Author: Kafian Jirair

BAGAPSH IN MOSCOW ADVERTISES GOAL OF SECESSION FROM GEORGIA
by Vladimir Socor

Eurasia Daily Monitor — The Jamestown Foundation
Friday, August 19, 2005 — Volume 2, Issue 163

On August 17 in Moscow, Abkhaz leader Sergei Bagapsh openly confirmed
the political program of Abkhazia’s secession from Georgia and de
facto merger with Russia. Speaking at a specially organized, widely
covered news conference, he outlined a set of legislative, military,
and economic measures to that end.

According to Bagapsh, the handing over of Russia’s citizenship to
Abkhazia’s residents has almost been completed: 84% of the current
residents have Russian citizenship, and 70% of the pensioners receive
Russian state pensions. Both figures should reach close to 100%
within the next six to 12 months, Bagapsh stated. In parallel with
this, the Abkhaz legislature is engaged in consultations with Russian
counterparts about bringing Abkhazia’s “laws” in line with the Russian
Federation’s legislation. Bagapsh stopped short of identifying those
Russian legislative consultants, and his percentage figures did not
take into account the ethnically cleansed Georgians, who had formed
a plurality of Abkhazia’s pre-1993 population.

The merger of “Abkhaz citizenship” with that of Russia has advanced
far enough for Abkhazia to request Russian authorities to accept the
transfer of Abkhaz common-law convicts to serve their sentences in
Russian prisons. Pleading poverty, the Abkhaz “parliament” chairman,
Nugzar Ashuba (a Bagapsh supporter in the Abkhaz internecine rivalries)
made that proposal in the course of the visit to Russia.

According to Bagapsh, Abkhazia is entitled “as any country” to possess
an army. Abkhazia does not criticize Western assistance to Georgia’s
army and it claims by the same token the right to receive Russian
assistance for the Abkhaz army, he argued. According to him, the
army numbers 10,000-12,000, not counting reservists. Abkhazia covers
some 20% of its military budget (implying that Russia covers 80%),
and 70% of Abkhazia’s military personnel have Russian citizenship,
he said. Moreover, “An influx of military specialists from Russia
is under way. These are mainly middle-rank personnel … We gladly
accept motorists, naval petty officers, border troops personnel”
(Interfax, August 17).

That remark suggests that Moscow and Sukhumi may prepare to create
and station “Abkhaz border troops” on Abkhazia’s “borders” and create
a fledgling “Abkhaz” coast guard, in addition to the army. Bagapsh
also reserved the right for Abkhazia to “invite” senior military
officers from Russia if necessary. He omitted the fact that Abkhazia’s
“defense minister,” “chief of staff,” and some other non-Abkhaz
senior officers are seconded from Russia’s military to the Abkhaz
army. Under the command of those two Russian generals this week, the
Abkhaz “permanent battalions” along with reservists are conducting
the largest military exercise since the 1992-93 Russian military
intervention against Georgia in Abkhazia.

Russia and Abkhazia intend to reopen and use in their interests the
“Abkhaz” section of Georgia’s state railway irrespective of Georgia’s
position, Bagapsh told the news conference. Russian state-connected
companies will cover the costs, estimated at $130-150 million.
Technicians from Russian Railways initiated that work last week.
Similarly, Russian companies are scheduled to begin on September 10
the reconstruction of the main motor highway in Abkhazia, from the
Russian to the Georgian “border,” without regard to Georgia.

A delighted Bagapsh also announced that Russian tourism in Abkhazia
this season is set to approach “Soviet-era levels,” with more than 1
million vacationers ensuring more than 50% occupancy of Abkhazia’s
accommodation capacities, despite those facilities’ admittedly
dilapidated state. Although that figure looks exaggerated, Bagapsh
displayed confidence that Russian tourism would become the main source
of sustenance to Abkhazia’s economy. He did not mention the fact that
Russian state and private entities are buying up choice properties
in Abkhazia on the cheap, and without regard to Georgia’s rights as
legal sovereign or the rights of lawful owners who have been turned
into refugees.

