Elections in Armenia

[Virgil]

Re: Presidential elections 2008 in Armenia

Levon Ter Petrossian 3.8%

[Mos]

Re: Presidential elections 2008 in Armenia

dody gago!!!

[Mos]

Re: Presidential elections 2008 in Armenia

That's Turkish lands!

what the f***!

[Alexzan]

Re: Presidential elections 2008 in Armenia

That's Turkish lands!

You're xxxxing stupid,
You forgot to say Puerto Rico is Turkish lands you idiot.

[Armenian]

Re: Presidential elections 2008 in Armenia

Georgia's neighbors on edge

For Russians and Armenians, Kyrgyz, Ukrainians and Belarusians, the televised images of Tbilisi's antigovernment protests, police clampdowns and last-minute political concessions have proved riveting viewing. They have also prompted questions about whether their own leaders will use, or misuse, the controversial example set by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili during the past seven days.

Saakashvili's decision on 8 November to call snap presidential polls sparked cries of triumph from the Georgian opposition. Opposition movements in nearby countries, by contrast, are focused on what came prior to Saakashvili’s election decision: riot police using tear gas and rubber bullets to break up already dwindling demonstrations, and the government's declaration of a state of emergency that banned all news broadcasts except those on state-controlled television. The measures, which Saakashvili said helped crush a Russian-backed coup attempt, came as an unpleasant surprise to many who view the Georgian leader as the region's leading democrat. People living under more autocratic regimes in neighboring states fear the events set a dangerous precedent that could encourage the use of emergency rule as a powerful tool to crush dissent.

Opposition concerns

Such concerns are vivid in Armenia, where authorities are bracing for a major antigovernment demonstration on 16 November. The Armenian opposition held a 30,000-strong rally last month that made vocal calls for the resignation of President Robert Kocharian. The meeting passed without violence, but opposition figures fear the crackdown in Georgia and the relatively mild criticism it has generated abroad may embolden local authorities to grab their own truncheons and declare a state of emergency.

"All this is expected in Armenia too," said Aram Karapetian, the leader of the New Times opposition party. "If elections are rigged, people will take to the street and then the same measures will be imposed here. What happened in Georgia is very important. What Saakashvili has done is unforgivable."

Armenian voters are due to elect a new president on 19 February, and tensions are running high. Armenia already has a strong track record of summary arrests, clampdowns on independent media, and heavy-handed treatment of demonstrators. In April 2004, riot police used tear gas, water cannons, and truncheons to disperse a large antigovernment rally outside parliament. They raided the offices of opposition parties, smashing furniture and detaining political opponents.

A state of emergency and all the restrictions it entails could do considerably more damage to democracy in Armenia than in Georgia, which is further down the road than many post-Soviet countries in implementing democratic reforms. In Kyrgyzstan, the Georgian emergency has also sent jitters through opposition circles. Like Georgia, the Central Asian state saw a change of regime following a pro-democracy revolution in 2005. In Kyrgyzstan, too, the new government has not balked at resorting to violence to crush political dissent, with the stated aim of protecting nascent democracy. Kyrgyz police in April used tear gas and water cannons to break up a rally contesting what protesters said were rigged elections.

Omurbek Abdyrakmanov, a member of the opposition Atameken (Fatherland) Socialist Party, says police violence and emergency measures will only serve to consolidate the opposition. "The opposition will never be tamed. Presidents think that forcible dispersal will convince the opposition to stop their activities. This will never happen. The opposition will only get stronger. This kind of treatment outrages people," he said. Ukraine in the past has looked to Georgia as a partner as both countries sought to break free of Moscow's orbit. Viktor Yushchenko and Yuliya Tymoshenko, the leaders of the 2004 Orange Revolution, frequently invoked the spirit of Georgia's public uprising a year earlier, and referred to Saakashvili as a close ally. This week, however, neither has spoken publicly about the Georgia events. Instead, Kyiv quietly dispatched a Foreign Ministry representative to Tbilisi and joined the common call for peace and dialogue.
Russian gloating?

