Turkish – Armenian Rapprochement to Be Linked on Human Rights Conditions’ Improvement in Armenia

Turkish – Armenian Rapprochement to Be Linked on Human Rights Conditions’ Improvement in Armenia

- If Turkey should be further democratized and harmonized with Europe, then why should Turkey open its borders to Armenia - a criminal tyranny denounced as such by the HRW in a lengthy and devastating Report?

In three earlier articles entitled "Turkey’s Ongoing Colonization: Only Reason for Recognizing Racist Armenian Tyranny" (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/94451), "Devastating HRW on Armenian Tyranny Imposes Cancellation of the Gul – Erdogan Pro-Armenian Policy" (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/94453), and "Recognition of the Armenian Tyranny by Ankara Equals Colonization of Turkey by Freemasonic EU – US" (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/94492), I republished parts of the devastating HRW Report (the HRW Press Release issued on the occasion of the Report publication a few days ago, the Contents, the Summary, the Methodology, and the Background), and called for a master coup against the unrepresentative Erdogan gang of high traitors, freemasons and besotted pseudo-Islamists, who implement the Anti-Turkish colonial agenda of England and France; in fact, the colonial powers imposed on the Freemasonic pupils Gul and Erdogan the Turkish – Armenian rapprochement.

In the present article, I republish the HRW Report chapter on the 2008 Presidential Elections. In forthcoming articles, I will republish further parts of the devastating HRW Report on the Armenian Tyranny.

IV. The 2008 Presidential Elections
http://www.hrw.org/en/node/80933/section/6

With Robert Kocharyan coming to the end of his two-term limit as president, his heir apparent in the 2008 presidential contest was Prime Minister Serj Sargsyan.[29] The scene for the election had largely been set by the parliamentary elections in 2007, in which Sargsyan's Armenian Republican Party had consolidated its grip on parliament.[30] Opposition parties had continued to decline in parliamentary representation, with the principal opposition from 2003, the Armenian People's Party, routed.

Levon Ter-Petrossian, after stepping down as president in 1998, had retreated from public life and avoided contact with the media. His party, the Armenian Pan-National Movement, had gone into sharp decline.[31] Ter-Petrossian gave his first public speech since his resignation on September 21, 2007, sharply criticizing the Kocharyan administration, calling it a "criminal regime" and denouncing widespread corruption in the country. In another speech on October 26 he confirmed publicly his intention to run for president against Sargsyan.[32]

Sargsyan and Ter-Petrossian were the frontrunners in a field of nine registered candidates when the election campaign officially opened on January 21, 2008.[33] Media coverage of the candidates was heavily skewed in Sargsyan's favor, as noted in critical statements before polling day by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).[34]

The election, held on February 19, resulted in Sargsyan winning outright with 52.8 percent of the vote, and Ter-Petrossian gaining 21.5 percent, according to official figures. An international observer mission comprising the OSCE, the PACE, and the European Parliament initially endorsed the election, issuing a preliminary report on February 20 that found the election "mostly in line with the country's international commitments."[35] Similar statements followed from European Union High Representative Javier Solana, European Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU presidency, and the Council of Europe's envoy.[36]

On March 3, however, the OSCE issued a harsher statement, claiming that there had been irregularities, including implausibly high voter turnout at some polling stations, high numbers of invalid ballots especially at some Yerevan polling stations, and significant procedural errors and irregularities in the vote counting and tabulation. In addition, it noted insufficient protection for registering and addressing voters' complaints.[37] On May 30 the OSCE issued a final report on the elections that, while maintaining its original generally favorable assessment, stated that there was "an insufficient regard for standards essential to democratic elections [which] devalued the overall election process."[38]

Immediately following the elections, Human Rights Watch documented nine cases of assailants intimidating, threatening, and even violently attacking opposition party activists, journalists, and observers. The victims had been complaining about what they believed to be electoral fraud and other violations of the electoral rules, such as incorrect voters' lists, intimidation of voters, violations of the right to a secret ballot, and ballot stuffing. In several of the incidents police were present during the assaults and did not intervene. Some of the victims reported the attacks to the police, who began investigating.[39]

Levon Ter-Petrossian himself made accusations of widespread election falsification and claimed that he had won the election.[40]On March 5, 2008, Ter-Petrossian appealed to the Constitutional Court challenging the legitimacy of Sargsyan's victory and seeking to have the election declared invalid. His challenges were on technical grounds rather than on grounds that there had been violations in the conduct of the vote, however.[41] On March 8 the Constitutional Court rejected his appeal.[42

Notes

[29] Sargsyan is a very common Armenian surname. Serj Sargsyan is not related to his late predecessor as prime minister, Vazgen Sargsyan.

[30] Sargsyan had assumed the premiership and the Republican Party leadership only when the 2007 parliamentary elections were already underway, after the sudden death of prime minister and Republican Party leader Andranik Margaryan. Sargsyan, then defense minister, had nevertheless been widely viewed as Kocharyan's heir apparent even before becoming prime minister.

