Two pro-opposition Armenian lawmakers have been arrested for allegedly attempting a coup d’etat following violent clashes in the ex-Soviet country that left eight dead, police said Monday. Deputy Miasnik Malkhasian was arrested for “attempting to seize
power,” the press service of the Armenian police told AFP. A source in the security services said that deputy Hakob Hokopian was arrested on the same charge. The two were arrested overnight Sunday, police said.
The opposition immediately denounced the arrests. “This is a new step in the violence the authorities are using against the opposition to deprive it of its leadership,” said Arman Musinian, a spokesman for opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian.

Earlier Today I posted about Human rights watch statement on the recent incidents in Armenia,here is the full statement.

The United Nations human rights chief today voiced deep concern at reports that at least eight people have been killed and many others injured during demonstrations in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, where the results of recent presidential elections have been disputed.

Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, issued a statement in which she said she was particularly concerned that force was used against peaceful demonstrators yesterday and that opposition protesters have been detained.

Wow,Finally Their patience ended. I think they were waiting for Arthur’s return to the government. Armenia liberty also says Levon is under house arrest which if true isn’t surprising.
Artmika in his weblog follows the news. Armenian observer also has a post about it,there are always interesting comments.

Update 1: Seems A1+ building is being surrounded by police forces.

Update 2: ItarTass: The opposition will use all legal means to continue the struggle against Armenia’s authorities, first Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosyan said. He said opposition had warned ambassadors of EU countries and the U.S. ambassador about the events in Yerevan.

The most Interesting Issue in the past weeks, regarding the Armenian genocide issue, has been how the American media behaved.
Washington post to my idea completely was against the resolution. it published an editorial which was mentioned during the committee hearing and it clearly asked the congress committee to vote against resolution. Washington post even a few days ago published another story called Armenians Who Need Help Today from Editor of Editorial page and criticized the Armenian diaspora for their effort on genocide issue.
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George Bush today after a phone talk with Turkish Prime Minister again opposed to the resolution in Congress to recognize 1915 killings as Genocide. The reason as usual is the strategic importance of Turkey(for possible attack and pressure on Iran?).
I don’t understand this sentence of president Bush: “the events constitute a genocide should be a matter for historical inquiry, not legislation.”

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Armenialiberty reports on a high profile bank robbers escape - from a courtroom.

The suspect Aharon Hakobian, was suspected along with 4 others of stealing $600,000 worth of money and gems from a Yerevan bank recently. He managed to escape from the caged enclosure (used to house suspects in Armenian courtrooms) and is now nowhere to be seen.

I am unsure about this - firstly, how can someone get out of that cage, secondly, did no one spot the lad running through the corridors and outside? Is there no security in the courtroom? This kind of thing is so strange it’s laughable. The cynic in me wonders if this is some preorchestrated deal with the relevant bodies to get out of this crime - but surely, surely , this is ridiculous, if it is the case, however, it seems the authorities are getting better and better at fooling people….

I think im just being negative.

In response to this article in Aravot daily I received a request from a friend to publish this letter, which is exactly what I’ll do without any modifications or further comments.

The article in ‘Aravot’ Armenian daily on April 23rd once more made me think over Armenian press. Like any journalist on the way to journalistic career Ms. Babayan comes across the subject seemingly most scandalous and fruitful for Armenian audience: homosexuality. I have to confess, that the article did concern me in terms of poor and absolutely incredible press we have as well as misery of archaic information sources it uses. And at the end of the day I was amazed with the ambition to march to EU with the ragged bag with all its prehistoric content. more…

I’ve grown to admire Elif Shafak’s opinions, especially nowadays as they give us a solid preview of what life can be like for a progressive Turkish contemporary writer/intellectual living and working in a post Hrant Dink world.

