Author: Zaminian Bedik

TAJIKISTAN: Remittances – a tool for development

18 May 2005 13:56:23 GMT

IRIN

BAHOR, 18 May (IRIN) – Motoring through the small villages of the
Bahor district, about 20 km south of the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, all
seems well as spring gives way to early summer and local people tend
their wheat fields, orchards and dairy herds.

But there is an absence of men in the fields, and in the cafes around
the district. Ask a dozen locals where they are and the answer is
always the same: “North, in Russia earning money – this is the only
way we survive.”

Labour migrants are a critical component in the economies of most
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) nations, created in December
1991 and comprising Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan and Ukraine.

Remittances keep many struggling families at home above the poverty
line, and help to alleviate the stress caused by a lack of domestic
job opportunities.

An estimated 620,000 Tajik seasonal workers travel abroad each year,
primarily to Russia but also to neighbouring Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
and Uzbekistan, according to a recent International Organisation for
Migration (IOM) report. Eight years after a bitterly fought civil
war, Tajikistan remains blighted by problems, and despite a slight
economic recovery recently, the country still has the lowest per
capita income of all the former Soviet republics. Migrant workers are
thus of key importance in this impoverished nation of 6.5 million.

“According to official information received from the national bank,
migrant remittance for 2004 was almost US $260 million. It is
considered one of the main sources of livelihood, especially in rural
areas, since there is no infrastructure there at all,” Abdusattor
Esoev, IOM national programme coordinator in Tajikistan, told IRIN.

Unofficial estimates put the value of incoming remittances much
higher. The average per capita income is below $10 per month, and
about 86 percent of the population still cannot meet their basic
needs. With an official unemployment rate of 46.7 percent, economic
opportunities are sparse, which further encourages migration.

IMPACT ON FAMILY LIFE

Although the living standards of migrant workers’ families have
improved, the negative impact of extended periods of separation
cannot be dismissed. Many women suddenly find themselves having to
take on new responsibilities as the head of the household. It is a
role they are not generally brought up to perform in this largely
traditional, male-dominated society. With no child-care facilities
available, the children of working mothers are often left on their
own.

While labour migration is primarily seasonal, there are instances
where the migrant never returns.

“I haven’t seen my father in six years; I miss him,” Sayora Bobieva,
24, a sweet-seller in Vakhdat, an impoverished town 20 km east of
Dushanbe, told IRIN. Her neighbour across the road, Saida Pirova, 43,
told IRIN her spouse had left and had not been seen since. “I miss my
husband, but I have no choice but to accept this. I think he may have
remarried – he doesn’t send us any money,” said the mother-of-five
who sells apples to earn a meagre living.

USING REMITTANCES FOR DEVELOPMENT

IOM is expanding an initiative that was established by the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP), to assist migrant households,
local communities and partners in civil society. They aim to promote
the investment of migrant remittances and use the capital for the
development of continuing viable livelihoods for the families of
migrant workers.

In coordination with local development committees, the IOM also plans
to provide participatory financing facilities for community
initiatives, telecommunications infrastructure, and counselling
services for those considering work overseas and their families.

The Geneva-based organisation has opened a resource centre in
Dushanbe, the first of its kind in Central Asia, providing would-be
economic migrants with the information they need before travelling
abroad. Pending funding, IOM also wants to work on the social
reintegration of returning migrants.

“The reintegration programme for migrants will be part of a greater
IOM effort to integrate former combatants, amnestied detainees and
IDPs [internally displaced persons], which first began in 2001,”
Esoev said.

Other initiatives are being set up to reduce the dependency of rural
Tajiks on the remittance economy. The HUMO Micro Lending Foundation,
a newly-formed Tajik NGO, works with around 700 community-based
organisations to support micro-enterprises with credit services.

“HUMO provides one alternative for women who are too poor to start
their own businesses – economic development of this kind in rural
areas can mean men stay at home rather than becoming labour
migrants,” Lola Davlatshoeva of HUMO told IRIN.

Mastura Asoeva set up a basket-weaving business in Bahor two years
ago with loans from CARE’s microcredit unit, the forerunner of HUMO.

“Of course my husband is in Russia, but if the business continues to
grow, well, maybe he can stay and work for me!”

A1plus

| 16:37:55 | 18-05-2005 | Official |

ITALIANS IN ARMENIA

Today RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan received Mr. Enrico La Loggia,
Italian Minister on Territorial Affairs who is in Armenia on a two-day
official visit. {BR}

Greeting the high-ranked guest Minister Oskanyan mentioned the enhancing of
cooperation between Armenia and Italy in all directions. Finding the
positive trends of development important, deepening of mutual interest in
separate fields was underlined. In this respect the sides particularly
mentioned the perspectives of the development of small and medium business,
tourism and sports, preservation of cultural values, and others.

