Author: Vasilian Manouk

Prime-Tass English-language Business Newswire
April 23, 2004

Russia’s UES interested in Turkey’s power distribution assets

YEREVAN, April 23 (Prime-Tass) — Russia’s power grid monopoly UES
plans to participate in the announced privatization of Turkey’s power
distribution networks, Armenia’s Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan told
reporters Friday.

UES plans to start power exports from Armenia to Turkey, and
therefore plans to purchase distribution networks in Turkey, he said.

Meanwhile, Armenia’s International Power Corporation (IPC) plans to
suspend power exports to Georgia from May 1, because currently
Georgia has enough own power to meet domestic demand.

IPC is an Armenia-based subsidiary of power grid monopoly UES.

In December 2003, IPC obtained a 15-year license to export electric
power from Armenia to Georgia’s power distribution network Telasi,
controlled by UES.

In January-March, IPC exported 207.4 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of
electric power to Georgia. End

ArmenPress
April 22 2004

KOCHARIAN MEETS GERMAN FM

YEREVAN, APRIL 22, ARMENPRESS: Armenian president Robert Kocharian
met today with members of a German delegation headed by foreign
minister Joschka Fischer, who have arrived today in Yerevan from a
trip to Afghanistan and Azerbaijan.
Kocharian was quoted by his press office as saying that he
considers the visit as a continuation of a political dialogue between
the two countries and a sign of the growing interest of Germany in
the South Caucasian region. The press office said the agenda of the
meeting included a wide range of issues on bilateral cooperation and
the region.
In a reference to the resolution of Nagorno Karabagh conflict both
sides were reported to emphasize the key importance of building a
climate of confidence between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Kocharian said
Armenia has time and again proposed various cooperation schemes,
which Armenia believes can help achieve a mutually acceptable peace
formula to end the conflict, which were all rejected by Azerbaijan.
Kocharian also spoke about the prospects for improvement of
Armenian-Turkish relations, saying that Armenia has always stood for
a normalization dialogue. without preconditions. “We have always said
that Armenia-Turkish relations should not be linked to relations with
a third country,” he said.
Fischer was quoted as saying after meeting with top Azeri
officials in Baku yesterday that “Germany is keen to see an end to
the long-running conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over
Nagorno-Karabagh.” He added that the European Union is ready to do
everything in this regard.
Fischer will depart for neighboring Georgia today.

Students commemorate Genocide

By Van-Anh Tran
DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR
April 22, 2004
[email protected]

About 50 students marched in silence around the UCLA campus Wednesday
in commemoration of the 89th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide by
the Turkish government – which some countries, including the United
States, do not officially recognize.

Starting on April 24,1915, the Turkish government of the Ottoman
Empire started an ethnic cleansing policy by relocating its Armenian
population toSyria.

Between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians are believed to have been
killed, and no consensus number is agreed upon by historians.

There is also debate on whether the killing of Armenians during World
War I by the Turkish government can be called a genocide, but most
Armenian students on campus don’t see it as a debatable issue.

“The Armenian genocide is not a political issue, but a historical
fact,” said Raffi Kassabian, treasurer of the Armenian Student
Association and a third-year political science student. “As a great
civilization, we must learn from the past so we will not repeat what
happened in the future.”

Participants in the silent march were dressed in black and carried
posters with slogans like “Recognition ends repetition” and “We seek
justice.”

One poster bore an American eagle with the message “United We Stand,”
despite the fact the U.S. government has not officially acknowledged
the genocide. The silent march ended with a presentation, including
speeches, poetry readings and music performances at Bruin Plaza.

“We do these events to increase the awareness about the genocide,
because there have been denial in the past on campus about it,” said
Christina Ohanian, cultural director of the Armenian Student
Association and a second-year political science student.

The association sponsored the event with the help of Alpha Epsilon
Omega and Alpha Omega Alpha, UCLA’s Armenian fraternity and sorority,
respectively.

“It is important that Armenian students organize such events, because
one unrecognized genocide tells us it’s OK that it happened and that
we do not need to recognize it,” said Lory Bedikian, a 1994 alumna who
read poetry at the presentation.

Sion Abajian, Bedikian’s grandmother, is an Armenian genocide survivor
who still has nightmares about her experiences crossing the Syrian
desert, Bedikian said. Abajian used to talk a lot about her
experiences and has burning sensations on her feet that doctors
speculate are caused psychologically from her memories, Bedikian said.

Posters and information were displayed on Bruin Plaza throughout the
day to attract students and offer more information about the genocide.

“I believe that if we would have recognized the genocide of 1915, then
it wouldn’t have been repeated in Rwanda and Bosnia,” said Tamar
Nazerin, member of Alpha Omega Alpha and a third-year physical science
student.

The only U.S. president to recognize the killings as a genocide was
Ronald Reagan.

Concerns for U.S.-Turkish relations have often been cited as the main
reason for the United States not formally acknowledging the
genocide. Many nations, including France, Israel, Russia and Canada,
have recognized that the genocide was a crime against humanity.

UCLA’s Undergraduate Students Association Council passed a resolution
Tuesday night acknowledging all the atrocities perpetuated against
humanity, including the Armenian killings.