Bagapsh displayed no interest in a political settlement with
Tbilisi other than some form of recognition of Abkhazia’s secession
and coexistence of “two neighboring states.” As a first step in
that direction, he called for the signing of a Georgia-Abkhazia
“agreement on security guarantees,” which he said might be signed
along with economic agreements by himself with Georgian President
Mikheil Saakashvili. As he did earlier this month (Regnum, August 4),
Bagapsh again challenged Saakashvili to “take a historic opportunity”
and recognize Abkhazia’s secession from Georgia.

Repeatedly during the news conference, Bagapsh referred to the goal of
Abkhazia obtaining the status of an “associated” unit with the Russian
Federation. He and his Russian handlers know, however, that such an
option is both unrealistic and unnecessary. Moscow encourages Sukhumi
(and also some of Moscow’s own, officially licensed hardliners)
to raise this dramatic prospect in order to make their gradualist
steps and demands appear moderate by comparison. Those steps and
demands are directed toward the incorporation of Abkhazia by Russia
de facto, without requiring risky or controversial precedent-setting
in international law, and without shaking the international community
out of its complacency.

(Interfax, RIA-Novosti, Prime-News, August 17, 18; see EDM, August 1,
10, 16)

–Vladimir Socor

LEADING SHAREHOLDER CJSC “UCS-ZVEZDA” DECIDED TO SELL HIS SHARE IN COMPANY

YEREVAN, AUGUST 17. ARMINFO. Leading shareholder, Chairman of the
Board of Shareholders of the CJSC “UCS-Zvezda” Aghasi Yesayan decided
to withdraw from the staff of the company’s shareholders and to sale
his share. “OCS-Zvezda” informs ARMINFO.

Yesayan’s share in the company is not mentioned. He refrained
from comments regarding the reasons that made him go on such
step. At the same time, he expressed readiness to give necessary
explanations “after the above issue is finally settled.” The company’s
press-service supposes that such decisive acts are connected with
the failure when entering the telecommunication market of Armenia
as a mobile communication operator. According to the existing data,
it was Yesayan that planned to attract 60 mln EUR investments for
implementation of this project in Armenia. An agreement on financing
of a business-project was concluded with one of the first class banks
of Europe. Mow, these funds are most likely to be used to implement
telecommunication projects in EU member-states in agreement with
the bank.

It should be noted that the Armenian-Russian-American transnational
CJSC “United Communication Systems -Zvezda” yet in the middle of 2004
started launching a modern land station of satellite communication
in Armenia and planned to get a license for provision of mobile
communication services in Armenia. The company’s leadership has always
hidden the staff of shareholders from the press, which aroused distrust
in the plans of this enterprise.

AZG Armenian Daily #144, 17/08/2005

Exhibition

NEW EXHIBITION OF ARMENIAN FEMALE PAINTERS

The Association of Diplomats’ Wives will initiate a new exhibition of
Armenian artists in the near future. The exhibition will be held in
early October. It will include the works by 50 Armenian female painters
belonging to various schools and periods of painting. The album of
colorful illustration of the pieces by the artists and bilingual
articles will be published on the eve of the exhibition. The pieces
by Lavinia Bazhbeuk-Melikian, Armine Kalents, Aida Gabrielian, Knarik
Hovhanissian, Lusik Samvelian. Sonia Balasanian. Karine Matsakian and
other contemporary Armenian artists are included in the album. The
Indian Embassy to Armenia and Mrs. Rekha Vohra, wife of Mr. Deepak
Vohra, Indian Ambassador to RA, greatly contributed to realization
of this initiative.

Mrs. Nani Oskanian, chairwoman of the Association, and Mrs. Rekha
Vohra informed the journalists about the exhibition at the press
conference held at Armenia-Marriott hotel on August 16. Nani Oskanian
said that the wives of diplomats participate in the initiated programs
with great pleasure. Mrs. Oskanian also expressed regret that the
diplomatic missions of their husbands do not last long. She also added
that notwithstanding this factor, their cooperation will continue in
the future, too.

