German Opposition Leader Wants Turkey To Improve Ties With Armenia

Radio Free Europe, Czech Rep.
May 26 2005

German Opposition Leader Wants Turkey To Improve Ties With Armenia

26/05/2005 20:47

Germany’s top opposition leader who is tipped to defeat Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder in upcoming parliamentary elections urged Turkey on
Thursday to improve its strained relations with Armenia before
starting accession talks with the European Union.

Reuters news agency quoted Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader
Angela Merkel as saying that “time is ripe” for Turkey to establish
direct relations with Armenia. She said the Turkish government should
also clarify its stance on Cyprus before the start of the accession
talks on October 3.

It was not clear if Merkel, whose party will challenge Schroeder’s
Social Democrats in early polls expected this September, wants Ankara
to drop its preconditions for establishing diplomatic relations with
Yerevan and reopening the Turkish-Armenian border.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated earlier this
month that his government will do so only if the Armenians return
Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan and stop campaigning for international
recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide.

The CDU, which is strongly opposed to Turkish membership in the EU,
is the main sponsor of a draft resolution by the German parliament,
the Bundestag, that calls on Turkey to “take historic responsibility”
for the `planned’ mass killings and deportations between 1.2 and 1.5
million Armenian subjects of the Ottoman Empire. It says Germany,
Ottoman Turkey’s main ally in the First World War, also bears
responsibility for the massacres.

Although the declaration, which is expected to be formally adopted by
the Bundestag next month, stops short of calling the mass killings a
genocide, it has been strongly condemned by Ankara. In a statement
last February, Turkey’s ambassador to Germany accused the CDU of
acting as a “spokesman for fanatical Armenian nationalism.”

Turkey’s EU membership bid is supported by the current German
chancellor and his party. The CDU, however, favors of a looser
“privileged partnership” with the Turks. This position appears to
reflect public opinion in Germany.

The prospect of Turkish entry into the affluent bloc is also
exploited by French opponents of the EU constitution. Among them are
some members of France’s 450,000-strong Armenian community who
believe that the constitution’s rejection at a referendum on Sunday
will shut the EU door to Turkey.

Armenia’s Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian sought to disprove such
arguments on Thursday, urging French voters of Armenian origin to
back the constitution. “The French “yes” will further strengthen
France’s position on the European arena, which will also be
advantageous for us, since France has always supported an
international discussion of Armenian questions,” Oskanian said.

Analysts Expect Security, Economic Gains From BTC Pipeline

RFE/RL Caucasus/Central Asia: Analysts Expect Security, Economic Gains
From BTC Pipeline
Wednesday, 25 May 2005

By Jean-Christophe Peuch

The leaders of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, and Kazakhstan gathered near
Baku today to inaugurate the $4 billion Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC)
pipeline. The project is generally viewed as the key element of an
overall plan to turn the Caucasus region into a transport corridor
connecting Central Asia to Western Europe. From the onset, BTC was
designed by its American sponsors as a way to reduce Russia’s energy
grip on its former southern satellites. But regional experts say that by
helping make the region safer, the project’s expected economic benefits
might eventually outweigh its geostrategic importance. [For coverage of
the ceremony, see “Caspian-Mediterranean Oil Pipeline Launched In Baku”.]

Prague, 25 May 2005 (RFE/RL) — The inauguration represents the final
touch on the “deal of the century” — as the 1994 contract that for the
first time grants Western oil majors the right to produce oil in newly
independent Azerbaijan is known.

Provided revenues from the shipping of crude oil to western markets are
redistributed to local populations, both projects are expected to bring
the Southern Caucasus region substantial economic benefits.

Economist Sandro Tvalchrelidze of Georgia’s Academy of Natural Sciences
said that even before the first Azerbaijani oil is pumped, BTC — once
former President Eduard Shevardnadze’s pet economic project — has
already brought substantial revenues.

“With regard to [BTC’s] economic aspect, it must be noted that its
construction alone has — directly, or indirectly — contributed to 2
percent of Georgia’s gross domestic product,” Tvalchrelidze said.
“Therefore, one can say that already the project is economically very
profitable for Georgia and the rest of the region.”