Some governments, such as Russia's, have also been swift to spin the Georgian turmoil to their own advantage. Moscow has been at loggerheads with Saakashvili over his pledge to steer Georgia toward the West and restore control over two separatist regions backed by Moscow. On 7 November, as Georgian riot police stormed the small crowds remaining outside parliament, Russia saw an occasion to strike back. The Russian Foreign Ministry charged Saakashvili's government with "mass violations of human rights and democratic freedoms" - an accusation that raised eyebrows in view of Moscow's own use of violence when handling disgruntled citizens. Russia's state-owned media joined in the finger-pointing, branding Saakashvili a "dictator" and denouncing a bloodthirsty "Georgian junta."

Throughout the day, Russia's state-run television channels broadcast a shrewd juxtaposition of footage contrasting the unrest in Georgia with a World War II military parade taking place the same day on Moscow's Red Square. The images sent a powerful message to Russian citizens: pro-Western revolutions bring only chaos. Pro-government forces in authoritarian Belarus also took a stab at discrediting Georgia's leadership. "Georgia's leadership not only lost sight of democratic values, but it also grew very enamored of power," said Syarhey Haidukevich, the leader of the Belarusian Liberal Democratic Party close to the government. "This disease afflicts many. Power is so seductive that one will do almost anything to retain it. That's a very big mistake. I think the situation will grow even more tense."

Source: http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?id=18337

[Կարմիր Բ]

Re: Presidential elections 2008 in Armenia

LOL I am sure the polls in Armenia are very credible (as are the elections)

[Armenian]

Re: Presidential elections 2008 in Armenia

RA president surprised that there are pro-Turkish forces in Armenia

“It was a surprise to learn that there political forces in Armenia, which think that Turkey and Azerbaijan should become Armenia’s major strategic partners,” RA President Robert Kocharian told reporters in Yerevan. “I did not expect such a pro-Turkish grasp even from the Armenian National Movement. If there are people or parties sharing this opinion, they can unite and then explain their vision of Armenia’s future,” the President said, Novosti Armenia reported.

Source: http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=24072

[Armenian]

Re: Presidential elections 2008 in Armenia

TURKISH PRESSED INSPIRED BY LEVON TER-PETROSIAN’S CANDIDATURE

On November 16 the Turkish newspaper "Milliet" published an article entitled "Turkey Became an Apple of Discord in Armenia". The article needs no comment, therefore we represent the abridged translation of it. "The suggestion of ex-President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosian about establishing and developing economic relations with Ankara has now caused a great debate in Armenia about Turkey. Suggestion of the candidacy of Levon Ter-Petrosian, who was displaced in result of political change organized by the present authorities of Armenia, broke the fragile balance of political forces in Armenia. According to Armenian and Russian sources, during a meeting with the Armenian youth Ter-Petrosian said that in normal circumstances Armenia’s neighbors, Azerbaijan and Turkey, were to become it’s main economic partners. The Armenian leader also assured that in case of establishing normal economic relations with Azerbaijan in Turkey, Armenia’s import, making $3 million at present, might grow up to $15 million.

Ter-Petrosian’s call to develop the relations with Turkey, which was the only in the last 10 years in Armenia, met the severe opposition and the stern stance of Robert Kocharian. Kocharian said he was surprised that there are politicians in Armenia who think that Azerbaijan and Turkey may become the partners of Armenia. ‘I never thought Armenia could be embraced in Turkey’s lap. If there’s anybody else, who thinks likewise, let them join,’ added the President of Armenia. The main candidate of the Republican Party of Armenia for the presidential elections, Prime Minister Serge Sarkisian condemned Ter-Petrosian with the following words, ‘Ter-Petrosian who brought the nation to the brink of despair ruining the economy of our country, must beg the pardon of the Armenian people.’ Sarkisian added that in case of being elected he will not suffer Turkey and Azerbaijan to dictate Armenia their own conditions."

