from having been prime minister. Anti-corruption
reforms are much needed, as well as the streamlining of the fiscal
and customs policies implementation. The governmental commitment to
the declared goals of improving the investment climate, however, will
need to be verified by action, as corruption will be hard to root out
given its strong penetration into the administrative bodies of the
country. Finding social peace will also be a major task, after the
bloody crack-down on post-election protests this March. The programme
put forward to the parliament by Armenian government has all the right
words in it--the question is whether the government will prove able
to sing to its own hymn sheet.

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ARMENIA: OPPOSITION SETS TALKS TERMS
Two months after Yerevan bloodshed, Armenian opposition lays out conditions for dialogue.
By Gayane Abrahamian in Yerevan

Former president Levon Ter-Petrosian was met by hundreds of his supporters
with applause and shouts of "Levon - president", outside the government building
where the Armenian opposition held a congress on May 2.

Some made the comparison with Ter-Petrosian's return to Yerevan after six months
in prison in Moscow in 1989, following his arrest as a nationalist dissident leader.

The meeting was a chance for Ter-Petrosian, who has been restricted from appearing
in public since the March 1 violence in Yerevan, in which ten people died, to address
his supporters and set out his strategy.

The congress, which unites 23 parties under the name Movement Heralding National
Awakening, opened with a minute's silence for those who died on March 1.

Ter-Petrosian called the events of that day a "massacre" and accused the former
president Robert Kocharian of responsibility. He went on to say that the incoming
president Serzh Sarkisian - whose legitimacy the opposition disputes - should have
stopped the killings, but his level of culpability will depend on whether he sanctions
an unbiased investigation into the March 1 bloodshed.

"There is no more convenient and useful way to prove his innocence than to agree to
holding an international independent investigation," said Ter-Petrosian

The former president proposed that a new "Armenian National Congress" should be
formed, which would develop into a party that could play a "decisive role" in Armenian
politics and put forward candidates in elections.

"It is quite possible that in the future this 'congress' will turn into a centrist party with a
strong structure," he said.

Some analysts are sceptical, however, about how feasible it is for the opposition to
unite.

"It looks as though he is just playing for time and this is just a step to keep his supporters
in the game," said political analyst Eduard Antinian. "I am sure that at least two key
parties of the 20 that are forming the movement - the Heritage and Social Democratic
parties - will definitely not become centrist."

Vardan Khachatrian, a Heritage member of parliament, the only opposition party
represented there, was cautious about the idea of a united party.

"Further events will make things clear," said Khachatrian. "At the moment, we are
standing alongside the national movement but we simply see no need in a merger.
Today it's more important for us to be in dialogue on equal terms."

The key question currently in Armenia is whether a dialogue is possible between the
opposition, led by Ter-Petrosian and the new administration of Serzh Sarkisian, and
on what terms.

"If no dialogue between the authorities and the opposition takes place in the next six
months, then the parliamentary opposition will collapse," said former presidential
candidate Arman Melikian.

Ter-Petrosian said that he does not recognise the "legitimacy of the administration that
has seized power" but agrees that they should be engaged.

His main demand is that the government carries out a resolution adopted by the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, on April 17, which calls for an immediate
"independent, transparent and credible inquiry into the events of 1 March and the
circumstances that led to them, including the alleged excessive use of force by the police
and violence by the protesters".

It also demanded that people in custody on "seemingly artificial and politically motivated
charges" should be released and amendments to legislation restricting public meetings
should be revoked.

The resolution warns that if these changes are not carried out, "the credibility of Armenia
as a member of the Council of Europe is put into doubt" and the Armenian delegation risks
losing its voting rights in the parliamentary assembly.

The authorities called the resolution "tough" and Tigran Torosian, speaker of the Armenian
parliament, said it "does not fully correspond to the picture of the events" that took place.

US-born former foreign minister Raffi Hovhannissian, leader of Heritage, has called for a
dialogue between government and opposition on the basis of the resolution.

"The country is in a state of crisis and I see the way out from it as being real, radical and
genuine reforms, which are possible through dialogue," said Hovhannissian.

In the meantime, a commission was formed in parliament to study the Council of Europe
resolution, of which Hovhannissian is not a member.

"This is one more step designed to isolate the opposition," said Heritage member Anahit
Bakhshian. She said that Hovhannissian is currently out of the country and that the commission
will not accept other members of his party.