Tbilisi, which depends heavily on Russia for its energy imports, hopes
both pipelines will help loosen Moscow’s grip on its economy. As a
transit country, Georgia will also get part of its new energy supplies
for free.

Despite its enormous cost, BTC is considered to be of vital importance
for Azerbaijan, as it will help turn the country into a major energy
exporter.

Important New Option

Early oil produced by the BP-led consortium had been until today
transiting through two smaller pipelines — to the Georgian port of
Supsa and the Russian Black Sea terminal of Novorossiisk, from where it
was put on tankers heading to the clogged Turkish straits.

Even though Baku’s contribution to world energy supplies will be lower
than originally expected, the United States sees Azerbaijan as an
alternative supplier to Middle Eastern countries. Washington has also
made no secret that BTC and its sister natural-gas pipeline were
primarily targeting Russia and Iran.

Vafa Quluzade, a former foreign policy adviser to late Azerbaijani
President Heidar Aliyev, told the Baku-based Trend news agency on 23 May
that by paving the way for U.S. predominance in the Caucasus, BTC
“carries a special geopolitical and geostrategic importance.”

Iran remains strongly critical of the U.S.-sponsored project. But that’s
no longer the case for Russia.

Moscow — which has a 10 percent stake in the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum
project — now says that BTC is economically viable, and last year it
even floated the idea of connecting its own pipeline network to
Azerbaijan’s main export conduit.

Tofiq Zulfuqarov, who was Azerbaijan’s foreign minister in the late
1990s, told RFE/RL that he believes BTC’s geopolitical aspect, while
remaining important, will eventually become secondary to its economic
impact.

“Starting from today’s inauguration, I believe, the political aspect of
BTC is becoming of secondary importance,” Zulfuqarov said. “During the
initial phase of the project, when its layout and plans were still being
discussed, the political aspect was of primary importance. But now this
pipeline is becoming more and more a full-fledged economic project. I
don’t think the difficulties — be they [real] or potential — Russia
once created with regard to the pipeline’s layout are still a very
important element. All the more so that I do not rule out that Russia
will one day be interested in injecting both foreign and domestic
capital into the development of its own sector of the Caspian shelf. In
that case, [BTC] could well become a transit route for Russian oil as well.”

Energy experts said they believe BTC might be attractive to other
oil-producing countries — especially those of Central Asia.

On 24 May, Kazakhstan — which expects to produce 150 million tons of
oil every year by 2015 — officially announced plans to export part of
its output through BTC after an underwater connection linking the city
port of Aktau to Baku is built.

It remains unclear whether or when these plans — unveiled in Baku by
visiting Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev — will be implemented.

Kazakhstan’s participation in BTC had long remained an object of
speculation, if only because of Nazarbaev’s insistence on maintaining
energy ties Russia, China, and Iran.

Yet Zulfuqarov said he believes that, whatever practical effect it might
have, Nazarbaev’s Baku announcement is a sign of the times.

“My opinion is that because of [BTC], the weight of geopolitics — or,
say, the clash of diverging geopolitical interests — is no longer of
primary importance,” Zulfuqarov said. “It’s no longer the hot topic it
used to be.”

Georgian economist Tvalchrelidze said he believes the more countries
join BTC, the better it is for regional security.

“I believe that the idea of regional security is what prevails here,”
Tvalchrelidze said. “Had this pipeline been under construction in the
years 1991 to 1992, for example, Georgia would never have gone into
trouble with [its separatist republics] of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
The reactions of the world community to these conflicts would have been
totally different — maybe even similar to that we’ve seen [recently] in
Iraq.”

Tvalchrelidze also said he believes BTC might even have a positive
impact of the war in Chechnya, since the pipeline could help cut many
potential channels of oil contraband — one of the main sources of
revenues for both Russian army generals and Chechen fighters.

In his words, “BTC will certainly make the [Caucasus] region safer.”

