RUSSIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS CONCERNED

A1+
[03:19 pm] 23 May, 2008

Russian advocates voiced concern over the recent assault on a leading human rights defender, the chairman of the Armenian Helsinki Association Mikael Danielian.

"We are confident that the leadership of any country must secure conditions for normal and safe activities of human rights advocates, political activists and organisations. Authorities must guarantee their security from any sudden assault and threat," holds the statement signed by 32 Russian advocates. /See the Russian version/

Russian advocates urge the Armenian leadership to take drastic measures and launch an independent investigation to uncover the wrongdoer.

"As part of their investigation into yesterday's assault of a leading human rights defender, the Armenian authorities should investigate the extent to which the victim's human rights work was a motive for the attack," Human Rights Watch said today.

Reminder: as a result of a May 21 incident on Terian-Moskovioan streets the leader of the Armenian Progressive Party Tigran Urikhanian shot at the chairman of the Armenian Helsinki Association Mikael Danielian from a pneumatic gun.

"I AM NOT AS PATIENT AND PATRIOTIC AS RAFFI IS"

A1+
[05:44 pm] 23 May, 2008

Professor of California, historian Richard Hovannissian is concerned over Armenia's political scene. He expressed his concern to A1+ saying that "he is first of all concerned as an ordinary human being."

"March 1 was a great tragedy. I cannot name those guilty or innocent. I think we are all guilty as we couldn't avert the occurrences. The Armenian Diaspora is shocked as blood was shed in the capital," he says.

As a solution to mutual antagonism Richard Hovannissian offers to forgive each other. "We must forgive each other. We must treat each other with endurance. Both policemen and people died. Sorrow and hatred will deepen even more if they don't free the jailed people."

Mr. Hovannissian is also concerned over ongoing migration from Armenia. Asked whether he might take his son's model and settle in Armenia, he said, "I am not so patriotic and patient as my Raffi is."

While summing up Armenia's background over the past 90 years Richard Hovannissian said, "The creation of this small country was unexpected as the whole revolution and the Armenian Cause were concentrated in Western Armenia. No matter where the representatives of our intelligentsia were they never thought of Western Armenia. They never thought that they might come together and Yerevan might become the country's capital. Sometimes history plays tricks on us.

The country once occupying 10 000 square kilometers expanded to the slopes of Ararat covering 50 000 square kilometers. We hoped to unite Western and Eastern Armenians but our dream didn't come true.

Mr. Hovannissian is surprised at the fact that Yerevan shops are open on April 24, the day of the Great Armenian Genocide. He thinks that people are absorbed in everyday problems and thoughts even on that day.

"People are not given equal footing in Armenia. While walking in the streets one has the impression that nobody cares for the vulnerable. The authorities should constantly take care of them. Though I am in Armenia for a short period I am seriously concerned about the country's state."

Hovannissian says he had more respect towards the authorities of the first Republic than the acting ones. "The authorities of 1918 came to suffer with their people. No official or prime minister abused his powers or pursued personal interests. Neither did they enrich their relatives and acquaintances. They suffered with their people. For instance, Aram Manukian died of typhus."

DEPORTATION OF ZHIRAYR SEFILIAN FROM ARMENIA STARTS

Noyan Tapan
http://www.nt.am/news.php?shownews=113765
May 23, 2008

YEREVAN, MAY 23, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian police made a decision to start the process of deporting Lebanese citizen, coordinator of the civil initiative "In defence of Liberated Territories" Zhirayr Sefilian from Armenia. The police filed a suit to the Administrative Court with the request to take a decision on deportation of Z. Sefilian, NT correspondent was informed by Sefilian's lawyer Vahe Grigorian. According to him, the process is illegal because Z. Sefilian has under-age children in his care, and the ban is stipulated in Article 32 of the RA Law on Foreigners.

To recap, Zhirayr Sefilian was found guilty of carrying illegal arms. His imprisonment term ends on June 9.