The exhibition is aimed to represent the identity of the Armenian
women from creative aspects, revealing their ideas, viewpoints and
worldviews.

“We became more interested in the Armenian life thanks to the
Association. We have traveled in Armenia a lot and met with very kind
women and wonderful children. Armenia is experiencing a transitional
period of economic development and we want to help,” Mrs. Vohra said.

“Hand in Hand” project initiated by the Association aims at helping
Armenian women and children. While such cultural arrangements involve
the artists in the social sphere, in fact.

The diplomatic mission of Mr. Deepak Vohra, Indian Ambassador to
RA, is completed. A farewell party will be held on August 17. We
express our best wishes and gratitude to Mr. Deepak Vohra and his
wife for especially warm attitude to our country and our language,
in particular.

By Melania Badalian

‘Buying Used Book in Armenia is So Dangerous’

Journal of Turkish Weekly
Aug 16 2005

YEREVAN – Turkyilmaz, a doctoral candidate, was arrested June 17 as
he tried to leave the country with two suitcases of used books. He
has been held in a former KGB maximum-security prison in the Armenian
capital, Yerevan, and faces up to eight years in prison if convicted.
The trial started Tuesday and is expected to last up to a month.
Turkish Armenia experts claim that the reason is not buying used
books but beeing Turkish.

Turkyilmaz’s research into how Turks, Armenians and Kurds interacted
for centuries in the Anatolia melting pot touched on the sensitive
issue of the mass killings of Armenians in the waning days of the
Ottoman Empire.

In nearly two weeks of interrogation, the academic said through
friends, he was never questioned about his books but instead about
his research and a compact disc of archival information that was to
be the basis for his writing. The disc has been confiscated.

“This should not be a political issue; this should be for the
historians to look into and decide,” said an official at the Turkish
Foreign Ministry who spoke on condition of anonymity. “From what we
had heard, this young scholar seemed to support the Armenian side of
the so-called genocide debate. It is such a strange turn of events,
to arrest him.”

For the last two years, Turkyilmaz has conducted research in Turkish
and Armenian libraries and the Turkish national archives. This year,
he was the first Turkish citizen allowed access to the Armenian
national archives, according to an Armenian government press release.

A bibliophile, Turkyilmaz scoured bookstores and open-air markets for
old books. Supporters say no one told him he needed special permission
to take the books from Armenia.

Several American and Armenian scholars have said that they also were
unaware of the restriction. Although the law has been used in stopping
the export of cultural goods such as religious icons and carpets,
it is thought to be the first time it has been applied to books.

Dr. Nilgun Gulcan from Ankara-based ISRO says “to make any historical
research in any Armenian libraries is impossible”. “All Turkish
archives and libraries have been open to all researchers including
the Armenians. However no one will go to Armenia after this case. All
Turkish historians know that if they go to yerevan to make historical
research they may be capturde and put in prison. Buying used books
should not be a reason to be put in prison. and we know that the reason
is not used books, but biases Armenian Government cannot changed till
now” added Dr. Gulcan.

Former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, a staunch advocate for Armenian issues,
weighed in with a letter to Armenian President Robert Kocharian. 200
Turkish, Kurdish and Turkey Armenians also sent a letter to yerevan
and urged to release the Turkish scientist.

“Your detention of Yektan for seven weeks on any grounds would draw
attention to failings in Armenia’s democratic evolution,” Dole wrote.
“To detain him on grounds as dubious as these calls into question
Armenia’s commitment to democracy.”

Armenia and Armenian-Americans have been lobbying governments
worldwide to label the 1915 deaths genocide. The Turkish Government
however insists the deaths were the results of a civil insurrection
and war curcumstances that also claimed the lives of innocent Turks.
According to the Turkish historians more than 520,000 Turkish villagers
were masscred by the Armenian armed groups during the riot.

