Author: Kafian Jirair

Odd mix of ex-Soviet rulers meet, some stay away
By Jonathan Thatcher

Reuters, UK
May 7 2005

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday hosts
leaders of an ill-assorted alliance of former Soviet states, kicking
off three days of summits and glittering parties he hopes will lift
his international image.

The high point of the May 8-10 ceremonies will be Monday’s 60th
anniversary of the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany in World War Two,
attended by over 50 leaders, among them U.S. President George W. Bush
and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

The gatherings come after stinging criticism by the United States of
what it sees as Putin’s excessively strong grip on power and concerns
over the risks of investing in Russia rooted in uncertainty over the
application of laws.

Russia itself has had to watch its influence, in a region where it
once held absolute sway, steadily erode as former colonies shift their
allegiance from Moscow and towards a welcoming and more financially
alluring West.

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) joins 12 of the 15 old
Soviet republics, stretching from Central Asia on the border with
China to the edge of the European Union, with a combined population
of 280 million — half of it in Russia.

They are ruled by an unlikely mix of leaders, most of whom trace
their political roots to the Soviet days and who rose to power in
elections internationally criticised as flawed at best.

At one end of the political spectrum are the autocratic rulers of much
of Central Asia, including Turkmenistan’s President Saparmurat Niyazov
who has built up a bizarre personality cult, and Belarus’s Alexander
Lukashenko who heads what Washington calls Europe’s last dictatorship.

Most have made plain that they will not ease their grip and allow the
‘people power’ revolutions that brought pro-Western leaders to office
in Georgia and Ukraine.

Tiny Moldova too is slipping out of Russia’s orbit with its president,
Vladimir Voronin, and the only official communist leader in the CIS,
saying he wants greater integration with the West.

Georgia will be the last port of call for Bush on his tour of the
region which began in the Baltic states, also once part of the Kremlin
empire but which as EU members now are pressing Moscow to atone for
decades of Soviet oppression.

It will confirm Kremlin alarm that Washington is stepping a little too
eagerly into its former domain. On Saturday, Bush rubbed salt into
the wound by saying the Baltic states were an example of democracy
for Russia.

GEORGIAN LEADER BOYCOTTS PARTY

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili — who came to power in the
‘Rose Revolution’ in late 2003 — is boycotting the Moscow festivities
after failing to reach a deal late last week with Russia to quickly
dismantle Soviet-era bases on Georgian soil that he calls a form
of occupation.

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev is also staying at home rather than
meet Armenian leader Robert Kocharyan on May 8 which is also the
anniversary of a decisive defeat of Azeri forces in the war over
Nagorno-Karabakh, one of the bloodiest conflicts to erupt in the
dying days of the Soviet Union.

But Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko, who came to power in the
last ‘Orange Revolution’ and defeated the candidate openly backed by
Putin, will attend the CIS meeting.

Putin, who dismisses suggestions that the group is an attempt by the
Kremlin to hang on to past glory, says the CIS still has value.

“(It is) a very important instrument that helps us to exchange
information, to solve common political, humanitarian and administrative
problems. We … must not lose this,” he said recently.

A key goal of the CIS has been to try to resume trade ties and
recreate what it calls a single economic space but latest statistics
show that the group accounts for just 17 percent of Russia’s exports
and 21 percent of its imports.

India Abroad, India
May 6 2005

The war that changed the world
The Rediff Special/K Subrahmanyam

May 06, 2005

I was sixteen years old when the Second World War ended in Europe.
Though I was a keen war watcher we did not have a radio in our house
and therefore the sources of news for me was The Hindu delivered at
my house and the local municipal reading room.

I was then a resident of Tiruchirappalli some three hundred kilometres
to the south of Madras. The morning paper that we got was printed in
Madras the previous evening. So I got the news of the German surrender
some thirty hours late.

While our papers covered the German surrender to General Dwight
Eisenhower on May 8, 1945 elaborately, the surrender next day to
the Russians was not covered so extensively. Years later I saw it
in the six-part serial — The Great Patriotic War produced by the
Soviet Union.

