Author: Dabaghian Diana

Bringing Turkey into the South Caucasus

New project aims to encourage unity, utilize Turkey’s experience
applying to join EU

By Keti Sikharulidze

The Messenger.
Monday, April 4, 2005, #060 (0834)

The Turkish-Georgian Research Center, based in the South Caucasus
Institute of Regional Security (SCIRS), presented a new project on
aimed at bringing together the ‘four’ countries of the South Caucasus
on Friday, April 1.

The project, entitled AGAT – Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey
– aims at including Turkey in the South Caucasus region, with a
particular emphasis in improving Armenian-Turkish relations.

“Until now everybody considered the South Caucasus to mean Armenia,
Georgia and Azerbaijan, but now SCIRS is trying to add Turkey as it
is an equal member both geographically and politically of the South
Caucasus,” explains Head of the Turkish-Georgian Research Center
David Tavadze.

Tavadze thinks that it should be up to Georgia to “act as a mediator
to coordinate analysis of the country,” adding that one of the main
functions of the center it is to develop relations between analytic
centers in the region to support the AGAT project.

In an interview with The Messenger, Tavadze said the center had held
negotiations with Azerbaijani and Armenian colleague, and that the
Armenian side expressed great interest in the project.

“Nowadays, the four countries of the region have the same foreign
political views, with the exception of the Turkish-Armenian and
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflicts – namely European integration. So this
project can play an important role, as one of the main demands of the
European Union is the normalization of relations with neighboring
countries: historical factors should not influence the development
and future of a country,” Tavadze stated

Tavadze added that the center intends to open a website in the near
future which will reach out to as many parts of the region as possible
by being available in both Russian and English.

The center also plans to develop a Golden Circle project, aimed at
developing relations between the countries of the Black Sea basin
and creating a unified security system.

“Besides security, we should discuss other issues as well. For
instance we do not use all the potential that Turkey can offer us.
Such as Turkish people of Abkhaz ethnicity, who could play a great
part in renewing Georgian-Abkhaz negotiations,” said Tavadze.

Commenting at the presentation on this issue Turkish Ambassador to
Georgia Ertan Tezgor stated that he had had frequent talks with State
Minister for Conflict Resolution Goga Khaindrava, and had already
come to an unofficial agreement about which it would be possible to
speak after analysts have considered the issue further.

HE Tezgor expressed his opinion that the AGAT project could not only
play a part in resolving the Georgian-Abkhaz and Georgian-Ossetian
conflicts, but other issues in the South Caucasus as well.

“Georgia is the gateway to Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia and
thus has a very important geographical location,” he said, adding
that it should not be forgotten that Russia has an important part to
play in ensuring stability on the region.

“I support [SCIRS’s] initiative and think that conflict resolution
in the South Caucasus would have a positive influence for the North
Caucasus and Daghestan as well. Turkey will do everything it can to
support these projects,” said Tezgor, adding that analytical centers
could play a part in developing different strategic views.

Speaking with The Messenger, Head of the regional department of
the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Givi Shugarov stated that
good relations with Turkey was important not only for Georgia but
for the whole of the South Caucasus, as it is a real candidate for
EU membership.

“It is very important for us that Turkey become a member of the
European Union as we will then become the neighbors of an EU country.
For Georgia it is very important to have good relations with its
neighbors and among those priorities is to solve problems with Russia,”
he said.

He stressed that the South Caucasus has great prospects, although
he noted there were many negative factors which were holding back
development, including “the conflicts in Abkhazia, South Ossetia,
Nagorno Karabakh, as well as the North Caucasus.”

“Such frozen conflicts freeze the political-economic relations between
countries. It is very easy to say that the conflicts should be resolved
but all countries involved must first overcome psychological barriers
and be prepared to compromise: the situation will not change unless
everybody wishes it to change for the better,” Shugarov said.

ITAR-TASS, Russia

Saakashavili, Kocharyan discuss cooperation

02.04.2005, 19.00

TBILISI, April 2 (Itar-Tass) – Georgian President Mikhail Saakashavili and
his Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharyan discussed the development of
cooperation between the two countries and relations with neighbours, in
particular with Russia, Georgian Security Council secretary Gela
Bezhuashvili said.