Compiled by Jany Dawid, JTW

Greek Police Raid Helios Airways Offices
By ELENA BECATOROS, Associated Press Writer

Associated Press
August 15, 2005

Police in Cyprus raided the offices of Helios Airways in the coastal
city of Larnaca on Monday, a day after one of the company’s passenger
jets slammed into a mountainside near Athens, killing all 121 people
on board.

Police spokeswoman Christalla Dimitriou said officers “carried out
a search” after asking the city’s court for a search warrant. No
arrests were made and she did not say whether police had confiscated
any material from the office.

Chief Athens coroner Fillipos Koutsaftis, meanwhile, said that tests
conducted on the remains showed at least six of the 121 victims were
alive when the aircraft went down.

“We have performed autopsies on six people. Our conclusion is they had
circulation and were breathing at the time of death,” Koutsaftis said,
but he added they could have been unconscious.

French experts will examine the plane’s black-box recorders,
officials said.

The cause of Sunday’s crash, Greece’s deadliest airline disaster,
appeared to be technical failure resulting in high-altitude
decompression and loss of oxygen. Yet many questions remained,
including why the co-pilot was unconscious in the cockpit 40 minutes
before the crash and why he was alone, with the captain nowhere
in sight.

The captain’s body has yet to be recovered, and Greek investigators
– joined by a U.S. team – were trying to determine why he was not
in his seat while the Boeing 737 was in peril.

Coroners also will examine blood and tissue samples from victims’
lungs to determine whether anything they breathed in could have caused
their deaths.

“We will seek to determine when they died and how they died,” chief
Koutsaftis said earlier.

Victims’ relatives gathered at a central Athens morgue to identify
the remains.

There had been 21 children aboard Helios Airways flight ZU522 from
Larnaca, Cyprus, to Athens, “all aged 4 and above,” Greek deputy
Health Minister Giorgos Constantopoulos said Monday. Initially, Greek
and Cypriot officials had said 48 children were on the plane. No
explanation was given for the discrepancy.

According the Cypriot government, at least 10 families with children
were among the dead. Passengers and crew included at least 12 Greeks,
one German – the pilot – and a four-member family of Armenian origin.
The rest were Cypriot.

Police in northern Greece also arrested a man who claimed to have
received a telephone text message from his cousin who was on the
plane before it crashed.

The man, who was identified as 32-year-old Nektarios-Sotirios Voutas,
called Greek television stations shortly after the Helios Airways
flight crashed, saying his cousin Nikos Petridis sent him a message
that read: “Farewell, cousin, here we’re frozen.”

The report that the plane was cold was taken as a sign of
decompression, but police in Thessaloniki said they had determined he
was lying and the name Petridis was not on the Cypriot government’s
official list of victims.

Voutas, a resident of the northern port city of Thessaloniki who had
identified himself to Greek media as Sotiris Voutas, faced charges
of disseminating false information and causing a public disturbance,
police said.

The Boeing 737 had been scheduled to continue to Prague, Czech
Republic, after Athens. It crashed while on autopilot at 12:05
p.m. Sunday near Grammatiko, a scenic village 25 miles north of the
Greek capital, apparently after running out of fuel.

Greek state television had quoted the Cyprus transport minister as
saying the plane had decompression problems in the past. But a Helios
representative said the plane had “no problems and was serviced just
last week.”

Searchers at the crash site were still looking for three bodies,
firefighting officials said Monday – including the pilot. His name
was Hans-Juergen Merten, 58, of Berlin, according to German authorities
and his neighbors near the German capital’s Schoenefeld airport.

The body of the Cypriot co-pilot, Pambos Haralambous, reportedly was
found in the cockpit.

In Cyprus, Helios Airways Chairman Andreas Drakos said the airline’s
crews were operating normally on Sunday, rejecting earlier reports
that its pilots and crew were refusing to fly.

The head of the Greek airline safety committee, Akrivos Tsolakis,
said that the two recovered black boxes – a data and cockpit voice
recorder – would be sent to French air safety investigators for
examination. The voice recorder was badly damaged by the crash and
ensuing fire.

“It’s in a bad state and, possibly, it won’t give us the information
we need,” Tsolakis said. “Both boxes will be sent to Paris where a
French committee will help us and the foreign experts that are here
to decode.”