The advocates of nationalistic ideas turned down Ter-Petrosian at the very moment when he was preparing to sign a peace agreement with Azerbaijan about the occupied territories. Another reason for displacing Ter-Petrosian was his desire to establish friendly relations with Turkey." In the end of the article "Milliet" represented the brief biography of Levon Ter-Petrosian and noted that he speaks 10 foreign languages, including Turkish.

Source: http://www.azg.am/?lang=EN&num=2007111701

[Artsakh]

Re: Presidential elections 2008 in Armenia

Ter-Petrosian Apologizes To Nation, Seeks Broader Support


By Emil Danielyan

Former President Levon Ter-Petrosian again rallied thousands of supporters in Yerevan on Friday, urging broader opposition support for his return to power and responding scathingly to verbal attacks from President Robert Kocharian and Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian. In a more than hour-long speech, he said his decision to promote the two Nagorno-Karabakh-born men to high-ranking government positions in Yerevan in the 1990s has proved to be “disastrous” for Armenia.

The speech also contained a long-awaited critical analysis of his track record in government, with Ter-Petrosian apologizing to Armenians for the “suffering” they had endured during the first years of the country’s independence. But he insisted that it had primarily been caused by the victorious war with Azerbaijan and the resulting Azerbaijani and Turkish blockades of Armenia.

Ter-Petrosian also called on the West to press the authorities in Yerevan to take key anti-fraud measures ahead of the upcoming Armenian presidential election. Failure to do that would render “meaningless” international monitoring of the February 19 vote, he warned.

“Seeing the latest steps by Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sarkisian, I am increasingly convinced that I need to repent and ask for absolution,” he told about 20,000 people who gathered in the city’s Liberty Square. “Therefore, I belatedly but sincerely apologize to you for bringing Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sarkisian to Armenia and foisting them upon you.”

“If I made mistakes in my staffing policy -- and I really did -- this is the biggest one. In fact, this is not a mistake but a disaster which I inflicted on our people. So help me rid you of that disaster,” he added, drawing cheers from the crowd.

The blistering attack came in response to Sarkisian’s weekend speech in which he said Ter-Petrosian should “repent and apologize to the Armenian people for, to put it mildly, mistakes committed by him.”

Ter-Petrosian countered that Sarkisian was for years a key member of his administration and never spoke of any government mistakes or policy failures during his 1991-1998 presidency. “Serzh Sarkisian is as much [part of] the current government as [he was of] the former one,” he said.

Ter-Petrosian also rejected Kocharian’s allegations that Armenia’s former leadership mismanaged and even “ruined” the Armenian economy. Reacting to Ter-Petrosian’s harsh criticism of his administration on October 31, Kocharian downplayed the Karabakh war’s impact on Armenia’s economic collapse of the early 1990s that was compounded by a severe energy crisis.

Ter-Petrosian spent a large part of his speech trying to substantiate his view that the wars in Karabakh, which all but cut off Armenia from the rest of the world, and elsewhere in the region were the root cause of that. He said the war effort also required enormous material resources that could have otherwise been used for the facilitating the country’s transition to the free market. Ter-Petrosian specifically elaborated on the causes of the power shortages which meant that Armenian households had only a few hours of electricity a day between 1992 and 1995.

“I can still not disclose state secrets but will assure you that the money we spent on securing weapons, ammunition and fuel, supplying the army, defending the border regions of Armenia and restoring disrupted communication infrastructure would have been enough to fully provide our people with heat and electricity,” said Ter-Petrosian.

Ter-Petrosian said both Kocharian and Sarkisian are well aware of this by virtue of being the war-time leaders of Karabakh. He cited Kocharian as telling to him in a 1995 congratulatory message that “the grateful people of Artsakh (Karabakh) will never forget your personal contribution to our heroic struggle.”

“I do realize that my lengthy explanations will not dispel many people’s doubts. So I am left to solicit the forgiveness of the people for the suffering inflicted on them for the sake of Artsakh’s salvation,” declared Ter-Petrosian.

