Armenian News ... A Topalian... Demolition of Cemetery in Djulfa 10 year commemoration...
asbarez.com
TODAY MARKS 10 YEARS SINCE AZERBAIJAN'S DEMOLITION
OF ARMENIAN CEMETERY IN DJULFA
15/12/15
Today is the 10th anniversary of Azerbaijan's demolition of the
Armenian Cemetery of Djulfa
YEREVAN (Tert.am)--Ten years ago today, the Azerbaijani authorities
destroyed the Armenian Cemetery of Djulfa and began the demolition
of several Armenian monuments in Nakhichevan.
In the unprecedented act of vandalism, thousands of Armenian khachkars
(cross-stones) were leveled down with the help of heavy equipment. The
desecration of the monuments began back in 2003 and carried on
until 2006.
Samvel Karapetyan, a monument expert studying samples of Armenian
architecture in and outside of Armenia, described Azerbaijan's
vandalism as an act encouraged by Turkey, the country traditionally
considered its more powerful brother.
"The ancient site of international significance does not exist for ten
years, so we are not able to do anything to return [it]. But we can,
of course, raise the world's awareness of the crime committed. To
rule out such brutalities, that country must be condemned and punished.
Otherwise, such incidents will always repeat themselves. And they
do; while we are talking now, the Azerbaijanis are destroying [more
monuments]. That's also because their 'elder brother', Turkey, wasn't
punished for that."
Azerbaijan's vandalism received an international reaction by
institutions such as the European Commission, the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Holy See of Vatican
and the Greek Orthodox Church's Synod, and even the International
Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). World-renowned scholars and
politicians also voiced their criticism over the act of desecration.
On February 16, 2006 the European Parliament adopted a resolution
condemning the destruction of the medieval cemetery in Djulfa and the
historical monuments in Nakhichevan. The European Parliament also
demanded that Parliament representatives be allowed to visit these
destroyed sites.
Inquiries regarding this issue are discussed at almost every session
with PACE. A European parliamentarian has once even proposed organizing
a visit to Djulfa, but Azerbaijan strongly rejected the idea.
Naira Zohrabyan, a member of the Armenian delegation to PACE, recalled
the screening of the movie "20th Century Vandals" at a joint session
of the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee. The Armenian
parliamentarian, who then headed the Committee, remembered the strong
reaction to the movie.
"And it was unprecedented, as we managed to break the Azerbaijani
lobbyist resistance to organizing the screening. Of course, numerous
notes of protest by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry followed,
but we believe we did manage to attract European organizations'
attention to the problem," she noted.
Different international scholars, joined by US senators, co-signed
a letter to UNESCO and other international bodies, condemning
Azerbaijan's aggression. Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky, the director
of the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, described the violence
as an act of crime. A British member of the European Parliament,
Charles Tennock, compared it with Taliban's move to destroy the
monument of Buddah.
Adam Smith, an anthropology professor at the Chicago University,
condemned the vandalism as "a shameful episode in humanity's relation
to its past, a deplorable act on the part of the government of
Azerbaijan which requires both explanation and repair."
In 2010, a cross-stone park with 20 replicas of the vandalized
khachkars opened near the Church of Holy Savior of All in Gyumri,
Armenia's second largest city.
RFE/RL Report
15/12/15
Today is the 10th anniversary of Azerbaijan's demolition of the
Armenian Cemetery of Djulfa
YEREVAN (Tert.am)--Ten years ago today, the Azerbaijani authorities
destroyed the Armenian Cemetery of Djulfa and began the demolition
of several Armenian monuments in Nakhichevan.
In the unprecedented act of vandalism, thousands of Armenian khachkars
(cross-stones) were leveled down with the help of heavy equipment. The
desecration of the monuments began back in 2003 and carried on
until 2006.
Samvel Karapetyan, a monument expert studying samples of Armenian
architecture in and outside of Armenia, described Azerbaijan's
vandalism as an act encouraged by Turkey, the country traditionally
considered its more powerful brother.
"The ancient site of international significance does not exist for ten
years, so we are not able to do anything to return [it]. But we can,
of course, raise the world's awareness of the crime committed. To
rule out such brutalities, that country must be condemned and punished.
