Armenia displeased with new CoE rapporteur’s Karabakh report

Azg, Yerevan, in Armenian
18 Nov 04

Armenia displeased with new Council of Europe rapporteur’s Karabakh
report

Excerpt from Tatul Akopyan’s report by Armenian newspaper Azg on 18
November headlined “Atkinson submits a report prepared by Davis” and
subheaded “Azerbaijan is pleased with the new rapporteur on Karabakh,
but Armenia is not”

Yesterday’s session of the political commission of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe PACE in Paris had to discuss David
Atkinson’s report on the Karabakh issue along with other reports.

In his interview with the Baku newspaper Ekho, a member of the
Azerbaijani delegation at PACE, Aydin Mirzazade, said that if the
report is based on that of the former Karabakh rapporteur Terry
Davis, who is now secretary-general of the Council of Europe, it will
be acceptable to Azerbaijan and unbiased.

Two days ago 16 November , Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan
told journalists in the parliament that Atkinson had almost copied
Davis’s report. “There is a number of points in the document, which I
think should be changed, as they do not express reality correctly. It
would be better to change them for the report to become more
balanced,” Vardan Oskanyan said.

At the press conference held earlier on 22 September, Oskanyan
described Terry Davis’s report on Karabakh as unacceptable and
causing anxiety. “Today this report has no legal status, it is still
a subject of discussion, the rapporteur has changed, a
newly-appointed one should prepare his report, he may ground on
Davis’s report or may ignore it.” Oskanyan described the statements
made up till now by Karabakh rapporteur Atkinson as not being
pro-Armenian.

Undoubtedly, Atkinson was forced to make only some changes to the
report prepared by Davis, as he could not prepare a new one in two
months. In that period of time, he did not visit the region,
including Karabakh.

Passage omitted: Atkinson once visited Karabakh in 1993; On the
whole, the view existing in Armenia that the British MP is
pro-Azerbaijani is not true

Along with Vardan Oskanyan, the deputy chairman of the National
Assembly, Vaan Ovanesyan, also publicly expressed a negative reaction
to Atkinson. And this happened when Atkinson’s report was not ready
yet. Atkinson is not obliged to read the Armenian press, but it is
difficult to rule out that he is not aware of the negative view that
developed around his name in Armenia. Armenia is displeased with
Atkinson’s appointment instead of making contacts with him.

Earlier, the deputy chairman of the National Assembly said that
Davis’s report on Karabakh had no legal force and had only a
consultative nature.

Undoubtedly, Atkinson’s report will also have no real force, but it
will be of political and propaganda significance. Especially as
Atkinson’s report, which is a copy of Davis’s report, contains a
number of inadmissible words like “ethnic cleansing”, “part of
Azerbaijani land is occupied, and separatists control Karabakh” and
so on.

Government Target Money For Low Income Families

A1 Plus | 18:27:54 | 17-11-2004 | Social |

GOVERNMENT TARGET MONEY FOR LOW INCOME FAMILIES

Labour and social security minister Aghvan Vardanyan, speaking Wednesday
in National Assembly, said the ministry would be given 46,2 billion
drams from the 2005 state budget for the implementation of 26 programs,
the biggest of which is the Family Benefits Program focused on 135
thousand families.

These low-income families are to be paid12,000 drams while retirees’
pensions will rise slightly and won’t exceed 9,000 drams.

This controversy generated discord of MPs. Lawmakers say this won’t
promote poverty reduction.

The legislators also called into question the eligibility of the
families included in the list for receiving poverty benefits.

Labour and social security minister Aghvan Vardanyan said criteria
themselves are good enough, but they are being applied by people.

The ministry’s figures show 20 percent of the people included in the
list should not receive state benefits while 5 percent of those families
living in poverty remained out of the program.

