May 9th - the Victory and Peace Day

Avarayr, Sardarapat, Kharakilisa, Bash-Aparan, Shoushi - it sometimes feels that all the victorious battles of Armenians took place in May.

If anything, the month of May makes me proud of being Armenian.

Better yet, the date of May 9th is the official Armenian holiday - the Victory and Peace Day. The day when the nation celebrates victory in the Great Patriotic War, where over one hundred fifty thousand Armenian fought on the side of Soviet Army and in partisan groups in France and elsewhere in Europe. On the evening of May 8-th, 1945 the Nazi Germany capitulated. It had already turned May 9th in Moscow, so my Grandpa - tank unit commander, found out he can come home now… and live a happy life in Soviet Armenia, and than not so happy one in earthquake devastated Gyumri of the free, independent, war torn, poor and independent Armenia. May 9th for me always remained the day of Grandpa - the day, when he would roam around the house looking for the medals - taken to most incredible places by naughty and younger grandchildren. Grandpa is no more, but his day remains…

Equally important, on May 9, 1992, liberation of Shushi marked a turning point in the Artsakh war. Ironically, the great people who gave us this noble victory - Robert Kocharyan, Levon Ter-Petrossian, Serzh Sargsyan, Zhirayr Sefilyan and Manvel Grigoryan are among the most hated people today, or have found themselves in disgraceful conditions for their political views. Sadly it all makes sense, and this consequence takes the whole feeling of joy for the noble victory away from me.

Right! I was supposed to be happy and greet everyone on this great occasion of double victory day! So I will - congrats, everyone!

Pamphlet: “Why judges are afraid, but aren’t stupid…”

In the magic land of Armenia, the legal order was proving its efficiency. Trials of law-breakers were proceeding so fast no one could keep track of them.

Not even judges. They could hardly keep order in their courtrooms but they were intent on keeping order in the country.
This time the magic had become more magical than ever. Not a single law enforcement officer had broken the law. On the contrary, order had been disrupted by citizens who did not agree with the authorities; and that was breaking the law.

Bomb threat in Yerevan. Mashtots avenue blocked.

At around 11:00 o’clock Mashtots avenue (the Prospect) was blocked in Yerevan in the area down from Pushkin str. crossroad to the Margaryan Polyclinic. The police and special service officers in civilian uniform refused to inform what is happening, telling to get out of there as quick as possible. The shopkeeper across the street said there’s been a bomb threat. Watching how relaxed the military uniform guys standing around the object, supposed to be the “bomb”, were you wouldn’t think there’s anything really serious. The police blocking the avenue were, however, quite serious and stern looking.

Police and special services disarm a bomb in Yerevan © Artur Papyan / The Armenian Observer Blog 2008

At any rate - my office is close by, so I’ll go over check again in 10-15 minutes.

UPDATE: by 11:45 the Prospect was re-opened. A1plus later reported (using my photos by the way), that it was indeed a bomb, which police and special services have successfully disarmed. The case is under investigation now.

Divided blogosphere on united opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrossian’s conciliatory speech

Quite predictably, the internet discussions over the past several days focused primarily on the congress held by opposition forces and the first public speech made by the opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrossian since the post-election violence on March 1st.

Opposition Congress, May 2, 2008 | Source: Unzipped

While speculating, that anyone “who made claims that they received 65% of the votes, accuses the present government of being murderers [] but is not presenting evidence to back his claims, can not be taken seriously“, Martuni or Bust!!! looks at the overall context of the opposition congress, concluding:

It looks as if things have not really settled down since the fraudulent elections and the killing of March 1st. The noticeable unrest is going longer than I was expecting and who knows, maybe this time around the truth really will come out and those who need to be put in their place will finally get what they have coming.

Bringing a more comprehensive analysis, the Caucasus Knot speculates, that “the radical opposition appears ready to negotiate with the authorities in order to prevent a repeat of the post-election violence which left at least 10 dead“, and concludes, that this first public speech by Ter-Petrossian since the March 1 disturbances “certainly represents a more conciliatory line“:

Interestingly, Ter-Petrossian was reportedly more conciliatory towards the new president, Serge Sargsyan. [] Ter-Petrossian instead directed his main attack on the former president, Robert Kocharian. Whether his words mark a realization from Ter-Petrossian that the radical opposition is unable to contest the outcome of the vote on the streets is a moot point.
[]

Whatever the view, however, and whatever the numbers, there is the basis for discussion and negotiations in the form of Council of Europe Resolution 1609. In particular, it calls on the radical opposition to recognize the constitutional court ruling confirming the results of the presidential election as well as on the government to release those detained on purely political grounds. Another demand is for an independent inquiry into the 1 March riot to be held.