The brief ceremony of the German General’s surrender and his curt
dismissal was not something that made a lasting impression on me
unlike the hoisting of the Red flag on the Reichstag building in
Berlin, a few days earlier.

On May 9, 1982 I was in Moscow and had an opportunity to celebrate
VE Day (Victory in Europe Day, when the Allies celebrated the defeat
of Nazi Germany on May 8, 1945) with the citizens of Moscow. Two
colleagues from the Oriental Institute accompanied me that day and
acted as my guides as I was the guest of the Institute.

One was Professor Tanya Shaumian and the other was Dr Alexander
Chicherov, both specialists on Indian studies. That day was an
unforgettable experience. Public traffic had been suspended for
the day and the whole of Moscow was in the streets celebrating the
victory that was earned at the cost of millions of lives, both military
personnel and civilians.

We were in Gorky Park and there were tens of thousands of people
milling around. There were hundreds of poles planted with streamers
with names of various military units that served during the Second
World War. Around each pole had gathered veterans belonging to that
unit with their families. Thirty-seven years had passed since the
end of the war. The youngest person present who had served in the
war was in the mid-fifties. But each gathering had people of all
ages, children and grandchildren of the veterans. They were all in
a celebratory mood, singing, chatting, eating, drinking and dancing.

Occasionally there would be an outburst of applause. I found out that
was the way the crowd greeted a ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’ passing
by, who was identified by his medal. All veterans were wearing their
medals on that day but this medal stood out, as it should have,
since it was the highest military honour.

Naturally our conversation turned to the very heavy casualties
suffered by the Soviet Union and the blunders committed by Stalin,
particularly the execution of senior Soviet military leaders before
the outbreak of the war on trumped-up charges. One name stood out
among Stalin’s victims, Marshal Tukachevsky. His house used to adjoin
Professor Shaumian’s apartment block on the bank of the Moscow river
on the opposite side of the Kremlin.

Professor Shaumian’s grandmother was the widow of a senior Armenian
Communist leader executed by the white Russians during the civil
war in the twenties. Therefore, her family lived in that apartment
originally allotted to her grandmother. There is a novel on Stalin’s
purges in the thirties called The House by the River since many of
Stalin’s victims were residents of that apartment block.

I raised the question how was it that so many of Stalin’s victims,
especially military men and scientists who when released from prison
and assigned straightaway to combat duties or weapon related R&D
carried out their task with extraordinary devotion and skill without
any rancour against Stalin. The answer was they were supremely
patriotic and were loyal to Mother Russia in spite of Stalin’s tyranny.

I could believe it, having been to Leningrad (now St Petersburg) and
seen the military museum. There is a display of the bread ration (125
grams per person) issued to the people during the long German siege.
It would not be adequate even for a child. Yet the people of Leningrad
bore that suffering and did not surrender. They lost nearly 50 per
cent of the population to starvation and cold. The siege of Leningrad
for 900 days has been celebrated in a symphony by Soviet composer
Dmitri Shostakovich.

The casualties suffered in the war were so heavy that in the Soviet
days there was a ritual of taking a newly married couple to the war
memorial in each town and village immediately after the wedding. The
implication was that they should have many children to make up for
the lost population.

In 1982 one could not anticipate the demise of the Soviet Union. For an
Indian from a democracy, the Soviet Communist system was not attractive
though the Soviet people were warm and friendly. The Soviet Union
as a nation had extended to India military and political support. It
had contributed significantly to Indian development.

However, on that VE Day, walking among the Muscovites, more than
anything else, I was overwhelmed by a sense of reverence and awe.
These were a people who had risen to such heights of sacrifice
and heroism and won a victory against Hitler and Nazism at such a
tremendous cost in spite of being weighed down by the tyranny and
oppression of Stalin.

Even Stalin had to call it ‘The Great Patriotic War’ and not a war
to defend Communism.

Europe pressures Turkey to curb corruption
By Andrew Borowiec, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Washington Times, DC
May 5 2005

NICOSIA, Cyprus — International pressures are growing on Turkey
to clean up its scandal-ridden politics before it starts talks on
accession to the European Union.