He said he believed his committee would be able to reach a conclusion
“in a few days, a very few days.”

U.S. experts will join Greek investigators on request by the American
government, because the aircraft was manufactured in the United States,
Tsolakis said.

The plane took off from Cyprus at 9 a.m. Sunday. About a half-hour
later, the pilots reported air-conditioning system problems to Cyprus
air-traffic control. Within minutes, the plane entered Greek air
space over the Aegean Sea and shortly afterward lost all radio contact.

The Greek air force sent two F-16s fighter jets to intercept the plane.
They caught up with the airliner at 34,000 feet and peered inside the
cockpit. The jet pilots saw the co-pilot slumped over the controls
but could not see the captain, and oxygen masks were dangling inside,
government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos said.

When the jets flew by a second time they saw two people possibly
trying to take control of the plane; it was unclear if they were crew
members or passengers. The plane crashed 40 minutes later.

“When a pilot has no communication with the control tower, the
procedure dictates that other planes must accompany and help the
plane land. Unfortunately, it appeared that the pilot was already
dead as was, possibly, everyone else on the plane,” Cyprus Transport
Minister Haris Thrasou said.

At 34,000 feet, the effects of depressurization are swift, said David
Kaminski Morrow, of the British-based Air Transport Intelligence
magazine.

“If the aircraft is at 30,000 feet, you don’t stay conscious for long,
maybe 15 to 30 seconds,” he said.

Cyprus declared three days of national mourning, and in Athens flags
were ordered to fly at half staff on Tuesday. A 40-day mourning period
was declared in Paralymni, a Cypriot town of 10,000 that lost 16 of
its residents on the plane.

Associated Press writers Elena Becatoros in Athens, Derek Gatopoulos
in Grammatiko, Greece, and Alex Efty in Nicosia, Cyprus, contributed
to this story.

Ukraine, Georgia fuming over planned Russian sex film
By GRAEME SMITH

Globe and Mail, Canada
Aug 15 2005

MOSCOW — Alexei Mitrofanov, deputy leader of Russia’s Liberal
Democratic Party, says he cannot understand the ruckus over his
dirty movie.

What’s so wrong, he asks, about writing a film script that imagines
a steamy rendezvous between a buxom woman named Yulia and a darkly
handsome gentleman named Mikhail?

What does it matter if the porn star selected for the role of Yulia
wears the same braided hairstyle as Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia
Tymoshenko? Or that she climbs into a Russian attack helicopter,
zooms over the mountains along Georgia’s northern border and makes
love to someone who resembles Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili?

“How can they react like this when they haven’t even seen the film?”
said Mr. Mitrofanov, a senior member of the State Duma, or lower
parliament, better-known for his extreme nationalist politics than
his prowess as an author of sex films.

Ukraine and Georgia have voiced displeasure with Mr. Mitrofanov’s
side project, which is scheduled to start filming next week.

Rumours are circulating about possible retaliation by Ukrainian
filmmakers, who are reportedly trying to cast a male porn star who
resembles Russian President Vladimir Putin for a gay film.

It’s the latest, and most bizarre, sign of tensions between Russia
and the two former Soviet republics, which have drifted away from
Moscow’s influence after recent revolutions in both countries.
Ukraine squabbled with Russia over energy prices, while Georgia
demanded the closing of Russian military bases on its soil.

Despite the recent history, Mr. Mitrofanov seems hopeful that his
26-minute sex film, titled Yulia, will take foreign relations to new
heights — literally and figuratively.

“Political erotics are a new genre that I have discovered,” he said.
“The film is about politics. It makes a political statement, they
don’t just [have sex].”

The politician was vague about the film’s message, but he dismissed
any suggestion that he was trying to demean Mr. Saakashvili, 37, who
will be played by an unnamed Armenian actor, or Ms. Tymoshenko, 44,
whose role has been taken by a well-known porn actress, Elena Berkova.

