news.am, Armenia
Jan 23 2010

Ilham Aliyev’s talks of peace and appeals for war

11:13 / 01/23/2010Domestic policy
The verdict against Editor-in-Chief of the opposition newspaper Nikol
Pashinyan returned on January 19 once more illustrated the huge gulf
between the Armenian authorities and the uncompromising Opposition led
by the Armenian National Congress (ANC). Despite all the appeals by
international agencies, local and foreign human rights and journalist
organizations, the minor court of the Center and Nork Marash
communities of Yerevan sentenced Pashinyan to 7 years’ imprisonment.
All the talks about the guarantees allegedly provided to him by the
West, which made him hopefully give himself up to law-enforcers on
June 1, 2009, proved false. On the contrary, Pashinyan’s own
prediction during his short talk with journalists just before his
arrest proved completely accurate: he would be locked up for many
years. The 7-year jail term the editor of the most popular Armenian
newspaper, Haykakan Zhamanak (Armenian Times), has to serve has dashed
the last hope for any cooperation between the Armenian authorities and
Opposition. The Armenian authorities have once more showed their
inability, or rather unwillingness, to unexpectedly show flexibility,
which would have yielded dividends to them. It is obvious that a
verdict of not guilty in the Pashinyan case and the journalist’s
release would have been a chance for the Armenian authorities to show
their European partners their willingness to ease the domestic
political crisis and establish a dialogue with the Opposition, which
had been an appeal repeatedly issued by the CE Parliamentary Assembly
(PACE) and other international agencies. At its winter session PACE is
unlikely to strongly criticize Armenia, as European agencies are
unwilling to impede the progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process
and Armenia-Turkey reconciliation by pressuring the Armenian
authorities. However, since the West is practicing double standards,
it will certainly take advantage of the situation ` the imprisonment
of an outstanding opposition representative ` and, when required,
pressure official Yerevan on some issues or others.

This week the Armenian ex-president Robert Kocharyan has suddenly
appeared in public. His appearance seemed dubious and provocative;
Armenian journalists learned about his visit to Iran from Iranian
sources the following day. The salient fact is that the ex-president,
who is not holding any official posts now, not only held meetings with
Iranian top officials, but also made important statements on behalf of
the Armenian state. Specifically, The Tehran Times reported that at
their meeting Robert Kocharyan and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr
Mottaki the two discussed issues of bilateral cooperation and regional
development. The Armenian ex-president stated Armenia is ready to
expand cooperation with Iran. The IRNA News Agency’s report on the
retired Armenian president’s meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad dispelled all the doubts. At his meeting with the Iranian
leader Robert Kocharyan pointed out that Armenian is seeking to expand
its ties with Iran. He stressed both the nations have the potential
for developing bilateral relations and regional cooperation. So the
second Armenian president made statements on behalf of the Armenian
state without being authorized.

Within the next few days we can hear numerous comments and opinions on
Robert Kocharyan’s return to politics. However, even if he has
returned, he has not done so in the best way possible. Iran can hardly
be considered a state to visit in order to lay a solid foundation for
international support in case of a domestic political crisis. With the
dislike shown for Robert Kocharyan by the majority of the Armenian
population, his latest efforts are more like a step of despair, an
attempt to remind the public of himself. In any case, a probe into
public opinion has been launched, and the reasons for Robert
Kocharyan’s reappearance will soon become obvious.

Nagorno-Karabakh peace process and region

This week has been marked by the preparations for the
Armenian-Russian-Azerbaijani presidential meeting and by disagreements
over the prospects of the Armenia-Turkey normalization process between
official Yerevan and Ankara.

As before, the Azerbaijani authorities’ policy is in stark contrast to
the spirit of establishing peace and stability in the region. January
20, the 20th anniversary of the introduction of Soviet troops into
Baku to establish law and order and prevent the annihilation of
non-Azerbaijani population, proved to be an occasion for another fit
of anti-Armenian hysteria. Distorting the facts about the tragic
events in Baku in January 1990 is one of the priority tasks of the
Azerbaijani authorities, which are doing their best to give an
entirely false version of the events. This year, under orders from the
Azerbaijani Presidential Administration, the national mass media
spared no efforts to expose `the criminal essence of the totalitarian
regime that committed a monstrous terrorist act against the
Azerbaijani people that stood up to defend the country’s freedom,
independence and territorial integrity.’ Azerbaijan’s interpretation
of the tragic events is nothing but a manifestation of neo-fascism:
Armenian citizens of the Azerbaijani Soviet Republic could be murdered
in cold blood without any problems, and those murders were
manifestations of `the Azerbaijani people’s aspiration for freedom and
independence.’ But killing the participants in the Armenian pogroms as
Soviet troops entered Baku was a `tragedy’ ` they were Azeris!