[31] The ANM failed to win parliamentary representation in 2003, and after initially registering a candidate list it withdrew from the 2007 parliamentary elections. See OSCE/ODIHR, "Final report on the parliamentary elections in Armenia, 25 May 2003," July 31, 2003, http://www.osce.org/documents/odihr/2003/07/533_en.pdf; and "Final Report on the 12 May 2007 Parliamentary Elections in Armenia," September 10, 2007, http://www.osce.org/documents/odihr/2007/09/26169_en.pdf (both accessed September 17, 2008).

[32]"Armenian Ex-President Confirms Comeback Plans," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, November 1, 2007, http://rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/11/FC64B5FB-EFAC-4463-8E9F-13B3D6FD1714.html (accessed May 29, 2008).

[33] OSCE/ODIHR, "Republic of Armenia Presidential Election, 19 February 2008, Election Observation Mission Final Report," May 30, 2008, http://www.osce.org/documents/odihr/2008/05/31397_en.pdf (accessed September 15, 2008).

[34]"Armenia: Continued progress is key to ensuring public confidence in democratic election, says PACE delegation," Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe press release, January 31, 2008, http://assembly.coe.int/ASP/Press/StopPressView.asp?ID=2003 (accessed September 1, 2008). "Levon Ter Petrosian is periodically negatively portrayed in Armenia mass media â€" says OSCE/ODHIR," January 31, 2008, Arminfo [in Russian],http://www.arminfo.info/popup.php?archive=file_20080131_215900_rus_6144.html (accessed December 30, 2008).

[35] "Armenian presidential election mostly in line with international commitments, but further improvements necessary," OSCE/ODIHR press release, February 20, 2008, http://www.osce.org/item/29779.html (accessed May 30, 2008).

[36] "Javier Solana, EU High Representative for the CFSP [Common Foreign and Security Policy], congratulates the Armenian people on the orderly conduct of the presidential elections," European Commission's Delegation to Armenia press release, February 20, 2008, http://www.delarm.ec.europa.eu/en/press/20_02_2008.htm (accessed May 30, 2008); "Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union on the presidential election in Armenia on 19 February 2008," European Commission's Delegation to Armenia press release, February 22, 2008,
http://www.delarm.ec.europa.eu/en/press/22_02_2008.htm (accessed May 30, 2008); "Statement on the conduct of Presidential elections in Armenia," EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner, February 22, 2008, http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/ferrero-waldner/speeches/index_en.htm (accessed May 30, 2008); "Council of Europe Envoy Praises Armenian Vote," Armtown.com, February 25, 2008, http://www.armtown.com/news/en/rfe/20080225/200802254/ (accessed May 30, 2008).

[37] OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission to the Republic of Armenia Presidential Election 2008, "Post-Election Interim Report, 20 February â€" 3 March 2008," March 7, 2008, http://www.osce.org/documents/odihr/2008/03/30090_en.pdf (accessed September 24, 2008).

[38] OSCE/ODIHR, "Republic of Armenia Presidential Election, 19 February 2008, Election Observation Mission Final Report."

[39] Armenia: Violence at Polling Station Mars Elections," Human Rights Watch press release, February 20, 2008, at http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/02/20/armenia-violence-polling-stations-mars-elections (accessed December 26, 2008).

[40] OSCE/ODIHR, "Post-Election Interim Report, 20 February â€" 3 March 2008."

[41] "The Constitutional Court Has Placed Landmines Under the Legitimacy of Serzh Sargsyan," Levon Ter-Petrossian for President, March 11, 2008, http://www.levonpresident.am/?lang=eng (accessed May 29, 2008). Ter-Pertrossian claimed that according to article 78.1 of the Electoral Code, a prime minister may only be elected to be president if he has the status of acting president, which he claims Sargsyan did not have at this time. He further claimed a breach of article 53.1 of the constitution, which states that presidential elections cannot take place under martial law or state of emergency. Ter-Petrossian argued that the presidential elections refer to the entire period all the way through to the deadline for appeals to the Constitutional Court, and that because the Constitutional Court was in session hearing election-related appeals while the state of emergency was in force, the election was invalid.

[42]Â International Crisis Group, "Armenia: Picking up the Pieces," ICG Europe Briefing No. 48, April 8, 2008, http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=5385&l=1 (accessed May 21, 2008).

Note
Picture: The various pseudo-historical maps, published by the Armenian Diaspora and forcefully distributed as "History" in Armenia, constitute a means of Anti-Turkish and Anti-Azeri propaganda that helps instigate nationalistic hatred against Armenia’s two neighbours among Armenian schoolchildren and youth. The grave falsehood consists in the erroneous interpolation of two very different historical periods, that of Medieval Armenia and our modern times. By confusingly using names that refer to different epochs, today’s Armenian dictators, thugs, and gangsters disrespect thousands of years of Armenian History, and engulf their schoolchildren in venomous odium. When Cilician Armenia existed, most of today’s Turkish territory belonged to the Eastern Roman Empire, not Turkey. Consequently, the two terms cannot co-exist on one and the same map. On the other hand, ‘Historic Armenia’ is a term that does not exist. The ancient and medieval kingdoms of Armenia controlled different territories in different eras, and mostly the Armenian territory was much smaller than what is depicted in this fallacious map.