Otherwise, such incidents will always repeat themselves. And they
do; while we are talking now, the Azerbaijanis are destroying [more
monuments]. That's also because their 'elder brother', Turkey, wasn't
punished for that."
Azerbaijan's vandalism received an international reaction by
institutions such as the European Commission, the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Holy See of Vatican
and the Greek Orthodox Church's Synod, and even the International
Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). World-renowned scholars and
politicians also voiced their criticism over the act of desecration.
On February 16, 2006 the European Parliament adopted a resolution
condemning the destruction of the medieval cemetery in Djulfa and the
historical monuments in Nakhichevan. The European Parliament also
demanded that Parliament representatives be allowed to visit these
destroyed sites.
Inquiries regarding this issue are discussed at almost every session
with PACE. A European parliamentarian has once even proposed organizing
a visit to Djulfa, but Azerbaijan strongly rejected the idea.
Naira Zohrabyan, a member of the Armenian delegation to PACE, recalled
the screening of the movie "20th Century Vandals" at a joint session
of the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee. The Armenian
parliamentarian, who then headed the Committee, remembered the strong
reaction to the movie.
"And it was unprecedented, as we managed to break the Azerbaijani
lobbyist resistance to organizing the screening. Of course, numerous
notes of protest by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry followed,
but we believe we did manage to attract European organizations'
attention to the problem," she noted.
Different international scholars, joined by US senators, co-signed
a letter to UNESCO and other international bodies, condemning
Azerbaijan's aggression. Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky, the director
of the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, described the violence
as an act of crime. A British member of the European Parliament,
Charles Tennock, compared it with Taliban's move to destroy the
monument of Buddah.
Adam Smith, an anthropology professor at the Chicago University,
condemned the vandalism as "a shameful episode in humanity's relation
to its past, a deplorable act on the part of the government of
Azerbaijan which requires both explanation and repair."
In 2010, a cross-stone park with 20 replicas of the vandalized
khachkars opened near the Church of Holy Savior of All in Gyumri,
Armenia's second largest city.
RFE/RL Report
Russia Slams Turkey's `Destructive' Stance On Karabakh
15.12.2015
A senior Russian diplomat deplored on Monday Turkey's full and
unconditional support for Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
saying that it runs counter to international efforts to broker an
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal.
"Such a position is not supported in the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe," Aleksandr Lukashevich, the Russian ambassador
to the OSCE headquarters in Vienna, told the Rossiya-24 TV channel.
"There is a strict understanding that the three co-chairs [of the OSCE
Minsk Group] -- Russia, France and the U.S. -- carry the main burden,
as do other members of the Minsk Group," said Lukashevich. "Turkey, by
the way, is also a member. But the leading role [in the Karabakh peace
process] is reserved for the three co-chairs."
"Therefore, attempts to defend one of the parties to the conflict in
Nagorno-Karabakh are absolutely destructive and cannot have any
continuation," added the diplomat.
The remarks clearly reflect a continuing war of words between Moscow
and Ankara that followed the November 24 downing by a Turkish fighter
jet of a Russian warplane near the Syrian-Turkish border.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Foreign Minister Mevlut
Cavusoglu reaffirmed that stance when they paid separate visits to
Baku shortly after the downing of the Russian bomber. Cavusoglu
criticized the U.S., Russian and French mediators for failing to
achieve a Karabakh settlement acceptable to Azerbaijan. He said they
should come up with "new proposals" on resolving the dispute.
Lukashevich attacked Ankara just hours after a Turkish-Azerbaijani
task force on military cooperation began an annual session in
Baku. The two Turkic allies have stepped up that cooperation since the
signing in 2010 of a bilateral treaty on "strategic partnership and
mutual assistance."
Armenia has sought to preclude direct Turkish military intervention in
the Karabakh conflict with close defense links with Russia and, in
particular, Russian military presence on its soil. A Russian-Armenian
agreement signed in 2010 upgraded the security mission of a Russian
army base headquartered in Gyumri, an Armenian city close to the
Turkish border.