CENN – APRIL 20, 2004 DAILY DIGEST
Table of Contents:
1. Armenia Sells its Gold Reserves
2. Yerevan Municipality to Crack Down on Illegal Construction
3. All Go For International Railway Corridor
4. Environmental NGOs Call for Closure of World Bank Climate Change Fund

5. The European Commission Delegation to Georgia
6. The first International Healthcare Congress — CleanMed Europe
7. EIA Report on the Project `the Oil Products reservoir on the
Territory of Isani fair, Tbilisi ” by the `Georgian-Caspian Oil and Gas
Company’ Ltd

1. ARMENIA SELLS ITS GOLD RESERVES

Source: Interfax, April 19, 2004

The Central Bank of Armenia has sold the country’sgold reserves of about
1.4 tonnes, the Bank told Interfax.

Details of the deal, which took place and the end of last year, are not
being disclosed.

The Central Bank of Armenia’s board decided to sell the reserves because
ofthe high liquidity on the gold market over the past few years, the
Bank’s press service reported. “The high correlation between gold and
the euro means that even without gold in international reserves the
necessary level of diversification can be maintained and at the same
time the yield of international reserves can be raised,” the Bank said.

In recent years, gold reserves have remained unchanged at around 1,396
kg, which on October 1 2003 was estimated at $17.1 million (3.65% of
Armenia’s international reserves of $468.7 million). International
reserves, already without gold, totaled $512 million on April 1 2004.
Yerevan Municipality to Crack Down on Illegal Construction
From: “Onnik Krikorian” <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2004 22:07:34 PDT

2. YEREVAN MUNICIPALITY TO CRACK DOWN ON ILLEGAL CONSTRUCTION

Source: A1 Plus, April 19, 2004

On April 19, 2004 Yerevan’s Architect General Narek Sargssyan, speaking
at a news conference, said Ancient Rome, the restaurant complex built in
the center of Armenian capital, was illegal construction.

He said Yerevan’s municipality intended to impose fines on all illegal
constructions or destroy them.

Sargssyan says the government’s second building and House of Artists’
Union and Sevan hotel construction is under way now.

He also said pedestrian subways would be built in Baghramyan Avenue
soon.

3. ALL GO FOR INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY CORRIDOR

Source: Global News Wire – Asia Africa Intelligence Wire, Africa
Analysis, April 16, 2004

Russia will supply expertise and investment for a major railway network
that should link eastern and northern Europe with India through Iran.
This North-South international transport corridor has been on the
drawing board for some time and will be formally launched next year.

Russia, Iran and India established the concept of the transport corridor
and have so far been joined officially by Kazakhstan and Belarus. There
are ongoing talks with Oman, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Syria,
Sweden, Finland and Bulgaria, all of which are already known to have
shown an interest.

Several other countries are also keen to link into, and support, what
promises to be one of the major freight corridors anywhere. Official
estimates put north-south freight at up to 50m tones a year by 2010.

The latest commitment by Russia comes after a meeting in Iran between
Iranian transport minister Ahmad Khorram and Russian Railways company
president Gennady Fadeyev. Russian Railways is also involved in
bilateral discussions with the Iranian government about the building of
several rail lines in Iran.

Rail traffic between the two countries has increased dramatically over
the past year and, once the international corridor is formed, should
double in 2005. The 4m tones of freight estimated to be carried between
Iran and Russia this year should raise to 8m tones.

Iran, which is spending large sums on the development of its ports, sees
itself as a hub for North-South traffic, providing port facilities to
service the Asia-Pacific region.

4. ENVIRONMENTAL NGOS CALL FOR CLOSURE OF WORLD BANK CLIMATE CHANGE FUND

MEDIA RELEASE

ENGLAND, UK, April 19, 2004. Today, over fifty environmental and social
justice NGOs and other groups sent a letter of protest to the World Bank
calling for the closure of its new emissions trading fund, The Prototype
Carbon Fund.

In the year of the World Bank’s 60th anniversary and in the run-up to
intense protests in Washington D.C. at their annual meeting this month,
the groups state that the Bank’s new fund is destructive green wash and
has in fact created extra problems for communities and the environment.
The fund was set up in 1999 to facilitate the new trade in greenhouse
gases created under the Kyoto Protocol. The NGOs state that so far the
fund has exacerbated existing human rights violations and furthered
environmental destruction.

One of the fund’s model projects is located in Brazil and involves the
expansion of monoculture eucalyptus plantations owned by the Plantar
corporation. The plantations were originally established by forcibly
evicting geraiszeiros peoples from the land and since then the
plantation’s owners have been accused of creating “slave-like
conditions” 1. Furthermore, the plantations have heavily polluted
surrounding water sources, thus devastating the livelihoods of local
farmers and fisher folk.

The World Bank will fund the expansion of these plantations in order to
generate ‘carbon credits’ for the international trade in greenhouse
gases.

