Author: Varosian Antranik

The Messenger
Wednesday, March 9, 2005, #042 (0816)

Press scanner
Prepared by Anna Arzanova

Patrol Police apply pressure against detainees

As reported in 24-Saati, members of the monitoring group of the Public
Defender’s office examined the main department of the Ministry of Internal
Affairs on March 4. The monitoring group discovered that a detainee, Lasha
Tskhovrebadze, was held in the pre-trial detention center and had been
beaten by the Patrol Police during his detention.

The paper writes that in the course of the beating, the Patrol Police
fractured his skull. Tskhovrebadze demanded an ambulance, but was refused by
the Patrol Police. According to 24-Saati, in doing so, the officers violated
rights of the detainee. According to the paper, the monitoring group
recorded these facts and opened a case on the issue.

Members of the monitoring group also met with a juvenile detainee, G.
Asanishvili, a boy who was arrest under charges of robbery.

In conversations with members of the monitoring group, the paper writes, the
detained Asanishvili stated that the Patrol Police detained him nearby the
metro station 300 Aragveli and that the Patrol Police used physical as well
as psychological pressure against him in their car as well as in jail.

According to the paper, members of the monitoring group recorded the facts
and opened a case on the issue. All documents have been signed by the head
of the pre-trial detention center, the paper reports.

Azerbaijan to allow freight shipments

According to Akhali Taoba, movement of rail freight that has detained at the
Azerbaijan border for months will be renewed and will enter Georgian
territory beginning March 7. This decision was made after a meeting between
Azeri President Ilham Aliev and Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli last week.
The paper reports that during the meeting, Noghaideli was able to assure the
leadership of Azerbaijan that the freight cars being detained carry cargo
destined for Georgia and not for Armenia and that these cargoes will not
enter Armenia.

The paper writes that several meetings and negotiations have been held
recently concerning the detained trains, which are loaded with wheat and oil
products, but “only the meeting of Noghaideli with Aliev was successful.”
According to the Railway Department, the loaded carriages will gradually
pass through customs and enter the country. The paper writes that about 320
fully loaded freight cars are held up at the Azeri-Georgian border. Akhali
Taoba reports that despite several attempts of the Georgian side, an
agreement allowing the cargo to enter Georgia has been unreachable for the
last four months.

“Half a million for offices”

Akhali Taoba reports that newly appointed Minister of Justice Kote Kemularia
and Ambassador of Greece to Georgia Konstantin Mavroskelidou signed an
agreement on March 7, according to which EURO 300,000 will be allotted for
the support of reform of the civil register of the Minister of Justice.
According to the paper, the allotted money is a grant and would be spent on
office repair, equipment, and the purchase of appropriate facilities.
“The allotted money, more than half a million lari, will be spent on the
repair of the passport and identity cards department. About five offices
will be repaired in accordance to modern standards,” stated Kemularia.
According to him, the paper writes, the project is in its testing period

The Messenger
Wednesday, March 9, 2005, #042 (0816)

Georgian politics in brief:

Politicians and NGOs address electoral code
The National Democratic Institute (NDI) launched a two-day conference on
“Staffing of the elections administration and obligations” on March 1 in the
Marriott Courtyard.
The conference was organized to bring together political parties and NGOs to
discuss amendments to the Georgian electoral code prepared by Parliament’s
judicial committee, which have already been approved by Parliament at their
first hearing, alongside alternative drafts offered by other working groups
and political parties.
The organizers of the conference said they hoped it would assist the
transparency of the legislative process and will improve amendments to the
election code.
Acting chair of the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association Anna Dolidze
explained that although Parliament had adopted the amendments at their first
hearing, “there are other, alternative proposals concerning this issue.”
Evaluating and discussing these alternative viewpoints was the main aim of
the conference, she added.

Noghaideli wins cargo agreement in Baku
Transportation of rail cargo between Azerbaijan to Georgia was renewed on
March 7 as a result of an agreement reached by the two sides while Georgian
Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli was in Baku last week, Black Sea Press.
The talks in Baku referred to the readiness of the Georgian party to provide
written guarantees that no goods received from Azerbaijan will then be
exported to Armenia.
Thorough Azeri inspections of cargo bound for Georgia at the
Georgian-Azerbaijani border to ensure that no cargo was in fact destined for
Armenia has meant hundreds of cargo trucks being held at the border since
November 2004.
Noghaideli discussed this issue while on a two-day visit to Azerbaijan,
during which he also met with Azeri President Ilkham Alyev and other senior
officials to discuss a wide spectrum of issues of bilateral cooperation,
especially in the economic sphere.
Within the frame of the visit Noghaideli also laid a wreath at the grave of
late Azeri president Heidar Alyev.

