Author: Tavakalian Edgar

Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
March 24 2004

Georgia: Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Son of Late President, Sees ‘Great
Victories’ Ahead
By Jean-Christophe Peuch

Gamsakhuria approves of Pres. Saakashvili’s (above) efforts to gain
control over Adjaria

Georgia is gearing up for a partial rerun of the disputed 2 November
parliamentary elections that heralded the demise of President Eduard
Shevardnadze’s government. A total of 19 parties and coalitions will
compete for seats in the legislature. RFE/RL correspondent
Jean-Christophe Peuch takes a closer look at one of these groups, led
by the son of Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Georgia’s first post-Soviet
president.

Prague, 24 March 2004 (RFE/RL) — Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, the
eldest son of late President Zviad Gamsakhurdia, made his first
public appearance in Tbilisi last week (17 March) after more than a
decade of exile in Switzerland.

“Those 12 years I have just left behind seem to me just a one-second
interval after which I set foot again on Georgian soil,’ he began. `A
big marathon is awaiting us. I came back in a defeated country. Yet,
I hope we will achieve great victories. Long live Georgia!”

Critics accuse Saakashvili of dangerously stirring nationalist
feelings among his fellow citizens, while supporters say his policies
stem from a purported 18th-century, American or French, tradition of
“romantic patriotism.”A few hours earlier, as most of the Georgian
capital was still asleep, several hundred cheering supporters had
welcomed “Koko” — as he is affectionately called — at the Tbilisi
airport.

Obviously moved by the reception, Gamsakhurdia improvised an
impassioned speech just outside the airport.

“I’m glad that after 12 years of exile, I am offered the opportunity
to set foot again on Georgian soil. Like all Georgian patriots who
have once lived far away from their native land — as the great
[19th-century poet] Ilia [Chavchavadze] — I am tormented by the
following questions — What shall I tell my country? What shall my
country tell me?”

The 42-year-old Konstantine Gamsakhurdia — named after his
grandfather, Georgia’s famous 20th-century novelist — is the leader
of the right-wing nationalist Tavisupleba (Liberty) party, one of the
19 political groups vying for seats in 28 March legislative polls.

He has conducted a belated and low-profile campaign, meeting with
voters mainly in Tbilisi and in his late father’s traditional
stronghold of western Georgia.

Although the movement was set up as a party only after the 4 January
presidential elections that saw Mikheil Saakashvili succeed ousted
President Eduard Shevardnadze, its support has been increasing. Two
recent surveys ranked Tavisupleba among the three parties that enjoy
the strongest popular support after the ruling National
Movement-United Democrats coalition.

True, the polls indicate that only the latter looks set to win enough
votes to enter the legislature. But Mikheil Machavariani, the
secretary-general of Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania’s ruling United
Democrats, recently told RFE/RL he believes Tavisupleba and two other
nongovernmental groups will overcome the 7-percent vote barrier
required to win parliamentary seats.

Georgia’s Kavkaz-Press news agency said (22 March) the rating of
Gamsakhurdia’s party had increased from 1 percent to 6 percent over
the past four weeks. It is believed that Tavisupleba is appealing
especially to Georgians who feel nostalgic for the early years of
post-Soviet independence when Abkhazia and South Ossetia had not
completed their secession.

Those voters include, naturally, supporters of Zviad Gamsakhurdia.
The Zviadists — as they are known in Georgia — have set up a number
of small parties that are engaged in a bitter rivalry over
Gamsakhurdia’s political heritage. Among them is the former
president’s widow, Manana Archvadze-Gamsakhurdia, who returned from
exile in 1997 and has been running an impotent “shadow cabinet” for
the past four years.

Many prominent sympathizers of the late leader have joined the ranks
of mainstream right-wing parties, such as Saakashvili’s
National-Movement or Adjar leader Aslan Abashidze’s Agordzineba
(Democratic Revival Union).

Political experts believe Konstantine Gamsakhurdia could, more than
anyone else, appeal to the rank-and-file Zviadists.

Merab Pachulia is director of a respected polling agency known as the
Georgian Opinion Research Business International, or GORBI. He tells
our correspondent that this potential stems more from Gamsakhurdia’s
charisma and pedigree than from his political views.

“[Unlike other Zviadists], he is the direct heir to former President
Gamsakhurdia,” Pachulia said. “That is where his main attraction
lies. But there is more to it. He very much looks like his late
father, not only physically, but also in the way he speaks and moves
around. This, of course, is of great help to him because — as of
today, in any case — he has refrained from making any clear-cut
[political] statement or proposing any pragmatic step to extirpate
Georgia from its present situation. If he succeeds in overcoming the
7-percent vote barrier, he will owe it mainly to the fact that he is
his father’s son. Nobody has heard of him or read anything from him
for the past 12 years when he had been in Switzerland, be it an
article or an interview in which he would have criticized the ruling
regime. His only political background is provided by his father and
his father’s former comrades-in-arms that are still alive and live in
Georgia.”

Gamsakhurdia and his supporters have been particularly sparing of
words when it comes to detailing their electoral platform. When
reporters last week asked him about his long-term political goals, he
remained evasive while also attempting to distance himself from his
late father’s xenophobic policies.

“[Our goal is] to enter the Georgian Parliament,” he said. “We will
be more specific when we become a member of parliament. Our priority
is to prepare Georgia’s entry into the European Union, and one of the
conditions for that is to protect the rights of our ethnic
minorities.”