2 However, on top of the impacts upon the local environment and peoples,
the verifiers of the carbon credit scheme, the Norwegian company Det
Norske Veritas, have stated that there is no guarantee that the project
will actually have a permanent positive effect on the climate. Marcelo
Calazans from local Brazilian NGO FASE-ES states:

“This and many other projects have terrible negative impacts on local
people and environments and it is still unclear if there is any real
benefits for the climate. We believe that the Prototype Carbon Fund
should cease operations and close down immediately.”

Attached is a full copy of the letter sent to the World Bank and the
signatories. For more information please contact Larry Lohmann (The
Corner House) on 01258 473795/821218 or Heidi Bachram (Carbon Trade
Watch) on 01865 240644. For background, see also and

1. The Montes Claros (MG) Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), an
organization originating in the Catholic Church, which is very much
respected due to the fact that it defends the peoples’ right to the
land. It followed closely the first Parliamentary Investigation
Commission (CPI) set up in 1994 against the forestation companies,
including V&M (which was Mannesman at that time) and Plantar, verifying
the practice of slave labor on the companies property.
()

2. The Plantar project in Minas Gerais, Brazil is the first carbon sink
project seeking credit through the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development
Mechanism. It involves planting 23,100 ha of Eucalyptus plantations to
produce wood for charcoal, which will then be used in pig iron
production instead of coal. In addition to this so-called avoided
fuel-switch component, the project also claims carbon sequestration
credits for the trees planted. ()

5. THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION DELEGATION TO GEORGIA

On 19 March the European Commission Delegation to Georgia launched a
Call for Proposals for microprojects under the European Initiative for
Democracy and Human Rights. For more information about the Call for
Proposals, please consult the EC Delegation website (see below).

In order to explain the procedural issues involved in submitting a
proposal under this Call, representatives from the Delegation will hold
public information meetings in Tbilisi and the regions of Georgia.
Please find below a schedule of meetings.

Representatives of interested NGOs are welcome to attend meetings in any
of these locations. NGOs are requested to send not more than two
representatives each.

The schedule of the information meetings is enclosed.

Contact Information
38, Nino Chkheidze Street, Tbilisi 0102
+995 (32) 943763
+995 (32) 943768 (fax)
[email protected]

For the more detailed information please visit:
7

6. THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL HEALTHCARE CONGRESS — CLEANMED EUROPE

Join us for CleanMed Europe, the first international healthcare congress
on sustainable products and practices in Europe.

CleanMed Europe will be held 6-8 October 2004 at the new exhibition and
congress centre in Vienna, Austria.

First: Do no Harm!

The operation of healthcare facilities has significant environmental
impacts that are contributing to the damage of our natural ecosystems.
And a sick nature endangers the health of people.

As health care professionals pledge an oath of “First: do no harm” all
other aspects of health care should also be carried out in a way, which
cause no harm to public health and the environment.

Forward thinking healthcare systems must therefore be ecologically
sustainable.

CleanMed Europe will show you how to achieve this.

The agenda for 2004

Environmental improvement options for cleaning and disinfection, laundry
medical product use, energy and water use,

§ Waste management
§ Replacement of toxic materials
§ Organic food
§ Pharmaceuticals in the environment
§ PVC Alternatives
§ Alternatives to Waste Incineration
§ Green and healthy buildings
§ Reuse of medical devices
§ Environmental management systems
§ Expected Participants

§ Senior health care managers
§ Environmental managers
§ Purchasing and facility managers
§ Nursing, doctors and multidisciplinary health professionals engaged in
environmental activities
§ Political decision makers
§ Researchers and experts
§ Innovative companies

7. EIA REPORT ON THE PROJECT `THE OIL PRODUCTS RESERVOIR ON THE
TERRITORY OF ISANI FAIR, TBILISI ” BY THE `GEORGIAN-CASPIAN OIL AND GAS
COMPANY’ LTD

Source: `Sakartvelos Respublica’ (`Republic of Georgia’), April 19, 2004

In accordance with the Georgian legislation, Ltd `Georgian-Caspian Oil
and Gas Company’ submitted EIA report to the Ministry of Environment of
Georgia to obtain an environmental permit for the activity of first
category – Project on the Oil Products Reservoir on the Territory of
Isani Fair, Tbilisi.

EIA report is available at the press-centre of the Ministry of
Environment (68, Kostava str., VI floor) and at the Department of
Environmental Permits and State Ecological Expertise (87, Paliashvili
Str., Tel: 25 02 19). Interested stakeholders can analyze the document
and present their comments and considerations until June 3, 2004.

Public hearing will be held on June 3, 2004 at 12:00, at the conference
hall of the Ministry of Environment.

—
*******************************************
CENN INFO
Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN)

Tel: ++995 32 92 39 46
Fax: ++995 32 92 39 47
E-mail: [email protected]
URL:

Interfax
April 20 2004

Yerevan, Baku continue negotiations on Karabakh conflict

Yerevan. (Interfax) – Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian told
a press conference in Yerevan that his meeting with the Azerbaijani
foreign minister in Prague last week “was useful, but the dialogue is
not finished yet.”

He said that Armenia “did not manage to clearly understand the
Azerbaijani side’s final approach to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”

“In the current situation, the only thing I can report about the
meeting is that it was agreed to conduct another meeting of the
Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers in mid-May,” Oskanian
said.