Bezhuashvili told journalists on Saturday the presidents held informal
consultations in Georgia’s ski resort of Gudauri. `We welcome such format.
This is one more example of our good-neighbourly relations,’ the Security
Council secretary said.

Kocharyan arrived in Tbilisi on Friday afternoon. Then Saakashavili and he
left for Gudauri. The Georgian president said on Friday they intend to
exchange views on `many issues of mutual interest.’ `We shouldn’t need
ceremonies, protocols, carpets and escorts with our neighbours. We always
can meet with Kocharyan without preliminary preparations,’ he added.

OSCE chairman Rupel to conclude Caucasus tour in Azerbaijan

STA news agency, Ljubljana
1 Apr 05

BAKU

Slovene Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairman Dimitrij Rupel is paying a
visit Saturday [2 April] to Azerbaijan, the last stop on his Caucasus
tour, during which he has also visited Kyrgyzstan.

Rupel is scheduled to meet in Baku President Ilham Aliyev, Prime
Minister Artur Rasizade, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and
representatives of the opposition and NGOs.

The issue expected to top the talks’ agenda will be the simmering
conflict in Nagorno Karabakh, the ethnic Armenian enclave in
Azerbaijan, which also dominated Rupel’s talks with Armenian officials
in Yerevan. [Passage omitted – background]

Worcester Telegram, MA
Saturday, April 2, 2005

Religion digest

Lunch at Armenian Church of Martyrs

WORCESTER – The Armenian Congregational Church of the Martyrs, 22 Ormond
St., will hold its monthly public luncheon from noon to 2 p.m. April 7 at
the church. The menu will feature Lu-leh kebab. The donation is $3.

AZERBAIJANI SIDE ENGAGED IN PROPAGANDA AND FABRICATES FACTS TO ACHIEVE
ITS OWN GOALS: AMBASSADOR OF POLAND TO ARMENIA

YEREVAN, APRIL 1. ARMINFO. The Azerbaijani side is engaged in
propaganda and fabricates facts to achieve its own goals in the issue
of Karabakh conflict. Polish Ambassador to Armenia Tomasz Knothe made
this statement talking to ARMINFO commenting on the information spread
by Azerbaijani Mass Media that Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski
allegedly stated that during his meeting with Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev.

Tomasz Knothe says that Polish and Azerbaijani presidents during their
meeting in Warsaw just discussed the topic of Nagorny Karabakh. Being
well-aware of the complication and delicacy of the given issue for all
the parties, President Alexander Kwasniewski did not make such
statements, and relevant information of Azerbaijani Mass Media
contains no single true word, the Ambassador says.

Sportinglife.com, UK
March 29 2005

ENGLAND BEAT AZERIS BUT WALES LOSE

James Milner was the inspiration for England, who remain on course to
qualify for the 2006 UEFA Under-21 Championship finals after a
comfortable 2-0 victory over Azerbaijan at Middlesbrough’s Riverside
Stadium.

First half goals from Liverpool midfielder John Welsh and Norwich
striker Dean Ashton were sufficient to settle the issue in favour of
Peter Taylor’s side.

Taylor will be able to look back with satisfaction at his first
campaign back at the helm after replacing David Platt last summer.

A haul of 14 points from six matches leaves England three points
clear of Germany, who have a match in hand, heading into next
autumn’s conclusion of their qualifying group.

In the same group Wales had Craig Morgan sent off but still emerged
with their pride intact despite a 2-0 defeat to Austria.

Wrexham centre-back Morgan can consider himself unlucky to have been
shown a red card for an aerial challenge with Alex Pollhuber, referee
Ararat Tchagharyan stunned the Wales camp with the speed of his red
card.

Unfortunately for the Welsh, the Armenian official was not as quick
to punish two fouls on the impressive Craig Davies – both of which
warranted penalties.