Asked about his views on Saakashvili’s policies, Gamsakhurdia simply
indicated he approved of the government’s efforts to restore control
over Georgia’s autonomous province of Adjaria.

Critics accuse Saakashvili of dangerously stirring nationalist
feelings among his fellow citizens, while supporters say his policies
stem from a purported 18th-century American, or French, tradition of
“romantic patriotism.”

Even before being elected in January, Saakashvili had set up a
government commission to investigate the circumstances of
Gamsakhurdia’s death in 1993.

Georgia’s first post-Soviet leader was deposed after a few months in
power by a military coup that paved the way for Shevardnadze’s return
to his homeland. Zviad Gamsakhurdia fled first to Armenia, then to
Grozny to join Chechen separatist leader Djokhar Dudayev. He died in
western Georgia while attempting to retake power at the head of his
armed supporters. Officially, he committed suicide, but his
supporters claim he was assassinated.

He was reburied in Chechnya a few months after his death.

Following his decision to pardon 30 prisoners sentenced in 1992 for
supporting Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Saakashvili on 9 March said he wants
the late president’s remains to be repatriated to Georgia.
Saakashvili said his decision is motivated not only by his “respect”
for the former leader, but also by his desire to make the best use of
the Zviadists’ “patriotism.’

“We should offer the best patriots Georgia has — I mean here the
majority of Zviadists, or rather, all 100 percent of them — the
opportunity to put their patriotism to good use and contribute to the
reconstruction of the country.”

Although formally in the opposition, Tavisupleba officials have
indicated they may support Saakashvili’s government after the
legislative elections.

Last month (18 Feb), Georgia’s Prime news agency quoted Sandro
Bregadze, a leading Tavisupleba member, as saying he does not see any
particular reason why the party should remain in opposition since the
government’s policies are — in his words — “acceptable.”

GORBI director Pachulia also believes an alliance between Tavisupleba
and the ruling coalition is possible, although he says he cannot
elaborate on the government’s views on this particular issue.

“All I can say is that when [Konstantine] Gamsakhurdia [a few days
ago] met passers-by on [Tbilisi’s main] Rustaveli Avenue, he was
accompanied by those same jeeps that usually travel with government
officials. I am not the only one who has witnessed that. Already from
this you can start making your own judgment. Barred from any personal
hatred, I believe [cooperation between Tavisupleba and the ruling
coalition] is possible and that they will work together. I do not
mean that the two parties will merge, but I would not be surprised if
they worked together. That would seem normal, and this is probably
what is going to happen.”

The Central Election Commission initially indicated that the
Tavisupleba leader could be barred from running as a candidate
because — under Georgian law — only citizens who have been
residents of the country for at least the past two years are
eligible.

But a commission spokesman told RFE/RL the election body eventually
gave Gamsakhurdia the green light after finding out that he had been
granted the status of political refugee by Swiss authorities and had
been registered as such by the Georgian Embassy in Geneva.

Azat Artsakh – Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
March 19 2004

EARLY TO BUILD A BABEL TOWER

The opposition of Armenia was too much inspired by the `rose
revolution’ in Georgia and even took `independent’ steps in the form
of addresses deviating from the official position at the PACE
meeting. Paying attention to the words of George Bush after his
meeting with the current president of Georgia, who has carried out
the `rose revolution’, Sahakashvili that they discussed the
possibility of spreading the revolution in other countries, we have
to state that the protests of the Armenian opposition are fertile
ground for this. Apparently the interest of the USA to spread the
rose revolution depends on the disappointment with the foreign
political position of official Yerevan. And although the opposition
tries to find the cause in the non-democratic presidential election
from which a year has passed already, the election in Baku which is
unanimously criticized by all the observers, makes to search for
other reasons. And as it is known to everybody that at all times the
mediation missions were an active mechanism of putting pressure on
the conflict parties, as well as a desire of the states which were
not conflict parties to solve their strategic and geopolitical
problems in the given country or region, we have to confess that we
are in a greater dependence on the countries which did not
participate in the conflict than we would like to be, countries the
number of which is growing and consequently the settlement becoming
more complicated. Naturally, at the beginning of the conflict we
depended on the USSR and its heir Russia whose strategic interests in
the Caucasus coincided with those of Armenia and Nagorni Karabakh, by
the way the final settlement of the Karabakh conflict and especially
its unification with Armenia is out of the circle of their interests
(there will be no other circumstance for putting pressure on
Azerbaijan). The other non-participant interested party, the USA
whose colonial pretensions have no limits, cherishes the desire of
ousting Russia from the region, as this country has still many levers
to put pressure on Armenia as the latter is in an unfavourable
condition, surrounded by hostile countries. And again we appear in
the focus of the collision of the interests of great powers because
of our geopolitical position, and it is very important to pay
attention at last to this factor using it in favour of our country.
In such difficult conditions it is not proper for the government and
the opposition to enter a conflict. We do not even have the right to
dream of a `rose revolution’. It is not accidental that at all times
the words of the great poet remain actual, `Armenian nation, your
only salvation is your united power.’ For if we are united, the
inventors of the American machine of revolutions would have no
support and would have to take into consideration the interests of
the given nation. And finally, how is it possible to keep silent
about the murder of the Armenian army officer during the NATO program
`Partnership for Peace’? The cruelty of the incident unexpected for
Europe should be used by the RA government and the Armenian Diaspora
to show that the line of globalization adopted by America and Europe
is not always adequate in reference to denying national borders, and
the nation which during the 20th century resorted to a genocide and
other cruel revenges does not recognize any rule. For they were not
able to protect the Armenian officer from the Azerbaijani murderer in
a neutral country and especially within the framework of such a
strong military alliance as NATO. So, it is still early to pretend to
the role of builder of the tower of Babel; the consequences will be
all the same.