He also said that at the meeting in Prague, the co-chairmen of the
OSCE’s Minsk group did not offer the sides any new ways to settle the
conflict.

Talking about political destabilization in Armenia, Oskanian said
that regrettably, “the internal political situation in Armenia may be
misunderstood by Baku.” This may lead to a change in Azerbaijan’s
position on settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, he said.

Analyst: Georgian Revolution Holds no Lessons for Armenia

Civil Georgia
2004-04-15 15:39:58

Q&A with Richard Giragosian

Armenian police has disbanded the rally on April 13 and dashed the
hopes of the oppostion leaders for the regime change similar to
Georgia’s “Revolution of Roses.” Use of force by the government has
underscored the need for further protests against Armenian President
Robert Kocharian, opposition says. However, as the analysts suggest
the political situation in Armenia today is significantly different
from that of Georgia in November 2003 when former President Eduard
Shevardnadze was forced from power on the wave of peaceful protests.

Richard Giragosian, Washington-based analyst and a frequent
commentator on events in Russia, Central Asia and the Caucasus, who
contributes to RFE/RL Regional Analysis Reports, talked to Civil
Georgia about the key differences between today’s Armenia and
Georgia’s `Revolution of Roses.’

Q.: Armenia President warned the opposition they would fail to import
the revolution scenario from the neighboring Georgia. Do you think
there are preconditions for bloodless revolution in Armenia? Â A:Â
The political situation in Armenia today is significantly different
from that of Georgia in late 2003 when former President Eduard
Shevardnadze was forced from power in a peaceful `revolution of the
roses.’

The key difference lies in the power of the state, as the latter
period of the Shevardnadze era in Georgia was marked by the cumulative
effects of a loss of state authority and power, devolution from the
central government in Tbilisi to the increasingly assertive and
restive regions, as seen in Adjara. This trend resulted in a
substantial loss of legitimacy as well as authority.Â

Thus, it was this vacuum of power and weakening of the state that
emerged as the most significant opportunity for Mikheil Saakashvili,
Burjanadze and, by the end, Zurab Zhvania, form taking advantage of
the situation to force Shevardnadze to resign. It also became
apparent that it was up to Saakashvili and his political allies to
emerge as the `saviors’ of the Georgia state.Â

This also means, however, that the Georgian people’s expectation are
very high and the demand for a fight against corruption and a
restoration of Georgian national pride and strength now rests on the
shoulders of Saakashvili and his still new government. There is hope,
however, that with the success in three areas, the Georgian government
is on the way to finally correcting the decline in state power,
authority and legitimacy.Â

For Georgia, these three successes comprise the following gains:
managing the Adjarian situation and taking on Abashidze, as well as
the ambitious reforms in the Defense Ministry and positive results in
tax and revenue collection and some early effective measures against
corruption.

In Armenia, however, the reverse is true. A strong and assertive state
is exercising its powers of control and intimidation against the
traditionally marginalized and usually divided opposition. The key
difference between the revolution and Georgia and the outlook for
Armenia, rests in the Armenian government’ s overreaction to events.Â
The threats posed to the regime by the opposition are neither as
serious nor as illegal as the authorities in Armenia have contended.Â
In fact, the Armenian opposition remains limited by a reliance on
personality over platform, although the sate is locked in a cycle of
violence and an `arrogance of power’ that threats to only bolster the
opposition.Â

Moreover, the Armenian state, through its use of harsh repression,
mass arrest and by an arrogant demonstration of `disdain for
democracy,’ is actually only legitimizing the politics of the
opposition. By acting, or reacting, with the full weight of the state
and by utilizing the coercive levers of state control, there may
actually be a point where Armenia reaches a pivotal period of
confrontation between an overbearing state acting under cover of
defending law and order with a disregard for democracy.  Â

Q:Â Non-governmental organizations have played a prominent role in
Georgian revolution. Are Armenian civil society groups influential
enough?

A:Â Despite some initial comparison, for Armenia, the Georgian model
of transition is unique and holds no real lessons for the Armenian
situation. The change in the Georgian government stems from a
complicated combination of factors, very few of which are seen in
neither of Georgia’s neighbors. In many ways, the outcome in Georgia
was due as much to the weakness of the state as from the strength of
civil society.Â

But the most significant difference with the Armenian situation is the
fact that the Georgia’s civil society was able to emerge victorious
fromits confrontation with the Georgian state apparatus because the
state (under Shevardnadze) had lost its authority and legitimacy. The
Georgian state under Shevardnadze was marked more by a looming state
of collapse, with discredited political elite, a bankrupt state
economy and constrained by corruption and a failureto exert any
control over many key parts of the country. Although this is rapidly
being corrected under President Saakashvili, the Armenian state
remains in full control and retains authority and legitimacy.

Specifically, the Armenian state remains firmly entrenched, with a
monopoly over the elements of force and power that it has not
hesitated to use, most recently even overused in a naked pursuit to
hold power at all costs. And despite the potential of the Armenian
civil society, there is no easy or open avenue to confront the
government, despite the illusion of the opposition’s demands for
impeachment and sporadic demonstrations in the streets.  Q: Is
opposition in Armenia strong enough and popular enough for staging
more protest rallies?