Marking the fact, that Levon Ter-Petrossian has “effectively expressed readiness for a dialogue based on PACE recommendations”, pro-opposition blogger Unzipped disagrees with the statement, “directly accepting PACE call to opposition to recognise the Constitutional Court’s decision which approved the election results” in the opposition leader’s speech, speculating, that:

“Fraud in elections was the main reason which sparked the protests, and ‘acceptance’ of its results for practical reasons to move forward cannot be considered as a precondition (and never presented as such by PACE) but rather a part of a final outcome of negotiations (with a package of measures aimed at democratisation of Armenian society).”

Known for his outspoken dislike of the first president, Pigh has singled out some soundbites in Ter-Petrossian’s speech, hinting, that such approaches are inconsistent with the “role” of the opposition leader, and are making him a “tool”, which works more in favor of the ruling Republican and ARF-Dashnaktsutyun parties:

Republican-Tool
One [of the soundbites] was directed at the US Government and the “Millenium Challanges” corporation, calling upon them to abstain from cutting aid to Armenia, as it will hurt the people, not the authorities..
Dashnak-Tool
Secondly - the first president spoke about the neighboring Azerbaijan in particular, noting, that Baku has to finally realize, that regardless the internal political situation in Armenia, “it would meet with a united resistance of the Armenian people in the event of unleashing a military aggression against Karabakh”

Interestingly, the issue of US assitance to Armenia has also drawn criticism from the highly pro-Ter-Petrossian blogger, Nazarian:

In the speech below, Levon Ter-Petrosian is against some of the things I have been advocating such as the stopping of the US economic aid to Armenia. I disagree with him and will continue to push for the (hopefully short term) halt of American taxpayer money propping up the banditocracy in Armenia. One of the best ways to modify someone’s behavior is through financial (dis)incentives.

And while Uzogh wonders, what has really triggered such a drastic change in LTP’s perceptions of current political realities, Unzipped on his turn, highlights the importance of the authorities’ response to opposition leaders apparent call for dialogue based on Counil of Europe Parliamentary Assembley recommendations:

How serious is Armenian government in terms of making necessary reforms and changes in accordance with the PACE recommendations, and engaging in a dialogue with the opposition, will be known on 10 May when a committee created by a decree of Serj Sargsyan will present its action plan.

Here’s the Podcast of the Armenian version of this post.

Statement with regard to probable suspension of MCA Armenia Project

It is acknowledged that within five years the MCA-Armenia project will contribute to the development of ¾ of rural areas of Armenia through a 235,65 million dollar value Compact of five years, signed with the US Corporation: 943 km of rural roads, 200 km of main canals, 30 000 hectares of irrigation systems, 18 gravity-fed irrigation systems and seven water preserves will be rehabilitated, special training sessions for approximately 60.000 rural population will be conducted, loans in the value of 8,5 million dollars will be provided to rural households, etc. With its scope and effectiveness, this project is unprecedented in the list of agricultural development programs ever implemented in Armenia.

Since the end of the last year, the 17 indicators that guide MCC in their decision to provide funding to our and other countries were worrisome for the Republic of Armenia: nine out of the 17 indicators are at certain risk levels for our country.

The violations of law during the latest RA presidential elections, the developments that followed them, mass violations of human rights and restrictions of media and freedom of expression can considerably lower some of the RA indicators, which, on their turn, will considerably increase the risk of suspension or termination of the program.

The geneology of civil youth movements according to the bloggers

“Sksela” civil youth movement periodically came into the attention of bloggers throughout the past year. The situation might be changing though, with the sudden entry of “Hima” youth movement into the Armenian blogosphere. The group has already staged a range of small protest actions, they now have a song (the YouTube video of the song is posted above) and all the other attributes of a revolutionary movement: heroes, symbols, martyrs, etc. The Armenian version of this blog has a roundup of what Armenian bloggers are saying about this new movement.  The Podcast - a 1.3 Megabyte MP3 audio file is also available.

To summerize the contents of the Armenian language entry - from what Armenian bloggers have written about “Hima” movement so far we can conclude, that they haven’t quite figured out yet, where this new youth group is coming from, and where it is heading. Some information can be obtained through their 3 new blogs, opened by the movement: 1) http://ymhima.blogspot.com, 2) http://qbhima.blogspot.com and 3) http://xahima.blogspot.com.

"FREEDOM HOUSE" RATING: ARMENIAN MEDIA REMAIN CLASSED AS NOT FREE

On April 29 “Freedom House” international organization published its annual global survey on freedom of press in 2007. [] Out of 195 countries and territories 72 (37%) were rated free, while 59 (30%) were rated partly free and 64 (33%) were rated not free. 18% of the world’s inhabitants live in countries that enjoy free press, 40% have a partly free press and 42% have a not free press. “Freedom House” notes the overall negative shift in media freedom worldwide. The list is headed by Finland and Iceland - 9 points each, followed by Denmark and Norway - 10 points each, Belgium and Sweden - 11 points each.

