Author: Kanayan Tamar

MARKETPLACE MORNING REPORT
SHOW: Marketplace Morning Report 7:50 AM EST SYND
May 27, 2005 Friday

Protest over Turkey becoming a member of the European Union

ANCHORS: KAI RYSSDAL

REPORTERS: STEPHEN BEARD

KAI RYSSDAL, anchor:

This is MARKETPLACE. I’m Kai Ryssdal.

There’s a big election in France this weekend. It has nothing at all
to do with who runs that country, but everything to do with how
Europe runs itself. Voters will be asked to ratify or reject a new
European Union constitution, but many seem ready to turn that
referendum into a protest vote on a wide range of unrelated economic
and political issues, among them whether Turkey should be allowed
into the European Union. Stephen Beard has the story.

Unidentified Man #1: (French spoken)

Unidentified Man #2: (French spoken)

Unidentified Man #1: (French spoken)

STEPHEN BEARD reporting:

`Yes’ campaigners on the streets of Paris are meeting many people who
plan to vote no to the constitution; some because they can’t stomach
the thought of Turkey joining the European Union.

Mr. JACQUES MYARD (Conservative Lawmaker): It’s not possible to have
80 million of Turks because we are different. It’s very simple. So
the French say: Culturally, politically, we cannot accept them.

BEARD: Conservative lawmaker Jacques Myard says if a large, needy
Muslim country like Turkey is admitted, EU funds will be bankrupted
fast and the community will collapse amid rancor and perhaps even
religious conflict.

Mr. MYARD: This will not work. They are playing with fire, and they
will burn their fingers because it will explode.

BEARD: The issue has already sparked some angry protests, for a
different reason, among France’s 450,000 citizens of Armenian
descent. They don’t want Turkey in the EU because the Turks refuse to
acknowledge their genocide against Armenians during the First World
War. Some, like Rej Asbakian, are demanding reparations.

Mr. REJ ASBAKIAN (Protester): My family had property in Turkey which
was stolen at the time of genocide. So me and many Armenians like me
want their properties given back.

BEARD: And others, like Pasquelle Savak, say that before being
allowed to join the EU, Turkey must admit its crime the way Germany
has done.

Mr. PASQUELLE SAVAK (Protester): I don’t think Germany can be a
member of Europe if she didn’t recognize the Holocaust. We just want
Turkey to do the same, to recognize the Armenian Holocaust.

BEARD: The Armenian vote could sink the constitution. Meanwhile, the
US has been pressuring the EU to admit Turkey. This, the White House
believes, would help in the war on terror. It would send a positive
signal to the Arab world. The policy is wrong, says campaigner Frank
Beeyancherry.

Mr. FRANK BEEYANCHERRY (Campaigner): The Turkish, the Turks, are the
former colonial power of the Arabs. So if you want to have a good
relationship with the Arabs, you cannot choose the Turks to be the
go-between because they hate each other.

BEARD: Beeyancherry says if Turkey joins the EU, it’ll still look to
the Arab world like a club of former colonizers.

Mr. BEEYANCHERRY: So it’s a complete nonsense to think that the Turks
could be the bridge with the Arabs.

BEARD: Even if the French reject the constitution this weekend, that
won’t automatically prevent Turkish membership. But many `no’ voters
are hoping that if they block the constitution, a smaller European
Union will emerge with Turkey still outside. In Paris, this is
Stephen Beard for MARKETPLACE.

RYSSDAL: And I’m Kai Ryssdal. We will see you on Monday.

The Economist
May 28, 2005
U.S. Edition

Oil over troubled waters;
The Black Sea

The opening of a new energy conduit does not signal peace and harmony
in the Black Sea

A great game unfolds between America and Russia

IN CLASSICAL times, the Black Sea was perversely known as the
Euxeinos Pontos, a sea friendly to strangers, even though its
notoriously turbulent waters were nothing of the kind. The hope was
that if you gave the place a nice name, the invisible powers who
governed its towering waves might feel placated and behave more
calmly. To this day, it remains a temperamental stretch of water that
can generate sudden squalls and treat outsiders in unpredictable
ways, even when efforts are being made to appease its restless
spirits.

