Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

Los Angeles Daily News
March 28 2004

Vote set on school holiday
Proposal would give students day off on Armenian Christmas

By Naush Boghossian
Staff Writer

GLENDALE — The school board will vote Tuesday on two new student
attendance calendars, both of which include having Jan. 6, Armenian
Christmas, as a day off.

The financially strapped district lost about $250,000 in state
funding this year because so many Armenian students stayed home on
Jan. 6 to celebrate their culture’s Christmas holiday. About 10,000
of the district’s 29,200 students are of Armenian descent.

“If students are not in attendance, then that disrupts their
opportunity to have the continuity of instruction,” said Cathy
McMullen, the district’s assistant superintendent of human resources.
“We need to do everything to maximize instructional opportunities,
our financial resources and to be respectful of our community’s
needs.”

Under both calendars — the product of several meetings with parents
and the teachers’ association — students on a traditional school
year would receive the mandated 180 days of instruction between Sept.
8 and June 23, but would have Jan. 6 and the day before Thanksgiving
off.

The district originally was considering starting the school year a
week early and adding a week to its winter break to incorporate
Armenian Christmas as a school holiday, but the idea was thrown out
after complaints from parents.

School board member Greg Krikorian said it is unlikely they will be
able to please everyone in the community but the calendars that have
been settled on will allow the district to save a great deal of money
and be respectful of a holiday.

“We are steadfast in incorporating Jan. 6 as a day off in our school
district for students and staff because it helps us address the
budget challenge, it gives us a better opportunity to educate more
children on that day, and finally, it helps us be more culturally
sensitive to our large Armenian population,” Krikorian said.

Nearby school districts have made accommodations for days they
experience high student and staff absenteeism in order to avoid
losing average daily attendance revenues.

The Las Virgenes Unified School District, which has a large Jewish
student population, has a staff development day on Sept. 17 to
coincide with Yom Kippur.

The Los Angeles Unified School District has tried to build its
calendars around days when a large number of students and staff are
absent — including Good Friday and Yom Kippur.

Naush Boghossian, (818) 546-3306 [email protected]

IF YOU GO: The Glendale Unified School District board will meet at
3:30 p.m. Tuesday in the board room of the school administration
center at 223 N. Jackson St. For more information, call (818)
241-3311.
From: Baghdasarian

Envoy pledges EU support in resolving Karabakh issue

Arminfo
26 Mar 04

YEREVAN

The European Union is ready to facilitate the Minsk Group process and
the efforts of Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict, the special representative of the EU for the South Caucasus,
Heikki Talvitie, said in a news conference in Yerevan today.

According to the special representative, the OSCE Minsk Group is the
body that must help Armenia and Azerbaijan resolve this
issue. However, Heikki Talvitie said that he would personally try to
help and build an atmosphere of mutual confidence. As an example, he
cited his forthcoming visit to Abkhazia next Monday 29 March
. According to him, the settlement of the Abkhaz conflict is under the
jurisdiction of the UN, but he will try to contribute to building an
atmosphere of mutual trust.

Asked about the current situation in the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict in
view of the fact that Heikki Talvitie himself used to be a co-chairman
of the Minsk conference, the special representative said that
officially “the process is at the same point as it was 12 years ago”.

“However, a lot has changed from within. Now that we are trying to
resume the talks and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen are working hard
to find ways of resolving the conflict, the processes that unfolded
within affect the conflict. Therefore, positive and negative aspects
affect the possibility of resuming the talks, not the talks process
itself,” the special representative said.

As for the possibility of him visiting Nagornyy Karabakh, Heikki
Talvitie said he would certainly do that during his next visit if his
mandate is extended.

Speaking about the fact that the Azerbaijani side has effectively
disrupted the Prague meeting which was scheduled for 29 March, the
special representative said “one meeting, not the whole process, has
been postponed”.

Asked whether it was possible to conclude that the Azerbaijani side
was not prepared not only for one meeting, but also for the conflict
settlement in general, the EU’s special representative said he would
not like to make such far-reaching conclusions.
From: Baghdasarian

Armenian university wants British envoy to be declared persona non grata

Yerkir web site
26 Mar 04

YEREVAN

The History Department of Yerevan State University released a
statement on Thursday [25 March] condemning the British ambassador’s
statement over the Armenian genocide [killing of Armenians in Ottoman
Turkey in 1915].

“The ambassador has crudely offended the dignity of the Armenian
people,” the statement says. By her statement, the ambassador has
insulted the memory of the 1.5m Armenians who were victimized in the
genocide, the statement goes on.

“She should apologize, and the Armenian Foreign Ministry should
declare her persona non grata, because failure to punish those
responsible for the Armenian genocide made the Jewish Holocaust
possible, and failure to recognize the Armenian genocide today is
likely to lead to new acts of genocide,” the statement says.

We hope, however, that the opinion expressed in the ambassador’s
statement is only hers and is not the official position of Britain,
the statement concludes.
From: Baghdasarian

Books: Tangled roots of genocide

The Independent – United Kingdom
Mar 26, 2004
Mark Mazower

In the summer of 1915, Leslie Davis was American consul in Harput, a
remote town in the central Anatolian highlands, three weeks’ ride on
horseback from Constantinople. About a third of the population in the
region were Armenians – villagers, farmers, merchants and teachers –
who had always got along with their Turkish neighbours. But, a few
months into the Great War, the government ordered Armenian schools to
close, and arrested leading men. In July, town criers publicised their
imminent deportation, street by street; and homes and properties were
pillaged. A couple of months later, after the deportations, Davis rode
out into the surrounding countryside, leaving early so as not to be
noticed.

