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November 11, 2008 Heritage Executive Board’s Statement on the Meiendorf Declaration Yerevan—The Heritage Party finds that the declaration signed on November 2, 2008 at the Meiendorf Castle outside Moscow by the Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan, Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev, and Russian president Dmitry Medvedev undermines the mission to maintain peace, bring Karabagh’s decolonization process to fruition, and achieve international recognition for its independence. >> October 17, 2008 Forward to the Past: Russia, Turkey, and Armenia’s Faith By Raffi K. Hovannisian The recent race of strategic realignments reflects a real crisis in the world order and risks a dangerous recurrence of history. >> October 3, 2008 DON’T THEY TRUST CO-RAPPORTEURS?
Head of the Albanian delegation to the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), Aleksander Biberaj, has proposed that “the Monitoring Commission Co-Rapporteurs be regularly changed,” Armenian delegate to the PACE Raffi Hovannisian informed A1+. >> October 2, 2008 THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE MAY USE THE POLITICAL PRISONER CRITERION
“The Council of Europe made a late decision on the evident truth,” says PACE Armenian delegation member Raffi Hovhannisian referring to the Monitoring Commission’s decision today that calls on the urgent release of those arrested for political views and the clarification of the reasons for the murders of March 1. >> September 25, 2008 Heritage MP Takes Part in Meeting of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Alexandroupolis, Greece—Secretary Stepan Safarian of the Heritage Party’s parliamentary faction attended, from September 24 to 25, in the 32nd session of the Cultural, Social, and Healthcare Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC). >> September 18, 2008 Heritage’s Parliament Members Attend the European Economic Forum
Krynica Zdroj, Poland—Heritage Party’s parliamentarians Stepan Safarian, Larisa Alaverdian and Anahit Bakhshian took part, from September 10 to 12, in the 18th Economic Forum. >> September 16, 2008 Heritage MPs Welcome Opposition Members From the British Parliament Yerevan—Today members the Heritage Party’s parliamentary faction met with Professor Brian Brivati, the director of the John Smith Memorial Trust of Great Britain, and Damian Green—the vice chairman of the Trust’s board of trustees, vice president of the British parliament’s Tory Reform Group and chairman of Parliamentary Mainstream. >> September 8, 2008 ARMEN MARTIROSYAN ELECTED HEAD OF HERITAGE PARTY FACTION IN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Yerevan—Today, on Raffi Hovannisian’s motion, the Heritage Party’s parliamentary group unanimously elected MP Armen Martirosyan as its new chairman. “Armen is a promising, young leader and I am sure he will stand Heritage and its mission in good stead,” Hovannisian said. September 5, 2008 RAFFI HOVANNISIAN’S UNPUBLISHED INTERVIEW WITH TURKISH NEWS MAGAZINE Yerevan—On August 21, Armenia’s first foreign minister and Heritage Party founder Raffi K. Hovannisian received a request for an interview from the “Yeni Aktuel” magazine of Turkey. A few days later he delivered, and the magazine thankfully received, his responses to its questions. For reasons yet unknown, the interview has not to date been published. >> September 4, 2008 Heritage’s Parliamentary Group Holds News Conference for European Journalists Yerevan—Today Heritage Party’s MPs Stepan Safarian and Larisa Alaverdian conducted a press conference at the National Assembly and answered the questions of news reporters representing fifteen leading news agencies from European Union countries. >> July 25, 2008 Heritage Board’s New Chairperson Holds First Press Briefing
Yerevan—Today Anahit Bakhshian, the newly elected chairwoman of the Heritage Party’s executive board, conducted a news briefing at Heritage headquarters. Bakhshian was accompanied by Heritage MP Stepan Safarian and spokesman Hovsep Khurshudian. >> July 11, 2008 HERITAGE HOLDS FIFTH PARTY CONVENTION:
Yerevan—Today the Heritage Party convened its fifth congress at the Conference Hall of the Armenian Government. The event brought together 274 party delegates, numerous supporters, invited guests, renowned men and women of the arts and letters, leading members of the academic world, and media representatives. >> June 27, 2008