MFA of Armenia: Armenia Named Among Countries Eligible for Millenniu

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
PRESS AND INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
375010 Telephone: +3741. 544041 ext 202
Fax: +3741. .562543
Email: [email protected]:

PRESS RELEASE

12 November 2004

Armenia Named Among Countries Eligible for Millennium Challenge Corporation
In The Second Round of Selection

On 10 November, Armenia’s Ambassador to the US Arman Kirakossyan attended a
ceremony hosted by the US Department of State to mark the second round of
selection of countries eligible to apply for Millennium Challenge Account
(MCA) assistance.

As reported earlier, this year’s MCA eligible countries are: Armenia,
Benin, Bolivia, Georgia, Ghana, Honduras, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali,
Mongolia, Morocco (a new entry), Nicaragua, Senegal, Sri Lanka and Vanuatu.

Attending the ceremony were Colin L. Powell, US Secretary of State and
Chairman of the Millennium Challenge Corporation Board of Directors,
ambassadors of the 16 eligible countries, members of the Board of
Directors, Chief Executive Officer Paul V. Applegarth, senior officials of
the US State Department and Administration, US Congress, NGO and private
sector representatives.

Speaking on the goals of this US initiative, Secretary Powell stated that
out of 68 candidate countries, the US Administration selected the 16 “which
have demonstrated through their policies and practices that they rule
justly, invest in their people, and encourage economic freedom”. The
Secretary also added that selection, in and of itself, does not guarantee
funding; each Millennium Challenge Account country must first develop its
own proposal to promote growth and reduce poverty.

During the meeting, Secretary of State Colin Powell welcomed the ambassadors
of the 16 countries and congratulated on the occasion of their countries’
selection.

www.armeniaforeignministry.am

Karabak’s Russian Community Calls For Moscow Not To Yield Baku’sProv

KARABAK’S RUSSIAN COMMUNITY CALLS FOR MOSCOW NOT TO YIELD BAKU’S PROVOCATIONS

Azg/arm
13 Nov 04

Galina Somova, leader of Karabakhâ~@~Ys Russian community, expressed
her bewilderment concerning the statement made by Yuri Kaplun,
employee of Moscow City Administration. He said that “no one invited
the Karabakhâ~@~Ys separatists” to the Regional Forum of the Russian
Communities in Caucasus held on November 11-13 in Krasnodar. In
the interview to Regnum agency Somova expressed bewilderment with
the position of the Russian embassies that yield the provocations
of Azeri official circles instead of defending the interest of their
compatriots abroad according to “Protection of the Rights and Interests
of the Compatriots Abroad” program signed by RF President.

“Russians remain Russians everywhere, notwithstanding the status of
the state they live in. At least, it is not correct to call brothers
“separatists,” Somova said. She said emphasizing that it is not
the first case when their community wasnâ~@~Yt invited to such
regional forums. Somova said that the Russian community of Nagorno
Karabakh got strengthened thanks to the support of Karabakhâ~@~Ys
and Armeniaâ~@~Ys state and public structures, particularly, thanks
to NKR Foreign Ministry. At present, the community has 300 members
from all the five regions of the republic. The community includes not
only Russians but also representatives of other Slavonic nationalities.

–Boundary_(ID_TKp2NMxID+GfpYq2Bnd5cA)–

Yasser Arafat: We Struggle For The World Not To Forget Us As It Forg

YASSER ARAFAT: WE STRUGGLE FOR THE WORLD NOT TO FORGET US AS IT FORGOT ARMENIANS

Azg/arm
13 Nov 04

In 1965 while the Armenians all over the world were calling for
commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Genocide, the Palestine
Liberation Organization started in Egypt and Jordan, and the son of one
of the most respected Palestinian families, Yasser Arafat, became its
head till his demise. In fact, he became the successor of Palestinian
hero and eventually martyr Abd Al-Qadir Hussein, whose movement broke
off in 1948, when the latter died in the first Arab-Israeli war.