By the side of the road shallow graves betrayed human remains, and
villages once inhabited by Armenians lay in ruins. As he reached the
side of a local lake, he peered down from the path above and saw
hundreds of bodies in its waters. Neighbouring ravines contained
thousands more. On a remote part of the lake shore, he came across
hundreds of corpses piled in rows. It was, he wrote, as if “the world
were coming to an end”.

Although successive Turkish governments have tried to deny what was
done to the Armenians, the killing was a messy business and there were
no top- secret extermination sites such as were built by the Nazis in
Poland. The genocide was a relatively public affair, and US
missionaries, German businessmen, railway engineers and even foreign
soldiers in Ottoman service all sent graphic despatches home. The
atrocities were outlined in newspaper headlines, and the old
Gladstonian, Lord Bryce, compiled a still-useful report for the
British government. We will never know for sure, but probably between
800,000 and one million people were killed or starved to death.

The horror of it all emanates vividly from the pages of Peter
Balakian’s new history. The sheer scale of the massacres has an
overwhelming impact and his access to the accounts of survivors and
diplomats, and his understanding of Armenian culture and society, help
bring to life the world that was lost with the victims. It quickly
becomes clear that the Holocaust was not the first such onslaught on
an entire community; indeed, the parallels with that event are
frequently underlined.

Like other commentators, Balakian believes genocide can offer
lessons. He stresses the ethical challenge state-sponsored violence on
such a scale poses to bystanders and foreign powers, and underlines
the heroic response of those who tried to end the killing – activists,
relief workers and idealists who mobilised local funds of sympathy and
did what they could.

A sub-theme of the book – a parable for the present? – is how these
events resonated in the US. Calls for the country to live up to its
“duty to civilisation” by intervening led to the usual tussle between
realpolitik and the politics of compassion. President Woodrow Wilson
never declared war on the Ottoman Empire but did support the idea of
an American mandate for an independent Armenia; it failed to get
through Congress.

Balakian does not bother to hide where his sympathies lie – with those
who cared, against the isolationists and hard-nosed men who believed
national interest trumped moral imperatives. But his sympathies run
deeper than that, for the way he tells it this was a story of good and
evil, of Armenians against Turks, Christians attacked by Muslims,
blameless victims against malevolent perpetrators led by psychopaths
such as Sultan Abdul Hamid.

He describes a tradition of state-sponsored violence in Turkey that
starts with the massacres of the mid-1890s (which themselves killed
more than 100,000 people) and 1909 (about 15,000), and continues, in a
sense, to this day through the denial itself.

Only it was a bit more complicated that that. Reading Balakian, one
would not know that in 1912 the Sultan’s foreign minister had been an
Armenian, nor that the Young Turks, who instigated the genocide,
co-operated with Armenian parties up to the start of the First World
War. There was a centuries- old policy of co-operation between the
Porte and the Armenian community which only the rise of nationalism –
Armenian and Turkish – eroded.

In Constantinople, the Armenian Patriarch preached loyalty to the
sultan. But Armenian revolutionaries sought autonomy for the Armenian
provinces of Anatolia by forcing Great Power intervention, and were
even willing to provoke Ottoman repression to get there. Call it the
Kosovo strategy: it had worked for Christian nationalists in the
Balkans, and it looked to some it might work for the Armenians, too.

Balakian cannot bring himself to criticise these activists. The most
he will say is that they were naive. Russian diplomats did indeed
force the empire to accept foreign oversight of the Armenian provinces
in early 1914. Bitterly opposed in Constantinople as the first step to
secession, the agreement, abandoned when war broke out, encouraged the
Ottomans to see the Armenians as a Russian fifth-column.

Nor had Christians always been the victims, Muslims the
perpetrators. Bal- akian’s heroic American Protestant missionaries
were not neutral observers but agents of radical social and cultural
change trying to transform the Ottoman empire. Meanwhile, largely
unnoticed by the Western humanitarian conscience, a tidal wave of
Muslim refugees, well over one million, fled into Anatolia from Russia
and the Balkans after 1860: a reminder of the human consequences of
Ottoman decline.

After 1908, Bosnia, Crete, Albania and Macedonia were all lost,
too. By spring 1915, Russian troops threatened Anatolia from the east,
and the British seemed about to seize Constantinople: the empire faced
dismemberment. None of this in any way justifies what happened to the
Armenians, but it underlines the existential crisis that faced the
empire’s young and arrogant leadership, humiliated on the battlefield,
their grand strategy in ruins.

In 1919, under Allied pressure, a postwar Ottoman government set up
tribunals to investigate the Armenian murders. But in the East the war
was not really over: Armenian fighters were trying to set up an
independent state – from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, ran the
dream – while Mustafa Kemal formed an association to stop them. The
Armenians gambled on foreign support they did not have, while
Kemalists built an army against them. Having neutered the Russian
threat by alliance with the Bolsheviks, Kemal’s men routed the
Armenians, expelled the Greeks from Asia Minor, and got rid of the
ruling family, too.

The tribunals were abandoned, a Turkish republic arose from the ashes
of empire, and ever after, Ataturk’s heirs insisted that the Armenians
had brought their misfortunes on themselves. The Burning Tigris
remains, understandably enough, a work of denunciation. Even so, more
than denunciation will be needed to help us make sense of what
happened.