RFE/RL Report
Opposition Party Demands Referendum Annulment
Hovannes Movsisian
11.12.2015
The opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) on Friday formally
petitioned the Central Election Commission (CEC) to invalidate the
official results of the disputed December 6 referendum on President
Serzh Sarkisian's constitutional changes.
HAK representatives submitted to the CEC what the opposition party
calls evidence of serious fraud which allowed Sarkisian to secure a
"Yes" vote for the sweeping changes that will transform Armenia into a
parliamentary republic.
"It may be nave to pin hopes on these electoral bodies, but even if
there is a 0.1 percent chance [of success,] we must take it," one of
them, Armen Khachatrian, told RFE/RL's Armenian service
(Azatutyun.am). "Who knows? Maybe the 0.1 percent will one day become
100 percent."
According to the referendum results released by the CEC, over 63
percent of voters backed the constitutional reform. The CEC put voter
turnout at about 51 percent, just enough to make the referendum valid.
The official tally has been rejected as fraudulent by the HAK, other
opposition groups resisting the constitutional reform as well as
Armenian civic groups that deployed hundreds of observers in polling
stations across the country.
Speaking to reporters earlier on Friday, Levon Zurabian, the HAK's
deputy chairman, stood by the party's claims that only up to one-third
of Armenia's 2.5 eligible voters cast ballots on Sunday and that 70
percent of them rejected the proposed amendments.
Zurabian challenged the Armenian authorities to randomly pick 5
precincts and publish the official lists of local residents who
supposedly voted in the referendum. He said a detailed examination of
those lists would show that many voters did not actually go to the
polls on Sunday.
"Republican falsifiers keep those lists as a top state secret because
they know that if those lists are publicized and examined it will
become clear that they completely breached the will of the Armenian
people," claimed Zurabian.
The CEC, which is dominated by government loyalists, will almost
certainly reject the HAK demand to declare the referendum null and
void.
Zurabian said earlier this week that the HAK and its opposition allies
are ready to take their case to Armenia's Constitutional Court. Such
an appeal would have to be backed by at least 27 members of the
Armenian parliament. The HAK holds only a handful of seats in the
National Assembly.
RFE/RL Report
Key Vote Recounts Thwarted
Sisak Gabrielian
11.12.2015
Two leading Armenian opposition parties have failed to have election
officials recount ballots that were cast in polling stations where
they claim vote rigging was particularly serious during Sunday's
constitutional referendum.
Under Armenian law, election commissions can conduct, at the request
of their members alleging serious fraud, recounts within three days
after the announcement of official results of elections or
referendums.
The Armenian National Congress (HAK) and Zharangutyun (Heritage), the
two opposition parties represented in those commissions, demanded
recounts in many precincts in and outside Yerevan. They say that
referendum results there were falsified through ballot box stuffing or
deliberate miscounting of votes.
Election officials representing the ruling Republican Party (HHK) and
its allies, the Prosperous Armenia and Dashnaktsutyun parties, lodged
a much larger number of recount applications in neighboring precincts
despite their leaders' assertions that the referendum was free and
fair.
In virtually all cases, the district-level commissions decided to
process the HHK, BHK and Dashnaktsutyun applications first, sparking
opposition allegations that the authorities are thus obstructing
recounts that would expose evidence of serious fraud.
The commissions failed to recount ballots in more than a dozen
precincts in Yerevan when the legal deadline for such procedures
expired on Friday afternoon.
The HHK-engineered recount proved scandalous in at least one precinct
encompassing a part of the city's southern Shengavit suburb. A local
commission member representing the opposition HAK claimed that his
signature on a vote result protocol, which was taken out of a sack
filled with marked ballots, is not authentic. He produced a copy of
the original protocol which certified 426 votes against and only 154
votes for President Serzh Sarkisian's constitutional changes.
The protocol that emerged during the recount showed a diametrically
opposite referendum outcome. The pro-government commission members
denied that it was forged by them. They claimed that they had
"mistakenly" signed the document shown by their opposition colleague.
15.12.2015
A senior Russian diplomat deplored on Monday Turkey's full and
unconditional support for Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
saying that it runs counter to international efforts to broker an
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal.