Yasser Arafat was well acquainted with the Armenians who have their
shrines and churches in Palestine, most famous one of which is the
church of St. Jacob in Jerusalem, on the Mount Zionâ~@¦ Armenians
were among those who suffered great losses during the war of
1946-1948. Most of them left Haifa, Jaffa and Jerusalem for Lebanon,
Syria and Armenia. The second flow of Armenians left Palestine after
the Arab-Israeli war of 1967 but this time for Canada and America.

As a result of defeat (not without the help of the West and
Arab states) in the wars of 1947-48 and 1967, millions of
Palestinians turned into homeless refugees in Lebanon, Palestine
and Syria. Recalling Armenian Genocide of 1915 and Sanjag-Alexandret
tragedy of 1937-38, Yasser Arafat stated in 1967 explaining why they
took the path of armed struggle: “We struggle for the world not to
forget us as it forgot Armeniansâ~@¦”

In 1968 Petros Terzian and Hakob Garayan, editorial staff members of
Yeritasard Hye (young Armenian) magazine of Beirut, visited the centers
of Palestinian revolution in Jordan where they met with Arafat, George
Habash, Najef Havatme, Abu Ali Iyyad and other leaders. Later on papers
were published and stuck on the streets of Beirut. They were depicting
Armenian and Palestinian freedom fighters with a banner above reading
“Long Live Scarred Fidayi” (freedom fighter).

A year later, in 1969, when Jordan king Husseinâ~@~Ys troops together
with Israeli army attacked Palestinian refugees, Abu Ali Iyyad, the
right hand of Arafat was killed. Death of one of the great supporters
of the Arabian national movement, Egyptâ~@~Ys President Gamal Abd
Naser, was the second heavy blow for Palestinians.

After the Arab-Israeli war in 1973 and the civil war in Lebanon,
the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) and
the Front of Liberation of Western Armenia started by the help of
the PLO. Soon after Kurdish, Arab, Greek, Assyrian and Turkish left
movements (PKK, TAKP, Isinin Sesi, TKP-Leninçiler, Devrimi Yol)
who found refuge in Turkey and Syria in 1980 joined them. They were
agitating against Kenan Evrenâ~@~Ys junta in Lebanon, Turkey, France,
England, Belgium, Germany and elsewhere. Agitating literature, films,
newspapers pulled off Turkish “democracyâ~@~Ys” false mask that had
organized genocides of Armenians, Kurds, Greeks and Assyrians and had
executed its own progressive intelligentsia. Without the military,
financial, moral support of Yasser Arafat, Abu Jihad, Abu Ajad,
Abu Shaker Bsiso, Abu Al-Hol, George Habash, Najef Havatme, Abu-Al
Abbas, Dalad Yagub and others it would be impossible to put before
the international community all the just requests of all the nations
suffered under Turkeyâ~@~Ys yoke.

Decades after, when Yasser Arafat changed his armed struggle for
diplomatic one, USAâ~@~Ys and Israelâ~@~Ys attempts to isolate and
to discredit the Palestinian figurehead ended up in Islamic extremism
which had turned from left Marxist ideology to medieval fundamentalism
in the person of bin Laden, the “savior”. Those terrorists today use
the same means of manslaughter that were once used by their enemies.

The man who passed through inconceivable trials of life is no
more. Death of the father of 9-year-old Zahwa and all the Palestinian
orphans leaves the Middle East in uncertainty heaped up with unsolved
issues. As he put it once: “Where to be born – is a big issue for a
Palestinian but even bigger is â~@~S where to be buriedâ~@¦”

By Hamo Moskofian

–Boundary_(ID_nd3tyAxGwpQavHoTJAJhkQ)–

Un officier =?UNKNOWN?Q?azerba=EFdjanais_tu=E9_pr=E8s_du?=Nagorny-Ka

Agence France Presse
8 novembre 2004 lundi 12:03 PM GMT

Un officier azerbaïdjanais tué près du Nagorny-Karabakh (ministère)

BAKOU 8 nov

Le ministère azerbaïdjanais de la Défense a assuré lundi qu’un de ses
officiers avait été tué par les forces arméniennes près de la
frontière entre les deux Etats, non loin du territoire disputé du
Nagorny-Karabakh.