In diplomatic notes and publicized statements, EU officials and
members of several governments also criticized the military elite’s
interference in politics as well as Turkey’s refusal to admit the
World War I massacres of Armenians.

Diplomats say Turkey has shown no indications it is taking the warnings
seriously. The accession talks are scheduled to start in October,
and EU officials expect the process to last for up to 10 years.

European politicians hostile to Turkey’s accession say that unless
Ankara complies with EU requirements, its application will be delayed
further. Although only 5 percent of its territory is on the European
continent, modern Turkey has been knocking on Europe’s doors for
about 40 years.

EU chanceries were alarmed in recent weeks after Gen. Hilmi Ozkok,
chief of the Turkish General Staff, warned that Turkey had no
intention of withdrawing its troops from Northern Cyprus nor to taking
responsibility for the Armenian genocide.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, apparently to
compensate for his government’s difficulties at home, has been
concentrating on foreign policy issues. During last week’s trip
to Israel and the Palestinian territories, he promised “action”
to advance the peace process in the Middle East.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s response was cool. Palestinian
leader Mahmoud Abbas said Turkey could become “an honest broker”
because of its good relations with both sides.

Diplomats said Israel is wary of any Turkish economic role in the
West Bank. That is presumably why Mr. Erdogan did not offer the
Palestinians any economic assistance, as initially expected.

Although Mr. Erdogan was swept to power 2½ years ago with a promise to
“cut the abscess of corruption,” there are no signs that the situation
has improved.

“Somehow, the cleansing never comes,” said Turkish commentator
Burak Bekdil.

He and other Turkish observers point to persistent nepotism. Officials
from Mr. Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party have demanded and
obtained appointments in key government and industrial posts.

The Turkish press reported that Mr. Erdogan’s finance minister, Kemal
Unakitan, was prosecuted for fraud until he was given parliamentary
immunity.

Textile firm Motif Tekstil AZ has disappeared, owing the government
more than $2 million in electricity bills. Newspaper reports said no
legal action was taken because of the company’s political connections.

Several Turkish newspapers also reported that Mr. Erdogan’s children
are studying in the United States on a grant from a Turkish tycoon
with government contracts.

–Boundary_(ID_LUxLfmCS3gc5ielETeioKQ)–

Turkish Press
May 5 2005

Press Review

TURKIYE

GUL: “TURKEY WILL PURSUE AN ACTIVE POLICY AGAINST ARMENIAN ALLEGATIONS”

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said yesterday that Turkey would pursue
a more active policy against Armenian allegations from here on out.
Addressing deputies in Parliament yesterday, Gul said that in the
coming days the government together with the opposition parties would
launch new initiatives to defend Turkey on international platforms.
“We invite those who accuse Turkey to prove their allegations,” said
Gul. In addition, concerning Incirlik Airbase, the foreign minister
said that there was no secret decision or documents on the matter.
“The US wants to use the base for logistic support for Iraq and
Afghanistan. Previously, within the framework of the UN and NATO,
it was also used in this way,” said Gul. /Turkiye/

WHY FOREIGN LOCALES ATTRACT FILM PRODUCERS
by K.V. Kurmanath

Business Line
May 4, 2005

Hyderabad, May 3 – AT LEAST 25 Telugu films were shot in Tirol,
a picturesque region in Austria, in the recent times. Every other
Telugu film has got at least one song shot in New Zealand, Germany
or Australia. Greece too forms part of the list.

Now some producers are seriously exploring locations in Armenia,
Uzbekistan and other countries that formed part of the former Soviet
Union. Why do producers prefer to shoot part of their films, songs
in most cases, in foreign countries? It is not just aesthetics and
the foreign tag that drive them to foreign countries.

“It makes some economic sense too,” Mr Sravanti Ravikishore, a senior
producer, says.

“We can make two songs there by spending the amount we incur on one
song here,” he says.

Mr Ravikishore had shot some songs in Tirol, Germany and New Zealand.

On an average, producers spend Rs 30 lakh on sets and locations to
complete a song.