A:Â The opposition remains hindered by a fairly shallow reliance on
personality, at the expense of a political platform, and is mainly
united on the inherently limited basis of anti-government feeling or
ambition. But just as the opposition is only superficially united,
the pro-government camp is also aligned in an unnatural combination of
four political parties, united only in support of President Robert
Kocharian.Â

There is also a key internal divide separating the Republican Party
from its more democratic, but weaker partners in the pro-government
camp. Specifically, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) and
the `Country of Law’ party (Orinats Yerkir) are increasingly troubled
by the outright swaggering ambition of their larger partner.Â

This may actually lead to some changes or shifts within the ruling
camp. This internal discord provides President Kocharian, who is not
tied to any political power base or party of his own, with an
important opportunity to exploit the internal dissension by utilizing
a fractured political base as a means to rule by coalition, without
the emergence of any one overwhelming party to potentially challenge
him.Â

But the main point is that the true test for the stability and
legitimacy of the Armenian government rests on its handling of the
current crisis. The Armenian government may very well be the author
of its own demise, by overreacting to an exaggerated threat posed by
the opposition. The disdain for democracy may become too much for the
international community, and too much for the Armenian population (and
its Diaspora).Â

But the power for `regime change’ in Armenia is held by theauthorities
and not the opposition. It remains to be seen whether the Armenian
government’s recent pattern of violent reaction will continue or, if
the leadership recognizes the danger of their actions, will be halted
and replaced with a return to toleration and discourse.

The fundamentals of governance and power in Armenia can be seen by the
Kocharian government’s preference to look to Russia as a political
idol. The Russian political model offers Armenia specific tactical
and strategic lessons for the less experienced Armenian president and
his associates, including precedents for restraining an independent
media, marginalizing the opposition, subverting the rule of law, and
keeping the parliament powerless and ineffective.Â

Specifically, this Russian model of a strong authoritarian presidency,
free of effective `checks and balances’ or oversight, has appealed to
most of the post-Soviet Armenian political elite. The lessons from
Putin’s moves against the opposition and independent media have not
gone unheeded in Armenia, just as attempts at meaningful
constitutional reforms remain relatively symbolic and incomplete.

Thus, the real threat to Armenian democracy is most clearly
demonstrated by the tendency for governance by strong individual
leaders over strong institutional leadership. This dominance of
`strongmen’ over statesmen has emerged as one of the most
formidable obstacles to conflict resolution and regional
reintegration.

New Internationalist 366 — April 2004

The Wild East

Life in the highrise jungle of urban post-communism is not for the
fainthearted. Richard Swift takes the measure of a new capitalism – that’s
all shock and no therapy.

THEY are mostly apartmentdwellers, these sceptical survivors who have lived
for decades under communism. If you are lucky enough to be invited into
their homes, their hospitality is exemplary. Scarce food and drink flow with
unparalleled generosity. While they have memories and often connections back
to a village somewhere, their life and fate these days is decidedly urban.

Housing is a huge problem for them. Overcrowding is the norm. Privacy is at
a premium. Whoever can buy an apartment, does so. For most, a single-family
dwelling is inconceivable. Young marrieds have to stay with their family –
maybe even share a room with a sibling or two. But at its best there is a
warmth and cosiness to this kind of apartment living. It could be in an
older downtown building with some residual charm. More likely it is in some
kind of Soviet-era monstrosity on the outskirts of town. Whether in an
Eastern European city like Sofia or the capital of a former Soviet republic
like Tashkent – whether in the architectural wonder of Lviv in the western
Ukraine or Tbilisi in the far reaches of the Georgian Caucasus –
postcommunist people are taking great care and pride ‘doing up’ their often
cramped home interiors.

Meanwhile, the public realm outside their doors often festers with neglect.
Corridors, elevators and stairwells are festooned with garbage and graffiti.
Social certainties like guaranteed apartments are simply disappearing. So
too are secure jobs, pensions, free (if inadequate) education and
healthcare, affordable (if uninspiring) food, access to recreation.
Postcommunist economies are being ‘reformed’: marketized and privatized in
ways suggested by Western consultants paid for by the World Bank or USAID.

This destruction is intended. The views of just one US economist sums up the
Washington Consensus: ‘Any reform must be disruptive on an historically
unprecedented scale. An entire world must be discarded, including all its
economic and most of its social and political institutions.’1 The aim is to
create Middle America on the Volga. ‘From each according to their ability,
to each according to their need’ gives way to ‘if you can’t make money from
it, then don’t do it’.

Not that most people were happy with communism. But with communism’s
collapse, they were promised more democracy. Instead they are getting
political bosses and fixed elections. If the economy had to be reformed,
they wanted more opportunity. Instead they are getting oligarchy and
corruption.

The champions of the unfettered market call it ‘creative destruction’, a
phrase that comes from the conservative economic historian Joseph Schumpeter
who saw it as ‘the essential fact about capitalism.’2 And for the people in
what used to be the communist world there has been destruction aplenty.
Destruction of jobs. Destruction of living standards. Destruction of entire
industries. Destruction of health. Destruction of lives.