Austria were ahead early on through Roman Kienast and grabbed a
second through Jurgen Samuel 10 minutes from time, when Wales’ 10 men
were tiring.

But in between the goals Wales were the better, neater side and were
unlucky to leave without something to show for their efforts.

The Australian
March 29 2005

UN withdraws legal funds for oil-deal chief
David Nason, New York correspondent
March 30, 2005

THE UN has reversed its decision to pay the legal fees of former
oil-for-food chief Benon Sevan, saying it would be inappropriate to
reimburse the Armenian diplomat given the allegations of serious
misconduct against him over the scandal-ridden, multi-billion-dollar
program.

UN spokesman Fred Eckhard announced the turnaround as 59 former
American diplomats signed a letter urging the US Senate to reject
George W.Bush’s controversial nomination of John Bolton as the
nation’s next UN ambassador.

Writing to Senate foreign relations committee chairman Richard Lugar,
the ex-diplomats said the UN-bashing Mr Bolton could not be an
“effective promoter” of US interests at the world body and accused
him of undermining US efforts to improve national security through
arms control.

The bipartisan signatories included Arthur Hartman, who served the
Nixon, Carter and Reagan administrations; James Leonard, who was
deputy UN ambassador during the Ford and Carter presidencies; and
Princeton Lyman, who served the Reagan, Bush Sr and Clinton
administrations.

But the letter was overshadowed by the UN’s decision to withdraw all
legal funding for Mr Sevan, who has been accused of using his
position as head of the $67billion oil-for-food program to improperly
lobby for lucrative oil contracts on behalf of an associate.

The allegations were made on February 3 in an interim report of the
Paul Volcker-led inquiry into allegations of widespread corruption in
oil-for-food, a program that operated from 1996 to 2003 and allowed
Saddam Hussein’s Iraq to sell oil under UN supervision in exchange
for humanitarian goods.

At the time Mr Volcker, a former chairman of the US Federal Reserve,
said investigations would continue into Mr Sevan’s personal finances.

These are believed to include at least four expensive properties he
owns in New York city and upstate New York, along with some large
cash payments that Mr Sevan claims were gifts from an aunt in Cyprus,
who died after falling down a lift shaft before she could be
questioned.

Just last week Mr Eckhard said Mr Sevan’s legal fees up to February 3
would be reimbursed using funds from the $US1billion ($1.3billion)
management fee the UN took for running the program.

But it caused an outcry, with critics pointing out Mr Sevan’s legal
bills were being paid with funds from the same UN program he was
accused of rorting.

So yesterday Mr Eckhard, citing advice from the UN legal department,
did a turnaround.

It means Mr Sevan will receive no UN assistance except in the event
he is cleared of the allegations against him.

Mr Volcker was overnight due to release his second interim report
into oil-for-food, looking at the involvement of UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan and his son Kojo with a Swiss company contracted by the UN
to monitor humanitarian aid arriving in Iraq.

Mr Sevan could not be reached for comment last night. Mr Bolton, who
by convention is unable to speak until his UN nomination is endorsed
by the US Senate, did not return emails.

Ko’mm Percussion Performs at Strathmore’s “Art After Hours” series

MUSIC

The Washington Post
Saturday, March 26, 2005

By Andrew Lindemann Malone

We don’t get enough all-percussion concerts, despite the fact that
today’s wide-ranging percussion ensembles can provide hypnotic melodies
in addition to hard grooves and explosive outbursts. So it was
enterprising of Strathmore’s Art After Hours series to host a concert by
Ko’mm Percussion in the mansion on Wednesday night. The group,
consisting of local percussionists Leon Khoja-Eynatyan, Richard
McCandless, Rich O’Meara and Joseph Jay McIntyre, presented works by the
latter three.