Russian audiences are already intimately familiar with Ms. Berkova,
who gained celebrity on the popular Dom-2 reality television show.
She initially described herself as the 20-year-old director of a
marriage agency, but was kicked off the show after revelations about
her career as an adult-film star.

Ms. Berkova has reinvented herself as a musician, with a recording
scheduled for release in the fall. Her producer, Alexander Valov,
acknowledges that she signed on to Mr. Mitrofanov’s project to generate
publicity for the album.

It’s still unclear whether Ms. Berkova intends to reprise her hard-core
performances in the film; the politician has pushed for more graphic
scenes, while Ms. Berkova’s producer hopes for fewer. The film isn’t
intended for theatres in any case, with distribution directly to DVD,
video, the Internet and possibly television.

A Black Shark helicopter will be rented for the filming, Mr. Valov
said. The modern Russian attack helicopter is armoured against
12.7-millimetre bullets, which could be useful if Mr. Valov follows
through on his intention to film the climactic love scene in the
air above the Pankisi Gorge, an area still racked by battles between
Chechen fighters and Russian security forces.

“You could be shot down by a rocket any time you cross that border, and
this increases the thrill during the moment of sex,” Mr. Valov said.

Temuri Grigalashvili, a spokesman for the Georgian President, wasn’t
particularly thrilled by the idea. “This is a cheap public-relations
trick,” he said.

“One should not do such things,” said Nikolai Novosad, the first
secretary of the Ukrainian embassy in Moscow. “A state politician
cannot talk about another one in such a way.”

Mr. Mitrofanov rejected the idea that he’s creating propaganda.

“Is the film The Interpreter propaganda or big cinema?” he said. “Is
the film JFK propaganda or big cinema? Why is it that in America
these films are considered big cinema but films like this in Russia
are considered propaganda? This is big cinema and I am a great master.”

Secret Turkish-Armenian Talks Focused On 3 Key Areas

Reopening border depends on Armenia’s ‘partial’ withdrawal from
Nagorno-Karabakh

Ayhan Simsek
The New Anatolian / Ankara

Turkey is considering reopening its border with Armenia if Yerevan will
commit to a partial pullout from the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of
Azerbaijan, diplomatic sources told The New Anatolian yesterday, speaking on
condition of anonymity. Ankara expects a pullback from four regions in
Nagorno-Karabakh, and believes that such a move can facilitate a
comprehensive agreement between Yerevan and the Azeri capital Baku.

Secret talks between Turkish and Armenian senior diplomats seeking ways to
normalize relations were focused on three key areas, according to diplomatic
sources.

One of the key points in the talks was the recognition of the existing
common borders. TNA learned that at a meeting between senior diplomats last
month, Ankara suggested an “exchange of letters” between the two countries,
in which the both parties would reaffirm their commitment to the Kars and
Gumru Treaties of 1921. Armenian diplomats rejected this suggestion, stating
that while they do not have any territorial claims or problem with
recognizing the existing borders, they cannot accept this since the treaties
set down Nagorno-Karabakh as Azerbaijani territory. The Armenian side
proposed other formulas to meet Turkey’s expectations.

Yerevan’s demand for the reopening of the Turkish-Armenian border
constitutes another important issue in the talks. Ankara recently conveyed
that it would consider reopening the border if Yerevan were to partially
withdrawal from Nagorno-Karabakh. One diplomat said that the Azeris and
Armenians are close to an agreement which would foresee an Armenian
withdrawal from four regions in Nagorno-Karabakh, and Turkey has a positive
view of this. But, Turkish diplomats underline that they are not a party to
the negotiations and what is important is that any proposal must be
satisfactory to the Azeris.

A third key issue in the talks between Turkish and Armenian diplomats was on
the formation of a committee of historians. In recent meetings between
senior diplomats, the Armenian side offered to establish a commission
composed of parliamentarians and suggested that a committee of historians
would be a subcommittee to it. Turkish diplomats had some reservations
concerning the Armenians’ suggestion, but the two sides agreed that the
committee of historians should include Turkish, Armenian and Armenian
diaspora members but no other third party.