Listen to this recent interview on NPR’s Fresh Air radio program and please share your thoughts:

In this particular interview, it was interesting to listen to Shafak’s continued solid stance that the radical Turkish Nationalist movement is really a minority voice that is on the fringes of contemporary Turkish society, a compete opposite of what I originally conceived. There is a lot about Turkish society I have yet to discover, but it seems to be clear that there is this silent majority within the literate groups of Turkey who seem to be intellectually frustrated and actively questioning the official government “feed” about many current issues and past dark historical events. This is a good thing, as it may directly or indirectly propel a richer level of communicative openness and idea-exchange within Turks about various “Armenian” taboo topics in Turkish society such as the Ottoman era Armenian Genocide and the moral legitimacy of Turkey’s current day Armenian economic/border blockade.

Author Elif Shafak was acquitted after being taking to trial for “insulting Turkishness” when a fictional character described the Armenian genocide in her latest book. AFP/Getty Images

Armenianow.com had an interesting article “Present and Future Power Debate: Who will be the choices in 2008?” which examines the possible scenarios of political developments, probable candidates and the effects of these decisions on the political life in the country. However, all the arguments brought to and for this or that candidate in the article are most irrelevent to see the overall picture in the country. The one and only thing that got me interested was rather this one single point made by Washington D.C./Yerevan political analyst Richard Giragosian: more…

A video grab released by Turkish police shows an image of a man suspected of killing journalist Hrant Dink, one of Turkey’s most prominent ethnic Armenians, as the government came under fire for failing to protect him despite nationalist threats.(AFP/HO)

According to a recent AP news release, Turkish Police detained a suspect early today in the slaying of Hrant Dink, acting on a tip from the boy’s father after his pictures were broadcasted on Turkish television. According to press information provided by the Turkish Police, the suspect’s name is Ogun Samast, a 17 years old caught on a bus in the Black Sea city of Samsun. Samast was apparently on his way from Istanbul back to his hometown of Trabzon.

Reporter Benjamin Harvey of the Associated Press also notes that Dink’s secretary had also identified the young man in the photograph as the same person who had requested a meeting with Dink the day he was killed. The man said he was a student at Ankara University. The request was refused, and the secretary said she saw him waiting in front of a bank about an hour before Dink was killed.

It would be interesting to find out if this teen acted alone or had ties to a group. I doubt we will ever know the authentic truth.

It’s been a very difficult news event for me to follow and reflect upon. From what I can gather, this man was very much loved and respected by not only community ethnic Armenians but by the activist/progressive Turkish community.

The most significant memory I have of Dink was in last years American-PBS documentary film on Genocide where I think Dink describes Turks as being a kind (pari) people. I may be wrong with my recollection of what he specifically stated, but his intentions gave me impression that he was a unifier and not a divider. It is important to remember what Hrant Dink stood for, what he fought for and what he achieved for both Turkey and her minority Armenian community.

Had to do a round of introductions today on issues in Democracy for an international group of people representing various countries with similar or worse democratic problems than those of ARmenia. As we had 12 presenters, the speaches had to be done in 5 minutes max, and had to include our vision of Democracy in the UK and Democracy Problems in our countries. Really really tight - isn’t it? I had to choose carefully what to say and how to convey a more or less general picture. As we didn’t really have time to prepare the little impromptu speech I made was rather one sided, still, I guess I ought to publish it here - for public shame and comments… more…

Ara at Martuni or Bust writes about human trafficking that is becoming more serious in Armenia and in the rural areas in particular where people are poorer. In my previous post discussing the industriousness of the Armenian woman, you can understand how people praying on these young women can use their drive to improve the situation for themselves and their family against them. A lot of information about the problem can be found on HETQ.am which of course is a tremendously important organization which has brought light to the issue of human trafficking.

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Armenia did not get elected on to the UN Human Rights Council, a newly formed body to replace the previously ailing Commission. There were 7 seats set aside for Eastern Europe, and Armenia required an absolute majority.

Whats interesting is Azerbaijan did get a seat on this council, yet Georgia fared worse than any of the caucusus , with just 35 votes.

According to an NGO based in Europe, Armenia and Azerbaijan were declared unfit to join the council anyway, because of their goverments’ apparent poor human rights records, along with China and Russia, and others. So in this case It is interesting that Azerbaijan is now on this council yet Georgia and Armenia are not.