Mark Mazower, professor of history at Birkbeck College London, will
publish `Salonica, City of Ghosts’ (HarperCollins) this summer
From: Baghdasarian

Ministers’ meeting cancelled at Azeri initiative, says Armenian source

Mediamax news agency
25 Mar 04

YEREVAN

The meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers, planned
for 29 March, will not take place.

This was announced on 24 March by the Russian co-chairman of the OSCE
Minsk Group, Yuriy Merzlyakov, in an interview with Azerbaijani TV
channel ATV, Mediamax news agency reports. The mediator said that the
decision to cancel the meeting was taken as a result of the “wish of
one side”.

“Those who accuse the mediators of inactivity should pay attention to
the efforts of the conflicting sides themselves to settle the
conflict,” Yuriy Merzlyakov said.

An informed source in the Armenian Foreign Ministry today said in an
interview with Mediamax that the Armenian side did not ask the
mediators to cancel the Prague meeting.

On 17 March Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan said that the OSCE Minsk
Group co-chairmen and the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers
would hold consultations in Prague on 29 March. Vardan Oskanyan
expressed the hope that “this meeting will help us understand how
exactly Azerbaijan wants to continue the negotiations”.
From: Baghdasarian

Times Union, Albany, NY
March 20 2004

Ex-pastor admits he committed tax fraud

Albany — Former Troy priest who stole church funds and failed to
report income on his taxes takes a plea deal

By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff reports

A priest who embezzled thousands of dollars from his congregation’s
collection plate pleaded guilty to tax fraud Friday in federal
district court after admitting that he failed to report the stolen
money to the Internal Revenue Service.
Megerdich Megerdichian, 47, the former pastor of Troy’s Holy Cross
Armenian Apostolic Church, could be sentenced to three years in
prison, a year of supervised release and fined $250,000 when he is
sentenced on June 14. He is currently living in Cranston, R.I. No
further information was available Friday night.

Megerdichian took the plea deal offered by federal prosecutor Steven
A. Tyrrell during an appearance before U.S. District Judge Lawrence
E. Kahn.

The priest led the Troy parish for 16 years, according to information
provided by U.S. Attorney Glenn Suddaby and IRS Special Agent in
Charge Anne Marie Coons.

Church finances were controlled by a four-member board during
Megerdichian’s tenure at the church, officials said. They were
signatories on all church accounts and were required to approve
church expenditures.

But from at least May 1995 until sometime in late 1997, those board
members had no idea that the priest had established a private account
at a Fleet Bank in Troy in which he deposited thousands of dollars in
checks made out to the church.

Board members were unaware the account existed, Suddaby and Coons
said.

Megerdichian used some of the money for personal expenses and then
“knowingly and willfully” failed to declare the income on his federal
tax returns, they said: “This resulted in an underpayment … of
$9,442.”‘

Megerdichian was removed from ministry in 1998 and required in 2000
to repay the parish in full. As part of Friday’s plea deal, he also
must pay restitution to the IRS.
From: Baghdasarian

Official Kremlin Int’l News Broadcast
March 16, 2004 Tuesday

REMARKS ON GEORGIAN-ADZHARIAN CONFLICT BY STATE DUMA COMMITTEE FOR
FOREIGN AFFAIRS CHAIR KONSTANTIN KOSACHEV AND FORMER DEFENSE MINISTER
OF GEORGIA TENGIZ KITOVANI

Anchor: I am Ksenia Larina. Our guests are State Duma Committee for
Foreign Affairs Chairman Konstantin Kosachev. Good day, Konstantin.

Kosachev: Good day.

Anchor: And Tengiz Kitovani, a former Defense Minister of Georgia.
Good day, Tengiz.

Kitovani: Good day.

Anchor: I guess you all understand what issue we are going to discuss
now. It certainly is the conflict between Georgia — shall I say,
between official Georgia and its autonomous region that is called
Adzharia. Many experts say that this confrontation may develop into a
real civil war. So, let us discuss this today.

To begin with, I would like to ask our guests to express their views
on these developments, the main causes and how natural this conflict
is for you. Tengiz, you will begin.

Kitovani: This dates back to the times of Gamsakhurdia and his
appointment of Aslan Abashidze. The whole of Georgia was against
that. But Gamsakhurdia made a decision to appoint him chairman of the
Council of Ministers in Adzharia. And he also appointed Ardzinba. So,
the separatist movement goes a long way back into the times when
Gamsakhurdia made these appointments.

So apparently the separatist movement evolved with the support of
some separatist-minded politicians. As a result, we have today what
we have. The appointment of Saakashvili, it became immediately
obvious after this appointment that separatists ran away to Moscow in
search of asylum, from South Ossetia, Adzharia and Abkhazia. Aslan
Abashidze was among them. So apparently this scenario had been
prepared here.

Anchor: Do you mean here in Russia?

Kitovani: Of course, because that’s how things are developing now.
Russia supports Aslan Abashidze, and the Americans support
Saakashvili. Aslan Abashidze must not have been supported because
presidential politicians consider him a criminal. Under Gamsakhurdia
he shot in his own office a man who was in power at that time. I want
you to know this. He killed a man and remained in his office for 10
more years unpunished.

Anchor: He killed a person in his own office?