This April, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to
President Robert Kocharian, proposing to set up a commission of historians
who would jointly study the events of 1915-18 and the genocide allegations.
Kocharian responded by calling for the creation of a Turkish-Armenian
intergovernmental body that would tackle this and other issues of mutual
concern.

Source: TNA, 11 August 2005

SECOND ROUND OF PROGRAMMING CONTEST OF YOUNG SPECIALISTS HELD IN
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, August 9. /ARKA/. The second round of the programming contest
of young specialists was held in Yerevan, Director of the “Enterprises
Incubator” Foundation (EIF) Bagrat Yengibaryan told journalists. He
said that the most participants are the students, but the pupils also
participate in this contest. He reported that 200 participants
registered this year, including participants from Georgia and
Russia. The winners of the 1st round went to the Summer School in
Karabakh, where they were trained by the lecturers of the Yerevan
universities and higher educational institutions. 10 teams, each
including three members were formed after the training. Award ceremony
of the winners is expected to be held on August 10, 2005.

Yengibaryan said that popularity of the contest is accounted for by
the continuous growing interest to IT technologies in Armenia.

The contest is organized by the EIF, Pan-Armenian Youth International
Center and the Union of the IT Enterprises of Armenia (UITE). The
contest is sponsored by Synopsys, Unicomp and CIT companies, which
have provided additional awards for the participants.

This is the 3rd contest of young people interested in programming. The
first contest was held in Yerevan in 2002. A.A. -0–

PanArmenian News Network
Aug 8 2005

SWISS SENATE WASHES HANDS OF GENOCIDE ISSUE

08.08.2005 06:55

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey’s massacre of Armenians in 1915 will not be
an issue for the Swiss Senate, according to the president of the
Senate foreign-affairs committee. Peter Briner said other countries
had no business pointing the finger at Turkey 90 years after the
disputed events. `The Senate Commission came to an agreement with the
Swiss government that it is not the parliament to decide whether it
was a genocide or not’, he added. To note, the Chamber of
Representatives of the Swiss Senate adopted the resolution on the
Armenian Genocide in 2003, Swissinfo reports.

Gulf Times, Qatar
Aug 8 2005

Azerbaijan relaunches opposition crackdown

Published: Monday, 8 August, 2005, 12:16 PM Doha Time

BAKU: The arrest of an opposition leader in former Soviet Azerbaijan
over an alleged coup plot hatched by Armenian secret police and a US
democracy group reactivates an opposition crackdown in the oil rich
republic ahead of parliamentary elections.
Prosecutors on Thursday announced the arrest of Ruslan Bashirli, the
leader of the Yeni Fikir youth group modelled on movements that
helped topple regimes in Ukraine and Georgia recently, on charges of
attempting `to take power by force’.
His detention came just two months after the Azerbaijani authorities
had lifted a ban on public demonstrations that had been in place
since the contested 2003 presidential elections which ended in
rioting and hundreds of arrests.
The two days of rioting that enveloped the capital Baku in 2003 put
Azerbaijan in the international headlines. Since then, the
authorities have clamped down on dissent, loosening the unspoken ban
on rallies only in June after heavy Western diplomatic pressure.
Prosecutors accuse Bashirli of accepting money from Armenian
operatives posing as democracy activists from Georgia and Armenia in
order to finance a revolt planned by the US-based National Democratic
Institute (NDI).
While in Georgia in July, Bashirli told the Armenians that he
represented forces `acting on the instructions of the National
Democratic Institute of the USA’, according to a prosecutors’
statement.
He said he had received `specific instructions from representatives
of this organisation to prepare a revolution in Azerbaijan’, the
statement said.
Azerbaijan fought and lost a bitter war with Armenia over the
mountainous region of Nagorno Karabakh in the early 1990s and the two
former Soviet republics have yet to sign a formal peace deal.
Both Yeni Fikir and NDI denied they were plotting to oust the regime
of president Ilham Aliyev, with the US group’s Azerbaijan director
Christy Quirk saying the allegations `just aren’t true’.