Despite the progressing Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, the Azeri
authorities continue their policy of befooling their own people,
making `humble servants’ of the Aliyev clan of them. Tales about
Azerbaijan that `fell victim to the Soviet Empire’, which, all of a
sudden, decided to send troops against `peaceful’ demonstrators, are
being dinned into the people. Nothing, of course, is being said about
the extremely cruel Armenian pogroms planned and committed by the
Popular Front of Azerbaijan (PFA) on January 13-19, nationalists’
outrage against the Russian servicemen and their families, Baku radio
and TV center seized by the PFA and calls for putting an end to
`Armenians’ comfortable life in Baku.’

Denying the obvious fact of Armenian pogroms in Baku on January 13-19,
1990, the Azeri mass media, fully controlled by the authorities,
continue the anti-Armenian hysteria, creating the image of `Armenian
enemy.’ On January 20, a day of national mourning in Azerbaijan, Baku
TV channels showed an interview with 20-year-old youths born on
January 20. And one of the girls with a sad face, in her interview
with the Government-controlled AzTV channel, says she never celebrates
her birthday and will do so `until the occupied territories are
liberated from the Armenian enemies.’ What is more, her brother is
serving in the Azeri army, `waiting for an order to fight against the
Armenian occupation with arms in his hands.’ We might as well not have
quoted the news report by the Azeri leader Ilham Aliyev’s favorite TV
channel if it had not been done just a few hours before the OSCE Minsk
Group Co-Chairs visited Baku as part of the preparations for the
Sargsyan-Medvedev-Aliyev meeting. So the Azeri President must be the
only person that knows how to hold peace talks simultaneously with
appeals for war.

The bubble of sly Turkish diplomacy has burst this week. Turkish
Premier Recep Erdogan, who often shows emotional and eccentric
behavior, eventually `broke down’ and `betrayed’ the Turkish leaders’
real attitude to the Armenia-Turkey normalization process. Nothing
special happened. The top-ranking Turkish official just said what he
really thought instead of what he was supposed to say `within the
limits’ set by Turkey’s principal ally, the United States.

It is quite obvious now that Turkey had been waiting for an
opportunity to show its true colors. Such an opportunity presented
itself ` the RA Constitutional Court’s verdict confirming the
constitutionality of the Armenian-Turkish protocols. Picking on a
number of explanatory points in the verdict, the Turkish authorities
actually act like their Azerbaijani counterparts in distorting facts.
According to the Turkish Premier and Foreign Office, the RA
Constitutional Court nearly amended the protocols and set
preconditions. `The Armenian Constitutional Court acted in secret.
Turkey cannot accept secret approaches. We submitted the protocols
signed in Zurich immediately and without any changes to our
Parliament. We did not change a single word in the protocols, but they
underwent an operation in Armenia,’ Erdogan said. However, it is the
Turkish Premier’s fevered imagination that has to undergo an
operation. All of a sudden he concluded that the RA Constitutional
Court must report to him, but not act `in secret.’ Further the Turkish
Premier revealed the real reason for the stir: while demanding that
Armenia not set any preconditions, he himself remembered the
Nagorno-Karabakh problem and demanded the withdrawal of Armenian
troops from the `occupied’ territories. The Turkish authorities’
attempt to reap dividends from the RA Constitutional Court’s verdict,
resorting to blackmail, and thus thwart the Armenia-Turkey
normalization process proved be an ignominious failure. And it is the
fathers of the Armenian-Turkish process, Russia and the United States,
that have to `clean up the mess’ ` they are the only ones able to
force Turkey to `come to its senses.’ Now, however, we are witnessing
an interesting situation: in Armenia, one step to the ratification of
the Armenian-Turkish protocols by the Parliament, and, in Turkey,
threats to thwart the process, as well as attempts to link it to the
Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.

Economy and social life

The Armenian Government approved a proposal for an Armenian-German
financial cooperation agreement for 2009-2010. Under the agreement,
the German Government is to render ?¬105.5m financial assistance to
Armenia and other recipients as well as low-interest credits under six
programs. The funds are to be provided by the Bank of Germany.

>From now on, the Armenian Government will exercise supervision over
off-budget expenditures of Armenian agencies. The RA Government
amended the Resolution `On the order of serving and registering
off-budget funds of government and other agencies’ of June 10, 1999.
The Government accounts for its decision by the necessity for uniform
use of budgetary and off-budget funds and enhancing the financial
control and management efficiency. RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan
said that the reason for the Government’s decision is the situation at
the RA State Revenue Committee and other agencies. `The Committee’s
off-budget expenditures have lately been actively discussed. As a
matter of fact, we were unable to control them. Our first step is to
make all the off-budget expenditures transparent,’ the Premier said.
Also, uniform standards will from now on be in effect for all
off-budget funds. The RA State Revenue Committee purchased 20 watches
for its staff members, each watch worth 1,000,000 AMD (about $3,000),
as New Year presents.

The Dino Gold Mining Company employees have been on strike this week
in Kapan. Their demand is the former wage rates ` they were reduced
from 250,000 AMD (about $500) down to 100,000 ($300).

T.P