EMMA BALAYAN

THE WINNER KAREN ASRIAN

Azat Artsakh – Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)
19-03-2004

On March 17 took place the closing ceremony of the international chess
tournament devoted to the 75th anniversary of the ninth champion of
the world Tigran Petrossian. The first place of the tournament was won
by grand master of chess Karen Asrian who had 6 points of the 9
possible. The second place was taken by the representative of Poland,
grand master Bartlome Macheya with 5.5 points. The representative of
Armenia, grand master Gabriel Sarghissian took the third place (5
points). The prize winners received money prizes and presents. The
other participants and guests also received presents. By the decree of
the NKR president the Medal of Gratitude was conferred on the guest of
honour of the tournament, the tenth champion of the world Boris
Spassky. The medal was delivered by NKR prime minister Anoushavan
Danielian.

ANAHIT DANIELIAN.
19-03-2004

THE PROBLEM CANNOT BE DISTORTED

Azat Artsakh – Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)
19-03-2004

On March 16 at the NKR Permanent Representation in Armenia the speaker
of the NKR National Assembly Oleg Yessayan and foreign minister Ashot
Ghulian met with the members of the European Union-Armenia
parliamentary cooperation commission Ursula Schleicher (co-chairman of
the commission), Dmitry Volchich and Bashir Khanba. During the meeting
the head of the Europarliament delegationMs. Irsula Schleicher,
pointing out that the meeting is unofficial, enquired about the
approach of Nagorni Karabakh toward the current situation in the
regulation of the conflict as well as the possible status of NK and
the problem of refugees. Answering the questions of the members of the
delegation the speaker of the NK National Assembly said the Karabakh
party does not separate these problems from the context of the package
settlement of the conflict. Duringthe talk O. Yessayan mentioned that
he could understand the growing interest ofthe European Union in the
countries of the South Caucasus and in this referencethe settlement of
the Karabakh conflict. The NA speaker said the fact that NK is not
recognized internationally does not change the essence of the
conflict. The problem between Nagorni Karabakh and the Republic of
Azerbaijan should not be changed into a problem to be settled by the
Republic of Armenia and Azerbaijan. The speaker of the parliament of
Nagorni Karabakh mentioned that the starting point of the peaceful
settlement of the conflict is the participation of Nagorni Karabakh in
the process of negotiations; the people of Nagorni Karabakh cannot
accept a resolution in the adoption of which they had no
participation. The speaker of the NKR National Assembly hopes that the
approach of Nagorni Karabakh will be backed by the European Union.

AA.
19-03-2004

Daily Telegraph, UK
March 20 2004

>From Kalashnikovs back to Christ

Juliet Clough finds tragedy, beauty and a warm welcome in a country
that has been dealt more than its fair share of blows.

Armenia basics

The old woman thumped a thin chest, decorated with Soviet badges. “I
worked on road construction,” she said. She wandered away, muttering
to herself, among the potholes that pass for streets in Yeghegnadzor.

Nostalgia for the Soviet past, with its pensions, paid holidays and
free health care, crops up all the time in encounters with the
elderly in modern Armenia. “Poverty seems like an upgrade here,” said
one of the many “diaspora men” I met during my travels round the
country in October, a Californian taxman.

The expressions of the diaspora men – typically, wealthy
second-generation Armenian North Americans – betray the complexity of
the emigre baggage they carry. “We need to know we have this history,
this feeling of grandeur,” John Hovagimian from Toronto told me as we
explored the sumptuous medieval monastery complex of Noravank. “But
sometimes we cry inside for the tragedy we have passed through – and
the beauty of the land.”

Tragedy and beauty: the operatic theme ran counterpoint to all my
attempts to understand something of Armenia, an effort considerably
helped by a comprehensive new guidebook from Bradt. I got my quickest
fix standing in the courtyard of the monastery of Khor Virap, half an
hour south of Yerevan. Beyond, detached by a light scarf of cloud as
well as by a line of Turkish border checkposts, floated the luminous
cone of Mount Ararat.

A salesman handed me a pigeon to set free – a dollar for a wing and a
prayer. Like Noah’s olive-branch-bearing dove, my bird, he assured
me, would head straight for Mount Ararat. In practice, of course, it
flew straight back to base. I recognised my chap tucking into his
feed tray as we departed.

Ararat is one of the world’s sacred mountains. The pain of its loss
to Turkey, following the 1915 massacre of a locally estimated 1.5
million Armenians in Anatolia, was written, momentarily, on almost
every face turned towards it from this site.

The resulting emigration haemorrhage continued after independence in
1991, when the economy of what had been the USSR’s most successful
industrialised state went into freefall, a state of affairs witnessed
by the ghost factories that ring the capital and by the half-built
holiday complexes for the comrades, decaying in resorts around
Dilijan and Lake Sevan.