Kitovani: He did. He shot him dead in his own office. The man’s name
was Imnadze. I can tell you a lot of things.

Anchor: I want to turn the floor over to Konstantin Kosachev, who has
been smiling all this time.

Kosachev: Well, no, I haven’t been smiling because the situation is
developing in a tragic way and, God forbid, may come to a bloodshed.
There is nothing to laugh about.

But I cannot agree with such a one-sided assessment of the situation.
First of all, I think that not only and not so much Gamsakhurdia is
responsible for this situation. On the one hand, it has deep
historical roots. On the other hand, it existed and was not resolved
during Shevardnadze’s rule.

Second, I am absolutely convinced that if Russia were interested in
disintegrating Georgia and separating ethnic regions from it, it
would have done so a long time ago. Believe me, Russia can do that,
given the current sentiments in these ethnic regions. However,
Russia’s consistent position in favor of Georgia’s territorial
integrity, which we have repeatedly emphasized, has allowed Georgia
to remain as an integral state and not fall into feudal
principalities.

Third, when contacts with Russian officials take place in these
capitals, and I know what I am saying and I know what is discussed at
such negotiations, the only goal that Russia pursues in the context
of such negotiations is to convince the leadership of the concerned
ethnic regions to continue the political dialogue with Tbilisi,
refrain from unilateral radical actions based on force, and look for
compromises that can help Georgia remain as an integral state for
years and even centuries.

That is our main national interest for Russia — preserving Georgia
as an integral state, because Georgia’s disintegration into small
components will have an immediate and most negative impact on the
situation in the Caucasus where unfortunately we have enough problems
as it is.

Anchor: Is the President empowered to use force if at stake is a part
of the country that he is running or he isn’t?

Kosachev: Theoretically, he is empowered because this is part of
Georgia. As far as I understand, the leadership of Adzharia is not
saying that Adzharia is not part of Georgia. It has recognized that,
thank God. By the way, the parliamentary elections due to be held in
Georgia on March 28 will also be held on the territory of Adzharia,
which is a sign of the position of the present leadership of
Adzharia.

It is another question that any president — and I am sure that Mr.
Saakashvili is a wise President — should look for, if not the
shortest, the optimal ways toward this or that goal. And I am sure
that the use of force in conflicts of this kind will not bring the
coveted goal of a compromise any nearer, on the contrary, it will
make it more remote. This is what we are witnessing now. What is
happening before our eyes has again provoked emotions on both sides.

Let us think back to February 25 the day of inauguration of the
Georgian President when they stood shoulder to shoulder with the
President or, properly speaking, the Chairman of Adzharia, Mr.
Abashidze. They were standing together reviewing the military parade.
And I am sure that a Russian heart rejoices at such a picture. And
now, just three weeks on, we see the absolute opposite.

Why is it happening? I suspect that it should all be traced to the
March 28 elections. President Saakashvili is up against daunting
problems that face Georgia. First of all, problems of economic
character — rampant corruption and an industry that is at a
standstill. I am afraid that no miracles will happen in the Georgian
economy by March 28, much as we would all like it to happen.

And that generates the temptation of a small victorious military
operation that will enable the President of the whole of Georgia to
look like a credible national leader. I think such actions are
extremely dangerous and undesirable.

Anchor: Tengiz, to pick up where Konstantin Kosachev left off, a
question to you. Is military force the only solution at present?

Kitovani: I agree that the question cannot be solved by military
force. That would mean civil war. This is not an option. The parties
should agree peacefully. But at the same time I must be critical of
those who are setting up a blockade inside their own country. This is
not the way to act. Naturally, it will lead to a military
confrontation. You know that both Armenia and Georgia get cargoes
from Batumi. Everybody knows that. And the Armenians will get angry
because the cargoes delivered to Batumi are destined for Armenia.

Armenia will demand the opening of ports. And that becomes a vicious
circle. So, I am against any confrontations on the territory of
Georgia.

Anchor: Let us recall that Mr. Abashidze had turned for help to
Russia and to President Bush. And I would like Tengiz to answer my
question: How do you assess these remarks by the Adzharian leader?
And my second question: Should Russia interfere in this conflict to
some degree?

Kitovani: I think Russia should interfere if a conflict situation
arises. Russia should defuse the situation that obtains in Georgia
which is at war with its own people. Russia cannot do it as it could
be done when the arrival of Ivanov defused the situation during the
presidential election. So, I would be glad to welcome Russian
representatives who would follow this path.

Anchor: Should Russia support one or the other side in this conflict?

Kitovani: Russian policy must play this main role — and I have
always spoken about it — Russia should defuse the situation that is
becoming more and more tense in Georgia. The Russian President can do
it, he can do it.

Anchor: And the fact that Luzhkov has gone there, what does it mean?

Kitovani: Well, Luzhkov went to see his friend. They have long been
friends.

Anchor: So, you consider it to be a private visit?

Kitovani: Yes, a private visit, I think. Luzhkov cannot resolve this
issue, he went to see Abashidze as his friend.

Anchor: Well, I for one, find it rather strange: the mayor of Moscow,
the mayor of the capital of the Russian state, pays a private visit
to Adzharia at the peak of the conflict between two opposing forces.
Do you really think it is just a private visit?

Kitovani: Well, Luzhkov does have an interest because Luzhkov is
building some kind of dachas in Adzharia for Moscow. That much I
know. And of course, Luzhkov wouldn’t like the money to be lost,
Moscow’s money with which he is building something in the outskirts
of Batumi.