Bahaddin Abdiyev, un lieutenant de 24 ans, a été tué dimanche soir
lors d’un échange de coups de feu avec les forces arméniennes dans la
région d’Agdam, au sud de l’Azerbaïdjan, a souligné un porte-parole
du ministère de la Défense.

Enclave à population majoritairement arménienne en Azerbaïdjan, le
Nagorny-Karabakh a été le théâtre d’un conflit meurtrier au début des
années 90 au moment de la désintégration de l’Union soviétique. Il
reste depuis un cessez-le-feu en 1994 sous le contrôle des Arméniens,
qui l’avaient emporté sur le terrain.

Le cessez-le-feu est globalement respecté, mais des échanges de coups
de feu restent fréquents autour de la frontière
arméno-azerbaïdjanaise.

Bakou considère toujours que l’enclave fait partie de l’Azerbaïdjan
et a menacé de recourir à la force pour reprendre le contrôle du
territoire.

Des négociations de paix se déroulent par intermittence depuis dix
ans avec la médiation du groupe de Minsk, qui opère sous le mandat de
l’Organisation pour la sécurité et la coopération en Europe (OSCE).

–Boundary_(ID_r7aytmSMRo2bnVtJ+ugPFQ)–

Azerbaijani DM Again Threatens to Resolve NK Conflict with Force

AZERBAIJANI DEFENSE MINISTRY AGAIN THREATENS WITH FORCE RESOLUTION OF
KARABAKH CONFLICT

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 5. ARMINFO. “All the international organizations
must carry out explanatory work with Armenia and persuade it to
abandon its aggressor policy. Otherwise, Azerbaijan will have to
liberate its lands in another way,” Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar
Abiyev made this statement during his meeting with Finnish Ambassador
to Baku Terhi Hakala, Zerkalo newspaper reports referring to the
press-service of Azerbaijani Defense Ministry.

The minister also stated that Azerbaijan is ready to cooperate with
Finland in the military sphere. He said that level of the two states’
relations should be upgraded. In her turn, Ambassador Hakala said that
good relations have been established between the two countries and the
political dialogue is in process. She expressed desire of the Finnish
party to develop relations with Azerbaijan in the economic and
military spheres. She said that Finland as OSCE Minsk Group member is
engaged in peaceful activity, and it makes that country closer to
Azerbaijan.

Russia transport min in Tbilisi for talks on traffic via Abkhazia

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
November 1, 2004 Monday

Russia transport min in Tbilisi for talks on traffic via Abkhazia

By Eka Mekhuzla, Tengiz Pachkoria

TBILISI

Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin who is co-chairman of the
Russian part of the Russian-Georgian intergovernmental commission for
economic cooperation issues arrived in Tbilisi on a one-day visit on
Monday.

Levitin intends to discuss with the head of the Georgian part of the
commission Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania matters pertaining to the
preparation of the next session of the commission to be held in the
first half of 2005.

Levitin told reporters in Tbilisi, “As the Russian transport minister I
shall consider in Tbilisi issues of transport services in the
trans-Caucasian states and the organisation of ferry crossing between
the ports of Poti (Georgia) and Kavkaz (Russia).”

“I also intend to study Tbilisi’s approaches towards the opening of
through railway connection along the entire length of the former
Transcaucasian railway,” he said.

Georgian Economics Minister Kakha Bendukidze said for his part the
sides “will discuss issues of railway traffic resumption between
Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan and restoration of traffic between the
Transcaucasian countries and Russia.”

Sources in the Russian embassy in Georgia told Itar-Tass Levitin would
also hold talks with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.

In October, the Russian transport minister paid a visit to Armenia
where he also discussed the resumption of the Russian-Armenian through
railway connection via the Abkhazian section of the Georgian railway.