So it’s 2 years since those protests on Baghramyan Avenue, when peaceful protestors were shot with water cannons, and violently beaten. Many have forgotten this, and it seems Mr Kocharyan is enjoying a perceivably high amount of power.

A1 plus has the story here

I also had a look at our friends over at Cilicia.com and pulled up the logs from April , take a look at how the repats there felt at the time here. ( scroll down to 12th April)

A new documentary has been broadcasted in the US covering four university students all of whom are are transgendered. (Please skim the Wikipedia article if you don’t have any background on this subject.) It is called TransGeneration. It is on the Sundance and Logo channels (available on most digital cable and sat.)

It is a really great show. There are 8 parts, each of which features all of the four students: two of whom are transitioning female to male and two are transitioning male to female. These young adults are very interesting. Their stories are extremely compelling.

One of the students is T.J., who is Armenian from Cyprus (although he was born in Beiruit.) T.J. went to Melkonian in the 1990s as Tamar and won a Fullbright Scholarship to come to the US.

[T.J.] has embraced college as a place for intellectual, political and personal self-discovery. After graduating at the top of his high school class in Cyprus, T.J. received a Fulbright scholarship to study in the U.S. At Michigan State University in East Lansing, T.J. is part of the campus’ tight-knit transgender community, and openly expresses the male identity he sensed as a very young child. Bright and politically engaged, he has chosen to continue towards a graduate degree in Student Affairs Administration at Michigan State University. But T.J.’s gender expression is irrevocably at odds with his family and community in Cyprus, where he is expected to return after completing graduate work. His mother refuses to talk to him about the subject, and it is no secret that he is expected to sublimate his personal desires to the will of his community. As T.J. plans to a visit home in May, he realizes that he will have to confront his mother and sister about his desire to transition. And T.J. knows that if he is to become the man he deeply feels himself to be, he may never be able to go home.

When T.J. calls his mom in one of the episodes, you can hear the pain in his voice telling his mom that he only wants to visit for a week in the summer. In Armenian it is more painful than the English subtitles, certainly.

If T.J. goes to Cyprus, he will be forced to live as a woman again, something that he is not comfortable with.

Armenian GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered) people have a world of issues to deal with related to their families. T.J.’s story is not unique. Watching this show highlights a number of these issues. I can’t express in words what it is like to see this pain.

(I hate to make it sounds like this show is so upsetting - there are lots of positive moments as well.)

Armenian GLBT links

More information about T.J., including an interview.
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RoA human rights ombudsperson, Larisa Alaverdian, has be kicked out of office. She pissed off the Prez too much and there’s no way for her to stay. She asked to stay in her position until a replacement could be found, but Parliament refused her yesterday.

Why is she out, other than because she made Kocharyan mad? Well, remember those amendments that passed last month? One of them says that the official in charge of human rights protection, appointed by the president until now, will be chosen by the National Assembly.

January 5 is the one month anniversary of the amendments passing, therefore Alaverdian has to be out by that date.

Let’s hope that nothing terrible happens in the meantime.

RFE/RL coverage

THE LAST REPORT OF THE OMBUDSMAN

The participants of the discussion of the activity of the RA Ombudsman tried to sum up what the RA first Ombudsman has done during her 6-year office. Before that Mrs. Alaverdyan is to submit her annual report about “The Activity of the Ombudsman and the Violations of Human Rights”. In comparison with the last report it will be full of examples of human rights violations. There will also be a reference to cultural and ecological issues and to the interests of consumers.

Larissa Alaverdyan complained that after the Constitutional Amendments there were very few people who applied to the Ombudsman. She also said that she doesn’t have enough data for her report yet; for example she does not know how many soldiers have died in the RA Armed Force in 2005. Before receiving official information the advocates present at the discussion informed her that 135 soldiers have died this year.

At the end of the discussion some of the representatives of the NGOs said they wanted Larissa Alaverdyan to continue in her post.[source]