“Some 38 countries are implicated — directly or indirectly — in those
energy projects,” Tvalchrelidze said, “so the world community will be
interested in making the region safe.”

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/05/f86368e4-b2ed-4996-8ca1-5684ca8516ad.html

Azerbaijan Hopes BTC Pipeline Will Swing Int’l Support Behind Baku

AZERBAIJAN HOPES BTC PIPELINE WILL RAISE ITS PROFILE AND SWING
INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT BEHIND BAKU

YEREVAN, MAY 25. ARMINFO. Official Baku hopes the pipeline
Baku-Tbilisi- Ceyhan will raise its profile 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.

According to Times Argus, the conflict continues to simmer,
undermining the region’s security. The pipeline “will bring a certain
element of stability in terms of cooperation,” with big states
pressuring both “Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve the Karabakh
conflict as quickly as possible,” said analyst Rasim Musabekov.

In its turn, the information of the US Department of State says that
US Energy Minister Samuel Bodman will also attend the ceremonial
activation of BTC pipeline today. BTC was and remains one of the
serious political goals of Bush’s Administration and is one of the
recommendations of the group on development of national energy policy
earlier created by the present administration, the source reports.

TBILISI: Baku Concerned over Moscow’s Plan to Relocate Arms

Civil Georgia, Georgia
May 24 2005

Baku Concerned over Moscow’s Plan to Relocate Part of Arms from
Georgia to Armenia

The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan convened Charge d’Affaires of
the Russian Federation to Azerbaijan Piotr Burdykin on May 23 and
handed over a note expressing Baku’s concerns regarding the possible
re-location of part of the Russian military hardware currently
stationed in Georgia to the Russian base in Armenia, the Azerbaijani
Foreign Ministry reported.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s note reads that plans to re-locate
part of the armament from Georgia to Armenia `does not serve the
interests of peace and security in the region and will aggravate
tensions.’

The Chief of Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Gen. Yuri Baluevsky,
said on May 19 that Russia’s military hardware and equipment
currently stationed in the two Russian bases in Georgia will be
redeployed in Russia and Armenia. He said that this decision to
re-deploy part of the military hardware to Armenia will make it
possible to finish the process of withdrawal from Georgia in four
years.

CBA Holds Meeting with Owners of 17 Currency Exchange Centers

CBA HOLDS A MEETING WITH THE OWNERS OF 17 CURRENCY EXCHANGE CENTERS
DEPRIVED OF LICENSES

YEREVAN, May 23. /ARKA/. CBA held a meeting with the owners of 17
currency exchange centers deprived of licenses, according to the
Chairman of CBA Tigran Sargsyan. According to him, within several
hours the Deputy Chairman and members of the CBA Board explained to
the owners of the centers the policy of CBA in respect of them in
details. “It’s not the first such a meeting: in December 2004 the
owners of currency exchange centers were warned that in case of such
violations they would be punished”, he said. Sargsyan emphasized that
“it’s impossible to work with shady economy and to avoid violations is
impossible”. One of these days the owners of private currency
exchange centers held a strike in Yerevan, the reason of which was
depriving 17 currency exchange centers of licenses. To remind, the
first wide-scaled checking of currency exchange centers were conducted
by CBA already in December 2004 and were caused by the activation of
the centers because of the currency fluctuations. Then, on the base of
the violations of currency legislation revealed in the course of
checking, licenses of 22 currency exchange centers in Yerevan were
abrogated. A.H.-0–

Ukraine Ready To Send Its Troops To Karabakh For Settling LocalConfl

UKRAINE READY TO SEND ITS TROOPS TO KARABAKH FOR SETTLING LOCAL CONFLICT

YEREVAN, MAY 21. ARMINFO. Ukraine is ready to send its troops to
Karabakh to settle the local conflict, Ukrainian FM Boris Tarasyuk
is reported by Russian media to have said during his recent meeting
with Speaker of Azeri Parliament Murtuz Aleskerov.

