Author: Basmajian Ani

BRUSSELS DEMANDS RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE FOR TURKEY’S ADMISSION TO EU

AZG Armenian Daily #130
13/07/2006

Foreign Political Developments

The Committee for Foreign Affairs at the European Parliament is going
to consider "Turkey’s progress on its path to EU membership process"
in the course of the July 12 sitting. The Armenian Federation of Europe
informed that the European Parliamentarians should make the conclusion
of the report elaborated by deputy Camiel Eurlings (Netherlands)
concerning the application of about 343 amendments by Turkey.
According to the source, many of the members of the main European
political groups call for including the issue "on the recognition
of the Armenian Genocide in 1915" and "on unblocking borders with
Armenia without any preconditions" as preconditions for Turkey’s
admission to the European Union.

It’s worth mentioning that Turkey should also settle the issue of the
Kurds and improve the human rights situation, as well as the national
minorities issues in the country for entering EU.

By Nana Petrosian

GOVERNMENT APPROVES CHANGES TO CRIMINAL CODE

Armenpress

YEREVAN, JULY 13, ARMENPRESS: The government has approved today a
justice ministry-designed bill on making changes to Armenian Criminal
Code which allows courts to cancel a long list of private cases in
case the plaintiff and the defendant reach a reconciliation accord.

The list includes such offences as sustaining health damage,
stealth of personal property, torture, breach of copyright and some
others. Justice minister David Harutunian said the reconciliation
deal must be reached before the judge leaves the court-room for
deciding the verdict. The draft law fixes that forcing people to
strike reconciliation is a criminal offence.

Another draft amendment in the Criminal Code establishes a special
court hearing procedure allowing judges to cut the punishment term
by one third if the defendant admits both the charges levied against
him and the evidence of prosecutors.

The minister argued that any court proceeding costs money and if
a defendant cooperates with prosecutors which allows to cut these
expenses the government must meet him or her halfway. He said the
special procedure applies to those crimes which envisage a prison
term up to ten years.

WHY DID AMERICANS ASSIST THE CORRUPT SYSTEM?

Lragir.am
12 July 06

The statement of the OSCE Minsk Group U.S. Co-Chair Mathew Bryza has
recently been one of the burning home political issues. Especially
that such topics and debates seldom occur. The statement of the
U.S. Co-Chair was significant also because it concerns both the
Karabakh issue and home political developments in Armenia, therefore
it is said to mark new home political developments.

The Lragir asked Aghasi Yenokyan, political scientist, to comment on
Bryza’s statement and its possible impact on the Karabakh conflict
and home political developments.

Lragir: Mr. Yenokyan, what was the purpose of such a transparent speech
by Mathew Bryza and what conclusions can be drawn from this statement?

Mathew Bryza’s revelations and generally the recent statements of
the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and suspension of their powers are
the expression of flexible foreign policies of the United States. In
our region the American diplomacy is guided by the famous principles
of realpolitik, relying on power of force and mechanisms of mutual
balance. In fact, these mechanisms showed their uselessness in the
settlement of the Karabakh conflict. There are two reasons: collision
of interest of too many great powers and tensions around the region
on the one hand, and uncertainty of principles of operation of power
projections in the post-Cold war period, on the other hand. Presently
the American diplomacy is resorting to the other method of work –
democracy. These statements were a call to publics to undertake the
settlement of the problem.

Besides, this was a confession that the governments, with whom the
United States has worked so far, do not represent their peoples,
are not democratic. In this case it seemed to be the shortest way
because in the newly independent countries that emerged on the surge of
democracy the most important factor should have been people, however,
the Americans started from the other side.

I think it is necessary to give explanations to peoples, especially
about why they assisted anti-democratic regimes, in fact enhancing
the corrupt system.

The perception of this is important for bolstering up the belief of
people in their forces and possibilities, to put it more directly,
to overcome fear from democracy.

Investigators probe Russian plane disaster as relatives desperately seek news
By MIKE ECKEL

AP Worldstream;
Jul 11, 2006

Relatives and friends of passengers aboard an Airbus A310 that crashed
at a Siberian airport went from one hospital to another Tuesday in
hopes of finding survivors, while aviation officials struggled to
explain Russia’s second deadly passenger jet disaster in nearly as
many months.

Three other incidents involving Russian-operated planes occurred
on Monday, including the crash-landing in Ukraine of a jet carrying
Russia’s navy chief.