Then the sides referred to the issues of cooperation within the frameworks
of international structures. In particular the Ministers exchanged ideas
about the UN reforms.

AZERBAIJAN DECIDING HOW TO TAKE THE 7 TERRITORIES

A1plus
| 12:48:20 | 18-05-2005 | Politics |

The Azeri deputies are convinced that an agreement has been reached for
the 7 territories to be “returned” to Azerbaijan. Milli Mejlis deputy
Anar Mamdhanov has even described how the process will go on. According
to the internet site Day.az the “return” of the territories will take
place phase by phase.

“Most probably first of all the military forces will come out of Aghdam
and Fizuli, then – Jebrail, Zangelan, Kubatli, after which – Qelbajar
and Lachin”, foresaw the Azeri Parliamentary deputy. Although the
latter does not take part in the negotiations, considered himself
having the right to announce that “Azerbaijan has first of all
categorically refused to discuss the Karabakh status. At the same
time we have put the issue of preserving the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan before Armenia. As for compromise from the side of Baku,
first of all it can be the guarantees of security of the Armenian
community of Karabakh, as well as the restoration of communication
lines from Azeri and Turkish sides”.

ARMENIAN AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA TO VISIT YEKATERINBURG

Pan Armenian News
16.05.2005 04:21

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ May 18-10, 2005 Armenian Ambassador Extraordinary
and Plenipotentiary to Russia Armen Smbatian will visit the capital
city of Ural. According to the city administration, the Ambassador
is to discuss the prospects of regional cooperation with Mayor of
Yekatirenburg Arkady Chernetsky. The matter will in part concern
the establishing of republican consulate in the Ural capital, IA
Regnum reports.

Pan Armenian News

US PASSED RESOLUTION ON WITHDRAWAL OF RUSSIAN BASES FROM GEORGIA

14.05.2005 03:51

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The US Senate has passed a Resolution on Withdrawal of
Russian Military Bases from Georgia. Democrats and Republicans spoke for the
soonest completion of the Russian military presence in that country,
reported Utro.ru. As Republican Senator Bill Frist noted, Moscow has not
fulfilled the commitments to withdraw the bases assumed earlier. He also
reminded that over 3 thousand Russian servicemen are in the territory of
Georgia at the moment and time has come for them to leave that country.
Russia has not fulfilled its commitments within the Istanbul arrangements on
the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe,’ notes the document. US
State Secretary Condoleezza Rice being present at the Senate hearing assured
the members of the upper chamber of the Congress that the Bush
Administration does its best to convince Moscow to withdraw troops from
Georgia as soon as possible. It should be reminded that during the OSCE
Istanbul Summit in 1999 Russia signed an agreement according to which the
Russian troops have to leave Georgia and Transdniestria within four years
and now Washington demands that Russia meet these commitments. Being
concerned over the NATO activities along the Russian borders, the Kremlin in
its turn does not hasten to withdraw the peacekeepers. While the US Senate
confirms its readiness to assist Georgia in the withdrawal of Russian
troops, the State Duma in Moscow officially censures the harsh statements by
the Georgian colleagues, who have put forward an ultimatum over the Russian
military bases in Georgia. The State Duma has expressed its attitude to the
Georgian message in a n address to President Vladimir Putin. At that time
the Staff of the Group of Russian Forces in Tbilisi is not supplied with
water for already two weeks. As reported by Tbilvodokanal company, the water
supplies are suspended due to the debt for spending water that makes over 1
million laris (some $500). The company representatives assured that `the
cease of water supply has nothing common with politics, as the company
attitude to any persistent defaulter.’ At that the energy supplies of the
staff is not stopped. TELASI Tbilisi electricity distribution company
official representative Valery Pantsulaya told journalists today that the
Group of Russian Forces in Transcaucasia pays for the electricity and `the
company does not feel any political pressure either by the Georgian
authorities, or Russia.’ In spite of that Georgian leaders officially assure
that nothing threatens servicemen of the Russian bases, stated Speaker of
the Georgian Parliament Nino Burjanadze. In the Speaker’s words, she `does
not understand the hysteria that has taken place in the Russian State Duma,’
she does not understand which irresponsible statements Russia accuses
Georgia in. She also accentuated that `Georgia is not for exacerbation of
the relations with any of its neighbors, especially Russia.’ However, in her
words, it does not mean that Tbilisi will renounce its principles and
interests: `We use all opportunities provided for by the international law
to withdraw Russian bases from our territory.’