Anchor: The same question to Konstantin Kosachev, regarding Russian
participation in this conflict. How do you see Russian participation
in this?

Kosachev: First, I know exactly what Russia must not do in this
situation. We must not use our military capability in the shape of
our base in Batumi, on no account. Secondly, we must not use economic
levers, whether with regard to Tbilisi or Batumi in order to induce
the conflicting parties to strike a compromise. And thirdly, we must
not tap the potential of our own diaspora, and there are a lot of
people in Adzharia with Russian passports, to influence the
situation. And as to what we must do, and here I absolutely agree
with Mr. Kitovani, we must made maximum use of the political resource
which Russia has and which in my opinion is unique compared to the
resources of the United States or of the European Union.

We are equally reliable partners and allies now for Tbilisi and
Batumi. We enjoy the trust of both sides. I think it is hardly
feasible to line-up a certain living shield on the administrative
frontier and to send our politicians there or our heads of Russian
regions, and I think that indeed Mr. Luzhkov in this case is acting
on his own initiative rather than upon someone’s instruction from
above.

Incidentally, in Adzharia now, according to media reports, there
already are appearing some State Duma deputies. Here I would like to
stress…

Anchor: Alksnis is there and Savelyev.

Kosachev: I will stress that it is their private trips and again
there are no decisions of the State Duma taken to send its
representatives there. So, the deputies are there on their own
initiative as physical persons and citizens of Russia and not as Duma
deputies. Of course, it is impossible for Russia to stay away from
the conflict. I suspect that if the blockade of Adzharia continues,
Russia will have to organize some activities to simply help the
people…

Anchor: To provide humanitarian aid.

Kosachev: Humanitarian assistance will have to be provided as we are
doing it in the case of Abkhazia and in some of the episodes — with
South Ossetia. That is why I constantly say that now any radical
actions of either side are equally harmful. When the cortege
accompanying Mr. Saakashvili, was stopped at the administrative
border, this was also a radical action on the part of the Adzharian
leadership which also added a spark to ignite the fire. It is
probably possible to find some more flexible variants of actions, to
let in the official part of the cortege and to cut off the armed
guards. So, it was wrong to say that no matter who you are, president
or no president, the road is closed. Now it is also wrong to close
the air space, the port of Batumi and to threaten the closure of the
checkpoint in Sarpi on the border with Turkey. All these actions are
kind of links being added to one chain that may close and form a
vicious circle and of course Tbilisi and Batumi will not be able to
break that vicious circle. And here arises the role to be played by
Russia and I am positive that it will be constructive.

Anchor: And if Abashidze asks for military assistance?

Kosachev: Categorically no, I am profoundly convinced.

Anchor: Tengiz, and what does the head of Adzharia have today and I
am asking you about some military structures that he has?

Kitovani: Naturally, he places hopes on the Russian division which is
stationed there. But will the Russians comply with the request? Now,
Abashidze is asking assistance from those divisions that are
stationed in Batumi. This is the main role and incidentally, this is
the talk that Abashidze is using about seeking assistance from the
division stationed in Batumi.

Anchor: But does he have his own army?

Kitovani: Allegedly, there is the division manned by Georgian
soldiers — but this is nonsense, fairy-tales and the talk of the
child. But the only danger is coming from the side and it is correct
to close the Turkish borders because the Turks may take advantage of
the conflict. Under the agreements of 1920s, it is clearly stated
that Turkey has the right to enter the territory of Adzharia.

Kosachev: But the agreement is not valid, it no longer has any
effect.

Kitovani: It is valid. But if they enter, it will be late. Now all
the documents are being studied because it is necessary to take a
look at the agreement and so on. Then they will raise what was signed
at the Istanbul summit. The withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia
is not being complied with either. But it was written on paper and it
remains on paper.

Kosachev: Just a minute…

Kitowani: I will finish my thought. It stays on paper and those who
write, they execute.

Kosachev: I will take issue with that. It is because the Istanbul
accords contain a bilateral protocol between Russia and Georgia on
withdrawing by 2002 two bases — Vaziani and Gudauty — and it is to
be executed by 2002 and in regard to the bases in Akhalkalaki and
Batumi, agreement was registered to the effect that the parties will
decide on the format of the functioning of the bases on Georgia’s
territory. I ask you to refresh these documents in your memory.

As long as these bases are undesirable for Georgia, and now they are
definitely undesirable for Georgia, they are subject to withdrawal.
Russia does not challenge this and these bases will be taken away
from the territory of Georgia, including the base in Batumi, within
deadlines to be agreed by the parties.

Anchor: We don’t have much time left. Of course, we want to talk a
little about your forecasts — the worst case scenario and the best
scenario. If it is the worst case scenario, how will the events
develop. Konstantin, what do you think?

Kosachev: The worst-case scenario is the replay of Abkhasian variant
of 1992-1993 when armed units clash and these clashes quickly
develops into a civil war that involves pensioners and children.

Given the short temper of the confronting factions, and as far as I
understand, and if I am wrong, please correct me, mainly Georgians
live in Adzharia, at least they say that they are Georgians but of a
somewhat different type — so, given the short- tempered Georgian
character on both sides, neither will concede, and all this will go
on, resulting in flows of blood and heavy casualties only to end the
same way as the conflict in Abkhazia ended where the sides had
realized the pointlessness of using force any further and returned to
their places on different sides of the barricade. That’s the most
terrible scenario that may happen. It is absolutely senseless and it
will only inflict a new deep wound upon the efforts to resolve the
conflict by political means and preserve Georgia’s territorial
integrity.