In 1992, the late Turkish president, Turgut Ozal, thought he could
assuage those spirits for ever and turn the sea into a zone of peace
and co-operation, where ancient trade routes would thrive anew. The
fruit of that post-cold war vision is the Istanbul-based organisation
for Black Sea Economic Co-operation. For over a decade, its members
(all the littoral states, plus near neighbours Greece, Moldova,
Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan and, as of recently, Serbia) have
trundled along to meetings without ever realising Mr Ozal’s vision.
The fact that Armenians and Azeris were locked in armed
confrontation, backed respectively by Russia and Turkey, has hardly
helped.

About a month ago, and entirely unnoticed by the world, BSEC suddenly
did something rather unfriendly to a stranger. It flatly turned down
a request from the United States for observer status. While the
brush-off was explained in arcane procedural terms, it was an open
secret that Russia had blocked the application – to the embarrassment
of the group’s other ex-communist members. In fact, eight of them
issued a separate statement saying Uncle Sam’s presence would have
been a welcome boost, and they regretted his exclusion. (If NATO
members Greece and Turkey had any feelings on the matter, they did
not air them.)

What America would have done if it had attained its lofty ambition
may never be known. But to judge by the word on the think-tank
circuit, there is a strong feeling in Washington that the Black Sea
region is ripe for transformation into a new sort of security club,
whose members co-operate to keep ports and pipelines safe from
terrorists and other undesirables.

As steadily increasing amounts of energy flow into, and out of, the
Black Sea, the stakes are certainly high. This week saw the formal
opening, in Azerbaijan, of one of the world’s most important energy
conduits, a 1,770-km (1,010-mile) oil pipeline linking Baku in
Azerbaijan with the Turkish port of Ceyhan via the mountains of
Georgia. Gas from Azerbaijan, Iran and possibly east of the Caspian
will soon be flowing along a similar route into Turkey, and thence to
south-eastern Europe. The pipeline promises to bring a bonanza for
Azerbaijan, and a modest boost to the hard-pressed finances of
Georgia.

While America has taken the lead in lobbying for the construction of
pipelines which bypass Russia, and therefore deny the Russians any
chance to use energy as a political weapon, it is the European
consumer who will be most affected by these emerging routes. On
present trends, Europe’s reliance on Russian energy will increase
sharply, whatever happens; the new pipelines will ease that
dependence.

But a complex pattern of interests is already emerging. A recently
constructed gas pipeline has started bringing energy across the Black
Sea from Russia to Turkey. That has reinforced a burgeoning economic
relationship between those two historic competitors and made it
harder for the Turks to side unequivocally with the Americans if the
contest for influence in the Black Sea ever becomes a straight fight
between America and Russia. Indeed one school of thought in
Washington regards the “old NATO” partners, Turkey and Greece, as
less reliable than the eagerly pro-American countries that have only
recently emerged from the grip of communism, and are poor and
vulnerable enough to be grateful for anything they get.

One reason for heightened American attention to the region is the
sense that the future of many countries is still a wide-open
question: they could follow Central Europe into the warm embrace of
western institutions or they could slide back into authoritarianism
or stagnation. Bruce Jackson, an influential American lobbyist for
NATO’s expansion, put the point dramatically in some congressional
testimony in March: “The democracies of the Black Sea lie on the
knife-edge of history which separates the politics of 19th-century
imperialism from European modernity.”

The very fact that some parts of the region are quite advanced on the
road to “European modernity” could be a divisive factor. One of the
BSEC’s more effective bits is its financial arm, the Black Sea Trade
and Development Bank, which issues credits for export finance and
cross-border projects. Its strategy director, Panayotis Gavras, says
much the biggest factor driving investment in the region is proximity
to the European Union; investors look eagerly at Bulgaria and
Romania, which stand on the Union’s threshold, and view other places
far more warily.