Life expectancy is down. Suicides are up. So are alcoholism, drug abuse,
prostitution and crime as people try desperately to cope. The severity of
this crisis varies. The formerly communist countries of Eastern Europe and
the tiny Baltic republics seem to have coped best with the changes. But even
here (see the articles on Hungary and Romania) people are scrambling just to
survive.

Economic shock therapy

Hardest hit have been most of the countries that used to make up the Union
of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Outside the glitzy downtowns of cities
like St Petersburg, Kiev or Yerevan where the few prosperous New Russians,
New Ukrainians or New Armenians gather, poverty has reached staggering
proportions. Between 1990 and 1999 the number of people living on two
dollars a day or less more than tripled.3 Back in 1989, 14 million people in
the USSR lived in poverty. Nine years later the number had skyrocketed to
147 million. This region has undergone a depression and demodernization
unprecedented in peacetime over the last century. One Russian scholar
estimates the destruction to be equivalent to a ‘medium-level nuclear attack
‘.1

The creative part of this ‘creative destruction’ is a bit more elusive.
Certainly it takes a certain creativity to survive as an entire way of life
gives way under your feet – as all that is solid melts. But creativity in
the sense that Schumpeter meant – the profit in the market ledger – has in
this part of the post-communist world been, by and large, an export
industry. A lot of the loot from entrepreneurial pillage is now stored in
offshore bank accounts or invested in villas in locations like the French
Riviera. Two billion dollars a month was spirited out of Russia alone under
the corrupt Yeltsin regime. Even the capital that stays in the
post-communist world is mostly devoted to speculative purposes or high-end
retail – night clubs, fancy cafés, glitzy shops beyond the imagination of
most people. Russians were so disgusted with the corruption and chaos under
Yeltsin that, for some at least, the autocratic order of Putin and his new
cabinet comes as a relief.

It’s capitalist utopia these days – everything is up for sale. That’s
certainly the impression that my colleague Andrew Kokotka (the designer of
this issue) and I got as we travelled through the former Soviet Union.
People trotted out their worldly goods in the weak sunshine of a Kiev
afternoon and spread them out on blankets. Or maybe it was from the trunk of
their car beside the river in Tbilisi in Georgia. Every electricity pole was
covered with tear-off posters for all manner of goods and services. A
middle-aged woman named Astghik approached us on the streets of the Armenian
capital, Yerevan, with a plastic bag full of necklaces that she maintained
would keep our blood pressure in check – absolutely necessary when
experiencing ‘creative destruction’. Astghik needed the money so she could
pay her children’s (poorly paid) teachers extra so they would not ignore her
kids in school. Yes, classroom attention has become a commodity too.

So has medical care. Armenian friends described how a doctor told them their
young son ‘looks fine now but next week he might be dead’ as she tried to
convince them he suffered from salmonella poisoning. After all, treating
salmonella (whether you have it or not) is a lot more lucrative than taking
care of a simple case of stomach flu. If you pass your exams and want to
graduate – a little something for the principal will be in order. If you are
in the army and due your leave, your commanding officer has his hand out. Or
say you need a passport or another of the myriad documents necessary to
manoeuvre through life. What are often taken for granted as simple rights in
the West have become ‘negotiable exchanges’ in this part of the world.

No match for bourgeois decadence

Communism was always supposed to be about the future, but somehow it always
felt more like the past. Whether it was old ladies with headscarves and
stick brooms sweeping out Red Square or the denunciations of everyone from
Kafka to the Rolling Stones for ‘bourgeois decadence’, one got the sense of
a world run by a bunch of old fogies. Their values were mostly small ‘c’
conservative – go slow, be stable and predictable, don’t rock the boat.
Sure, there were the early days of real revolutionary fervour and debate.
Then came social engineering on a grand scale: Stalin’s forced march
collectivization The champions of the unfettered market call it ‘creative
destruction’ and industrialization and Mao’s Great Leap Forward and Cultural
Revolution resulted in the death of millions. But this kind of brutal
radicalism (more akin, some would claim, to fascism) gave way to a plodding
system where crimes and dysfunctions leant more toward the predictable and
irritating. You knew what you could get away with and what was dangerous.
Injustice and oppression abounded, but the system provided a certain level
of welfare for those who lived under it. Resignation gradually replaced
fear.

The myth of the system’s radicalism was sustained by both those who
controlled it and its enemies in the West. For the former it provided proud
credentials for their ‘scientific’ rule. For the latter it proved that no
alternative to corporate power was desirable.

Still, it was a way of life to which people adapted with a shrug of the
shoulder and a wicked joke at the expense of communist pretension. In the
West much concern was expressed about the sad fate of those living under the
communist yoke. Oddly there is no such outcry now. Instead those pushed to
the margins of mere existence are fed with ‘ no pain, no gain’ sermons about
‘ staying the course’ of reform. The main concern of the free-enterprise
zealots has not been the suffering but rather the fear that post-communist
politicians would shrink from administering the necessary policies to create
a viable capitalism.