“We are ready to assist in deploying peacekeepers and send our own
contingent if necessary.” “You can always rely on Ukraine in the
Karabakh issue,” Tarasyuk said.

BTC Oil Pipeline Cold Shower For Those Who Are For Force Settlement

BTC OIL PIPELINE COLD SHOWER FOR THOSE WHO ARE FOR FORCE SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH PROBLEM

MOSCOW, MAY 20. ARMINFO. However contradictory are economic and
political assessments of the oil pipeline Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, it
is one more “cold shower” for those who are for force settlement of
Karabakh conflict, writes the former co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group
on settlement of Karabakh conflict Vladimir Kazimirov in an article
“Change for Karabakh” published in the Russian press today.

He thinks the project investors are unlikely to count upon the military
actions in the region more than on return of their investment both
political and financial. For example, the negotiations of Ilham Aliyev
and Robert Kocharyan. Seemingly, it is difficult to overestimate
their importance for the conflict’s resolution, but for some reason
the leaders are waiting for large international forums for it. On
may 15 in Warsaw on the eve of CE Summit they met for the forth time
only within two years. They seem to consider impossible any progress
in settlement and avoid disappointment with special meetings. After
their two- hour meeting, Aliyev and Kocharyan refrained themselves
from any statements. The OSCE MG co-chairs expressed moderate optimism,
pointing out that the presidents confirmed their interest in peaceful
resolution of the conflict. The responses are quite contradictory:
from skepticism to sensational titles like “Karabakh surrenders” or
“Armenia will return all the seven districts.” But the last one was
spoken of by Armenians even in the course of the war, the question
is what return concessions will be, Kazimirov says.

The speeches of both presidents showed that their positions in the
major disputable issue – status of Nagorny Karabakh – are still
different. It is still not clear whether the fire will stop, whether
they will start fulfillment of their obligations on the agreement
of 1995 on settlement of incidents, whether official Baku will
stop bellicose rhetoric. CE was not the place to call for return of
Nagorny Karabakh “by all means possible:” force atavisms fell out
of European values long ago. The subject matter of the conflict’s
settlement is complicated, and its components are rich with nuances.
Real difficulties are constantly aggravated with lack of contacts
between the parties, protraction of regular negotiations, search for
gaining from propaganda, sudden attacks on the mediators, forceless
calls for force revanche, Kazimirov writes.

‘Greek nightmare’ adds to Armenian one

AZG Armenian Daily #092, 21/05/2005

Genocide…

‘GREEK NIGHTMARE’ ADDS TO ARMENIAN ONE

May 19 Declared ‘Commemoration Day of Greek Genocide in Pontos’

With unprecedented arrangements, Armenians all over the world
commemorated the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide on April
24th. The most impressive of all arrangements was the march of more
than 1.5 million Armenians to Tsitsernakaberd. The international
conference in Yerevan held those days was a significant event as it
added scientific meaning to the anniversary.

What was also unique in this conference is the participation of two
scientists from Turkey – Murad Belge and Baskin Oran. Unprecedented
were the sympathies of the Turkish Union of Human Rights to the
Armenian people on occasion of the 90th anniversary.

Among the organizations that visited Tsitsernakaberd Genocide Memorial
were Germany’s TODAY, Turkey-Germany Union of Human Rights Protection,
Confederation of Workers from Turkey in Europe and International
Federation of Cultural Exchange. PSD, Liberty Party of Dersim,
released a statement condemning “The Armenian Genocide in either
Ottoman or post-Kemal Turkey”.

While official Turkey is seeking to curb initiatives directed at
international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, the Greeks in
Thessalonica organize a rally on May 19 demanding “recognition of
genocide of Greeks of Pontos”. Then, according to Anatolu agency, the
protesters moved to the Turkish consulate in Thessalonica to hand their
written demand in. It must be noted that May 19 is celebrated in Turkey
as Ataturk Commemoration, Youth and Sports Day as that very day in
1919 Mustafa Kemal Ataturk left Istanbul secretly and set foot in the
Black Sea city of Samsun and launched the Turkish War of Liberation.