As Britain prepares to take over the EU’s rotating presidency, many
people are expecting a fresh Black Sea initiative: something that
would give heart to countries doing “well” in western eyes without
dashing the hopes of the laggards and, if possible, without
alienating Russia.

As Foreign Office mandarins ponder their options, they can take heart
from some of the region’s pleasant surprises. On June 6th, BSEC
members will gather in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, for a meeting
of their affiliate bank. According to Turkish data, trade between
Armenia and Turkey is precisely zero; the border is sealed, out of
solidarity with Azerbaijan. As the delegates will observe, every shop
in Yerevan brims with Turkish goods.

Pan Armenian News

FORUM ON PREVENTION OF USE OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN

27.05.2005 03:50

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Parliamentary Speaker Artur Baghdasarian met with
representative of the organization of prohibition of use of chemical weapons
Dieter Kaiser in Hague, reported the Press Service of the Armenian National
Assembly. Kaiser presented the tasks and the activities of the organization
in detail. As noted by the parties, Armenia is a country that has ratified
the convention banning the use of chemical weapons. At the moment 26
countries have not become member of the organization. In his turn
organization leader Rogelio Pfirter noted the important role of the
parliaments not only in passing laws preventing the use of chemical weapons,
but also observing their implementation. The Armenian Speaker presented the
research done by Armenian scholars in the field. An agreement was reached at
the end of the meeting on holding a forum in the Armenian capital over
issues of prevention of use of chemical weapons and establishment of
business ties with Armenian scholars.

Officials Inaugurate Azerbaijan Pipeline

AP Online
May 25, 2005

AIDA SULTANOVA

Officials on Wednesday inaugurated the first section of an 1,100-mile
U.S.-backed pipeline bringing Caspian Sea oil to Western markets.

The presidents from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Turkey were on
hand for the ceremony at the Sangachal oil terminal, about 25 miles
south of the Azeri capital, Baku, to open the taps for the first drops
of oil to enter the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.

The pipeline from the Azeri capital to the Turkish Mediterranean port
of Ceyhan is seen as a significant move toward reducing the West’s
dependence on Middle Eastern oil. Most Caspian oil exports previously
have moved through Russian pipelines.

The $3.2 billion project, with a capacity of 1 million barrels a day,
is the first direct oil link between the landlocked Caspian, which is
thought to contain the world’s third largest oil and gas reserves, and
the Mediterranean. The pipeline, built by a consortium led by the BP
oil company, passes through Georgia en route to Turkey.

All three countries look to earn substantial revenue from the pipeline
through transit fees and royalties.

“This pipeline first of all will help solve economic and social
problems, but the role of the pipeline in strengthening peace and
security in the region also is not small,” Azerbaijan’s President
Ilham Aliev said at the opening ceremony.

Azerbaijan is banking on the pipeline to raise its profile in the
world and swing international support behind Baku in its dispute with
Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, which ethnic Armenian
separatists took control of more than a decade ago. The conflict
continues to simmer, undermining the region’s security.

Pipeline officials said it would take up to a month and a half to fill
the Azerbaijani section of the pipeline. The Georgian part will be
ready after that, and then the Turkish stretch, which Turkish
authorities have said should be filled by Aug. 15.

It will take approximately 10 million barrels of crude to fill the
entire pipeline.

A1plus

| 20:00:53 | 24-05-2005 | Politics |

VENICE COMMISSION POSITIVELY ASSESSED ANTICONSTITUTIONAL CLAUSE

«The Venice Commission welcomes an anticonstitutional clause», member of
Cooperation for Open Society initiative group Hrayr Tovmasyan stated. The
group is concerned over the adoption of the RA law «On inserting amendments
to the Election Code and the positive assessment of the OSCE Bureau on
Democratic Institutes and Human Rights. During a press conference Vardan
Poghosyan and Hrayr Tovmasyan not denying the progressive nature of some
clauses of the law stated that the law on the whole cannot be acknowledged
as a real reform.