“Armenia is rich in stones,” reflected Nouneh, as we left the fertile
Ararat valley for the province of Vayots Dzor. This sounded sad until
I learnt to read it as a massive understatement.

Armenia adopted Christianity in 301 AD, the first nation to do so, 10
years ahead of Rome. The result is indeed a wealth of stone:
ecclesiastical buildings of mind-blowing antiquity. Hunkered down on
their mountain ridges, Armenia’s high-shouldered churches defy the
winds of change.

Christianity’s 17 centuries have not been enough to erase the older
beliefs that still break surface at almost every site: wishing trees
hung with votive rags; sacred springs; floor drains for the animal
sacrifices still carried out at special occasions.

Five days, 11 churches and a profusion of richly carved stone later,
I was hooked: God the Father presides at Noravank with a dove
apparently nesting in his beard; sirens and lions with dragons for
tails guard the rock-cut churches of Geghard.

The latter’s acoustics, which I heard tested by the State Capella
Choir, would make angels weep with envy. Medieval khachkars,
stone-cross slabs whose points take off into a maze of Celtic-style
flourishes, abound at Echmiadzin, since 303 AD the Vatican eqivalent
in a country still devoutly Orthodox Christian.

Heading for the 13th-century Selim caravanserai, which once offered
shelter to travellers on an Armenian spur of the Silk Route, we
followed a procession of steamrollers, a sight to cheer the old lady
in Yeghegnadzor. Everywhere apparent, the healing hand of diaspora
man – building roads, hotels and airports and restoring historic
sites – can only benefit Armenia’s fledgling tourism business.

The upbeat feel starts in Yerevan, whose grand 1950s main square,
recently reopened after a major facelift, is part of an estimated
$200 million spend by the American media tycoon Kirk Kerkorian.

The US-based Tufenkian carpet empire employs 1,200 people in Armenia
to weave the motifs of their grandmothers into covetable carpets;
prices at the Yerevan store start at $230 per square metre. Tufenkian
knitters also supply bedcovers for the same company’s four heritage
hotels.

Away from decaying Soviet technology, Armenia looked beautiful: the
plunging gorges of Garni and Noravank spread, in autumn, with all the
colours of a weaver’s loom; the apple-tree branches in south-western
villages such as Yeghegis bowed to the ground under their weight of
fruit.

Tree-climbing children, shaking down walnuts; willow-lined streams;
little hayricks and biblical flocks of goats: Armenia’s country idyll
goes hand in hand with mud-paved streets, outdoor taps, and with
Azeri refugees from the ongoing dispute over Nagorno Karabagh having
to find homes in redundant oil tanks.

Diaspora generosity must be an inherited trait. The hospitality of
Armenians towards strangers, by comparison unimaginably well-heeled,
remains my most special memory. In the village of Hamon alone, an old
woman parted the strings of dried apples hanging from her cottage
eaves to implore us to come in for coffee; another pressed a handful
of walnuts into my hand and a passerby insisted on giving us a dried
fish.

Vahram and Hranoush Khlagatsayan spread a feast for us in their
orchard in Artabouink: wheat soup made with yogurt and coriander;
spinach with sour cream; home-made curd cheese, flat bread or lavash,
made by their teenage daughters in a fiery pit.

Vahram and Hranoush, too poor to have any income beyond the produce
they barter with their neighbours, are participants in a
British-financed rural development project that exchanges house
improvements, including installing indoor lavatories, for village
hospitality within striking distance of potential tourist sites.

In tough times, and with a restaurant and cafe culture only now
taking off in the capital, a few professional families have taken up
the idea. In private homes in Dilijan and Garni, genial hosts served
up waist-expanding introductions to a local cuisine which, like the
robust Armenian wines accompanying it, has survived the drab Soviet
years with gusto. Invariably our hosts’ home-produced vodkas sent us
on our way rejoicing.

I could not call Yerevan, a resolutely Soviet creation of the 1950s,
picturesque. But time spent in the capital fills essential gaps.
While the unemployed young loafing round the Genocide Museum, let
alone the unemployed graduates selling fruit on street corners, say
something about 21st-century Armenia, the key to the early past lies
miniaturised in the Matenadaran, one of the world’s great manuscript
museums.

Pride of place goes to Ptolemy’s map, a 1482 copy, showing Armenia’s
borders stretching from the Black Sea to the Caspian. A prize fought
over by all the neighbours ever since, landlocked Armenia would today
fit comfortably inside the borders of Belgium. Here too, explained in
lively fashion, are exquisite fragments of 5th-century gospels;
medieval herbals and theatrical treatises; classical Greek texts that
have survived only because of early translations in the beautiful,
looping, Armenian script.

Mother Armenia, ankle-deep in rusty armaments, brandishes her sword
over a city today more given to karaoke than Kalashnikovs. The
Yerevan Brandy Company factory hangs a festive aroma over the centre.
Ever after the 1945 Yalta Conference, when Stalin introduced him to
the company’s Diplomat blend, Winston Churchill, so goes the PR
story, ascribed his long life partly to Armenian brandy.

Shnoragalutsyun. Shatlaveh. Thank you. It was excellent.