"The commission includes people who have damaged and compromised our country by their
actions and incorrect decisions," complained Bakhshian, naming Grigor Amalian and Aleksan
Harutiunian, two unpopular figures at the head of state television. "Entrusting the demands
of the resolution to this commission is like entrusting wolves with lambs."

Some analysts say that dialogue may be impossible, especially as, according to the prosecutor's
office, 58 opposition activists are still in jail.

"This is a vicious circle as the authorities won't release the prisoners so easily as many of them
have criminal charges laid against them and in that case the former president will not engage in
dialogue," said political analyst Levon Shirinian.

Both sides are very suspicious of the other. Eduard Sharmazanov, spokesman for the governing
Republican Party, accused the opposition of bad faith, saying, "The leaders of the opposition are
presenting ultimatums in stead of dialogue."

Gayane Abrahamian is a reporter for Armenianow.com in Yerevan

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Kocharian Rounds On `Immoral' Predecessor
By Emil Danielyan


In his first public comments since leaving office, former President
Robert Kocharian on Monday defended the use of deadly force against
supporters of opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian and accused his
predecessor of `immorally exploiting' the resulting loss of life.

In an interview with the Mediamax news agency, Kocharian sought to
disprove Ter-Petrosian's claims that the March 1 violence in Yerevan was
orchestrated by the government to suppress opposition street protests
against official results of Armenia's disputed presidential election.

Addressing hundreds of loyalists earlier this month, Ter-Petrosian
brushed aside government claims that the clashes, which left at least
ten people dead, were part of his plot to use the February 19 election
for returning to power. He said Kocharian is chiefly responsible for
what he called a `slaughter' of peaceful demonstrators.

`Only a weak-headed or a deeply immoral person may state that the
authorities can deliberately plan the use of arms,' countered Kocharian.
He insisted that his administration was never interested in putting a
bloody end to the country's post-election crisis and had no choice but
to use force against thousands of Ter-Petrosian supporters who gathered
outside the Yerevan mayor's office just hours after the break-up of
their non-stop protest in the city's Liberty Square.

`The use of force by the authorities in such cases can only be a forced
measure, which is to prevent grosser consequences,' said Kocharian.
`This is true especially for me, since I was the outgoing president
then.'

`Levon Ter-Petrosian and the [former ruling] HHSh hungered for blood as
a tool to continue the political struggle,' he charged. `By the way -
others' blood. Ter-Petrosian did everything to provoke unrest and make
the police use force.'

The Armenian authorities say security forces that tried to disperse the
angry crowd were not only pelted with stones and Molotov cocktails but
also came under gunfire. Two of the ten people killed in the clashes
were interior troop servicemen. The authorities also point to the
looting of several shops and burning of dozens of cars that followed the
police retreat from one of the streets leading to the area.

However, the official version of events has been questioned by Armenia's
human rights ombudsman, Armen Harutiunian, and international human
rights organization. In an extensive report issued late last month,
Harutiunian said that the Armenian police have so far failed to
publicize any evidence of the use of firearms by the protesters. None of
several dozen Ter-Petrosian supporters arrested since March has been
charged with firing at security forces.

According to Kocharian, this is so because `many important figures are
still hiding from the investigation.' `Attempts to cast doubts on the
fact of the use of arms, whereas two policemen and soldiers were killed
and 41 were wounded, are just foolish,' he said.

Kocharian also insisted that Ter-Petrosian was not placed under de facto
house arrest after riot police dispersed his tent camp in Liberty Square
in the early morning of March 1. The opposition leader says that is the
reason why he did not join the crowd that barricaded itself outside the
mayor's office later in the day.

`He was clearly told that he could go wherever and whenever he wanted,
but the participation of security officers [guarding Ter-Petrosian] in
illegal rallies, which had grown into mass unrest, was impermissible,'
said Kocharian. `He could have released his security guards and joined
the people who trusted him.'

`The myth about house arrest is a justification of a coward who avoided
responsibility,' he added.

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MELKONIAN MUST REOPEN IF WE WANT DIASPORA TO
SURVIVE", FORMER PM TELLS CONFERENCE
AZG Armenian Daily
26/04/2008

Diaspora

Greeks and Turks more concerned with school's fate

A leading member of the Armenian Diaspora believes that if the
Melkonian school in Cyprus does not open some time soon, it will
spell disaster for all Armenians around the world.

Speaking at the sixth meeting of the Organising Committee of the
Western Armenian National Council that ended in Nicosia on Sunday,
Anoushavan Danielyan said that he would try to convince the AGBU
in New York to reopen the historic school. He said it would be to
the benefit of present-day Armenia to maintain such a high-calibre
educational centre within the European Union and so close to the
Middle East and Russia.