«One of the main precondition of the election reforms is the formation of
balanced election committee. The order of the committee formation provided
by the law does not secure balance and impartiality of the election
committee while the clause on order of committee formation conflicts with
the Article 98 of the Armenian Constitution, which says, “Judge and members
of the Constitutional Court cannot occupy another state post”. The
involvement of the juridical power, which is dependent on the executive
power cannot be assessed as a positive step towards the high level of
political pluralism», Vardan Poghosyan stated.

In the opinion of Hrayr Tovmasyan, many clauses of the law «On amendments to
the Election Code» impede constitutional reforms. He promised to furnish a
detailed information during a press conference to be held May 26 in Congress
Hotel. The initiative group called upon the Armenian leadership to
re-consider the law and bring it to the international standards. The group
also called the Venice Commission to pay attention to the above mentioned
issues and present an appropriate assessment in their conclusion.

ARMENIAN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY RATIFIES ARMENIA-CYPRUS AGREEMENT ON
COOPERATION IN HEALTHCARE AND MEDICINE AREA

YEREVAN, May 24. /ARKA/. Armenian National Assembly ratified Tuesday
Armenia-Cyprus agreement on cooperation in healthcare and medicine
area. According to Armenian Deputy Healthcare Minister Hayk Darbinyan,
the agreement was signed on July 5, 2004, for a five-year term with
possible prolongation. The Deputy Minister noted that after
ratification a group will be set up for work coordination. The group
will include three representatives from each side, Darbinyan said. In
his words, the agreement envisages cooperation in cardiology,
ophthalmology, artificial insemination, mental health, gynecology and
pharmaceutics areas as well as mutual participation in international
conferences, symposiums and seminars. M.V. -0–

Georgia, Russia resume talks on withdrawing Russian bases

AP Worldstream
May 23, 2005

MISHA DZHINDZHIKHASHVILI

Georgia and Russia resumed negotiations Monday on withdrawing
Soviet-era Russian bases from the Caucasus Mountains country, as
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would not tolerate being
pressured in the talks.

The two countries have been unable to agree on a timetable for the
withdrawal of the bases _ a source of growing tension as Georgian
President Mikhail Saakashvili and his Western-oriented government seek
to shake off Russian influence.

As a Russian delegation arrived in Tbilisi, Putin warned Georgian
officials against putting pressure on Moscow in the talks, saying in
televised remarks from Moscow that “there is nothing that would
require an instantaneous withdrawal of the troops.”

Georgia last week imposed sanctions against the bases in a bid to have
Moscow speed up the withdrawal, limiting visas to Russian soldiers and
placing additional controls on the shipment of equipment and cargo to
and from the bases.

“Such a pressured way of conducting negotiations seems ungrounded to
me,” Putin said in Moscow.

Putin hinted that Russia had its own means for pressuring its former
satellite states, by urging Russian energy companies to charge world
market prices for supplies instead of the discounted rates offered to
former Soviet republics.

“We need to build relations with foreign partners in the sphere of
energy supplies on market conditions,” Putin said, but added that
“economic sanctions do not always prove effective in achieving
political goals.”

Georgia has insisted the bases be out by January 2008, but Russia
wants more time to prepare infrastructure to house the returning
troops and equipment.

Georgian officials appeared ready for a compromise,
however. Parliament speaker Nino Burdzhanadze told Kviris Palitra
newspaper that Georgia may accept having the bases withdrawn in the
course of 2008, as Moscow has suggested.

“It is not crucial whether the bases will leave before Jan. 1, 2008,
or in May of that year,” she was quoted as saying in Monday’s edition.