Armenia basics
Juliet Clough travelled with Regent Holidays (0117 921 1711,
) and British Airways (0870 850 9 850,
). An eight-day individual trip costs from £1,295 per
person, sharing (single supplement £375) including return BA flights,
b & b in a three-star Yerevan hotel and in guesthouses in Dilijan and
Sissian; all transfers by private car; English-speaking guide.
Three-night weekend breaks in Yerevan are also available, from £499
per person, sharing. A 12-day group tour of the highlights of Armenia
and Georgia departs in August: from £1,390, sharing.

Guidebook The Bradt Travel Guide: Armenia with Nagorno Karabagh
(£13.95).

Interfax
March 18 2004

Armenian Central Bank reserves up 15.9%

Yerevan. (Interfax) – Gross international reserves at the Central
Bank of Armenia increased 15.9% or by $70.2 million to $511.9 million
in 2003, a source in the bank told Interfax.

The source said that the share of the euro in international reserves
last year increased to 24%. However, he did not say by how much this
share increased.

The source also said that the Armenian Central Bank reduced to
nothing the share of gold in the gross reserves in 2003. “This is due
to the fact that yields on gold investments have fallen significantly
recently, which has led to a reduction in the attractiveness of gold
as an investment asset,’ the source said.

As of January 1, 2003 the Armenian Central Bank’s gross international
reserves amounted to $441.7 million, of which gold accounted for
$15.7 million.

Bulgarian news agency review of Bulgarian press for 15 Mar 04

BTA news agency, Sofia
15 Mar 04

Text of press review in English by Bulgarian news agency BTA

This press review has not been edited for content, nor have personal
names and party names, abbreviations, etc. been amended. If you have
any questions, contact Caversham editors on 86064.

Sofia, 15 March:

DOMESTIC POLICY

There will be early parliamentary elections in the autumn, says Roumen
Ovcharov, Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Bulgarian
Socialist Party (BSP), quoted by “Troud”. The political spectrum is in
the process of restructuring; all players, including the coalition
partners of the ruling Simeon II National Movement (SNM), are
reconsidering their strategic partnerships, he further says.

“24 Chassa” refers to Ekaterina Mihailova of the United Democratic
Forces (UtdDF) who says that a Grand National Assembly should be
convened because the incumbent government can no longer rule for it
has exhausted its credit of confidence.

“We will launch consultation on the dissolving of the 39th National
Assembly at the beginning of April,” says Union of Democratic Forces
(UDF) MP Vassil Vassilev before “Monitor”. UDF’s task is to
consolidate the right-of-centre forces in the name of Bulgaria, he
adds.

* * *

“Standart News” writes that Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
recommended to reduce the number of the SNM deputy floor leaders from
six to three.

* * *

Only the parties having hard-core electorate will be presented in the
next parliament, writes “Sega” in connection with the establishment of
the Novo Vreme parliamentary group, consisting of breakaways from
SNM. “The dangerous thing is that the political elite does not take
into account the emerging of diverse interests in the Bulgarian
society,” the paper also writes.

* * *

The Union of Democratic Forces has remained without financing and its
leader Nadezhda Mihailova is seeking urgently assistance from the US
and Great Britain, “Sega” says. UDF has no money even for salaries and
the debts accumulated equal tens of thousands of leva. “Sega” also
writes that Mihailova has renewed talks with UDF’s main external
sponsor, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Talks were also allegedly
underway with Britain’s Conservative Party and the US Republicans and
Democrats. The funds would be utilized by the Democratic Alternative
Foundation, registered a year ago by Mihailova’s aides.

* * *

“24 Chassa” writes that BSP will refer the deal on the sale of the
Bulgarian Telecommunications Company to the prosecution authorities
due to doubts over its provision concerning the licensing of a third
GSM operator. The paper explains that the Communications Commission
will decide whether a third operator can be licensed without a bidding
procedure.

SOCIETY

The papers keep on covering the March 11 bombings in Madrid. The
Bulgarians’ death toll has risen to four people. Bulgaria will
commemorate the blasts victims with a three minutes’ silence and
wailing sirens at 13:00 hrs on Monday. “4th Bulgarian Victim in
Madrid”, “Last Tribute to the Dead”, read front-page headlines in
“Troud” and “24 Chassa”, respectively.

After Spain, Al-Kaida’s next target will probably be Italy, “Troud”
writes referring to a video cassette, seized by the police in
Madrid. The tape showed a man saying that the terrorists’ next targets
will be Italy, Great Britain, Japan and other US allies in the war in
Iraq. “Bulgaria was not mentioned among the future targets,” “24
Chassa” writes. “Al Kaida claimed the responsibility for the Madrid
bombings ,” says “Bulgarska Armiya”.

* * *

The body retrieved from the sunken ship Hera has not been identified
yet, “Troud” writes. The Cambodian-flagged vessel sank in a storm off
the Bosphorus on February 13. Its 19 crew included 17
Bulgarians. “Some of Hera’s seamen will remain at the bottom of the
sea forever, “Troud” writes. The identification procedure will be held
Monday or Tuesday at the latest, a representative of the Bulgarian
Consulate in Istanbul reportedly said.

* * *

The Gaddafi Foundation will hold the hitherto Libyan justice minister
for the prolonging of the trial against the Bulgarian medics and for
other omissions and violations, the special correspondent of “Troud”
and “24 Chassa” in Benghazi reports. Six Bulgarian health
professionals are charged with contaminating some 400 Libyan children
with HIV. A hearing of the case is scheduled for Monday. “Vizh” and
“Monitor” write that the defendants’ Libyan lawyer Osman Bizanti will
not attend the March 15 hearing because he is undergoing some
treatment in London.