Raffi Hovannisian at PACE May 30, 2008 Heritage Holds Executive Session: Party Convention Slated for July 11
Yerevan—The Heritage Party’s Governing Council today called a special meeting devoted to a number of pressing agenda items, including the nationwide institutional crisis flowing from February’s presidential elections and reflected in the well-known April resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). >> May 29, 2008 RAFFI HOVANNISIAN AND HERITAGE AT EUROPEAN CONCLAVES Paris, Berlin—Raffi K. Hovannisian, chairman of the Heritage Party and Armenia’s first minister of foreign affairs, took part from May 21 to 28 in a series of international parliamentary conferences convened in the French and German capitals. >> May 27, 2008 Heritage’s Republic Day Statement On this glorious 90th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Armenia, the Heritage Party extends its sincere congratulations to the citizens of the Republic and to the Armenians of Artsakh, Javakhk, and the Diaspora. >> May 6, 2008 Heritage Party Corrects Coalition Statement The Heritage Party takes note of the collective statement, dated May 4, of the four parties which together constitute the ruling coalition in the Republic. Because of its partisan and misleading nature, however, one point requires immediate rectification. >> April 26, 2008 RAFFI HOVANNISIAN ON PARLIAMENTARY MISSION TO SERBIA, KOSOVO Yerevan—Raffi K. Hovannisian, chairman of the Heritage Party and leader of its group in the National Assembly, took part from April 21 to 25 in a mission of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA) to Serbia and Kosovo. >> April 18, 2008 RAFFI HOVANNISIAN and PACE
Strasbourg, France—Raffi K. Hovannisian, leader of the Heritage Party and its faction in the National Assembly, took part from April 14 to 18 in the second part of the 2008 plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) as a member of Armenia’s parliamentary delegation. >> April 10, 2008 Hovannisian Meets Bryza, Semneby Yerevan—Yesterday evening, April 9, at Heritage Party headquarters Raffi K. Hovannisian, accompanied by Heritage MP Stepan Safarian, received US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Matthew Bryza. >> April 4, 2008 Raffi Hovannisian Meets Ukrainian Deputy FM Kostiantyn Yelisieiev Yerevan—Today Raffi K. Hovannisian received at the National Assembly an official Ukrainian delegation led by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Kostiantyn Yelisieiev. The visiting delegation, which is in Armenia to hold consultations with the Armenian foreign ministry, also wished to conduct a special meeting with the leader of the Heritage Party’s parliamentary group and Armenia’s first Minister of Foreign Affairs Raffi Hovannisian. >> April 1, 2008 Hovannisian and Heritage MPs Welcome the Ago Group Yerevan—Today the Heritage Party’s parliamentarians Larisa Alaverdian, Anahit Bakhshian, Zaruhi Postanjian, Armen Martirosian, Vardan Khachatrian, and Stepan Safarian met at the National Assembly with the Ago Monitoring Group of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers. The visiting delegation was led by Sweden’s Ambassador to the Council of Europe Per Sjögren. >> March 31, 2008 RAFFI HOVANNISIAN MEETS GREEK PRIME MINISTER, PACE PRESIDENT Athens—Raffi K. Hovannisian, the Heritage Party’s parliamentary leader and member of Armenia’s delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), met over the weekend with Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and privately exchanged views on matters of mutual concern. >> March 17, 2008 Heritage Party Declaration on Armenia’s Past, Present, and Future Now more than ever, as the schism between the Armenian people and its government continues to expand, the Heritage Party calls for a national rehabilitation process. Such a process, if it is to be meaningful and permanent, must proceed not in spite but in full and brave recognition of the events that have unfurled in our Republic over the past few months. >> March 14, 2008 Human Rights and Artsakh:
Yerevan—Today, March 14, the Heritage Party’s MPs Stepan Safarian, Anahit Bakhshian, Zaruhi Postanjian, and Vardan Khachatrian received at the National Assembly Mr. Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights. >> March 14, 2008 Heritage Files Legal Challenge to State of Emergency Yerevan—Today the Heritage Party filed a petition with the Administrative Court of the Republic of Armenia, demanding annulment of the president’s March 1, 2008 decree on the declaration of a state of emergency. The appeal asserts, among other things, that the suspension of the activities of democratic institutions and specifically the restrictions imposed upon the media contradict the requirements both of Armenian law and of the European Convention on Human Rights. >> March 7, 2008 Hovannisian, Heritage MPs Meet With Bryza, Prescott, Talvitie, Semneby
Yerevan—This evening Heritage Party leader and Armenia’s first Minister of Foreign Affairs Raffi K. Hovannisian received US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Matthew Bryza and Chargé d’Affaires Joseph Pennington. >> March 4, 2008 Statement of Heritage’s Parliamentary Group The Heritage party’s parliamentary group harshly condemns the improper and impermissible use of excessive force against the peaceful demonstrators, both in the early morning of March 1 at Liberty Square and throughout the evening of the same day and early hours of March 2 in downtown Yerevan. >> March 3, 2008 Heritage MPs Address the International Community Yerevan—On March 2, Armenian National Assembly members Miasnik Malkhasyan and Hakob Hakobyan were arrested on suspicion of provoking disorderly conduct during the political opposition’s recent demonstrations. >> March 1, 2008, 8pm Heritage Supplementary Statement Heritage condemns the atrocious events that transpired on the morning of March 1 at Liberty Square, as well as ensuing developments that are still taking place. Once again, we denounce the use of brutal force against the peaceful participants of the rally, and the continued unlawful violence used again the peaceful citizens who gathered later across the French Embassy. >> March 1, 2008, 12pm Heritage Condemns With a brutality that is characteristic of the incumbent Armenian authorities and in plain violation of the provisions laid down by the country’s constitution and the international Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the police, in the early hours of March 1, attacked the peaceful protesters of Liberty Square. >> February 29, 2008 Heritage Statement The Armenian presidential elections, held on February 19, 2008, became the culmination point for the most severe violations of the law that were ever committed throughout the tenure of the current authorities—violations that, within the short track record of our independent statehood, have turned into sores in the souls of the country’s freedom-loving people. >> February 26, 2008 Raffi Hovannisian and Heritage MPs Welcome European Officials Yerevan—Today Heritage Party leader Raffi K. Hovannisian met with OSCE chairman-in-office, Finland’s minister of foreign affairs Ilkka Kanerva. They exchanged viewpoints on Armenia’s domestic developments and wider regional concerns. >> February 22, 2008
Liberty Square: Raffi Hovannisian Addresses the Nation February 19, 2008 Voting Abuse Yerevan—The Center for Public Oversight, which is set up at the Heritage Party headquarters to carry out an around-the-clock monitoring of the presidential elections held in Armenia today, received numerous telephone calls attesting to the commission of a large-scale election fraud across the country. Because of the scope of these violations, as of 12pm the Center only recorded the more severe cases of voting abuse but, nonetheless, the information and calls still came in with respect to the countless incidences of election bribe and casting of open ballots. The complete list, in Armenian, of the registered election violations can be found here. January 29, 2008 ARMENIAN CULTURAL HERITAGE RESOLUTIONS IN THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE Strasbourg, France—On the 25th of January, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) put into official circulation a Motion for a Resolution titled “The State of Cultural Heritage in Turkey” and a Motion for a Recommendation on “The Present State of Armenian Cultural Treasures in Turkey.” >> January 28, 2008 RAFFI HOVANNISIAN AT THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE Addresses Parliamentary Assembly, Salutes Hrant Dink, Moves Armenian Heritage Resolutions
Strasbourg, France—Raffi K. Hovannisian, Armenia’s first Minister of Foreign Affairs and leader of the Heritage Party group in its National Assembly, took part from January 20 to 26 in the plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). >>
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