This is not the only incentive. There is no fee for using locations
for film shoots. Film crew can work for longer periods, say from
7 a.m. to 8.30 p.m. “Usually, we work eight hours a day here,” Mr
Ravikishore says.

It also involves less number of hands. Heroes and heroines carry
their own luggage.

“We work with just 20-23 people for a film when we work abroad.
Compare this against an army of 150 here. Plus, there are about 50-60
people for group dances,” he says.

Seeing more and more producers trickling in, some countries have
started offering incentives to filmmakers.

Tirol, for example, offers free location counselling. This included
free boarding and lodging for three persons. Besides assisting in
visa procedure Austrian embassy in Delhi, Tirol also helps in finding
partners locally, according to Mr Johannes Koeck of Cine Tirol Film
Corporation.

This year, Cine Tirol hopes to attract 10 Indian film productions.

A foreign schedule brings in discipline, feels Mr D. Rama Naidu of
Suresh Productions.

DISCONTENT WITH THE LAW ON DELEGATES IN LEBANON

A1plsu
| 18:48:30 | 04-05-2005 | Politics |

This morning Catholicos Aram I had a telephone conversation with
Lebanon President Emil Lahood. The main theme of the conversation was
the “Delegate electoral Code” amended in 2000. Let us remind you that
according to that code the places allotted to the Armenian delegates
in the Lebanon Parliament had been reduced.

Catholicos Aram I expressed his disagreement with the law and said
the one of the main principles of democracy is the participation
of the people in the elections and the right to elect their
representative. The Lebanon President has agreed with the complaint
and informed that a letter has already been sent to the Parliament.

By the way, Catholicos Aram I had represented the same issue in
yesterday’s meeting with the US Ambassador to Lebanon.

Turkish press 4 May 05

BBC Monitoring Service – United Kingdom
May 04, 2005

The following is a selection of quotes from editorials and commentaries
published in 4 May editions of Turkish newspapers available to BBC
Monitoring

Premier’s visit to Israel

Hurriyet [centre-right, largest circulation] “He [Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan] went to Israel to negotiate peace, but came back with
[an agreement to buy] ‘war planes’… The price that Turkey will pay,
including [the agreement for] the renewal of missile and tanks, is
around 1bn dollars. Everybody knows that after Erdogan swaggered and
accused Israel of ‘state terrorism’, this is actually a price for
negotiating peace… (Commentary by Bekir Coskun)

“Turkey is very unsuccessful in terms of being a mediator in the
‘Middle East peace’ process. It was not the visit [of Erdogan to
Israel] where this could be seen but a meeting that was held in
London in early March. As the days coincided with the prime minister’s
visit to South Africa, at the Prime Minister Tony Blair’s initiative
a meeting entitled ‘the restructuring of the Middle East’ was held
in London. Around 35 participants from internationally influential
countries and the countries of the region took part in the meeting. Can
you guess, which was the only regional country that was not invited
to the meeting? …Turkey.” (Commentary by Fatih Altayli)

Tercuman [conservative] “Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Israel and
Palestine has helped to improve cold relations between the [Israeli
Prime Minister] Ariel Sharon’s government and Turkey. Now, there is
a turn for regulating the relations with Washington. If one looks at
…his opening speech at the meeting of neighbouring countries of
Iraq last week, the fact that the agreement on Incirlik [base] was
signed in the way America wanted and that his relations with Israel
have become considerably closer, [it can be said that] the doors of
the White House will be opened to him.” (Commentary by Cengiz Candar)

EU

Milliyet [centrist] “As Turkey has focused on the EU membership,
which is its right, every country and nation got into the effort
of solving their problems with Turkey and the Turks in favour of
themselves by using this way [the EU way]. [They are acting] with the
idea of taking the advantage of the situation… Armenia and southern
Cyprus have not given up their claims yet. There is not anyone taking
a step of goodwill towards Turkey either.” (Commentary by Fikret Bila)