* * *

“Money Win Over Morality,” writes “Sega”. The report of the interim
municipal commission, charged with checking the Sofiiski Imoti
company, fully justifies it, the paper writes. Sofiiski Imoti is
allegedly even praised for alleviating the municipality by alienating
real estates and providing compensations for owners. The report was
drafted by Stanimir Zashev, municipal councillor of the Gergyovden-Dem
Party-Popular Union coalition. “Sega” recalls that Sofiiski Imoti’s
most scandalous deal was the purchase of a 90-sq.m. plot in Sofia’s
posh neighbourhood, Lozenets.

* * *

The dismissal of Bulgarian National Television (BNT) Director Kiril
Gotsev would be an extreme measure, says Electronic Media Council
member Stefan Dimitrov before “Sega”. Gotsev is accused of signing a
deal, that is detrimental to BNT. Asked why he has become one of
Gotsev’s strongest advocates, Dimitrov says that every structure stops
operating efficiently upon the appointment of an acting director. Only
the death would remove me from BNT, says Gotsev quoted by “24
Chassa”. “I am the first person in the world accused for a
non-existing contract,” he further says.

* * *

If the Bulgarian State Railways disburses its subsidy of some 80
million leva earlier than planned, all discounts for pensioners and
students will be removed. “Sega” writes this referring to Deputy
Transport Minister Nikola Yankov. The paper recalls that as of 2003
the discounts for these two groups of the population were reduced from
50 to 30 per cent.

FOREIGN POLICY

The dailies report on the departure of Foreign Minister Solomon Passy
on a tour of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in his capacity as
Chairman-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE). Passy left for the Caucasian region regardless of the
tension, writes “Troud”. “24 Chassa” quotes Bulgaria’s top diplomat as
saying that he is aware of the risks. Passy joins the dialogue for
peace in the Caucasus, “Pari” writes.

United Nations S/2004/168
Security Council
Dist.: General
1 March 2004
Original: English

Letter dated 1 March 2004 from the Permanent Representative of Armenia to
the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

I have the honour to transmit herewith my letter regarding the concerns of
the Republic of Armenia arising from the recent intensification of the
political situation after the brutal murder of the Armenian military officer
by his Azerbaijani colleague in Budapest, Hungary (see annex).

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

(Signed) Armen Martirosyan
Ambassador
Permanent Representative

Annex to the letter dated 1 March 2004 from the Permanent Representative of
Armenia to the United Nations addressed to
the Secretary-General

Letter on the concerns of the Republic of Armenia arising from the recent
intensification of the political situation after the brutal murder of the
Armenian military officer by his Azerbaijani colleague in Budapest

On 20 January 2004, during the discussion of the item entitled “Children
and armed conflict” in the Security Council, the Azerbaijani representative
launched another round of unsubstantiated allegations towards Armenia and we
took them as such. However, the recent brutal murder in Budapest of an
Armenian officer in his sleep through axing by a young Azerbaijani officer
at a NATO “Partnership for Peace” training programme could not but raise
concerns over the increase of aggressiveness in Azerbaijani society as a
result of such groundless accusations by the authorities, encouragements,
distortions, exaggerations, in short, effective hate propaganda. It comes as
no surprise that the cultivation and encouragement of war rhetoric by the
authorities, which adversely affects the prospects of the peace process,
would outpour into such gruesome acts. The response and the further comments
made by the Azerbaijani officials on different levels trying to justify this
horrendous act, and the statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of Azerbaijan on 20 February 2004, are simply testimonies to it.

The significant flare-up of falsified propaganda from the Azerbaijani
officials aimed at presenting a distorted picture of the roots and causes of
the Nagorno Karabagh conflict and the resulting situation on the ground,
which has greatly deteriorated during the last several months, and the
unconcealed efforts to obliterate the 12-year efforts of the international
community aimed at achieving final resolution to the conflict serve no other
purpose than discrediting the international mediation and the peace process.
Moreover, it threatens the ceasefire regime, the tenth anniversary of which
would be marked in May of this year, and increases the instability and
insecurity in the region as a whole. The speech of Ilham Aliyev, now
President of Azerbaijan, in the general debate at the fifty-eighth session
of the United Nations General Assembly, the recent announcements by the
Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan and the numerous speeches of Azerbaijani
representatives in different international forums, including the United
Nations, are a demonstration of the concerted effort by the Azerbaijani
leadership to fuel aggressiveness and war-mongering in the society to score
internal points. However, a natural result of this kind of intoxication is
the vicious act in Budapest, as the younger generation is the most
susceptible to propaganda.

It is regrettable that the political short-sightedness of the Azerbaijani
leadership does not allow it to learn lessons from tragic events of a
not-too-distant past, when the deliberate manipulation of the Azerbaijani
public led to massacres of Armenians in Sumgait, Kirovabad (Ganja) and Baku.
Sixteen years ago to this date, on 27 February 1988, Azeris went on a
three-day rampage in Sumgait, a new industrial town 20 miles from Baku,
murdering members of the town’s large Armenian minority, looting and
destroying their property. Most of the victims were burnt alive after being
assaulted and tortured. The murderers enjoyed total support of the
Azerbaijani authorities and full freedom in committing their inhuman acts
against the Armenian population. The peak of the atrocities committed by
Azeri perpetrators occurred from 27 to 29 February 1988. The events were
preceded by a wave of anti-Armenian statements and rallies that swept over
Azerbaijan in February 1988.