Several officers on board suffered burns. The two other incidents
involved successful emergency landings after technical failures _
adding more questions about the safety record of the nation’s civil
aviation industry.

In Irkutsk, 4,200 kilometers (2,600 miles) east of Moscow, the Airbus
airliner, operated by the company S7, careened off a wet runway and
slammed into adjacent garages Sunday morning, bursting into flames.

As of Tuesday, 125 of the 203 people aboard were confirmed dead,
after one died in a hospital, the Emergency Situations Ministry
said. Fifty-two remained hospitalized.

The Russian prosecutors’ office said 128 had died, including the
hospital patient. Neither office could explain the discrepancy.

Twelve of the most critically injured were transported to Moscow on
Tuesday for medical treatment, and more were expected to be sent in
coming days, regional government officials said.

The preliminary investigation showed that the plane’s braking
system failed, Russian news agencies reported, citing unnamed
sources. Transport Minister Igor Levitin said the two flight recorders
were being analyzed.

There were 193 passengers on the Moscow-Irkutsk flight Sunday _
including 14 children _ and a crew of 10, the S7 press office said. At
least 12 were foreigners, from Belarus, Poland, China, Germany and
Azerbaijan, according to the flight manifest.

At one Irkutsk morgue, dozens of people struggled to identify their
loved ones, clustering around printed lists of the victims, which
bore graphic, clinical details of the victims. One woman shouted in
frustration at the line of police controlling the entrance to the
morgue: "Can we just go and see the children? Can’t we just identify
the children?"

Ivan Zotov said he lost his 32-year-old brother, who was returning
from a vacation at the Black Sea resort of Sochi. His brother’s wife
and daughter had not learned of the death yet, since they were on a
train home to Irkutsk.

"It’s ridiculous. It’s like they’re just a sack of potatoes. How can
we figure anything out from these lists?" Zotov said, shaking his
head in frustration.

Levitin told reporters that authorities were looking into a proposal
to lengthen the runway at the airport by 400 meters (a quarter-mile)
and he announced financing for resurfacing the runway.

The plane, built in 1987, had been regularly maintained and met all
certifications, airline spokesman Konstantin Koshman said.

The catastrophe was the second major commercial airline crash in two
months in Russia. It was the fourth air crash in Irkutsk in the past
12 years.

In May, another Airbus crashed in stormy weather off Russia’s Black Sea
coast as it prepared to land, killing all 113 people on board. Airline
officials blamed the crash of the Armenian passenger plane on driving
rain and low visibility.

Airline experts said though Russia’s safety record is not yet up to
Western standards, it is far better than during the chaotic post-Soviet
period, when the state carrier Aeroflot split into hundreds of private
carriers, many of which lacked funds to properly maintain and service
their planes.

"The safety record has improved a lot in recent years. In not all
that long from now, it may be comparable with the West," said David
Learmount, an aviation safety expert from the British weekly Flight
International.

EurasiaNet, NY
July 11 2006

BTC SECURITY QUESTIONS PERSIST
Alexandros Petersen 7/11/06
A EurasiaNet Commentary

Touted as the biggest official event in Turkey’s history, the July
13 launch of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline marks the
long-awaited completion of a project that is as much about geopolitics
as energy. But amid the celebrations, questions persist about pipeline
security.

The stakes are sizeable. Stretching 1,760 kilometers, with eight
pumping stations and 101 block valves, BTC is the second longest
pipeline in the world. The $4-billion project, completed a year later
than originally expected, is projected to have a daily capacity of
1 million barrels.

The BTC runs through difficult and dangerous territory. Not only
does the route pass through forbidding mountains and remote locales,
including over 14 seismic faults, but it runs dangerously close
to the region’s frozen conflicts and hotspots: Nagorno-Karabakh,
South Ossetia, the North Caucasus, Abkhazia, Armenian enclaves in
southern Georgia, and the restive Kurdish regions of southeastern
Turkey. The region has experienced an episode of sabotage as recently
as January, when suspicious explosions in North Ossetia cut off gas
and electricity supplies to Georgia. [For background see the Eurasia
Insight archives]. The pipeline also faces threats on the local
level. Despite reimbursement and reinstatement of the land from the
British Petroleum-led BTC consortium, locals staged frequent blockages
during construction, and illegal tapping attempts were found even
before oil began to flow in May 2005.