The politics of convenience has replaced the concerns about human rights
violations that marked the Cold War. When Boris Yeltsin launched a military
assault against the Russian Parliament in the fall of 1993, the West, led by
the Clinton regime in Washington cheered him on. Although an odd precedent
for democracybuilding, their man-in-Moscow was seen as the best hope to
continue with brutal economic reforms.

Today, turning blind eyes to unholy alliances with despotic leaders is
common practice. So Kuchma in the Ukraine or Aliyev in Azerbaijan are wooed
and coddled despite blatantly undemocratic practices. The worst case is
probably that ‘warrior against terrorism’ the President of Uzbekistan, Islam
Karimov – the recipient of US troops and much Western largesse who now runs
a vicious police state. Uzbekistan currently holds some 6,000 Muslims in
custody for simply practising their religion outside official
Government-approved channels.4

A kleptocracy has emerged almost everywhere in this region. Those who had
power and position under communism have repositioned themselves as either
economic oligarchs or political bosses. In many cases they are one in the
same. In Eastern Europe this process has in part been kept in check by a
relatively open political system. Elsewhere the looting of public wealth has
been pretty crude. Russia and Armenia have emerged with some of the most
severe gaps between wealth and poverty in the world.

The system takes a ride

In a car on the way to Ukraine’s airport at Kiev, a police officer looms
with a torch out of the early morning fog. Our driver is deemed to be drunk
(at 6am in the morning!) and a ‘fine’ of $100 is required if we are to catch
our flight. The amount is half of what our friend makes in an entire month.
It’s a common story: the kind of corruption that occurs at the top gets into
the very bones of a society as people follow the examples, of their élites
at a micro-level. It’s not so much a question of morality as it is one of
survival.

An ugly political culture is emerging. Cars blow up mysteriously or people
just disappear. Deaths occur in police custody. Assaults by some
quasi-official security force take place on offices and computers. Important
documents are removed. A key figure or potential witness to a corrupt deal
gets killed in a runof- the-mill robbery. It smacks of organized crime
vendettas where the motive is revenge or cover-up.

Overt political motivation is here too. It is widely believed that the
bombings that killed dozens in Moscow apartment buildings before the second
brutal Chechen war – a war that cemented Vladamir Putin’s strongman image –
were the work not of Chechen terrorists but of some murky department of the
Russian security service.5 Then there is the Ukrainian journalist – a thorn
in the side of the Kuchma regime – whose head turned up in the woods outside
Kiev.

For most of the population this is simply theatre to be observed with a
shake of the head or a shrug of the shoulders. Proof of the failure of
society to free itself from the iron grip of the state. Proof that nothing
ever changes.

I thought of different ways to take the measure of post-communist life in a
market economy. What would the Rand Corporation do for instance? Ah-hah, I
thought… a focus group. So I got together a group of Armenian students for
a discussion. They were just entering their teens when the old system came
apart. Now they were university students and finding it very tough. On the
positive side, they said that they had more freedom to speak their minds now
and that life was more interesting. They all felt their access to the
internet was very important for democracy.

But education was very expensive and depended on a massive family effort.
All lived at home. They recalled the days of free education when students
could travel anywhere in the communist world. They worried for Armenia. They
worried about jobs: that many must now go to Russia for work. They worried
too that foreigners were buying up essential services – the Italians had the
water, the Russians the electricity. They especially worried about the
growing gap between rich and poor. They wondered why they couldn’t have the
best of both worlds: the new freedoms but also the equality and the
guaranteed security of the old system. Good question.

1 Stephen F Cohen, Failed Crusade, Norton, New York, 2001.
2 Joseph A Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, Harper, New
York, 1975.
3 2003 World Development Indicators, World Bank, Washington.
4 Human Rights Watch, 2003.
5 Boris Kagarlitsky, Russia under Yeltsin and Putin, Pluto, London, 2002.

—

Rowhani: Iran is keen on developing relations with neighbors

4/13/04

Tehran, April 13, IRNA — Secretary of Supreme National Security
Council (SNSC) Hassan Rowhani said on Tuesday that Iran is keen on
developing economic and political relations with neighboring states.

In a meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan, Rowhani
said that longstanding cultural affinity between Iran and Armenia
contributed to common interests in the field of economy and boosting
Tehran-Yerevan cooperation.

He appreciated the current cooperation between Iranian and Armenian
energy ministries over the project of dam building and setting up
power plant over Aras River as symbol of economic cooperation.

He hoped that the agreement on setting up pipeline to carry Iranian
gas to Armenia will be signed soon.

Rowhani said that Armenian government is expected to help resolve
problems of Iranian nationals and organizations based in Armenia.

Referring to the developments in Caucasus and Karabakh, Rowhani said
that as much as the regional states succeeded to resolve the crisis,
their interests would be guaranteed and regional stability would be
reinforced.

“Regional stability is prerequisite for economic development and
without settlement of the regional crisis, the ground for extensive
investment would not be prepared,” Rowhani said.

He said that Iran will spare no effort to help resolve Karabakh crisis
and regards peace and security in the Caucasus as a priority to
national security.

Rowhani pointed to crises in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and Caucasus
as the four dangerous situation which should be dealt with politically
to help bring about economic development and social welfare for the
people living in those areas.