UK/elections

Sabah [centrist] “Tomorrow, British Prime Minister Tony Blair will
achieve a historic ‘first’: His party will win the elections for the
third consecutive time… In particular, despite losing credibility
over the Iraq war, which almost three-fourth of the British people
opposed, he has been again found ‘unreliable’ and seen as ‘liar’ by
almost half of the [British] people… Well, but why do the British
people vote for Blair whom they find ‘unreliable’? The answer is very
simple: Because of the extraordinarily positive balance sheet of his
economic policies.” (Commentary by Erdal Safak)

Turkey/USA

Radikal [centre-left] “Turkish-US relations are important for
Turkey provided they are balanced and based on mutual interests. The
president and the Chief of General Staff are also contributing to the
efforts of changing the attitude of the AKP, which angered the USA.
…Whether the AKP has managed to improve its USA policy will only
be seen when Erdogan is accepted by Bush during his visit to the USA
next month.” (Commentary by M. Ali Kislali)

DEPUTIES NEED NO IMMUNITY

A1plus

| 12:43:15 | 02-05-2005 | Social |

“Do you think that deputy immunity should be cancelled?” This was
the poll question in the A1+ internet site for the previous week. 268
citizens have taken part in the poll.

69.4% of the participants voted for cancelling deputy immunity,
and 25% were against. 5.6% found it difficult to answer the question.

Agence France Presse — English
April 30, 2005 Saturday 6:27 PM GMT

Defence lawyer at trial of Rwandan official defends denial of
genocide

ARUSHA, Tanzania

A French lawyer who has disputed whether the killing of 800,000
minority ethnic group Tutsis and moderate majority Hutus in Rwanda in
1994 was genocide said Saturday that he stood by his claim.

Raphael Constant, defending Colonel Theoneste Bagosora, former head
of the private office of the Rwandan defence minister, drew protests
earlier this month when he questioned whether there had been
genocide, attracting cries of “Holocaust-denier.”

He was appearing at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in
Arusha for Bagosora, regarded as the brains behind the massacres.

“I dispute that the prosecution has proved the reality of the
genocide to which he refers in his charges against my client,” he
told AFP.

“If that amounts to being a Holocaust-denier, I am ready to accept
it.

“In the case of the Armenians, Jews and gypsies, historians and
courts have shown there was a preexisting plan, and the putting into
effect of that plan,” he said.

“In the case of Rwanda that has not been demonstrated.

“The intellectual approach of the prosecution consists of starting
from an assumption: if so many people were killed in so short a
period of time, it is because it was prepared,” he said.

“People forget or pretend to forget that in April 1994 Rwanda had
been a seething cauldron for four years with a seventh of the
population forced to flee the areas controlled by the FPR”, the
Rwandan Patriotic Front, Tutsi former rebels now in office, he said.

“Add to that a collective memory, inherited from a tumultuous past,
which will lead to thousands of people becoming murderers to avoid
being murdered.”

A1plus

| 12:23:09 | 30-04-2005 | Politics |

LAWS MORE IMPORTANT THAN PERSONAL OPINION

According to the RA Constitution, the power in our country belongs to our
people. The same Constitution states that the people express their opinion
via elections and referenda. However the society does not have the right to
initiate a referendum. When commenting on the issue first Armenian Ombudsman
Larisa Alaverdyan said, «I suppose the issue is subject to discussion and
should receive a positive development».

Nevertheless, she was cautious to express her opinion. He did not openly
protest the citizens’ right for referendum on any issue. «I by no means say
that it conflicts with the legislative field. Any expansion of human rights
and approach to the international norms is admissible and we welcome it.
However the circumstances of state development should be taken into
consideration and clauses conflicting with the Constitution should not be
adopted. This is the fundamental approach by our part’, she said. To make
the approach wightier Larisa Alaverdyan resorted to international standards.
`International norms speak of correspondence to geopolitical and personal
conditions’.

Being the human rights defender and witnessing the imperfection of the RA
laws Larisa Alaverdyan nevertheless bring forth the condition of not
conflicting with the laws. When responding to the question whether the RA
Constitution should empower citizens with the right to hold referendums the
human rights defender said, «It is a very specific issue. I support items
providing for expansion of human rights. However it should be legal.»

Lena Badeyan