I consider it unnecessary to give a detailed historical overview of the
pogroms in Sumgait here as the international community and the United
Nations, in particular, have been duly informed in the past of the events
through documents circulated on the occasion of the anniversaries of the
Sumgait tragedy, the latest one being A/57/742-S/2003/233. The international
community’s response to the events was explicit. On 7 July 1988, the
European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning the massacres in
Sumgait, which read:
“The European Parliament,
“…
“B. having regard to the historic status of the autonomous region
of Nagorno-Karabakh (80% of whose present population is Armenian) as part of
Armenia, to the arbitrary inclusion of this area within Azerbaijan in 1923
and to the massacre of Armenians in the Azerbaijani town of Sumgait in
February 1988,
“C. whereas the deteriorating political situation, which has led to
anti-Armenian pogroms in Sumgait and serious acts of violence in Baku, is in
itself a threat to the safety of the Armenians living in Azerbaijan,
“1. Condemns the violence employed against Armenian
demonstrators in Azerbaijan;
“2. Supports the demand of the Armenian minority for
reunification with the Socialist Republic of Armenia;
“…
“4. Calls also upon the Soviet authorities to ensure the
safety of the 500,000 Armenians currently living in Soviet Azerbaijan and to
ensure that those found guilty of having incited or taken part in the pogroms
against the Armenians are punished according to Soviet law.”

The Sumgait events were organized with a view to hushing up and concealing
the Nagorno Karabagh problem. While the population of Nagorno Karabagh,
trusting in glasnost and perestroika, and after 70 years of unlawful
subjugation to Azerbaijani rule, raised its voice in peaceful demonstrations
for the legally and universally recognized right to self-determination, thus
choosing the democratic, constitutional and peaceful path to the exercise of
its right, the response of the Azerbaijani authorities was pogroms and
killings of Armenians. The premeditated killings in Sumgait were to
transform the problem of Nagorno Karabagh from a peaceful and democratic
process into a violent confrontation, which turned into one of the world’s
bloodiest ethnic conflicts after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The
atmosphere of total impunity, the repeated incitements to the perpetration
of further Sumgait-like massacres and the encouragement to those who showed
the greatest zeal by the Azerbaijani leadership greatly contributed to this.

The assault of a sovereign Government against its citizens continued. In
May 1988 in Shushi, the local authorities initiated the deportation of
Armenians living in that hilltop city from which Karabagh’s largest city,
Stepanakert, was to be so easily shelled for the next several years. By
September 1988, the last Armenians were ousted from Shushi. In November and
December 1988, a wave of Armenian pogroms swept Azerbaijan. The worst took
place in Baku, Kirovabad (Ganja), Shemakh, Shamkhor, Mingechaur and
Nakhichevan. In the winter of 1988, all Armenians were deported from dozens
of Armenian villages in Azerbaijan. The same fate befell more than 40
Armenian settlements in the northern part of Karabagh – outside the borders
of the autonomous region, which was demanding self-determination – including
the mountainous regions of Khanlar, Dashkesan, Shamkhor and Kedabek
provinces. The 40,000 Armenians of Azerbaijan’s third largest city, Ganja,
were also forcibly removed from their homes. When it was over, there were
fewer than 50,000 Armenians left in Baku, out of a total of 215,000.

Throughout 1989, sporadic attacks, beatings, looting and massacres in Baku
reduced that number to 30,000. By early January 1990, Armenian pogroms in
Baku intensified and became more organized. Several hundred Armenians were
killed, some of whom were burned alive, ripped apart or their bodies
dissected. Pogroms continued until 20 January when Soviet army troops were
brought to Baku. By then, the city was fully “liberated” from “Armenian
elements” except for a couple of hundred Armenians in mixed marriages.
During the military conflict over Nagorno Karabagh, the latter were
literally “fished out” for exchange with Azeri prisoners of war.

The revisiting of history by Azerbaijanis is no surprise to us. However, it
is appalling that in the same statement that my Azerbaijani colleague made
in the Security Council, he referred to these very events as “Soviet
invasion [when] on 20 January 1990, Soviet troops, 35,000 strong, stormed
the capital of Azerbaijan in a desperate, extremely brutal and yet futile
attempt to strangle the ever-growing independence movement and to stop the
demise of the communist regime in Azerbaijan”.

The Azeri leadership encouraged the ethnic cleansing and massacres of the
Armenians of Azerbaijan or the Armenians of Karabagh, directly and
indirectly, through creation of a conducive environment for violence and
impunity for such crimes. Unfortunately the same policy continues today
when, after the vicious act in Budapest, which was unequivocally condemned
by the international community, so-called “committees for the support” of
the Azerbaijani military officer are being created in Azerbaijan and the
perpetrator of a cowardly act is, right before our eyes, being transformed
into a hero.