Anchor: Tengiz.

Kitovani: I want all this to end peacefully. And I think it will. I
will travel to Tbilisi shortly to convince the sides to resolve the
whole thing peacefully with the help of Russia and America. The only
way out of this is to end this peacefully.

Mr. Saakashvili will have to make some concessions to Abashidze at
this point because otherwise Georgians will have to pay a dear price
and face grave consequences.

Kosachev: I hope and I am convinced that Mr. Saakashvili will have
enough political wisdom, restraint and strategic vision to try to
solve all of Georgia’s problems, including the Adzharian problem, at
one strike for a certain political or historical occasion.

Anchor: Tengiz, you said in the beginning that Abashidze is a
criminal. Then why don’t authorities simply arrest him and get it
over and done with?

Kitovani: You know, that’s exactly what he is afraid of. He is afraid
of this because it has been said several times on Tbilisi’s
television that he killed Imnadze in the 1990s under Gamsakhurdia.
So, he is simply afraid of all of this because he is a very careful
person. I know him very well. Tbilisi considers him a criminal for
killing Imnadze. Perhaps Muscovites do not know about this, but
Tbilisi’s television carries a lot of reports about this murder.
Imnadze’s daughter also often appears on television and she actually
witnessed the murder of her father.

Kosachev: If Mr. Saakashvili is aware of this fact, it’s very strange
that during the inauguration ceremony in Batumi on February 25 he was
standing shoulder to shoulder with this man. So, I think that the
situation is not as simple as that.

Kitovani: It’s a fact and it occurred in 1991. The daughter and
mother were arrested in Kutaisi and I liberated them because the
roads were blocked as they were seeking to get rid of the witnesses.
I got them out of there and took them to Tbilisi with a police escort
to make sure they didn’t get killed on the way. That’s what happened.

Anchor: Unfortunately we have run out of time. Obviously this topic
will be among the main news for a long time. We all want the
situation to be resolved peacefully. Our guests, Tengiz Kitovani and
Konstantin Kosachev, wish that too. I thank you for coming here
today.
From: Baghdasarian

Karabakh Premier Slams Azeri “Rumpus” About Chess Tournament

Mediamax news agency
18 Mar 04

YEREVAN

The prime minister of the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic (NKR), Anushavan
Daniyelyan, said today that “all the actions of Azerbaijan resemble
the times of the medieval Inquisition”.

According to our Mediamax correspondent, the prime minister said this
while commenting on the reaction of the Azerbaijani authorities to the
international chess tournament that came to an end in Stepanakert on
17 March.

“Azerbaijan has shown its true colours to the world again. The
authorities of this republic, protecting their serviceman who hacked
to death a sleeping Armenian officer with Stone Age brutality, have
now turned all the might of their state propaganda machine to an
innocent sporting and cultural event, causing a rumpus about the chess
tournament in Stepanakert.

In connection with the aforesaid, there is a question – how can one
talk with a state whose actions resemble the times of the Inquisition?
The further we move, the more Azerbaijan antagonizes us, irrevocably
distancing itself from us. Although we are de facto destined to live
side by side with Azerbaijan, we are morally very far from each
other,” Daniyelyan said.
From: Baghdasarian

Azeri ex-premier says his imprisonment was illegitimate

ANS TV, Baku
18 Mar 04

Former Azerbaijani Prime Minister Surat Huseynov, who has been
released from prison under a presidential amnesty decree, has said
that he was sentenced illegally and has described the accusations of a
coup attempt in 1993 as completely “illogical”. In a live interview
with ANS TV, he said that he had never had conflicts with former
Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev and that certain people in the
president’s entourage wanted to sully his reputation by making
negative remarks about him. Touching on ways of resolving the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict, Huseynov said Azerbaijan has always had a strong
army, and added that a military solution required the approval of the
international community. The former prime minister also spoke about
the war with Armenia prior to the cease-fire and accused Russia of
helping Armenia to occupy Azerbaijani lands. The Azerbaijani army was
not defeated on the battlefield, but was destroyed from within, he
added. The following is the text of report by Azerbaijani TV station
ANS on 18 March. Subheadings have been inserted editorially:

Presenter The Azerbaijani president released 129 people from prison
yesterday 17 March . Among those freed was former Prime Minister Surat
Huseynov. He is the guest of our studio today. Welcome, Surat bay form
of address and please accept our congratulations on your release. Did
the news come as a surprise or were you expecting to be released?

Huseynov Thank you very much. It was rather unexpected. I heard the
news from ANS radio that the president had signed an amnesty decree
and that former Prime Minister Surat Huseynov is among those
pardoned. But prior to the radio report I had no information about
that.

Presenter And were you released immediately after the news was
announced or did you have to undergo certain procedures?

Huseynov It took them one day to release me. I came out this morning.

Presenter Were you expecting the release deep in your heart? Were you
hoping that this year or this month you could be freed? Prisoners
always cherish hopes, don’t they?

Huseynov Prisoners always live with hope, that’s right. And I was
hoping too that sometime I would be pardoned. I had this hope too.

Life in prison

Presenter Over these years did you keep in touch with your friends and
relatives?