European Commission rep explains path to action plan
The European Commission is recommending a “significant strengthening” of
relations with Georgia through the development of an Action Plan under the
European Neighborhood Policy. Head of the Delegation of the European
Commission, Ambassador Torben Holtze, told a press conference on March 4
that this recommendation is based on the commission’s Country Report
published on March 2.
“This process has been under preparation for several years already, but has
become active only since last year,” he stated. In June 2004, Georgia along
with Armenia and Azerbaijan was included in the European Neighborhood
Policy.
Last Wednesday the Commission released a 32-page report on Georgia, which
gives a broad summary of the political, social and economic situation in the
country and the state of its bilateral relations with the European Union.
According to Holtze, the Neighborhood Program has much deeper targets than
the existing Partnership and Cooperation Agreement and offers the prospect
of a progressively closer relationship with the European Union, involving a
significant level of economic integration and a deepening of political
cooperation.

Protests result in Adjara TV’s leadership purge
Protests by journalists at the state-run Adjara TV have resulted in a purge
of the station’s senior leadership and the nomination on Saturday of a
one-time opposition candidate for the local legislature as the station’s new
chair.
On March 5 the chair of the autonomous republic’s executive government Levan
Varshalomidze nominated Evgeni Tavdgiridze, a reporter for Radio Liberty, as
the new chair of the station that once served as Aslan Abashidze’ official
mouthpiece.
According to local press reports, he made this decision after consultations
with the public and the NGO representatives.
The newly appointed station chief Tavdgiridze told reporters on Saturday
that nothing is complicated about the situation. “This problem in the TV
station can be solved easily and I am sure that this will happen in a near
future. We should hold negotiations and meet with all the employees of the
TV station,” he said. A local correspondent for the Georgian service of
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Tavdgiridze promised that he would do his
best to preserve freedom of speech in Adjara through TV.

New head of British NGO branch introduced to Karabakh authorities

Arminfo, Yerevan
7 Mar 05

Stepanakert , 7 March: The deputy foreign minister of the Nagornyy
Karabakh Republic, Masis Mailyan, today received Edward Row, the
outgoing head of the Nagornyy Karabakh branch office of the British
NGO, the Halo Trust. Edward Row introduced the new head of the branch
office, Valon Kumnova, to the Karabakh government, the press service
of the Nagornyy Karabakh Foreign Ministry has told Arminfo.

Masis Mailyan pointed to the importance of the Halo Trust’s
mine-clearance work in Nagornyy Karabakh. He thanked Edward Row for
the effective cooperation with the republic’s Foreign Ministry,
saying that the ministry would continue to facilitate the
organization’s work in the future.

Valon Kumnova, in turn, expressed his readiness to develop the
traditions of cooperation between the Halo Trust and the Karabakh
authorities.

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT DOES NOT PAY SUFFICIENT ATTENTION TO
AUTOMATIZATION OF STATE AGENCIES

YEREVAN, MARCH 5. ARMINFO. The Armenian authorities do not give
sufficient attention and financing to the maintenance of the
e-government systems of state agencies, says the director of the
Center for Information Technologies Gagik Karapetyan.

Big money is allocated for government automatization projects but the
projects stop as soon as the money ends. “One cannot drive a car
without repairing it – the same is for Armenia’s e-systems,” says
Karapetyan.

“For example after the completion of the project to automatize the
state register of Armenia we learned that our phone lines were cut –
here in Armenia one can lose an effective system because of
2,000-3,000 AMD,” says Karapetyan noting that he is going to raise
this problem at the next meeting of the council for supporting IT
development in Armenia so as it is budgeted later.

Turkey is showing “slippage”

ANKARA, March 3 (Reuters) – Turkey is showing “slippage” in its reform
drive to join the European Union, though current slow progress should
not jeopardise the start of entry talks on schedule on Oct. 3, an EU
envoy said on Thursday.

Hansjorg Kretschmer cited reports of police harrassment of Turkey’s
Alevi religious minority, of petty restrictions placed on the
Istanbul-based Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and of excessive police
force used against demonstrators.

Kretschmer said Turkey needed to complete a law on religious
foundations that would buttress the property and educational rights of
its non-Muslim minorities.

“There has been slippage in the quality of implementation,” Kretschmer
told Reuters in an interview.

He said he did not necessarily blame the conservative government for
the shortcomings but argued Turkey’s whole state bureaucracy must work
to ensure reforms were properly enacted.

He expressed concern that no senior officials had publicly condemned
or tried to act on death threats aimed at Orhan Pamuk, an
internationally renowned Turkish novelist.

Pamuk recently upset Turkish nationalists by backing Armenian genocide
claims. Armenians say more than a million of their compatriots were
killed by Ottoman Turks in 1915-22 — a claim strongly rejected by
Ankara.