Azerbaijan presents itself as the victim, giving a distorted picture of the
facts on the ground today. There are refugees and territorial losses on both
sides. The Armenian side has a refugee problem of 400,000 – almost equal to
Azerbaijan’s refugees. Indeed, today’s facts on the ground are the
consequences of a cycle of violence and intolerance that began with
Azerbaijan’s suppression of the calls to peaceful self-determination.

It is dangerous that the lessons of tragic history are being forgotten.
Moreover, Azerbaijan is ready to throw the 12-year efforts of international
mediation away and start from a “blank page”, as stated by its Foreign
Minister, threatening the peace process and the relative stability
established 10 years ago with a ceasefire. It seems we have come full circle
here – from Sumgait to Budapest.

Meanwhile, at every step Armenia has stated and demonstrated its
willingness to cooperate, wherever possible, to create and implement
confidence-building measures. Without building such confidence, neither side
can convince its own population to accept peace. At each step and every
opportunity Azerbaijan has refused to demonstrate any flexibility or
willingness to start a process of unfreezing the conflict in the minds of
its own population. It is the reduction of tension, hostility and pumped-up
hatred that will lead to resolution and peace, not the other way round.

Los Angeles Daily News
March 9 2004

Police, family baffled by shooting
No motive apparent in fatal freeway gun-down of driver

By Naush Boghossian and Phillip W. Browne
Staff Writer

NORTH HOLLYWOOD – The son of Armenian immigrants, Garen Ketikyan had
a strong work ethic, holding down a full-time job at a supermarket
while studying business at Valley College.

But the 20-year-old’s dreams were cut short early Tuesday when he was
fatally shot by gunmen in a white Ford Mustang as he and a friend
drove on the Hollywood (170) Freeway.

“He wanted to be successful. … He was like a best friend to me,”
said the victim’s older brother, Harut Ketikyan, 24, a Los Angeles
County probation officer.

“Mom and Dad would always tell us, ‘The reason we brought you to this
country is there is more opportunity here.’ To get life cut short
like that is sad.”

Ketikyan was killed just after midnight as he drove his 1998 Mercury
Marquis north on the freeway near Sherman Way. His passenger, whose
name was not released for his safety, was uninjured.

Detectives initially believed the case might be connected to
narcotics, gangs or other criminal activity, but those leads proved
false, and the motive remains a mystery.

“All indications are that they are good, hard-working kids. And they
were just out having some fun and visiting friends,” said LAPD
Detective Mike Coffey.

He said Ketikyan and his passenger were stopped at a traffic signal
at Coldwater Canyon Avenue and Victory Boulevard about 11:45 p.m.
Monday, and beeped their horn at two motorcyclists who didn’t move
when the light turned green.

“The men got off the bikes, removed their helmets and began walking
toward the Mercury in a threatening manner,” Coffey said. “Somehow
the confrontation ended without incident and everyone drove away.”

About 15 minutes later, Ketikyan was on the freeway when a white
Mustang, with chrome wheels and a new-car registration pulled
alongside and someone inside fired 10 to 15 rounds, Coffey said.
Ketikyan was struck in the head and died at the scene.

The passenger later told detectives he believed the men in the
Mustang were the motorcyclists who had accosted them earlier.

“It seemed kind of far-fetched to us that the assailants could switch
vehicles and find the victims that quickly, but it’s not impossible,”
Coffey said.

Ketikyan moved with his family from Armenia in 1991. He worked at
Jon’s Market in West Hollywood while studying business at Valley
College.

“I just never thought something like that could happen to our family,
until one day it does,” Harut Ketikyan said.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Coffey at the
LAPD’s North Hollywood station, (818) 623-4075. On weekends and
during nonbusiness, contact the 24-hour toll-free number at the
Detective Information Desk, at (877) LAWFULL, (877) 529-3855.

PRESS RELEASE
AGBU Hye Geen
2495 East Mountain Street
Pasadena, CA 91104
Contact: Sona Yacoubian
[email protected]
626.794.7942

March 5, 2004

Women’s Conference to Discuss Contemporary Issues

Burbank, CA (March 5) – The AGBU Hye Geen and the Western Diocese of
the Armenian Church of North America are pleased to announce a timely
and relevant forum dealing with women’s issues – Armenian Women Facing
Contemporary Trends – on Saturday, March 27, 2004 from 9:30 a.m. to
4:00 p.m. at the Western Diocese in Burbank, California.

The forum will bring together speakers from various generations,
backgrounds and professions to present and discuss current issues
affecting the lives of Armenian women.

His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, Primate of the Western
Diocese, will deliver the forum’s opening remarks. The morning session
(10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.) will feature presentations and discussions
on such topics as “Women in Traditional Armenian Family Interactions”
and “The Identity Crisis of Contemporary Armenian Women.’

The afternoon session (1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.) will offer participants
the choice of one of three workshops: `Interaction of Women and Men at
Home, in Society and the Workplace,’ `Women Facing the New
Generation,’ and `Education and Leadership Empowering Women.’ The
forum will reconvene for a plenary session and closing remarks from
3:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. The Western Diocese of the Armenian
Church of North America is located at 3325 North Glenoaks Blvd. in
Burbank, California.

Reservations are requested. Please call Shakeh at the AGBU Pasadena
office at 626.794.7942.

The AGBU Hye Geen, established in 1994 at the Alex Manoogian Center in
Pasadena, California, seeks to preserve, recognize and honor the
accomplishments of Armenian women, while working to advance and
promote women’s issues internationally.

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