New buildings to be erected at demolished Christian cemetery in Baku

17.05.2008 13:41 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Complete demolition of the cemetery in the Narimanov district in Baku made no sense, a human rights activist said.

-The cemetery was demolished to use the territory as a ground for new buildings,- said Taisia Gordeyeva, the deputy chair of the committee of soldiers' mothers.

-They tried to justify the barbarism by construction of roads but, as a matter of fact, roads will take a minor part of the graveyard. Everything prompts that the territory is meant for construction of new buildings. But it will be a construction on human bones, for the remnants were not reburied properly,she said, adding that a park should be laid out at the site, Day.az reports.

In September 2007, Baku authorities decided to build a motorway through the Narimanov cemetery, where Armenians, Russians and Ukrainians were buried.

Valerie Gortzounian - “I am sad in Armenia”

hetq.am
[May 19, 2008]

Today I am sad. Thirteen years ago I decided to leave France, my third homeland, and relocate to Armenia, with the intention to invest in the fatherland, which I did by creating the Le Cafe de Paris. I invested my time, energy, health and resources, so that our little Parisian cafe could illuminate Abovyan Street.

Over time the Cafe has become a favorite place to do business, meet friends and just relax. However my little dream has turned into an unending nightmare. Not wishing to delve into my personal problems, I’d just like to simple note that due to my faith, perhaps misplaced, in my fellow man I gave a loan to a person. This person claimed that he couldn’t repay the loan while actually he just refused to do so. When I took this person into my business, out of a sense of charity, I realized that he was periodically stealing from me along with other employees he had won the loyalty of. These employees, like their patron, had become corrupted, one more than the other. I could say that this is a fairly commonplace occurrence that can happen anywhere. But everywhere else there is a system of justice that serves as strong defender of one’s rights and interests. The justice system is there to grab the hand of the thief...This is the reality everywhere except in my beloved Armenia where the practice of justice is corrupt to the very core, where compromises are made with the guilty party, where the weak are preyed upon for all they have, the spoils to be split with the powerful, and where money is valued more than the truth. This is the reason for my grief. I am sad that our beloved Armenia, so dear to our hearts, has ceased to function normally. I am sad because in the event that things continue in this way I will be forced to close the Cafe and return to France.

Valerie Gortzounian

Hurant Dadayan 1931-2008

Yesterday morning after a week of being uncomfortable, Rosa Myrig's husband Hrant passed away from a heart condition.

For those of you who don't know, Hurant and Rosa Dadayan had lost their 3 son's during the war we had with Azerbaijan.

The Dadayan family had returned to Martuni from Baku when the Azeri's started their killings of Armenians.

You can read a little bit of their history and my visits to their house here, here and here.

Hurant was a kind of my father figure to me in Martuni and has shared with me some very solid and sound advice over the years.

Rosa Myrig asked me if I really believed that he was gone? I of course could not and still can't believe he is no longer among the living. I was really expecting him to outlive Rosa Myrig, who was in much worse shape that Hurant.

I'm not sure now what will happen to Rosa Myrig. She was so in love with Hurant and though she is holding herself together well, dealing with what needs to be done to bury Hurant tomorrow, I know she is not well at all.

One thing she told me is that she is really now all alone. Her sons were taken from her and now her husband. She said she feels very empty and alone.

May Hurant rest in peace. We love you Hurant and I can say will never forget you and all you have done for the people who have stood by.

Leader of ANC, Levon Ter-Pertosian speaks at first congress

Yesterday in Yerevan the Armenian National Congress (ANC) had their first meeting to discuss the situation in Armenia.

It seems that ANC is the newest movement initiated by LTP to continue what he started after the flawed elections in Armenia.

I personally am not sure what Levon is up to or if he is being backed by outside powers. I can say that anyone who made claims that they received 65% of the votes, accuses the present government of being murderers and whatever other allegations he has made until now, but is not presenting evidence to back his claims, can not be taken seriously.

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.