"Such a position is not supported in the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe," Aleksandr Lukashevich, the Russian ambassador
to the OSCE headquarters in Vienna, told the Rossiya-24 TV channel.
"There is a strict understanding that the three co-chairs [of the OSCE
Minsk Group] -- Russia, France and the U.S. -- carry the main burden,
as do other members of the Minsk Group," said Lukashevich. "Turkey, by
the way, is also a member. But the leading role [in the Karabakh peace
process] is reserved for the three co-chairs."
"Therefore, attempts to defend one of the parties to the conflict in
Nagorno-Karabakh are absolutely destructive and cannot have any
continuation," added the diplomat.
The remarks clearly reflect a continuing war of words between Moscow
and Ankara that followed the November 24 downing by a Turkish fighter
jet of a Russian warplane near the Syrian-Turkish border.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Foreign Minister Mevlut
Cavusoglu reaffirmed that stance when they paid separate visits to
Baku shortly after the downing of the Russian bomber. Cavusoglu
criticized the U.S., Russian and French mediators for failing to
achieve a Karabakh settlement acceptable to Azerbaijan. He said they
should come up with "new proposals" on resolving the dispute.
Lukashevich attacked Ankara just hours after a Turkish-Azerbaijani
task force on military cooperation began an annual session in
Baku. The two Turkic allies have stepped up that cooperation since the
signing in 2010 of a bilateral treaty on "strategic partnership and
mutual assistance."
Armenia has sought to preclude direct Turkish military intervention in
the Karabakh conflict with close defense links with Russia and, in
particular, Russian military presence on its soil. A Russian-Armenian
agreement signed in 2010 upgraded the security mission of a Russian
army base headquartered in Gyumri, an Armenian city close to the
Turkish border.
RFE/RL Report
Opposition Party Demands Referendum Annulment
Hovannes Movsisian
11.12.2015
The opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) on Friday formally
petitioned the Central Election Commission (CEC) to invalidate the
official results of the disputed December 6 referendum on President
Serzh Sarkisian's constitutional changes.
HAK representatives submitted to the CEC what the opposition party
calls evidence of serious fraud which allowed Sarkisian to secure a
"Yes" vote for the sweeping changes that will transform Armenia into a
parliamentary republic.
"It may be nave to pin hopes on these electoral bodies, but even if
there is a 0.1 percent chance [of success,] we must take it," one of
them, Armen Khachatrian, told RFE/RL's Armenian service
(Azatutyun.am). "Who knows? Maybe the 0.1 percent will one day become
100 percent."
According to the referendum results released by the CEC, over 63
percent of voters backed the constitutional reform. The CEC put voter
turnout at about 51 percent, just enough to make the referendum valid.
The official tally has been rejected as fraudulent by the HAK, other
opposition groups resisting the constitutional reform as well as
Armenian civic groups that deployed hundreds of observers in polling
stations across the country.
Speaking to reporters earlier on Friday, Levon Zurabian, the HAK's
deputy chairman, stood by the party's claims that only up to one-third
of Armenia's 2.5 eligible voters cast ballots on Sunday and that 70
percent of them rejected the proposed amendments.
Zurabian challenged the Armenian authorities to randomly pick 5
precincts and publish the official lists of local residents who
supposedly voted in the referendum. He said a detailed examination of
those lists would show that many voters did not actually go to the
polls on Sunday.
"Republican falsifiers keep those lists as a top state secret because
they know that if those lists are publicized and examined it will
become clear that they completely breached the will of the Armenian
people," claimed Zurabian.
The CEC, which is dominated by government loyalists, will almost
certainly reject the HAK demand to declare the referendum null and
void.
Zurabian said earlier this week that the HAK and its opposition allies
are ready to take their case to Armenia's Constitutional Court. Such
an appeal would have to be backed by at least 27 members of the
Armenian parliament. The HAK holds only a handful of seats in the
National Assembly.
RFE/RL Report
Key Vote Recounts Thwarted
Sisak Gabrielian
11.12.2015
Two leading Armenian opposition parties have failed to have election
officials recount ballots that were cast in polling stations where
they claim vote rigging was particularly serious during Sunday's
constitutional referendum.