Traffic through this stretch was interrupted after an armed conflict in
Abkhazia began in August 1992.

The Georgian side has not once stated in recent years it is ready to
discuss the issue of opening of through traffic along this section
“synchronously with the process of organised return of refugees to
Abkhazia.”

The Russian Transport Ministry’s spokesperson Svetlana Kryshtanovskaya
cited Levitin as saying at his meeting with Georgian Prime Minister
Zurab Zhvania on Monday that bilateral trade reached 237 million
dollars in 2003, up 48 percent as against the 2002 figure.

Russia is Georgia’s biggest trade partner. Trade with Russia accounts
for 15 percent of Georgia’s foreign trade.

Russia’s exports to Georgia comprise electric power, products of
chemical industry and metallurgy, equipment and trucks.

Russia’s imports from Georgia are wine, mineral water, ferroalloys and
other goods.

The trade turnover between Georgia and Russia reached 203.5 million
dollars in January to August 2004, which is 34 percent above the figure
of the same period in 2003.

Azerbaijan is Not Interested in Karabakh Issue Settlement

“AZERBAIJAN IS NOT INTERESTED IN KARABAKH ISSUE SETTLEMENT”

Azg
2 Nov 04

Stepanakert Responded to Baku’s Initiative

Masis Mayilian, deputy foreign minister of Nagorno Karabakh Republic,
said in an interview to Azg Daily that by the initiative of including
“Azerbaijan’s conquered territories’ present status” in the UN agenda
the Azeri side proved once more Baku’s unavailability to discuss with
Stepanakert the whole package of issues regarding Karabakh conflict.

The UN General Assembly’s General Commission ordered to include
theissue of “Azerbaijan’s conquered territories’ present status” in
theagenda of the 59th sitting. Azerbaijan attempts to shift
international community’s attention from the key issue of the Karabakh
conflict – the issue of Nagorno Karabakh status. Official Yerevan
stated that all the territories administratively belonging to the
Republic of Azerbaijan are not being inhabited (see Azg Daily’s Oct.
30 issue).

“This step of Baku does not support the creation of the necessary good
atmosphere but is a propaganda maneuver. Otherwise, Azerbaijan would
respond to Stepanakert’s offer of beginning whole-format talks which
are the most efficient means”, Mayilian said.

He also noted that by posing the issue of territories Azerbaijan tries
to divert the attention of interested institutions from its own policy
of inhabiting 15 per cent of Karabakh’s and the whole territory of
Shahumian in 1992.

“Baku’s destructive policy makes it impossible to solve the problems
of the refugees and resettlers and may render all the efforts of
international mediators to nil”, Mayilian said.

Artur Mosian, president of the Commission of Defense, Security and Law
Enforcement of the National Assembly of Nagorno Karabakh, informed Azg
Daily that Karabakh has no conquered territory. “Karabakh has only
liberated territories which are zones of safety. I think that Armenia
has neither conquered nor liberated territories in Karabakh. Let the
Azeri’s calm down”, Mosian said.

Yet, he noted that “such a formula cannot be pleasant”. Mosian thinks
that Stepanakert is not involved in the negotiation processes today,
therefore Karabakh is not obliged to comment on the talk
discussions. “We are not involved in any talk process. If they don’t
ask what we think it’s their problem”, he said.

Vahram Atanesian, president of the National Assembly Commission on
Foreign Affairs, thinks that picking out separate aspects from the
Karabakh issue and highlighting them on the UN agenda will not
contribute to any of the 3 conflicting sides as “the talks within the
OSCE Minsk group frameworks seemto mark progress”.

He does not agree with the idea that Karabakh is left out from the
negotiations. “Minsk group is visiting Karabakh and discusses issues
with high-ranking officials of the Republic, that’s why I think
Stepanakert clearly expresses it’ s position and that is I think a
negotiation stance”, Atanesian said.