UN AND OSCE LACK EXPERIENCED EXPERTS FOR INVESTIGATION OF YEREVAN MARCH 1, 2 EVENTS

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.04.2008 15:01 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On March 14, 2008, Armenia's Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan sent a written address to UN Resident Coordinator in Armenia Consuelo Vidal and Head of OSCE Yerevan Office Sergey Kapinos to engage the organizations' representatives in the forensic medical examination in the framework of investigation of the March 1 and 2 events, reported the press unit of the Prosecutor General's Office.

However, both officials said their organizations do not have experts fitting the case.

Earlier, CoE Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg stated necessity of an independent investigation into the events in order to avoid similar incidents in future.

An Open Letter to Mr. Javier Solana

Secretary General of the Council of the European Union

April 9, 2008



Dear Mr. Solana,

As you well know, Serzh Sargsyan was today sworn into office as the third President of the Republic of Armenia with all due pomp and ceremony. He swore to lead the citizens of Armenia in harmony and respect, and to protect their rights.

And what were the citizens of Armenia, from whom he was protected by a veritable army ready to open fire, doing at that very moment?

Allow me to explain, Mr. Solana. Some were busy laying flowers to mourn relatives and friends killed by Sargsyan's forces, to the background of Jazz music and balloons welcoming Sargsyan as president. Others, mostly women and children, were being brutally beaten only steps away from the site of the inauguration. One elderly woman in particular was being kicked and dragged through the streets by Sargsyan's forces. Still others—again mostly women and children—wondered when their husbands and fathers would stop their hunger strikes and be released from prison for crimes they did not commit.

And yet, Mr. Solana, today you congratulate Sargsyan. One wonders what you congratulated him for. For massive fraud, relentless repressions and political persecutions? Or, as the harbinger of Democracy and the staunch champion of Human Rights?

Do tell, Mr. Solana, does your definition of Democracy and Human Rights condone elderly women being dragged on the streets? Does it welcome the beating of innocent children?

Would you have liked to see your own grandmother under the boots of policemen, Mr. Solana?

The initial report of the monitors was to a large extent responsible for the carnage of March 1 and its aftermath. The Chairman-in-Office, Ikka Kanerva, whose impartiality and ethics has since been questioned in supermarket tabloids around the world, hastened to join the OSCE assessment of the elections as essentially "democratic". Yet for over 70% of the citizenry of Armenia, Kanerva's positive assessment was an outrageous and politically motivated position and raised serious questions about the term they have heard from the European Union and its hallowed institutions ad nauseam—Democracy. Your recent congratulatory message to a man whose criminal record is only too well known casts into doubt Europe's commitment to true Democracy. But above all, it elevates the agony and humiliation of the vast majority of the citizens of Armenian to unprecedented heights.

For the future, Mr. Solana, it would be expedient to desist from degrading the once lofty ideas of Democracy and Human Rights into idle political parlance. Human beings, especially those living in totalitarian states such as Armenia, need such ideals to face the brutalities and injustices that has become part of their every life.



Thank you.

Penelope Morrison

San Francisco, California

It will all be forgotten again

Today the former Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian was sworn in as President of Armenia. Though there are still many unanswered questions regarding the legitimacy of the election which landed him the post of President and the events that followed that he was directly behind, I really believe that as usual and in a very short period of time, most will forget what happened and it will be business as usual.

Though we are all to blame for the phenomenon of ignoring and dealing with reality, we really have to ask ourselves why we are so quick to turn a blind eye to such blatant criminal activity and are ready to forgive and even support the criminal elements, as we have recently seen our leaders in the Diaspora do?

All I know is that we really are a pathetic bunch and should remember the late Vartkes Barsam's (see: http://www.barsameng.blogspot.com/) talk about the illusion of what we think Armenia is and how for the sake of what we want to believe Armenia should be, we will avoid dealing with our realities (as we have recently seen).

For those of you who have not visited VARTKES BARSAM: IN HIS OWN WORDS, I strongly suggest that you do, as he paint a very accurate picture of what was and sadly is going on in Armenia today and who the players are that we are blindly supporting.