Faced with a host of potential threats, the BTC consortium has
implemented stringent security measures. While there is substantial,
tell-tale infrastructure above ground, such as block valves, devices
which change the oil’s flow direction, the pipeline itself is buried
at least a meter underground along virtually the entire route. Once
the land above is reinstated, the pipeline right-of-way should look
the way it did before construction, making it difficult for potential
saboteurs to find its exact location. Large, above-ground structures,
such as pump stations, have elaborate security measures, from concrete
blast walls to closed-circuit cameras and armed guards.

These measures may look impressive on paper, but their effectiveness
is questionable. A three-week research trip to Georgia and Azerbaijan
by this observer found that the rush to finish laying the pipeline
had often resulted in security systems that were either not well
thought out or badly implemented.

In one instance, a pump station had been surrounded by security
cameras, but the flood lights supposed to complement them had been
installed behind the cameras, negating their purpose. Blast walls,
although able to prevent truck bombs, are useless against much more
likely mortar or grenade attacks. Two layers of reinforced gates are
useful to protect the entrance to the facility, but only if they are
kept closed. In many cases, local staff flouts security procedures
for the sake of expediency. British Petroleum (BP) security personnel
have had to begin the re-installation of security measures after the
pipeline’s completion.

The pipeline route is also extensively monitored and patrolled.

Sensors along the entire length allow for any disruptions to be
immediately spotted on a constantly monitored digital map of the
pipeline. In addition, a joint agreement between the BTC consortium
and the Azerbaijani, Georgian and Turkish governments facilitates
patrolling arrangements. Georgia has gone a step further, signing
a bilateral agreement with BP to allow for complementary security
arrangements. BP field security teams regularly check above-ground
facilities and the company employs local Georgians to patrol the entire
right-of-way on horseback. The conglomerate additionally is operating
an extensive community relations program, aiming to maintain a strong
rapport with residents living along the route.

These residents could form a first line of defense for the pipeline
by potentially alerting officials to any suspicious activity. In
addition, the agreement provides for patrols by units of Georgia’s new
700-member Strategic Pipeline Protection Department (SPPD), outfitted,
trained and funded by BP.

To date, BP has been less involved in security measures for the
two other BTC host countries. Azerbaijan has not signed a similar
bilateral security agreement with BP, but talks are continuing.

Turkey has not indicated that it is interested in such an agreement,
preferring to let its armed forces handle pipeline security.

Long hailed for its geopolitical significance, the BTC pipeline is
likely to take on additional prominence in 2007 when Kazakhstan begins
transporting 3 million tons of oil this year via the conduit.

[For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. President Nursultan
Nazarbayev is expected to be among those leaders attending the July
13 ceremony in Ceyhan, according to reports.

While energy security will reportedly feature in talks among
leaders of the host countries, opportunities for fresh energy deals
will most likely not be missed, either. Georgian President Mikheil
Saakashvili, who left for Ceyhan on July 11, is expected to discuss
with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan the prospect
of buying an additional 2 billion cubic meters of gas from the
Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline "at reduced prices," the Azerbaijani
news agency Trend reported.

In addition to Saakashvili, Nazarbayev and Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev, the Ceyhan ceremony on July 13 is expected to attract four
foreign ministers, 16 energy ministers and two deputy prime ministers,
Trend reported. Deputy Energy Secretary Jeffrey Clay Sell will head
the US delegation, according to the White House.

Editor’s Note: Alexandros Petersen is a military and international
affairs analyst based in London and Washington, DC.

Lebanon is ready to contribute to Karabakh conflict settlement

Regnum, Russia
July 11 2006

Lebanon is ready to contribute to Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement,
as well as to share its experience with interested parties. Lebanese
Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Minister Fawzi Salloukh is quoted by
a REGNUM correspondent as stressing in particular that war would be
of benefit for no conflict parties and the problem should be settled
exclusively in a peaceful way, taking into consideration interests
of the conflict parties. At the same time, he stressed that there
is no religious implication in case of Nagorno Karabakh conflict –
"landed property is concerned here."