He agrees with Armenian Foreign Ministry’s opinion that no state
policy is carried out for inhabiting the territories. “I don’t exclude
the possibility that there may be several Armenian families who found
refuge in these territories (controlled by Armenian forces) as they
have no other place to live and the Karabakh authorities cannot
provide them with the necessaries”, Atanesian said.

Recently OSCE Minsk group co-chair Yuri Merzliakov said in an
interview to the Regnum new agency that Nagorno Karabakh’s
participation in the talks is compulsory. Baku’s Ekho newspaper cites
the words of Bruce Jackson,president of the US Committee to Expand
NATO: “I don’t understand why Nagorno Karabakh does not take part in
the settlement talks”.

Ali Hasanov, of President Aliyev’s think tank, said to Ekho that
Karabakh is not a side in the conflict but Armenia is carrying that
role out. Only in case Armenia steps aside admitting that the conflict
is Azerbaijan’s inner problem between Baku and Stepanakert and
withdraws its forces and ceases contributing to the separatists,
repeals Armenian parliament’s decision of 1989,only then it will be
possible to begin talks between Baku and Stepanakert.

By Tatoul Hakobian

TBILISI: Georgian Ambassador’s Letter to the UN Security Council ove

Civil Georgia, Georgia
Oct 28, 2004

Georgian Ambassador’s Letter to the UN Security Council over Abkhazia

New York, 26 October 2004

Dear Mr. President,

I have the honour to write to you and, through you, to draw attention
of the Security Council to the recent developments in the conflict
resolution process in Abkhazia, Georgia.

In doing so, I should like to express my sincere gratitude to the
Secretary-General Mr. Kofi Annan and his Special Representative Ms.
Heidi Tagliavini for their tireless efforts to bring about a
comprehensive political settlement of the protracted conflict in my
country.

The latest events in Abkhazia barely leave us grounds for optimism, and
I think that this situation is objectively reflected in the report of
the Secretary-General. Indeed, the UN-led peace process in the region
has reached its critical juncture.

Ardzinba’s ethnocratic regime has always sought to thwart the peace
process. His no-compromise policy is bringing our peaceful efforts to
naught and could ultimately damage the peace talks beyond repair. In
this context holding of the illegitimate and self-styled presidential
elections by the Abkhaz separatists on October 3, is yet another
attempt to imbue legality to the demographic changes resulting from the
conflict. It is being done in flagrant disregard of the position of the
international community manifested in the Security Council numerous
resolutions and Presidential Statements to affirm illegitimacy of the
elections when 300 000 Georgian population are forcibly driven out of
the region. By the same virtue, the elections fail to sustain even
scant semblance of democracy putting aside its violation of
international law in the environment where violence and human rights
violations constitute routine of life.

Against this background, the Ministry of the Russian Federation, which
praised the elections in a statement of October 4, 2004, as “calm and
democratic”, appeared to be the only dissenter in the international
community. With tension in the region at its height fuelled by the
presence of the terrorist groups known as Confederation of Mountain
Peoples, best known by their notorious commander Shamil Basayev, the
situation is anything but calm (clarification: Shamil Basayev served as
a Deputy Defense Minister of the separatist regime in 1990’s.).

Moreover, the presence of foreign terrorist groups of the Confederation
highlights the acute problem of the illegal influx of arms and armed
groups through the unilaterally open Abkhazia section of the
Russian-Georgian border. Especially in the aftermath of the tragedy in
Beslan, the Russia’s border policy comes at odds with the real needs
and interest of combating terrorism and ensuring security. Otherwise
one can not explain of closure of the only legally operating checkpoint
in Zemo Larsi, while two other illegal checkpoints with the
secessionist regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia
remain opened. At the end these measures affect not potential
terrorists but ordinary, law-abiding people from Georgia, Russia and
Armenia, whose interests are mainly harmed by the unpredictability of
the border crossing regime. Numerous protests of Georgia on this
matter remain unheeded.