“Democracy and human rights always have to be defended in in all our
countries…There are always interests which want to curtail some of
these… But the risk is much bigger (in Turkey) than in more
established democracies,” he said.

ADVERSE REACTION

Kretschmer said none of the issues cited would delay the start of
talks. He added a note of caution.

“If an impression is created in the EU (that) Turkey is no longer so
committed to conduct political reforms, there might be an adverse
political reaction in the EU.”

Many in the EU remain deeply uneasy about admitting Turkey, a large,
poor, overwhelmingly Muslim country of more than 70 million people,
even though negotiations could last a decade.

France has promised its voters a referendum before Ankara is finally
allowed to join the wealthy bloc.

Kretschmer played down fears of a French ‘no’ vote.

“To the extent that Turkey makes progress to adjust to EU standards
and becomes a liberal democracy … to that extent European public
opinion will also become more benign,” he said. On Cyprus, the biggest
threat to Turkey’s EU bid, Kretschmer also sounded a relaxed note. “I
personally am confident this will not be an obstacle to talks starting
on Oct. 3,” he said.

Turkey must sign a protocol extending its customs union with the EU to
10 new member states including Cyprus before the October deadline, but
is currently exploring the legal implications of such a move.

Turkey does not recognise the Greek Cypriot government, viewed by the
EU as the sole legal representative of the whole island of
Cyprus. Ankara instead backs a breakaway Turkish Cypriot enclave in
the north of the Mediterranean island.

“I think the political determination to get the EU talks started on
Oct. 3 will be the priority for the government,” said Kretschmer,
signalling he believed a compromise could be found.

03/03/05 21:01 ET

AZG Armenian Daily #038, 03/03/2005

Diaspora-Armenia

ARA ABRAHAMIAN INTRODUCES ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2004

Commemoration of 90th Anniversary of Genocide a Primary Issue of 2005

Ara Abrahamian called a press conference to share with the achievements of
the World Armenian Congress and the Union of Russia’s Armenians in 2004 and
with the coming arrangements.

Mr. Abrahamian emphasized first of all the scientific-business conference
“The Genocide factor in improving Armenian-Turkish relations” organized by
WAC and Moscow’s Armenian Institute of International Right and Political
Science in Yerevan on May 6-7, 2004.

A commission was set up after the conference to study issues concerning
Armenian Genocide which will hold its next session in Brussels on April
17-19. Brussels is going to host also a round table “Genocide is a Crime
Against Humanity”, a photo-exhibition on Armenian Genocide and a documentary
display. Three volumes on the Genocide were published.

Ara Abrahamian also highlighted elections in Russia last year that brought
many Armenian lawmakers to power. “It’s great that Armenians strive today to
rule and not to be ruled”, Mr. Abrahamian said.

October 12-14 of 2004 were days of WAC and URA in Armenian and Artsakh
organized for the 5th time. Ara Abrahamian underscored the Armenian Economic
Forum on October 13 that gathered more than 400 businessmen and foreign
delegations.

Mr. Abrahamian introduced the economic project of making Tsakhkadzor into an
international resort. He was to discuss the project with president Robert
Kocharian yesterday. It will be carried out in association with overseas
tourism companies. Mr. Abrahamian said the Russian minister for sports
assured that their sportsmen will visit Tsakhkadzor as well.

The World Armenian Congress envisages opening an economic center in Armenia
to support country’s socio-economic development.

The primary issue in the educational sphere is equipping all the schools and
universities of Armenia and Artsakh with PCs. WAC and URA have already
distributed 5000 computers to 500 Armenian schools and several universities
and organizations. Thanks to the efforts of WAC and URA, 134 refugees
received apartments last year.

A series of arrangements dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Armenian
genocide will be held this year. “We do as much as we can, but I can say
that other organizations and the Armenian state itself are passive in this
respect and that will do no good neither to our organization nor to the
Armenians as a whole”, Ara Abrahamian said. The WAC announced 2005 a year of
unity. “Our activities will be more efficient if the Armenian authorities
cooperate with us as no organization in Diaspora will take a firm ground
without cooperation”, Mr. Abrahamian added.

There is an agreement to open offices in Brussels, Geneva and London that
will promote Genocide acknowledgment.

Arrangements on the Genocide’s 90th anniversary are under way in 240 cities
of Russia that has offshoots of URA. A cross-stone dedicated to the victims
of Genocide will be erected for the first time in the Victory Park in
Moscow.

An international literary contest for the best piece among schoolchildren
and students in Armenia, Artsakh and Diaspora on theme “We Were, We Are, We
Will Be” is launched to commemorate the Genocide anniversary. WAC has also
organized events on 1600th anniversary of the Armenian alphabet.