For his part, Oskanyan expressed pleasure with the current boost in
Iran-Armenian economic cooperation in the field of electricity and
setting up gas pipeline and the progress made in transport by
establishing the North-South Corridor.

The Armenian foreign minister said that Iran-Armenia relations have
historical roots. He said that bilateral cooperation serves regional
interests in addition to mutual agenda.

Cooperation in the field of energy and above all setting up gas
pipeline will help develop bilateral relations and would be effective
in boosting regional stability, he said.

Oskanyan called for Iran’s assistance to speed up process of laying
pipeline and construction of North-South Transport Corridor.

Rowhani welcomed the proposals and hoped that Armenia would join
North-South Corridor to boost national standard of land
transport. Oskanyan arrived in Tehran on Monday.

Russian aircraft takes part in CIS command post exercise

Interfax-AVN military news agency web site, Moscow
7 Apr 04

Zarya, Moscow Region, 7 April: Aircraft deployed at the Russian Kant
air base (Kyrgyzstan) will for the first time take part in the command
post exercise (CPX) of the CIS unified air defence system, which
starts on Wednesday 7 April .

“Aircraft, deployed at the Russian Kant air base in Kyrgyzstan, will
for the first time take part in the command post exercise of the CIS
unified air defence system, which means that the air base has been
completely integrated into this joint combat system, established by
our states,” Russian Air Force Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Mikhaylov
told Interfax-Military News Agency. He supervises the exercise from
the Russian Air Force central command post.

“Another important feature of today’s exercise consists in combat
employment of A-50 AWACS aircraft in order to increase the radar
coverage in various directions of the ongoing exercise,” he
said. According to him, the exercise will also see participation of
long-range aircraft, which will carry out air refuelling in the course
one of the missions.

“Russian Su-24 Fencer and MiG-31 Foxhound are expected to conduct
joint manoeuvres with Belarus and Kazakh attack aircraft and fighters,
as well as to land on airfields of participants in the exercise,”
Mikhaylov noted.

The CPX sees participation of air and air defence forces of the
following eight CIS member-states: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, and Russia. According to
Mikhaylov, over 100 air and air defence forces units of CIS
member-states, as well as over 80 aircraft will participate in the
exercise.

The exercise is aimed at refining over 10 various issues, pertaining
to improving CIS airspace security.

Armenian Assembly of America
122 C Street, NW, Suite 350
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
Web:

PRESS RELEASE
April 5, 2004
CONTACT: David Zenian
E-mail: [email protected]

ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY: STATE DEPARTMENT EXISTING POLICY ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Washington, DC — The U.S. State Department, responding to objections raised
by the Armenian Assembly this week, said language used in references to the
Armenian Genocide in its most recent human rights report on Turkey did not
mark a change in long-standing U.S. government policy.

The clarification came days after Assembly Board of Directors Chairman
Anthony Barsamian wrote to Secretary of State Colin Powell calling for an
urgent re-examination of the incorrect references and requesting that the
U.S. distance itself from the Turkish policy of denial.

Barsamian said the Assembly was “greatly troubled” by the use of the words
“alleged” and “allegation” in contexts which seemed to be “unequivocally
influenced by Turkish assuage clouding State Department reporting.”

The Department’s response was issued by Armenia Desk Officer Eugenia
Sidereas to the Armenian Assembly Monday.

“Language used in the Department’s (Turkey) country report for human rights
practices referring to the events of 1915 is in no way intended to mark a
change in longstanding existing U.S. Government policy. The report referred
solely to the phrasing used to describe these events by the Turkish
government and individuals. We regret any misunderstanding. President Bush’s
statement on Armenian Remembrance Day articulate U.S. views regarding the
decimation of the Armenian community in Ottoman Turkey and underscore our
hope that Armenia and Turkey will come to a common understanding and
reconciliation,” she told the Assembly.

Under Section 2(a) and again under Section 5 of the Department’s report
entitled “Turkey: Country reports on Human Rights Practices for the Year
2003,” the authors of the report spoke of “the alleged genocide of Armenians
under the Ottoman Empire” and “allegations that the Ottomans committed
genocide against Armenians.”

Both sections cited gross violations of human rights in Turkey, including a
demand by the Turkish Ministry of Education that fifth and seventh-grade
students, including Armenians, prepare a one-page essay – in the words of
the State Department report – “arguing that allegations that the Ottomans
committed genocide against the Armenians are ‘baseless.’ ”

The report was released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
and submitted by the Department to Congress by the department of State on
February 25, 2004.

Barsamian said while as far back as 1982 the State Department had clarified
similar language by adding a footnote to explain that it was “not intended
as statements of policy of the United States … Nor did they represent any
change in U.S. policy,” similar errors appeared in the Department’s most
recent human rights report on Turkey.

“In fact,” Barsamian said in his letter to Powell, “prior to 1982, the
Department of State squarely acknowledged the Armenian Genocide and
recommended that Turkey acknowledge the crimes against humanity.”

The Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based nationwide
organization promoting public understanding and awareness of Armenian
issues. It is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.

###

NR#2004-035