Russia’s special envoy leading the delegation, Igor Savolsky, denied
speculation that the two sides would be discussing the issue of
compensation for the bases’ withdrawal. Moscow previously insisted on
several hundred million dollars (euros) in payment.

“There has not been and there will be no talk on compensation,”
Savolsky told reporters upon arriving at the Tbilisi airport. “The
sides have agreed that they will seek additional external financial
resources.”

Savolsky also said that some of the troops would be relocated to
Armenia, an ex-Soviet republic that is a close regional ally to Russia
and where Moscow has a military presence. Most of the troops in
Georgia, however, will be moved to Russia, he said.

Separately on Monday, Saakashvili opened a new customs checkpoint on
the Georgia-Azerbaijani border. The checkpoint was built under a
U.S.-financed program, which envisages building several
others. Saakashvili voiced hope that similar checkpoints would soon
operate on the borders with Abkhazia and South-Ossetia, two breakaway
provinces that Tbilisi hopes to bring into the fold.

EU Observer
May 23 2005

French No camp rallies ahead of final countdown

23.05.2005 – 09:58 CET | By Lucia Kubosova and Elitsa Vucheva
EUOBSERVER / PARIS – On the last weekend before France’s crucial
referendum, both the right and left wings of the no camp organised
mass gatherings in Paris to express their opposition to the EU
constitution.

Drawing their supporters to different parts of the city on the same
day, the anti-constitution campaigners presented their arguments
against the current government and president Jacques Chirac, as well
as what they see as the neo-liberal character of the new EU treaty.

At a rally of around 5,000 on Saturday (21 May), Philippe de
Villiers, the leader of the Movement for France, criticised the
document for its potential damage to the sovereignty of the country
via a transfer of powers to Brussels.

His campaign also centered around the opposition to Turkey’s
membership of the EU, calling the treaty the “Turkish constitution”.

Vive l’Europe des Nations
The multimedia show in Paris was attended by French citizens of
different ages and from various parts of the country.

“I am not yet totally convinced by any side, but I think the whole EU
is not very democratic, and the constitution is not going to change
it. We should build new and better insitutions, under a different
document – not so complicated that no one understands it,” said
Antoine, a student of 22.

Several eurosceptic MEPs from different countries at the rally also
rejected the document.

They called on the French to “save Europe from the constitution” –
especially for citizens of countries where there is to be no
referendum.

“European bureaucrats are trying to bully us in the Czech republic,
Holland, Poland, suggesting we would be alone to say no. But they
could hardly threaten the greatest of the nations”, declared Czech
MEP Vladimir Zelezny, followed by great applause, despite giving his
speech in English.

Nigel Farage, the British co-leader of the eurosceptic group in the
European Parliament, which financially supported Mr de Villiers’
campaign, said he might have different reasons for opposing the
treaty, but that the “French non would be the first step towards a
Europe of nations, which all of us want to achieve.”

No to France becoming a “bundesland”
Philippe de Villiers, given a star’s welcome by his supporters,
accused the government of not telling the truth about the
constitution and of “yes-hammering”.

“The yes camp has 65 per cent of air-time, whereas we have 35 per
cent. The no has to be really strong to resist”, he said.

Mr de Villiers’ key argument was that the constitution would make
Turkish membership of the EU possible.

The no leader claimed that Turkey and the constitution were “the same
thing”, as Turkey has put its signature under the final version of
the document.

Referring to the Turkish refusal to recognise the Armenian genocide,
Philippe de Villiers addressed French Armenians, saying that a French
no “will also be a no of honour. We will never accept that Turkey
joins Europe because of you”.

He also said that Europe “does not protect us anymore, and costs us
too much”, while the constitution would be a danger for French
sovereignty, for transforming the country into a “Bundesland or a
region”.