Under Armenian law, election commissions can conduct, at the request
of their members alleging serious fraud, recounts within three days
after the announcement of official results of elections or
referendums.
The Armenian National Congress (HAK) and Zharangutyun (Heritage), the
two opposition parties represented in those commissions, demanded
recounts in many precincts in and outside Yerevan. They say that
referendum results there were falsified through ballot box stuffing or
deliberate miscounting of votes.
Election officials representing the ruling Republican Party (HHK) and
its allies, the Prosperous Armenia and Dashnaktsutyun parties, lodged
a much larger number of recount applications in neighboring precincts
despite their leaders' assertions that the referendum was free and
fair.
In virtually all cases, the district-level commissions decided to
process the HHK, BHK and Dashnaktsutyun applications first, sparking
opposition allegations that the authorities are thus obstructing
recounts that would expose evidence of serious fraud.
The commissions failed to recount ballots in more than a dozen
precincts in Yerevan when the legal deadline for such procedures
expired on Friday afternoon.
The HHK-engineered recount proved scandalous in at least one precinct
encompassing a part of the city's southern Shengavit suburb. A local
commission member representing the opposition HAK claimed that his
signature on a vote result protocol, which was taken out of a sack
filled with marked ballots, is not authentic. He produced a copy of
the original protocol which certified 426 votes against and only 154
votes for President Serzh Sarkisian's constitutional changes.
The protocol that emerged during the recount showed a diametrically
opposite referendum outcome. The pro-government commission members
denied that it was forged by them. They claimed that they had
"mistakenly" signed the document shown by their opposition colleague.
RFE/RL Report
U.S. Warns Of Armenian Vote Rigging Blacklist
Sargis Harutyunyan ## Hovannes Movsisian
14.12.2015
In an unprecedented warning, the United States said on Monday that it
could blacklist individuals who committed serious irregularities
reported during Armenia's recent constitutional referendum.
In a fresh statement on the December 6 vote, the U.S. Embassy in
Yerevan also renewed its calls for the Armenian authorities to
investigate in earnest "credible allegations" of fraud that have been
voiced by opposition activists and non-partisan monitors.
"We reiterate that the results of the investigations and prosecutions
of those responsible for any irregularities must be transparent and
public in order for the Armenian people to have confidence in the
integrity of the electoral process," it said. "Full and transparent
investigations, as well as the resulting public reports, even if they
do not lead to criminal prosecutions, can help the Electoral
Commission, the National Assembly, and civil society identify possible
improvements to current electoral procedures."
"In accordance with the U.S. commitment to fight corruption worldwide,
the U.S. Embassy can also draw upon the information contained in such
reports to help assess whether any individuals who directly interfered
in the integrity of the December 6 electoral process can participate
in Embassy programs or activities," added the statement.
The embassy did not specify whether those individuals could be banned
from entering U.S. or have their possible assets frozen.
The U.S. has repeatedly criticized disputed elections and referendums
held in Armenia in the past. But it is the first time that Washington
is openly threatening to shun or sanction local election officials
accused of vote rigging.
Richard Giragosian, a U.S.-born analyst based in Yerevan, suggested
that the embassy warning is "the first step towards sanctions" against
Armenian officials. He compared it to U.S. visa bans and asset freezes
imposed on Russian officials involved in the alleged cover-up of the
death of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who died in prison in 2009 after
exposing large-scale corruption in Russia.
"This may be the opening round for such harsh but individual-targeted
sanctions," Giragosian told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).
The U.S. mission issued the statement three days after
Prosecutor-General Gevorg Kostanian briefed reporters on ongoing
investigations into referendum-related fraud claims investigated by
Armenian law-enforcement authorities. Kostanian said that while they
have opened 14 criminal cases in connection with the allegations,
nobody has been arrested or charged yet.
Kostanian said the Armenian police and other law-enforcement bodies
received over 460 complaints relating to the conduct of the
referendum. "A fraud report does not necessarily mean a fact of a
crime," he stressed.