The Armenian people and the dialogue between authorities and opposition

While calls for dialogue between president Serzh Sargsyan and the opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrossian come from all sides - government, opposition and the international community alike, all those speaking about “dialogue”, starting from Raffi Hovhannisyan and ending with the PACE and US Helsinki Commission seem to take it for granted, that such a dialogue will put everything right. Nobody seems to ask what this dialogue will be about, anyway? Nobody seems to ask, who do these two people - Serzh Sargsyan and Levon Ter-Petrossian, represent, to engage in a dialogue and put things right in this country?

If these two - widely dispised and disregarded politicians are to meet and discuss how to share power between the two of them, and between their clans, what value does this “dialogue” bring to the citizens of Armenia? While Ter-Petrossian supporters stage protest actions and marches in the country, raising the stakes for their leader - some genuinely beleiving, that it is democracy and freedom they are fighting for, most citizens of Armenia seem to have preferred to hide under shells of indifference and watch for someone to do something good for them. The bad news for those who are indifferent is that - politics is about standing up and taking control of one’s destiny. And so it seems, that we will all continue watching the fight between the two power hungry elites, until they reach a compromise - mutually beneficial for both of them, or until one of them wins and gains full and unrestricted freedom to exploit and drive this poor country further into ruin.

Richard Giragosian on post-election situation in Armenia

Here are some extracts from the interview with political analyst Richard Giragosian published on Zhamanak.com:

(Zhamanak) Mr. Giragosian, how would you evaluate the February 19th Presidential elections in Armenia, the post election developments, particularly the tragic events of March 1?

(Giragosian) In my opinion, it was not the election itself that was the most important development for Armenia. It was not the process of the election vote that was significant, but rather the process of the election campaign that was more revealing because the unlevel playing field and the closed political system were much more serious problems than the one-day problems with voter fraud and other irregularities.

And for me, as someone who has moved from the Diaspora to Armenia, the real test for Armenia is not about personalities, but is about policies. And this is not about Levon Ter-Petrosian. It is not about Serzh Sarkisian. It is about what kind of country Armenia is set to become and what kind of Armenia its people want for their children and grandchildren. And policies are more important than people to building a new and better Armenia.

Amid widespread public scepticism government undertakes some positive steps

Public attitude remained generally skeptical towards the efforts of President Sargsyan and PM Sargsyan to restore public trust by undertaking some positive steps over the past couple of weeks.

One of the first such steps was the dismissal of Armen Avetisyan, the chairman of the the Armenian Customs Service (ACS) for the last 8 years and the followed by a meeting of President Serzh Sargsyan with the ACS officials. On this highly publicized event President spoke about his determination to uproot corruption in the country especially in services like the Customs and Tax Inspection. While sincerity of his words is dubious, this genuine attempt by President Sargsyan to raise the government’s profile largely failed, because of rumors last week, that the import tariffs for manufactured goods have sharply risen, which was followed by a demonstration in front of the government building on Republic square. Coupled with sharp rise of natural gas prices announced two weeks ago, and then the recent reports that the gas prices will climb even higher by 2011 left no further room for optimism for middle class to poor families across the country.

Another blow to the authority of the government, internationally as well as at home, came as the resolution passed by the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) on April 17 called for the Armenian authorities to file an “independent, transparent and credible inquiry” into the March 1 deadly clashes in Yerevan between security forces and opposition supporters and “the urgent release of the persons detained on seemingly artificial and politically motivated charges.” It also said that the recently enacted legal amendments which effectively banned opposition rallies should be repealed “with immediate effect.” The Strasbourg-based assembly threatened to suspend the voting rights of its Armenian members if these measures are not taken before its next session due in June. In an attempt to turn the unfavorable international resolution into a tool to reach compromise at home, President Serzh Sarkisian established an ad hoc group, headed by President’s new chief of staff Hovik Abrahamyan, which is to look for solutions and present suggestions to overcome the political crises in the country. The effectiveness of this step is yet to be seen, however, it is clear, that a Presidential decree quickly releasing all, but the most serious offenders and mauradeours of March 1, would have been the most effective means to regaining public trust and appreciation of international community, rather then superficial half-measures like creation of committees head by highly discredited politicians like Hovik Abrahamyan.

On a related note, Armen Harutyunyan, the Ombudsman of Armenia - also released his report, echoing the international calls for an independent investigation and challenging the official accounts of March 1 riots, stating, in particular, that the Armenian police have so far failed to produce any evidence of firearms being used by the protesters against the police.