In his turn, Vardan Oskanyan stated that there were no contacts
yet with Azerbaijani side. "OSCI Minsk Group US co-Chair Matthew
Bryza is going to visit the region soon; may be, it will cause some
developments," the minister stressed. Mentioning mediators’ statements,
in which they pointed out that their imagination had been exhausted,
Vardan Oskanyan stressed that it did not mean that the settlement
process was over and the mediators rejected it. "The parties themselves
should demonstrate activity. The document proposed by the co-chair
is acceptable for those, who really want to achieve settlement based
on compromise. We hope, Baku will recommence negotiations, assuming
the document as a basis," the Armenian foreign minister stressed. At
the same time, Vardan Oskanyan stressed that it was inapprorpiate
to organize meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents in the
framework of G8 summit in St. Petersburg. "Had the parties achieved
serious progress in Bucharest, the co-chairs would have thought
about conducting such meeting. However, I do not exclude that summit
participants will surely mention Karabakh problem," Vardan Oskanyan
stated.

Gul: Turks, Greeks And A United Cyprus Can Be A Basin Of Cooperation

Anatolian Times, Turkey
July 9 2006

WASHINGTON D.C. – "Turks, Greeks and a united Cyprus can be a basin
of cooperation for the region. Both the EU and we need such a thing,"
said Turkish Foreign Minister & Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul
on Thursday. Speaking at a meeting at the Brookings Institution,
Gul said, "we missed a great opportunity to find a solution to the
Cyprus issue in 2004 after the Greek Cypriot administration rejected
the plan of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan. However,
they were awarded with the EU membership while the Turkish Republic
of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) was punished."

Recalling that Turkey revealed its Action Plan for Cyprus in January,
Gul said, "we proposed that all restrictions should be lifted at
the same time. However, we were told that we should lift embargo
first. I hope that the situation will not further deepen. We have
assumed a productive attitude, and worked hard to find a solution."

Upon a question about the terrorist organization PKK, Gul said,
"we appreciate the United States’ efforts to eradicate the terrorist
organization. The United States was one of the countries recognizing
the PKK as a terrorist organization. However, we expect the United
States to expand more support. We cannot understand presence of the
PKK in Iraq."

Replying to another question about Iran’s nuclear activities, Gul said,
"we believe that Iran should not miss the recent opportunity. Five
permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany
have put forward a quite reasonable proposal."

Referring to recent developments in Iraq, Gul said, "we wish that all
different ethnic groups will leave together in Iraq in peace. However,
there are different groups in Kirkuk. Therefore, only one of them
should not determine the future of the city."

Upon questions about the so-called Armenian genocide, Gul said, "Turkey
has proposed to form a joint committee of historians as an expression
of its good will. We believe that it was the Armenian diaspora which
put forward such baseless allegations. We think that tragic events
during the World War I should not be used for political purposes."

Arif Yunusov: "Invitation of Georgia to NATO on the threshold of G8 summit is a blunt challenge to Russia"

Today, Azerbaijan
July 10 2006

11 July 2006 [03:15] – Today.Az

Regnum’s interview with Arif Yunusov, political analyst, head of
Conflictology and Migration Department, Institute for Peace and
Democracy, Azerbaijan.

In what formulation the Karabakh problem will be presented at the
G8 summit in St. Petersburg (most probably, on the sidelines of
the summit)?

I suppose, the Karabakh problem will not occupy any significant
place in discussions at the St. Petersburg summit. Most probably,
the Karabakh problem will be somehow discussed on the sidelines of
debates between Russia and the USA. However, it will be in context of
settlement of other conflicts. In other words, the top priority at the
summit will be discussion of Kosovo. In its turn, Russia would raise
the issue of necessity of a universal approach to all the conflicts,
and in this aspect, probably, a discussion will be held on Abkhazia,
South Ossetia and Karabakh; if the Karabakh problem is to be reflected
in the documents officially, it will be only in the form of supporting
position of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs conveyed on June 22. But
separately the Karabakh problem will not be discussed at the summit.

What is Russia’s mission and role in settling this problem?

Concerning the Karabakh issue, Russia’s role is significant indeed.

It is another matter, how strongly it aspires for using its
opportunities. Until now Russia has been taking a hesitating
position, giving the initiative to the US. And. I suppose, the Russian
authorities will not be distressed, if what at the current stage is
named as the Prague Process ends up with another failure.

Will Russia, which itself has faced separatism in Chechnya in its case,
insist upon universal nature of the Kosovo precedent?

Of course, Russia would insist upon universal character of the Kosovo
precedent. Essentially, both Russian authorities of various levels
and many representatives of the political elite have repeatedly
talked about it. At the same time, Chechen separatism will play no
special role for the Russian authorities. The Chechen separatism
did not hinder Russia from playing a negative role in the conflicts
in Azerbaijan (Karabakh), Georgia (Abkhazia and South Ossetia) and
Moldova (Transdnestr). It is exactly the case, when one should speak
of double standards.