Huseynov Yes, I was in touch with my relatives and through them with
my friends.

Presenter What was the situation like in prison?

Huseynov It was not too bad. It is prison and one has to adjust to
prison conditions while there. I spent seven years in prison, in
solitary confinement. But maybe because I was the prime minister or
maybe because of my other qualities everyone respected me. They held
me in high esteem as an elder. I have no complaints about that.

Presenter What was it like to be alone in a cell?

Huseynov I got used to it. I can’t say anything about that, but I
spent seven years alone.

Presenter When people are alone, they usually communicate with someone
inside them. People even communicate with their enemies. Who did you
communicate with?

Huseynov That is true, it is difficult to be alone all the time. I was
reading a lot. No-one in the prison read as much as I did in the seven
years.

Presenter What kind of books?

Huseynov Foreign and Azerbaijani classics, scientific and medical
literature.

Presenter Did you read medical books because you did not feel very
well or because prisoners have this survival instinct and have to take
care of themselves?

Huseynov You know, when someone is ill, they want to know what their
problem is. And to know that, they have to read about it from
books. Therefore, I have thoroughly studied medical literature and
cured myself of all health problems I had. I have got rid of all my
maladies and am a healthy man now.

Goodwill decree

Presenter It has been said that initially your name was not on the
list of those pardoned and that it was the president’s initiative to
include you on it. Do you know anything about that?

Huseynov I do have this information.

Presenter Why do you think you have been released?

Huseynov What can I say? First of all, I would like to take this
opportunity to express my condolences to the family of the late former
Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev. I also thank Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev for having signed the goodwill decree. I think
the more such decrees, the better for our country. Because there are
still people behind bars who are described as political prisoners. I
hope the esteemed president will take further steps in this direction
to free these people too so that they could rejoin their families.

Presenter What do you think about the fact that starting from December
of the last year people like former Interior Minister Isgandar Hamidov
and others, who may be not as popular but are also described by the
Council of Europe as political prisoners, have been released from
prison? Do you think that this may alleviate tension in society or
whip it up even more?

Huseynov I don’t think that goodwill gestures can ever foment tension
in the republic. This can certainly reduce tension. This is the only
assessment I can give to this. I think this is the right step.

Presenter Did you watch TV or read newspapers in prison?

Huseynov I read newspapers. I also listened to the radio.

Presenter Could you follow the developments in the republic?

Huseynov Yes I could, thanks to the radio. I listened to the news.

“Illogical sentence”

Presenter But you were never described as a political prisoner. You
must have heard this from the radio, human rights champions, the
Council of Europe and other organizations. Why was their attitude to
you different? And did you complain to the Council of Europe or to the
OSCE?

Huseynov You know, I have never complained in my life. When my
sentence was pronounced, I silently went to prison and spent seven
years there, no matter whether the sentence was fair or not. I served
my sentence. All I complained about was the fact that I thought that
my sentence was illegitimate. Because it said that Prime Minister
Surat Huseynov attempted to stage a coup d’etat in Ganca. This is
completely illogical. How can the prime minister stage a coup in a
city 360km away from Baku? The prime minister’s office, the Cabinet of
Ministers, is in the same courtyard as the presidential
administration. There was no logic in the sentence. To understand
this, one doesn’t have to be an expert in law. One can ask a secondary
school pupil whether there is any logic in this accusation. There is
no logic at all.

The prosecutor’s office and courts have proven so incompetent that
there is hardly anything I can say to them. I don’t know whether they
should be sent to secondary schools again or whether they should study
their profession again and receive their diplomas anew. I don’t know.

Presenter Is this a matter of the past for you?

Huseynov It is a matter of the past, but since I have been freed, the
issue of my rehabilitation has come on the agenda. I know that the
president has started reforming the judiciary and at some point, I
will appeal to him for rehabilitation. Because I think I was arrested
illegally and spent seven years in prison. Therefore, I have to be
rehabilitated.

Heydar Aliyev

Presenter As soon as you left the prison, you visited Heydar Aliyev’s
grave. But you were said to be implacable enemies. Did you want to
acknowledge anything by visiting Heydar Aliyev’s grave?

Huseynov You know, there has never been a conflict between me and
Heydar Aliyev. I am the kind of man who always remembers who he has
broken bread with. People may say different things about us. People
may say different things about why I visited Heydar Aliyev’s grave. We
have broken bread together. I paid my tribute and respect to him, to
his wife and then to all our martyrs.

Presenter What are your recollections of the two years that you spent
working with Heydar Aliyev?

Huseynov I worked with Heydar Aliyev for 16 months. And I think there
were many people who wanted to undermine our relations. But let that
be judged by God. Let no-one think that I am blaming someone for
having been imprisoned. I think it was my fate to be put behind bars
and I don’t think it was because of Heydar Aliyev or anyone
else. Therefore, I bear no grudges against anyone.

No place to live

Presenter Surat bay, you have returned after seven years. Do you have
a place to live in?

Huseynov I had a house but a former employee of the prosecutor’s
office, someone who used to deal with civil affairs, is living there
now. I have nowhere to live at the moment. I hope the law-enforcement
bodies will deal with the issue?

Presenter But how could someone move in your house? Is it officially
yours?

Huseynov It is mine. When I was the prime minister, Heydar Aliyev
personally gave it to me. But after that, this woman occupied it. She
worked at the Prosecutor-General’s Office then. She must have liked
it.

Presenter But where have your family been living since then?