The 62-year-old former scholar also strongly disagreed with those who believe that the roots of Armenia’s existing political and economic ills date back to the 1990s and that there are no fundamental differences between his and Kocharian’s administrations. “The current and former authorities can not be [seen as] identical for one simple reason. The former leadership was political, while the current one is criminal,” he charged.

While admitting that government corruption was a serious problem during his rule, Ter-Petrosian insisted that it did not have a systemic character. He claimed that the current Armenian authorities have scrutinized his and his associates’ past activities since his resignation in 1998 in the hope of implicating them in corruption and other wrongdoing.

“Imagine what they would have done to use if they had found any concrete fact [of corruption,]” he said. “They would have destroyed us, they would hanged us on this podium.”

Ter-Petrosian’s speech at the rally was preceded by much shorter statements made by the leaders of a dozen mostly small opposition parties supporting his presidential bid. Also addressing the crowd was Khachatur Sukiasian, a wealthy businessman and parliament deputy who has been facing a government crackdown on his businesses since openly voicing support for the ex-president’s comeback last month.

“I am proud of standing next to the founding president of the Republic of Armenia,” stated Sukiasian. He said there are “dozens” of other entrepreneurs who support Ter-Petrosian but are afraid of speaking out.

Another speaker read out a letter from Zhirayr Sefilian, a prominent Karabakh war veteran and nationalist politician controversially imprisoned by the authorities. It welcomed the “liberation movement” started by Ter-Petrosian and his allies and urged them to “take the struggle to the end.” Unlike the ex-president, Sefilian opposes any land concessions to Azerbaijan.

While welcoming the multiparty support, Ter-Petrosian appealed to other influential opposition figures to rally around his presidential candidacy and “get rid of this criminal regime.” He specifically mentioned his former prime minister and longtime rival, Vazgen Manukian, as well as former parliament speaker Artur Baghdasarian and former Foreign Minister Raffi Hovannisian.

All three men have long been harboring presidential ambitions. Seeking to win over them, Ter-Petrosian declared that if elected he will serve as president only for three years and “leave the political arena for good.” Armenians would then be able to “choose a new president in absolutely free and fair elections,” he said.

Ter-Petrosian further urged the OSCE, the Council of Europe and other international organizations that have monitored Armenian elections to help ensure that all ballots for the upcoming presidential election are printed aboard and that voters casting those ballots have their fingers marked by indelible ink. He claimed that multiple voting and circulation of forged ballots was widespread during the May parliamentary described as largely democratic by Western observers.

Ter-Petrosian alleged that in fact the polls were the “most disgraceful in Armenia’s history” because “vote falsifications were disguised with such ingenuity that no observer could detect them.” He said the Western-led monitoring missions should also engage in a more in-depth long-term monitoring of the February 19 election. “If all this is not done, then the mission of international monitoring organizations in Armenia will become meaningless,” he said. “Furthermore, it will contribute to the legitimization of elections held with blatant fraud.”

Ter-Petrosian himself was accused by opponents of rigging elections while in power. In particular, he ordered troops to the streets of Yerevan to quell violent opposition protests against his hotly disputed reelection in 1996. He admitted on Friday that the 1996 vote and parliamentary elections held in 1995 were “disputed,” but stopped short of calling them fraudulent.

(Photolur photo)

http://www.armenialiberty.org/armeniareport/report/en/2007/11/4D766DB8-DBEC-4541-A487-3AB2C2D833D0.ASP

[Virgil]

Re: Presidential elections 2008 in Armenia

In a more than hour-long speech, he said his decision to promote the two Nagorno-Karabakh-born men to high-ranking government positions in Yerevan in the 1990s has proved to be “disastrous” for Armenia.

Ter-Petrosian should be hung for treason, he is seperating the interests of Nagorno-Karabagh with that of Armenia, their interests coincide, again, Diaspora screwing over Armenia because they have their own self interests or projections of what the Armenia people should be. Apprently he wants to create another "rose revolution", place Armenian interests second to the interest of the United States and Europe, two entities that are and will work with Turks and Azeris in order to procure oil pipelines and alternatives to future Russian and Iranian Caspian oil monopoly.