The International Herald Tribune, France
May 14 2005

A ‘get it while you can’ mood drives postwar sales

By Souren Melikian International Herald Tribune

SATURDAY, MAY 14, 2005

NEW YORK The art market entered a new era this week as Christie’s
posted the highest total ever achieved in a sale of postwar and
contemporary paintings and sculpture.

What made Christie’s performance different from previous contemporary
art auctions was the ease with which every work perceived as major
found takers, no matter what their style or medium.

Of the lots offered Wednesday, 65 of 76 sold for a combined $133.7
million.

The 17 world records set that night were revealing, not just for the
amount of money involved but for the new relativist approach to which
they point. It was as if punters had stepped back, taken a look at
the entire artistic production of the second half of the 20th century
and decided that it was time to start creaming the field, regardless
of aesthetics, before it was too late.

True, the highest price paid that night, $14 million, went to a
classic that does not really belong to the post-World War II
movements even though it was painted in 1965. “Chair Car” by Edward
Hopper is one of the high points in the work of the American artist
whose style, matured long before the outbreak of World War II, places
him at the tail end of a long Western tradition that goes back to
early 20th-century Expressionism. It was painted by a master who knew
how to wield the brush and scrutinized the mood of the characters
whose somber solitude he conveyed.

An abyss separates Hopper from the artist honored with the next
record down the list, Philip Guston: “The Street” ascended to $7.29
million, quadrupling the previous record set at Sotheby’s New York in
November 2002. It is an abstract splash of color that explodes with
the Expressionist vim of the New York school of the late 1950s.

Guston in turn does not relate in any way to the two artists who
commanded the second- and third-highest prices on Wednesday.

Willem de Kooning’s “Sailing Cloth,” dated 1949, brought $13.12
million. While critics would also place it under the banner of
Abstract Expressionism, its brisk black lines painted across the pale
ground in salmon and yellow hues and its suggestions of the living
world – an eye here, an animal silhouette there – give it a different
twist. The influence of Joan Miró and other Surrealists lingers here.

Mark Rothko’s untitled bands of dark brown framed in maroon, which
the New York artist painted in 1964, are equally far removed from
Guston or de Kooning’s work. The picture is dark and austere, which
makes the $10 million it cost remarkable.

The success of the Rothko illustrates the “get it while you can” mood
that drove enthusiastic bidders on Wednesday night as they ran after
every trophy with a well-known signature by any postwar artist
consecrated by the passage of time. So does Franz Kline’s “Crow
Dancer” of 1958, painted in hard idiosyncratic black strokes. The
abstract work rose to a world record $6.4 million.

In a telling sign of this massive swing toward the blue chips of
contemporary art, works usually confined to a narrower circle of
contemporary art fans because they are seen as more esoteric –
small-size sculpture, drawings – were sought with the same fervor as
supposedly easier colorful pictures.

A large abstract drawing done in 1942, “Composition II,” established
a record for a work on paper by Arshile Gorky, the Armenian-born
artist of the Paris school, at $2.76 million, more than doubling
Christie’s highest expectations.

Later an astonishing record was set for a sculpture by Jasper Johns,
better known for his “American Flag” paintings. Called “The Critic
Sees,” the object, only 16.5 centimeters, or 6.5 inches, long, is a
rectangular block carved in low relief, with a pair of spectacles
behind which slits stand for the eyes. At $3.96 million, this was one
of the most unexpected scores in Christie’s sale, even if the
estimate was higher – Johns appears here as the disciple of the
earlier Paris school of Surrealists.

The question that now haunts analysts is how long contemporary art
can remain on a high.

Even in Christie’s triumphant sale there were some warnings of
possible fits of weakness. Maurizio Cattelan’s three-dimensional
realistic figures – apparently meant to perpetuate the witticisms of
Dada, the art of the inept – were not received with uniform
admiration. “Frank and Jamie,” two dummies in police uniform standing
on their heads, did not elicit a single bid from those attending who
disregarded Christie’s $1.4 million to $1.8 million estimate. Later,
they failed to succumb to the charm of Cattelan’s “Ostrich,” a
taxidermied animal “executed in 1997,” a Christie’s expert noted in
an unfortunate choice of words.

Indeed, the many works of contemporary art that find their unspoken
raison d’être in the Dada-cum-Surrealist legacy are potentially at
risk. Richard Prince’s solid blue painting with six lines of white
writing simulating print that conclude with the words “The Wrong
Joke” sold for $800,000. It might yet turn out to justify its title
from a financial viewpoint.