The deputy head of Armenia's Investigative Committee, Aram Tamazian,
made a similar point at a news conference on Monday. "The number of
[fraud] reports does not necessarily indicate as many violations," he
said, adding that the law-enforcement authorities received no
complaints from 92 percent of polling stations.
Tamazian insisted that the authorities are doing their best to
identify and punish those responsible for such violations. He said
they might open more criminal cases in the coming days.
Sargis Harutyunyan ## Hovannes Movsisian
14.12.2015
In an unprecedented warning, the United States said on Monday that it
could blacklist individuals who committed serious irregularities
reported during Armenia's recent constitutional referendum.
In a fresh statement on the December 6 vote, the U.S. Embassy in
Yerevan also renewed its calls for the Armenian authorities to
investigate in earnest "credible allegations" of fraud that have been
voiced by opposition activists and non-partisan monitors.
"We reiterate that the results of the investigations and prosecutions
of those responsible for any irregularities must be transparent and
public in order for the Armenian people to have confidence in the
integrity of the electoral process," it said. "Full and transparent
investigations, as well as the resulting public reports, even if they
do not lead to criminal prosecutions, can help the Electoral
Commission, the National Assembly, and civil society identify possible
improvements to current electoral procedures."
"In accordance with the U.S. commitment to fight corruption worldwide,
the U.S. Embassy can also draw upon the information contained in such
reports to help assess whether any individuals who directly interfered
in the integrity of the December 6 electoral process can participate
in Embassy programs or activities," added the statement.
The embassy did not specify whether those individuals could be banned
from entering U.S. or have their possible assets frozen.
The U.S. has repeatedly criticized disputed elections and referendums
held in Armenia in the past. But it is the first time that Washington
is openly threatening to shun or sanction local election officials
accused of vote rigging.
Richard Giragosian, a U.S.-born analyst based in Yerevan, suggested
that the embassy warning is "the first step towards sanctions" against
Armenian officials. He compared it to U.S. visa bans and asset freezes
imposed on Russian officials involved in the alleged cover-up of the
death of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who died in prison in 2009 after
exposing large-scale corruption in Russia.
"This may be the opening round for such harsh but individual-targeted
sanctions," Giragosian told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).
The U.S. mission issued the statement three days after
Prosecutor-General Gevorg Kostanian briefed reporters on ongoing
investigations into referendum-related fraud claims investigated by
Armenian law-enforcement authorities. Kostanian said that while they
have opened 14 criminal cases in connection with the allegations,
nobody has been arrested or charged yet.
Kostanian said the Armenian police and other law-enforcement bodies
received over 460 complaints relating to the conduct of the
referendum. "A fraud report does not necessarily mean a fact of a
crime," he stressed.
The deputy head of Armenia's Investigative Committee, Aram Tamazian,
made a similar point at a news conference on Monday. "The number of
[fraud] reports does not necessarily indicate as many violations," he
said, adding that the law-enforcement authorities received no
complaints from 92 percent of polling stations.
Tamazian insisted that the authorities are doing their best to
identify and punish those responsible for such violations. He said
they might open more criminal cases in the coming days.
RFE/RL Report
Armenian Referendum Results Reaffirmed
Naira Bulghadarian ## Ruzanna Stepanian
14.12.2015
The Central Election Commission (CEC) rejected on Sunday opposition
demands to annul the official results of the disputed December 6
referendum in Armenia, insisting that voters overwhelmingly backed
President Serzh Sarkisian's constitutional amendments.
The CEC reaffirmed the results in response to appeals lodged by the
opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) and several
non-governmental organizations. Its pro-government chairman, Tigran
Mukuchian, and other members dismissed as unconvincing purported
evidence of serious fraud submitted by the appellants.
The decision followed a four-hour meeting during which representatives
of the HAK and the civic groups made their case for the scrapping of
the referendum results. They insisted that the Armenian authorities
rigged the vote to realize Sarkisian's controversial plans to
transform the country into a parliamentary republic.