Nikos Chiarchionis, minister of Macedonia-Thrace, said in his address
to the crowd gathered at city square that ,”The Pontos genocide
is one of the dark pages of world history, thus it should receive
international acknowledgement together with the genocides of Armenians
and Jews”.

Following Chiarchionis’ speech, Thessalonica mayor Vasilis
Papayorgopulos said that the Municipality took a decision of erecting a
“monument to the genocide of Greeks of Pontos”. Deputy foreign minister
of Greece, Panayotis Skandalakis, issued a statement informing that
19 May is a turning point in Greeks’ history, they do not forget those
banished from their homeland. “Exile is an incurable wound. Historic
memory cannot be distorted. But the past should be no barrier for
the future”, he continued.

Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis is said to have sent a note
to the Greek unions of Pontos “on occasion of commemoration of Greek
genocide in Pontos”. We are now to wait for Turkey’s comeback.

By Hakob Chakrian

ANKARA: Armenia Becomes the Only ‘Russian Base’ in the Caucasus

Armenia Becomes the Only ‘Russian Base’ in the Caucasus

Journal of Turkish Weekly
May 21 2005

A proposal announced by Russia’s top brass to move arms from
controversial military bases in the former Soviet republic of Georgia
to Moscow’s regional ally Armenia angered officials in neighboring
Azerbaijan on Friday, ArmeniaLiberty reports.

Russia has thorny relations with pro-Western Georgia and Azerbaijan,
while Armenia has remained the only regional ally for Russia.

Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov said Russia had previously moved
weaponry from Georgia to Armenia, which was involved in a bitter war
with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh territory in the early 1990s.
“We are seriously concerned and we would not want Russia to take such
a step now,” he told journalists.

Russian military base in Armenia had assisted the Armenian forces to
occupy 20 percent Azerbaijan territories. The Russian troops further
made assistance to the separatist movements in Georgia.

Russia’s military chief of staff, General Yury Baluyevsky, said
Thursday that moving armaments from Georgia to Armenia could help
speed Russia’s withdrawal from a republic that has become increasingly
hostile to its presence. However, Azerbaijan is technically still
at war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, which forces loyal to
Yerevan have occupied since 1994. 20 percent of Azerbaijan has been
under Armenian occupation. Armenian occupation has left 1 million
Azerbaijanis refugees.

Russia has military bases in both Georgia and Armenia but Georgia
has demanded the immediate withdrawal of Russian forces from its
territory, as Western influence there and in Azerbaijan increases
at Moscow’s expense. Azerbaijan and especially Georgia have received
considerable military aid from the United States and NATO in the past
few years and both countries form a key link in a US-backed energy
corridor spanning Turkey and Central Asia. Georgia and Azerbaijan
have special relationship with Turkey and both seek to be NATO members.

Armenia does not recognize Turkey’s and Azerbaijan’s national
borders. Ultra-Armenian nationalists argue that some parts of Georgia
should also be annexed to Armenia.

Turkey, Armenia, and the burden of memory

Turkey, Armenia, and the burden of memory
By Charles Tannock

Dailytimes.com
21 May 2005

The European Parliament is pressing for Turkish recognition of
the Armenian genocide. It is also calling for an end to the trade
embargo by Turkey and its close ally Azerbaijan against the Republic
of Armenia, a reopening of frontiers, and a land-for-peace deal to
resolve the territorial dispute over Nagorno Karabakh in Azerbaijan
and safeguard its Armenian identity

All wars end, eventually. But memories of atrocity never seem to
fade, as the anti-Japanese riots now taking place in China remind
us. The 90th anniversary of the Armenian massacres of 1915, ordered
by the ruling Young Turks of the Ottoman Empire and carried out by
the Kurds, is another wound that will not heal, but one that must be
treated if Turkey’s progress toward European Union membership is to
proceed smoothly.

It is believed that the Armenian genocide inspired the Nazis in their
plans for the extermination of Jews. However, in comparison with the
Holocaust, most people still know little about this dark episode.