A series of arrangements will be dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the
victory over fascism in the Great Patriotic War thus drawing attention to
Armenian veterans.

Afterwards, as usual, Days of WAC and URA will be celebrated in Armenian and
Artsakh in October.

Answering journalists’ questions concerning the closure of Upper Lars
checkpoint at the Russian-Georgian border, Ara Abrahamian said that Armenia
is to be blame along with Russia, as it did not solve the issue in its due
time. “The fact of closure was the result of misdeeds from both sides”, Mr.
Abrahamian noted.

Concerning Asset-for-Debt program, Ara Abrahamian said: “I think that
program is beneficiary. But there should have been a mechanism allowing to
return assets to Armenia if they are lying idle”.

Speaking of maltreatment of Armenians within Russia’s borders, Mr.
Abrahamian noted that URA is the only NGO in Russia that started a legal
procedure against skinheads.

Ara Abrahamian said that President Vladimir Putin will possibly visit
Armenia in the end of March.

By Aghavani Harutyunian

Fresno State News, CA
March 2 2005

Armenian Studies Program

California State University, Fresno
(278) 2669

`William Saroyan and His World’ Panel Discussion

to be held at Fresno State

The Armenian Studies Program at Fresno State, in cooperation with the
William Saroyan Society of Fresno, is co-sponsoring a panel
discussion, “William Saroyan and His World” at 7:00 PM on Friday,
March 11 in the Industrial Technology Building, Room 101 (corner of
Barstow and Campus Drive) on the Fresno State campus.

The panel discussion is part of the Armenian Studies Program Spring
2005 Lecture Series and is being held in conjunction with a one-unit
course on William Saroyan being offered the same weekend by Dr.
Dickran Kouymjian, Director of the Armenian Studies Program.

Dr. Dickran Kouymjian will moderate the panel discussion and serve as
a discussant.

John Kallenberg, retired Fresno County Librarian and President of the
William Saroyan Society will give the introduction to the panel.

Fresno author and historian Berge Bulbulian will speak on “Fresno in
the Time of Saroyan.” Bulbulian is the author of The Fresno
Armenians.

Barlow Der Mugrdechian of the Armenian Studies Program will speak on
“Saroyan the Writer.”

Long-time Saroyan friend and writer Ed Hagopian will speak on
“Reminiscences and Recollections.”

Fresno County California Collection Librarian and book collector
William Secrest, Jr. will present a paper on “Collecting Saroyan.”

The panel discussion is free and open to the public.

Relaxed parking will be available in Lots Q, K, and L after 7:00 PM
the night of the lecture. For more information on the presentation
please contact the Armenian Studies Program at 278-2669.

ATIAD sends letter on Armenian resolution to CDU leader

Hurriyet, Turkey
March 1 2005

The Association of Turkish Businessmen & Industrialists in Europe
(ATIAD) said on Tuesday that the real goal of the resolution on
so-called Armenian genocide to be submitted to the German federal
parliament by CDU/CSU in April was to slander Turkey.In the letter
it sent to Christian Democrat Union (CDU) leader Angela Merkel,
ATIAD said, “the real goal of your party is to disgrace Turkey,
which you want to exclude from the EU (European Union).

It is a shame to make alleged incidents that occurred 90 years ago
a tool for your internal policy and party policy.”

ATIAD stated that Turkey had entered a path of no return, and would
become an EU member whether the CDU and CSU wanted it or not.

(Hurriyet)

FRENCH PARLIAMENTARIAN PUSHES “GENOCIDE” ISSUE

IPR Strategic Business Information Database
February 28, 2005

According to Cumhuriyet, Turkey’ds relations with neighboring and
regional countries, especially Armenia, Greece and Greek Cyprus,
were discussed at the Turkish-European Union Joint Parliamentary
Commission’ds 53rd meeting. Addressing the gathering, French
parliamentarian Jacques Toubon said that Turkey should recognize the
so-called Armenian genocide and the Treaty of Sevres in order to join
the EU.

U.S. rejects reports it opposes Karabakh’s return to Baku

Interfax, Russia
Feb 28 2005

YEREVAN/BAKU. Feb 28 (Interfax) – U.S. officials made a statement
denying assertions that Washington, which one of the mediators working
to resolve the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, is against returning
Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan.

These assertions were made following Armenian media reports which
cited U.S. Ambassador John Evans’s statements made at a meeting with
the Armenian community in Los Angeles.

The U.S. ambassador was quoted as saying that although the U.S.
respects the territorial integrity of states, everyone understands
that giving Karabakh back to Azerbaijan would be a disaster.

In the wake of this statement, the U.S. Embassies in Yerevan and
Baku on Monday circulated statements saying that Evans’s assertions
reflected only his personal point of view.