What aims will the group of Western countries pursue and are there
any objective grounds for possible criticism of the Russian policy?

The G8 summit in St. Petersburg can become very important for Russia
and the whole world too. It is not a secret any more that relations
between Russia and the West have started worsening considerably
recently. After more than ten years of talking about Russia’s
"integration" with the West and "strategic partnership" between Moscow
and Washington, today officials from the USA and Western Europe express
their concern publicly concerning internal political situation in
Russia and its relations with republics of the former USSR. And
Russia’s making advances to China and Iran stir serious alert and
the question, what to do with Putin Russia. At first, criticism
towards Russia was made through Western mass media. And on May 4,
US Vice President Dick Cheney directly accused the Kremlin in "unfair
infringement upon civil rights" and use the country’s energy resources
as "instruments of intimidation and blackmail". And recent almost
demonstratively pompous reception by George Bush to Georgian President
Mikhail Saakashvili and proposal to join NATO on the threshold of the
summit are just a blunt challenge to Russia. This way, it is shown
that the period of the carrot policy towards Russia has failed and now
a stage of stick has been started. Of course, at the summit, first of
all, the issue is to be considered of Russia’s using energy resources
for exerting political pressure and blackmail of the former Soviet
republics. There will be also criticism of Russia’s policy towards
former USSR countries, as well as in the East. In a lesser extent,
a question about reduction of democratic processes in Russia itself.

In many expects, this criticism will be of undoubtedly objective
character. However, the matter is, that policy of leading Western
countries has also dual nature, and just like Russia, the USA connives
at actions of authoritarian leaders if they have energy resources
and agree to support policy of the West. It will let Putin rebut the
criticism. On the other hand, the West should comprehend: Russia for
many reasons cannot be fully pro-Western or anti-Western.

It is an internal Russia’s problem, and its tragedy and strength
simultaneously. So, the West should take Russia as it is, but not
live in the world of illusions and believe that Russia has a chance
to become a part of the Wet. In his turn, Putin will try to turn
the summit into a large-scale propagandist show in order to prove
that Russia has regenerated, become a superpower again, although a
democratic one and with free market economy.

What can Azerbaijan expect from the summit in terms of securing
energy safety?

To a known extent Azerbaijan can gain profit from the summit. Because
one of the most acute discussions will be the problem of energy
security of Western countries and their fear that a new Russia, as
they believe, has assumed the policy of effective use of weapons in
foreign policy. In this connection, not so important in scale of Russia
and Arab countries energy resources of Azerbaijan can be partly an
alternative for Georgia, Ukraine, Poland and some other countries. I
suppose, in this issue the West will pay even more attention to
the problem of safe supply of Azerbaijani energy resources and
strengthening its influence in this country. But Russia would hardly
agree with such developments, and that means that geopolitical life
at South Caucasus will only increase.

URL:

Azerbaijan Wants Karabakh without Armenians

PanARMENIAN.Net
07.07.2006 13:49 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "In order to make us content with the conflict
settlement we should proclaim Nagorno Karabakh without Armenians. All
the other variants will be given hostile reception by a good half
of our population, which is divided into two camps," head of the
Center of Innovations and Political Technologies Mubariz Ahmedoglu
said in Baku. In his words, a part of the Azeri public sees the OSCE
MG latest statement on Nagorno Karabakh in tragic light. As for the
statements by U.S. Co-chair Matthew Bryza, Ahmedoglu considers these
were not his personal thoughts.

"Matthew Bryza has made public the general principles of the Karabakh
conflict settlement, which were elaborated during 8 years of the OSCE
MG activities," the political scientist said.

He also supposed that "the issue of 7 seized regions around Nagorno
Karabakh is almost settled. The succession of their liberation is
the only stumbling block left," Zerkalo Baku-based newspaper says.

Armenian President Congratulated U.S. Embassy Employees on Independence Day

PanARMENIAN.Net
07.07.2006 15:56 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian President Robert Kocharian and first lady
Bella Kocharian paid a visit to the U.S. Embassy to congratulate
Ambassador Evans and the diplomatic staff on the Independence
Day. Expressing satisfaction with the current level of the
Armenian-American relations Robert Kocharian voiced hope that the
close ties between the two states will keep on developing, reported
the RA President’s press office.