With no signs of the ongoing political crises in the country ceding anytime soon, all the other positive steps undertaken by the government are lost on public. Among such positive steps were undoubtedly PM Sargsyan’s announcements on Friday, that Government will start holding outgoing regular sessions in various regions of Armenia from now on, and that to enable more transparency of government actions the journalists will be allowed to follow government sessions live from the government’s Press Center and that more interest will be paid to media publications from now on, starting with the case of Syunik Governor (Marzpet) Suren Khachatryan published by Aravot Daily. Hopefully this, and more positive steps undertaken by the new government, mediocre and lacking political capital as it is, will soon render some kind of positive results and raise public confidence, otherwise we will be on a sure way to a final and total devastation, which is not something that any Armenian wants.

Photos by Tsitsernak and Azatutyun.am

Imaginary (but not improbable) interview with high government official in Yerevan

Via Tzitzernak | By the Intrepid Reporter

Q. How do you think events are progressing in Armenia after the recent election?
A. Oh, I think we’re doing really well. The outcome of the election is what it should have been; it came out just as we planned it.

Q. There are some who are still not convinced this was the best outcome.
A. Well, these are people who are still under a magic spell and can’t understand what’s good for them.

Q. Do you think that includes being imprisoned without charges?
A. Oh, sure! It’s the government’s duty to place them in custody for their own mental safety. They need to understand that disturbing the natural order of things is bad for them and for the country.

Armenian Blog Roundup: April 24…

“This day, 93 years ago, by detaining (and later shooting) the top Armenian intellectuals and politicians in Istanbul, the Ottoman government started the massive effort to uproot its entire Armenian population ordering it to march from the historic Armenian lands into the Syrian desert. The result was the mass killings, rapes, death by starvation, and exodus of survivors. The Armenian Genocide was accomplished. Practically no Armenians live now on the lands populated by their ancestors for at least two millennia…

April 24, Yerevan © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008

I don’t forget. And I don’t forgive the perpetrators and executioners of this crime against my people.…” - this is how Artashes has expressed the feelings of many Armenian bloggers. Others have applied to the Armenian poets, publishing extracts from Shiraz and Tumanyan.

Athanatoi blog has carried out a massive amount of research and collected in one chronological list from 1915-2008, all the formulations adopted by various countries, effectively recognizing the Armenian Genocide. It becomes clear from this list, that France, United Kingdom and Russian Empire have issued a declaration already on May 24th, 1915 about the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, and that the US Senate has adopted a condemning resolution on February 9, 1916.

March with lanterns, April 23, Yerevan © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008

A wide review of Armenian Genocide related publications in international and Turkish media as well as Armenian blogs on April 24th is posted by Blogian, also detailing the populous marches held in Holywood and Yerevan.

The two different marches to Tsitsernakaberd: one by the ARF-Dashnaktsutyun youth with lanterns and the other by opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrossian’s supporters, without lanterns, were covered by
Onnik Krikorian on his renamed blog - The Caucaus Knot:

93 years on Armenians mourn the Genocide victims and protest injustice of denial

April 24, Yerevan, Armenia © Artur Papyan 2008

The Armenian Genocide Museum and Institute declares April 20-27 "Remembrance Week"

The Museum is also requesting for your help in collecting originals or copies of:

family photos of Western Armenians

memoir manuscripts of the survivors

sacred and inmost family items

Please address to the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex, Armenian Genocide Museum and Institute, Yerevan, 0028, tel.: 39-09-81, 39-14-12,

E-mail: info@genocide-museum.am

www.genocide-museum.am | http://genocide-museum.livejournal.com

The week of April 24 has been declared “Days of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide” also in California, by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, according to the proclamation issued on April 16, 2008.

Changes in the structure of government, Armen Gevorgyan and Hovik Abrahamyan change places

President Serzh Sargsyan has signed a number of decrees, changing the structure of Armenian government and making some key appointments. Hence, Armen Gevorgyan, president Robert Kocharyan’s chief of staff has been appointed as deputy prime minister and minister of territorial governance; Nerses Yeritsyan has been appointed as minister of economy; Tigran Davtyan has been appointed as minister of finances, Gurgen Sargsyan will serve as minister of transport and communication and Mher Shahgeldyan, from Orinats Yerkir party - as minister of emergency situations.
According to Serzh Sargsyan’s decree, former deputy Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan has been appointed as the head of the presidential staff.

Echannel reports, that the following changes have been made to the structure of the RA government:

1. The ministry of trade and economic development of Armenia has been renamed into ministry of economy of Armenia;
2. The ministry of finances and economy of Armenia has been renamed into ministry of finances of Armenia;
3. A ministry of emergency situations has been launched. It has been defined that the service of rescue is a governmental body functioning within the framework of the ministry of emergency situations;
4. The agency of relations with Diaspora at the ministry of foreign affairs of Armenia has been reformed into a governmental committee of relations with Diaspora at the ministry of foreign affairs of Armenia, as a governmental body within the framework of the ministry.