Three of the eight works Ko’mm played stood out. The mesmerizing
minimalist-style marimba arpeggios of O’Meara’s “Island Spinning”
wobbled dangerously after some subtle metrical twists, but the piece
righted itself like a top given an extra spin. O’Meara followed that
with “301,” a work commemorating the official conversion of Armenia to
Christianity, in which Khoja-Eynatyan played breathtakingly quiet
ruminations on the marimba as his daughter Tatevik rang an Armenian hymn
on hand bells. The concert ended with a piece by McCandless called “Pile
Driver,” which he introduced with the half-boast “This piece is not
subtle,” but the poetry McCandless found in the cacophony made “Pile
Driver” absorbing.

Yet even the less successful pieces were interesting; for example, the
world premiere of McIntyre’s “Negative” found the composer using real
mallets to strike a nonexistent drum, cuing two bass drums behind him to
stop rumbling and thus “playing” silence. The reverberations of the
drums prevented the silence from cutting sharply through sound, but it
was fun to see the idea tried. And as the members of Ko’mm worked hard
to make the music sound good, they proved that the sheer athletic
spectacle of a percussion concert can be a lot of fun to watch.

Houston Chronicle, TX
March 27 2005

Kremlin worried over latest uprising

Kyrgyzstan president’s ouster could spell trouble for authoritarian
Soviet republics
By ALEX RODRIGUEZ
Knight Ridder Tribune News

BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN – The latest democratic uprising to claim a
former Soviet republic had Moscow buzzing with trepidation: How many
more dominoes can fall?

ADVERTISEMENT

With Kremlin ally Askar Akayev ousted from power in Kyrgyzstan, a
debate in Russia has ensued over whether the fever for democracy can
take root in the rest of Central Asia or reach harsh, autocratic
regimes such as Alexander Lukashenko’s in Belarus.

Analysts say the Kremlin is finding itself increasingly powerless to
stanch the creep of democracy into former Soviet republics it still
covets. “It’s unfortunate that yet again in the post-Soviet space,
political problems in a country are resolved illegally and are
accompanied by pogroms and human victims,” Russian President Vladimir
Putin said in a visit to Yerevan, Armenia’s capital.

For the United States, the Kyrgyz uprising could potentially provide
an anchor of democratic stability in the volatile Central Asia
region.

In a little less than a year and a half, three former Soviet
republics ~W Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan ~W have undergone
revolutions seeded by anger over rigged or flawed elections.

Experts say the thirst for genuine civil society in the remaining
former Soviet republics is powerful and enduring.

“I think there are strong chances that the opposition might succeed
in countries neighboring Kyrgyzstan,” said Zeyno Baran, a Central
Asia affairs analyst for the Washington-based Nixon Center.

In the former Soviet republics, dissent is often silenced with
torture or imprisonment.

In Turkmenistan, where Saparmurad Niyazov has declared himself
president for life, political opposition virtually does not exist.

Uzbekistan’s president, Islam Karimov, heads a virtual police state
with a history of jailing political opponents and suppressing
religious freedoms.

Oil-rich Kazakhstan is an unlikely venue for change: Though regarded
as authoritarian, President Nursultan Nazarbayev has made strides
improving his country’s economy.

Developments in Kyrgyztan not surprising: Putin

New Kerala, India

[World News] Moscow, Mar 25 : In its first reaction to the stormy
developments in Kyrgyzstan, Russia today said the collapse of
the Akayev regime in the former Soviet Central Asian republic was
not unexpected and Moscow was ready to give refuge to the deposed
President.

“The development of the situation in Kyrgyzstan has not been anything
unexpected for us, this is a result of weakness of authority and of
piled up socio-economic problems,” Russian President Putin said at
a press conference in the Armenian capital Yerevan.

“It is regrettable that problems for another time are solved in the
post-Soviet space in an unlawful way and are accompanied by pogroms
and human victims,” Putin said in his televised statement.

He said that Moscow was ready to give refuge to the deposed Kyrgyz
president Askar Akayev, who is said to be with his family in Borovoye
resort in the north of neighbouring Kazakhstan after fleeing the
‘velvet revolution’ in his country.

Meanwhile, the Chairperson of the Constitution court Cholpon Bokirbeyva
said that Akayev has not formally resigned.

“He has fled the country and it is on his conscience,” she was quoted
as saying by Interfax. PTI