The escalation of the situation in the region was preceded by
unprecedented in breadth involvement and interference of certain
political circles in Russia in Abkhazia, Georgia; President Putin
himself in display of Russia’s support publicly met one of the
“candidates for President of Abkhazia”. Russian political and
pop-artists have been mobilized to support the Kremlin favorite.

The “electoral campaign” unfolded in milieu of reopening of a railway
link between Moscow and Sokhumi after 12 years remaining dysfunctional.
The event protested by Georgia as infringement upon its sovereignty and
violation of international law attested to the level of damage caused
to the UN-led peace process by the broken commitments – President
Putin’s formula that implementation of economic projects in the region
must be synchronized with the return of refugees and IDP’s is either
completely ignored or cynically countered with the contention that they
have already returned in Gali district. Those, who attempt to
capitalize on spontaneous returnees, enduring almost everyday violence
and intimidation, are deliberately mistaking organized return in safety
and dignity for its antithesis.

Mr. President, notwithstanding this complex development, the Government
of Georgia is committed to resume negotiations for the settlement of
the conflict in Abkhazia, Georgia, with any leader who will succeed Mr.
Ardzinba. However, the progress in this matter would require from the
Abkhaz side to master the requisite political will for the constructive
engagement in the negotiations, in particular on so called Boden
document on “Basic Principles for the Distribution of Competences
between Tbilisi and Sokhumi” as well as allow for establishment of the
Human Rights Office branch in Gali, address the problem of teaching of
Georgian children in their native language and consent on deployment of
the UNOMIG civilian police component in Gali district, which as pointed
out in the Secretary-General’s report is implemented only on Georgian
side where it receives “good cooperation”.

The same extends to the Russian side, which has to overcome its own
bias in favor of the secessionists and take into account the interests
of the peace process as a whole, in particular interest of thousands of
refugees and IDP’s, instead of vehemently protecting and advancing of
the interests of Abkhazs at any cost and at every international fora.

In this respect, the attitudes instilled through the Russian media are
both dangerous and alarming – overwhelming majority of them depict
Abkhazia as a region of the Russian Federation inhabited by Russian
citizens and Russia as duty-bound to protect them by all means against
the Georgian “aggressors” including use of military force and
mercenaries, interference in the “election process” for installing
local political leaders loyal to Moscow, etc. For many in Russia these
actions are appropriate modus operandi in carrying out the role of the
mediator in the conflicts.

Mr. President, in finalizing, I should like to go back to the point
with which I started this letter – the substantial progress in the UN
led peace process is contingent upon willingness of all its
participants to honor their commitments and to engage into constructive
negotiations with the genuine aim of resolving conflict. In the absence
of this, the Security Council resolutions are bound to become mere
exhortations of good intentions by a supreme organ of the UN,
implementation of which depends on the political whim of the Abkhaz
side (why not if the Abkhaz side is almost convinced that intransigence
will always go unabated).

Mr. President, all would agree that present status-quo in the process
of the conflict resolution in Abkhazia, Georgia, is untenable and
therefore resolute steps are required to overcome the present
stalemate. Otherwise, and I can not but ring an alarm here, the more
this “frozen” conflict remains unresolved, the more difficult it
becomes to find a compromise for long-lasting peace.

The Security Council has both authority and, I hope, willingness to
take lead in reinvigorating the UN led peace process. Therefore, we
wholeheartedly invite the Security Council to foster its involvement in
the conflict-resolution process in Abkhazia, Georgia. One of the steps
that the Security Council could make at this stage, we think, would be
field visit to Georgia – particularly to Sokhumi -to learn firsthand
the reality on the ground and try to come out of stalemate in the
conflict-resolution process.

I should be grateful if you would have the text of the present letter
circulated as a document of the Security Council.

Sincerely,

Revaz Adamia
Ambassador, Permanent Representative