"I know what it costs to maintain a school for a community, for all
Armenia and Western Armenians. In the Diaspora we must have educational
and financial centres to support the Republic of Armenia in every way,"
Danielyan said.

"If there are 1,200 schools in Armenia, adding one more would simply
bring the total to 1,201, while closing a school in the Diaspora
will be a national loss," the former prime minister of Nakorno
Karapagh said.

Danielyan was commenting on the AGBU decision to reallocate the funds
of the Melkonian Trust in order to open a 'Melkonian Summer School'
near the capital Yerevan to teach the Armenian language and culture
to 400 Diaspora youths for three months each year.

"It would be better to have a school that enjoys the moral and academic
support of the friendly government of Cyprus and its people, to which
we are all thankful," he added.

But his optimism was countered by some of the six speakers who told
the 40-member central committee meeting held at the Holiday Inn in
Nicosia that the AGBU never wanted to discuss the school's fate.

"The reason for the closure was neither financial trouble nor falling
academic standards. It was their intention to exploit the valuable
land the school was sitting on," said one panelist.

Ambassador Nicholas Makris, a member of the Council of Europe committee
that drafted the Charter for European Minority Languages, told the
conference that the Melkonian must reopen otherwise the Armenian
community of Cyprus faces extinction. He said that the government
of Cyprus has an obligation to implement the Charter, primarily by
reopening of the school.

"The (CoE) committee will be visiting Cyprus again later this year when
they will have to assess any progress on the efforts to preserve and
safeguard the Armenian language on the island," the former diplomat
said.

Dr. Akabie Nassibian-Ekmekdjian, historian and principal of the
school in the 1980s gave a historical overview, saying that the
Melkonian Education Institute, founded in 1926 as an orphanage for
Genocide survivors, has produced hundreds of scientists, academics,
artists and authors who are among the leading personalities of the
Western Armenian Diaspora. Yeran Kouyoumdjian, editor of a community
newspaper, and Armen Urneshlian, an educator from Lebanon, argued
that the closure of the Melkonian was not for financial reasons and
that it is already having a negative effect on the Armenian Diaspora.

"Schools in the U.S. need tens of Armenian language and history
teachers and we are seeing the last of them," Urneshlian added.

Talat's surprise

Vartan Tashjian, former headmaster of the Nareg elementary schools,
spoke of his personal experiences and explained how Cypriots in general
were angered by the closure and how they supported the struggle to
save the school.

"In a chance meeting on Ledra Street after the checkpoint opened,
I came face-to-face with (Turkish Cypriot community leader) Mehmet
Ali Talat the day he crossed over to our side," Tashdjian told the
conference delegates.

"I greeted him in Turkish and Talat asked my name.

When I told him I was a school teacher he immediately asked, 'What
has happened to that school? It's a shame it closed' to which I had
to explain that I was not a teacher at the Melkonian. I felt ashamed,"
Tashdjian concluded.

The final speakers of the session included Masis der Parthogh,
journalist and alumni association member, who said that the school's
closure was planned years in advance with the intention to exploit
the land, and Manouk Yildizian, journalist, who explained the legal
aspects of community and minority rights in Cyprus and gave an overview
of the government's pledge to support the school, both financially
and academically.

"Have any of the old established schools in England ever closed for
financial reasons? Never, but they are maintained to produce the
future leaders of the country, with the occasional one or two prime
ministers," Yildizian added.

Present among the community members observing the conference was
former AGBU Central Board member Benon Sevan, who said that it was
"unfair" that only one side of the argument was heard and that the
AGBU came under vicious attack from the panelists.

The session's chairman argued that the AGBU's positions were very clear
and that the committee members wanted to hear about the prospects of
reopening the historic school.

Dr. Ekmekdjian added that the worldwide Melkonian alumni and friends
had always wanted a dialogue, but it was the AGBU that refused for
years to discuss keeping the school open.

Asked by the panel to elaborate on the fate of the 25,000 books of
the Melkonian library that have supposedly perished and the late 19th
century newspapers and documents that were reportedly burned, Sevan,
who is also a member of the Melkonian Administration Committee,
said he would "come back later with an answer." Last year, the
University of Cyprus had asked Armenian Representative in the House,
Vartkes Mahdessian, to intervene to help save the historic library and
provide a temporary shelter to the books until the school reopened,
but the AGBU refused to discuss the matter.

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