Indeed, it is hard for most of us to imagine the scale of suffering
and devastation inflicted on the Armenian people and their ancestral
homelands.

But many members of today’s thriving global Armenian Diaspora have
direct ancestors who perished, and carry an oral historical tradition
that keeps the memories burning.

It is particularly ironic that many Kurds from Turkey’s southeastern
provinces, having been promised Armenian property and a guaranteed
place in heaven for killing infidels, were willingly complicit in
the genocide. They later found themselves on the losing end of a
long history of violence between their own separatist forces and
the Turkish army, as well as being subjected to an ongoing policy of
discrimination and forced assimilation.

Historically, the ancient Christian Armenians were amongst the most
progressive people in the East, but in the nineteenth century Armenia
was divided between the Ottoman Empire and Russia. Sultan Abdulhamit
II organised the massacres of 1895-97 but it was not until the spring
of 1915, under the cover of the World War I, that the Young Turks’
nationalistic government found the political will to execute a true
genocide.

Initially, Armenian intellectuals were arrested and executed in public
hangings in groups of 50 to 100. Ordinary Armenians were thus deprived
of their leaders, and soon after were massacred. Many were burnt alive.

Approximately 500,000 were killed in the last seven months of 1915,
with the majority of the survivors deported to desert areas in Syria,
where they died from either starvation or disease. It is estimated
that 1.5 million people perished.

Recently, the Armenian Diaspora has been calling on Turkey to face up
to its past and recognise its historic crime. Turkey’s official line
remains that the allegation is based on unfounded or exaggerated
claims, and that the deaths that occurred resulted from combat
against Armenians collaborating with invading Russian forces during
the World War I, or as a result of disease and hunger during the
forced deportations. Moreover, the local Turkish population allegedly
suffered similar casualties.

Turkey thus argues that the charge of genocide is designed to besmirch
Turkey’s honour and impede its progress towards EU accession. There are
also understandable fears that diverging from the official line would
trigger a flood of compensation claims, as occurred against Germany.

For many politicians, particularly in America, there is an
unwillingness to upset Turkey without strong justification, given its
record as a loyal NATO ally and putative EU candidate country. But,
despite almost half a century of membership in the Council of Europe –
ostensibly a guardian of human rights, including freedom of speech
and conscience – Turkey still punishes as crime against national
honour any suggestion that the Armenian genocide is an historic
truth. Fortunately, this article of Turkey’s penal code is now due
for review and possible repeal.

Indeed, broader changes are afoot in Turkey. The press and government,
mindful of the requirements of EU membership, are finally opening
the sensitive Armenian issue to debate. Even Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, under increasing EU pressure as accession negotiations
are due to begin this October, has agreed to an impartial study by
academic historians, although he has reiterated his belief that the
genocide never occurred. In France, the historical occurrence of the
Armenian genocide is enshrined in law, and denial of its occurrence
is regarded in the same way as Holocaust denial.

The European Parliament is pressing for Turkish recognition of
the Armenian genocide. It is also calling for an end to the trade
embargo by Turkey and its close ally Azerbaijan against the Republic
of Armenia, a reopening of frontiers, and a land-for-peace deal to
resolve the territorial dispute over Nagorno Karabakh in Azerbaijan
and safeguard its Armenian identity.

Armenia, an independent country since 1991, remains dependent on
continued Russian protection, as was the case in 1920 when it joined
the Soviet Union rather than suffer further Turkish invasion. This
is not healthy for the development of Armenia’s democracy and weak
economy. Nor does Armenia’s continued dependence on Russia bode well
for regional co-operation, given deep resentment of Russian meddling
in neighbouring Georgia and Azerbaijan.

There is only one way forward for Turkey, Armenia, and the region. The
future will begin only when Turkey – like Germany in the past and
Serbia and Croatia now – repudiates its policy of denial and faces
up to its terrible crimes of 1915. Only then can the past truly be
past. – DT-PS

Charles Tannock is chairman of the European Parliament’s Human Rights
Committee