Huseynov At our relatives’ home.

Presenter So what do you intend to do?

Huseynov We will see. I will probably ask the law-enforcement bodies
for help. What else can I do?

Politics, Karabakh, war

Presenter What is your assessment of the political situation in the
country? How have Baku and Azerbaijan in general changed over these
years? Is there any change at all?

Huseynov I think there are changes for the better. And if it goes on
like this, the republic will see reforms and democratic changes, and
that will inevitably lead to better living standards. There must also
be changes in the economy.

Presenter You have a favourite topic for discussion – the Karabakh
issue. Many years have elapsed since then but the issue has yet to be
resolved. Hasn’t your attitude towards the issue changed? What was
done right and what was done wrong?

Huseynov You know, the international situation has shaped in such a
way that all the countries keep such conflicts in focus. Therefore, I
believe we should pursue the path of negotiations. If the negotiations
prove ineffective, we may have to start thinking about other
alternatives.

Presenter Do you think Azerbaijan is capable of that?

Huseynov I think it is and it has always been. The point is that the
military option requires the approval of international
organizations. And I don’t believe international organizations will
ever allow a war to flare up in any part of the world.

Russia’s role

Presenter What was the role of Russia in those developments and how
strong was Moscow’s influence on the developments?

Huseynov It was obvious then that Russia was on the Armenians’
side. This is an undeniable fact. Many politicians may certainly deny
or conceal any knowledge of this in order not to set anyone against
themselves. But I can say openly as someone who took part in the war,
as someone who used to hold an official post, that Russia was directly
involved in the war on the side of Armenia and in the occupation of
our districts. This is a fact.

Presenter But it is said that Russia was helping both sides in order
to stir things up. It is also said that you maintained contact with
Russia. With whom?

Huseynov This was made up by the then activists and members of the
People’s Front. Let me say that my great grandparents provided a lot
of help, both financial and material, in the establishment of the
Azerbaijani Democratic Republic in 1918. The Russians killed three of
my great grandfathers and two of my great grandmothers. How could I be
the Russians’ man? They have killed my ancestors. When the Azerbaijani
Democratic Republic was destroyed in 1920, they were killed. I
actually paid my money to the Russians and they worked for my country
as mercenaries, which is practised in all wars. I am trying to say
that those were all rumours about me. They hoped to tarnish my
reputation by saying that I was the Russians’ man. I am the son of the
Azerbaijani people and I am the servant of my nation. And no-one in
Azerbaijan has helped the poor as much as I have. Let anyone come here
and say that they have helped the destitute as much as Surat Huseynov
has. God has given me something and I have always passed it on.

Presenter When you were on the run in Russia, did anyone help you?

Huseynov No, I was using another passport and living in different
regions of Russia for two months each. I was thus hiding from the
Russians and Azerbaijanis. I was not arrested in Moscow, I was
arrested in Tula Region. I did not ask anyone for political asylum. I
only wanted to go to the West from there, but it didn’t work, I was
arrested and brought back to Azerbaijan.

Presenter Is there anything in the 1993 developments that has not been
uncovered yet?

Huseynov Yes.

Presenter Will that ever be uncovered?

Huseynov I think it will. But that can only happen when those
currently in prison are released so that we can all sit at a table and
let the nation know what happened in 1993, when the war was in full
swing. That will be uncovered and the people will know that the
Azerbaijani army has never been defeated. The Azerbaijani army was
destroyed from within. When people understand that, they will know who
is who.

Presenter What are you up to now?

Huseynov I want to take some time to restore my health, to put things
into perspective. Then we will see.

Presenter Thank you very much for coming to our
studio. Congratulations again and all the best to you.

Huseynov Thank you.
From: Baghdasarian

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
March 11 2004

US happy with relations with Azerbaijan

On Tuesday, President Ilham Aliyev received Lynn Paskoe, U.S. Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs.
Appreciating the high-level cooperation between Azerbaijan and the
United States, Aliyev said, “The large projects implemented in
Azerbaijan and in the region are directly supported by the United
States.

If there had been no support from the United States, it would have
been impossible to realize these projects.” Noting that Azerbaijan is
an ally of the United States in the anti-terror coalition, President
Aliyev said that Azerbaijan itself had been repeatedly exposed to
terrorism.

Stressing the need to solve the most outstanding problems, including
the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Upper Garabagh to achieve
long-term and firm peace in the region, Aliyev expressed his hope
that the United States’ stepping up its efforts as a co-chair of the
OSCE Minsk Group would result in a peaceful resolution of the
conflict soon. Updating the guest on the grave consequences of the
conflict, President Aliyev said that more than one million people had
become refugees and internally displaced persons as a result of the
conflict.

US-Azeri relations
Expressing his adherence to President Aliyev’s opinions on the
Azerbaijani-U.S. high-level cooperation, Paskoe voiced his confidence
that bilateral relations would continue to develop. Underlining that
Azerbaijan is the United States’ close partner in combating
terrorism, the U.S. official said cooperation in this direction would
develop in the future. Highly appreciating the positive changes in
the South Caucasus region, particularly in Azerbaijan, Paskoe noted
that these changes are watched with great interest in Washington and
Europe. Paskoe also stressed that his country intended to cooperate
closely with Azerbaijan’s leadership on political and economic
issues. Reno Harnish, the U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan, and his
deputy Nancy McEldowney were also present in the meeting.
From: Baghdasarian