Echoing Mr de Villiers’ words, Françoise, a pensioner for a couple of
years, told EUobserver “I do not support a federal Europe. I say no
to the dilution of France, no to Turkey, and no to Chirac”.

The final countdown
Mr de Villiers entered the room to the sound of “Final countdown” – a
song by the 1980s band Europe – and ended the meeting with the French
national anthem, rejecting the yes camp’s claims that a French no
would be dramatic and would lead both Europe and France into a
crisis.

“If there was no a plan b, Chirac would not have chosen to have a
referendum”, Mr de Villiers told his public.

“France is a European power, it is not possible to envisage Europe
without France. Our no will save a European Europe”, rather than
“create a Euro-Asian Europe”, he added.

PROBLEM OF REMUNERATION OF LAWYERS NOT SETTLED

A1plus
| 13:14:43 | 21-05-2005 | Politics |

The new and old laws on advocacy have not settled the problem of the
remuneration of lawyers. The problem is not solved by other legal acts.

In Armenia, the people who need a lawyers appeal not to a highly
skilled but to a familiar lawyer. As for the remuneration of the
lawyer, here the principle of approximate calculation functions. Some
lawyers offer the client a bargain and share the profit to be received.

The new law on advocacy provides for punishment for the lawyers, who
take money from the client and play a double game with the opposite
side. Such activity is called disciplinary violations. Article 40
provides for rebuke, strict rebuke or penalty for a lawyer, who was
found guilty in disciplinary violation.

One of the leading specialists in the juridical field, chairman
of the Economic Court Hovhannes Manukyan did not deny that there
are unprincipled lawyers. Moreover he expressed concern over the
low level of the Armenian lawyers and incomprehensive order of
remuneration. Pointing out to the international experience he said
that the price should be conditioned by the level complexity.

The remuneration of a lawyer’s service is regulated by vague clauses.
Article 6 says, “A lawyers has the right to receive fee for his
services. The amount and order of the payment are determined by
the written agreement concluded between the lawyers and the client
according to the Civic Code of the Republic of Armenia.”

To note, the legislation also provides for cases when juridical
assistance is rendered for free. The new law on advocacy entrusts the
public defender with the mission. According to Paragraph 4 of Article 6
of the new law, free juridical assistance can be also provided on the
lawyer’s initiative. This item offers the Armenian lawyers a maximal
possibility to avoid tax payments. Real “competition” of generosity
and philanthropy emerges among the lawyers.

Our interlocutor does not see any threat of losing competition in
case of uniting two chambers. “With any number of the chambers if
there is not an established juridical system there can’t be healthy
and fair competition”, Hovhannes Manukyan resumed.

Sevak Grigoryan

Baku Today
May 19 2005

Azeri official appeals to Bush seeking fair policy

Baku Today 19/05/2005 01:56

An Azerbaijani parliament member, from pro-government Ana Vatan
(Homeland) party Zahid Oruj has appealed to the US President George
Bush over the US policy on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and policies
on democratic processes in the region.

“The US-Azerbaijan relations have been developing on a
mutually-beneficial basis since 1993. But the fact that Section 907
has been kept in force for a long time has hampered a more rapid
development of ties”, the appeal reads, according to Assa Irada.

The Section of 907 to the Freedom Support Act, passed by the
US Congress, bans direct assistance of the United States to the
Azerbaijani government.

The appeal further says that the Azerbaijani public has lately grown
concerns over the US approach to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over
Nagorno Karabakh.

“The conflict have turned into a tool of ruling the region. The
strengthening of the United States’ position in the South Caucasus
region is aside from ensuring the territorial integrity of states
and truly assisting in implementing the fundamental rights of nations.”

The appeal further said that if the US wants to set an example for
the entire Islamic world, it should not compromise the integrity of
Azeri land for its goals and assist the entire society for the sake
of freedom and independence.

“The future of democracy will depend on whether justice will prevail,”
it said.

MP Oruj further called on other parliament members to join the appeal.