"The reported and proven scale of violations is enough to declare the
referendum totally falsified," Levon Zurabian, the HAK's deputy
chairman, told the CEC. "We certainly don't think that you will
satisfy our demand, no matter how many convincing and truthful facts
we submit, because it is clear to us that Serzh Sarkisian had issued
an order long ago and your mission today is to execute that order and
validate the referendum results."
According to the official vote tally, over 63 percent of voters backed
the constitutional reform. The CEC put voter turnout at about 51
percent, just enough to make the referendum valid.
The HAK claims that only up to one-third of Armenia's 2.5 eligible
voters cast ballots on December 6 and that 70 percent of them voted
against the proposed amendments. The official results have also been
dismissed as fraudulent by a coalition of civic groups that deployed
hundreds of monitors in polling stations across the country on
referendum day.
"The public has no serious doubts regarding the outcome of the
referendum," Eduard Sharmazanov, the spokesman for the ruling
Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), insisted on Monday. "For all the
reported violations, it has to be admitted that the [conduct of the]
referendum corresponded to Armenia's international obligations.
"As a result of ballot recounts conducted in several precincts, the
number of `Yes' votes actually rose," Sharmazanov said.
The HHK and its political allies, the Prosperous Armenia and
Dashnaktsutyun parties, effectively blocked recounts in many other
polling stations which were demanded by the HAK and the opposition
Zharangutyun party. The latter say that vote rigging there was
particularly blatant.
Speaking to RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) on Monday,
Zurabian reaffirmed the HAK's intention to challenge the referendum
results in the Constitutional Court. The opposition party needs the
backing of at least 27 parliament deputies in order to lodge such an
appeal. It holds only a handful of seats in the National Assembly.
Armenian Referendum Results Reaffirmed
Naira Bulghadarian ## Ruzanna Stepanian
14.12.2015
The Central Election Commission (CEC) rejected on Sunday opposition
demands to annul the official results of the disputed December 6
referendum in Armenia, insisting that voters overwhelmingly backed
President Serzh Sarkisian's constitutional amendments.
The CEC reaffirmed the results in response to appeals lodged by the
opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) and several
non-governmental organizations. Its pro-government chairman, Tigran
Mukuchian, and other members dismissed as unconvincing purported
evidence of serious fraud submitted by the appellants.
The decision followed a four-hour meeting during which representatives
of the HAK and the civic groups made their case for the scrapping of
the referendum results. They insisted that the Armenian authorities
rigged the vote to realize Sarkisian's controversial plans to
transform the country into a parliamentary republic.
"The reported and proven scale of violations is enough to declare the
referendum totally falsified," Levon Zurabian, the HAK's deputy
chairman, told the CEC. "We certainly don't think that you will
satisfy our demand, no matter how many convincing and truthful facts
we submit, because it is clear to us that Serzh Sarkisian had issued
an order long ago and your mission today is to execute that order and
validate the referendum results."
According to the official vote tally, over 63 percent of voters backed
the constitutional reform. The CEC put voter turnout at about 51
percent, just enough to make the referendum valid.
The HAK claims that only up to one-third of Armenia's 2.5 eligible
voters cast ballots on December 6 and that 70 percent of them voted
against the proposed amendments. The official results have also been
dismissed as fraudulent by a coalition of civic groups that deployed
hundreds of monitors in polling stations across the country on
referendum day.
"The public has no serious doubts regarding the outcome of the
referendum," Eduard Sharmazanov, the spokesman for the ruling
Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), insisted on Monday. "For all the
reported violations, it has to be admitted that the [conduct of the]
referendum corresponded to Armenia's international obligations.
"As a result of ballot recounts conducted in several precincts, the
number of `Yes' votes actually rose," Sharmazanov said.
The HHK and its political allies, the Prosperous Armenia and
Dashnaktsutyun parties, effectively blocked recounts in many other
polling stations which were demanded by the HAK and the opposition
Zharangutyun party. The latter say that vote rigging there was
particularly blatant.
Speaking to RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) on Monday,
Zurabian reaffirmed the HAK's intention to challenge the referendum
results in the Constitutional Court. The opposition party needs the
backing of at least 27 parliament deputies in order to lodge such an
appeal. It holds only a handful of seats in the National Assembly.
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