Already this week there were some discreet suggestions of a shift of
interest in the market. The makeup of Sotheby’s more modest
contemporary art sale on Tuesday, which took in $68 million, laid
greater emphasis on figural art. Much of it was photographic in
character or inspiration.

The picture that Sotheby’s ran on the catalogue cover was a
self-portrait by Chuck Close, “John,” painted as a gigantic
enlargement, 254 by 228 centimeters, of an identification photograph.
It became the evening’s first success story when it made $4.83
million, a record for the artist.

Later, another close-up portrait based on photography transformed by
technically engineered stylization brought the highest price paid
that evening at Sotheby’s. “Liz,” done by Andy Warhol in 1963,
finished its upward course at $12.6 million.

Photography, produced for serial consumption in the form of
chromogenic color prints in an edition of six, allowed Andreas
Gursky’s work to rise to a new record. “May Day IV,” showing a vast
crowd seen from above in 2000, sold for $652,000.

The closing lot in the sale was a cibachrome print executed in 1990
in an edition of 10 by Thomas Struth. The color shot shows one of the
Louvre’s long galleries with people sitting in the middle or milling
about. “Musée du Louvre I” fetched $204,000.

Pranks? Partly so. But these pranks have been elevated to the status
of a work of art.

That is also the case with the realistic three-dimensional renditions
of humans, or of parts of their bodies, or of daily life objects.
Whether Robert Gober took himself seriously or not when he made in
1990 a human leg, duly shod, that comes out of a trouser leg, matters
little. Someone was eventually willing to pay $912,000 for the
privilege of living with it.

Another buyer gave almost $700,000 to secure Gober’s “Two Urinals,” a
conscientious white plaster, wire, lath and wood reproduction of two
urinals attached to a plank. These are the parody of a parody –
Marcel Duchamp dispatched to a 1917 show a real urinal, offering it
as art.

All this may in part reflect a reaction against other pranks –
neon-lighted tubes, made by (or rather for?) Dan Flavin, or
industrially manufactured metallic objects commissioned by Donald
Judd and described as his “work” – all offered without a shred of
humorous intention as art.

Defining quality criteria for these, and the rest, from taxidermied
ostriches to neon-lighted tubes, is a task that has so far defied the
ability of the finest experts.

Much of contemporary art is art as long as you/they say so. If it is
to be the substitute for vanishing Impressionist and modern art, it
is in danger of proving an unstable one. The prominence it gained
this week might be a prelude to considerable turbulence in years to
come.

Pan Armenian News

BAKU – CENTER OF TERROR, RUSSIAN GENERAL CONSIDERS

11.05.2005 06:02

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `The Azerbaijani capital is one of the key centers of
terrorists. The Association of Prisoners of Filtration Camps of the Republic
of Ichkeria engaged in furnishing false information for compromising the
Chechen authorities and Federal Forces is functioning in Baku’ spokesman for
the regional operational headquarters for the counter-terrorist operation in
the North Caucasus Ilya Shabalkin stated after the detainment of Chechen
terrorists, who were planning a terrorist act on May 9. In his words, false
video materials are fabricated about the alleged `atrocities of the Federal
Forces’. Then the films are sent to Russia. `This association is sponsored
by the international terrorist organizations’, the General stated.

North Shore Times (Wed) (Australia)
May 11, 2005 Wednesday

Genocide plaque is stolen

A PLAQUE commemorating the Armenian genocide has been stolen from
Meadowbank.

The plaque was dedicated at Memorial Park on April 24, marking the
90th anniversary of the genocide, which claimed 1.5 million lives.

Local Armenians suspect the Turkish community is to blame for its
disappearance.

Carol Aghajanian said the plaque’s disappearance made her “terribly
disappointed”.

“It serves as a clear reminder the Turks are still denying it, even
in Sydney, Australia,” she said.

The Turks denounced the unveiling of the plaque.

“It’s really not the place of Ryde Council to approve things like
this,” Turkish News Weekly editor Arzu Agacakyak said.

Mrs Agacakyak agreed a Turk would have stolen the plaque but she did
not support vandalism.

“There were a lot of deaths but there was never a genocide,” she
said.

Pan Armenian News

ARMENIAN SPEAKER CONGRATULATED COMPATRIOTS ON VICTORY DAY

10.05.2005 03:41

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Parliament Speaker Artur Baghdasarian has
congratulated veterans of the Great Patriotic War and heroes of the
liberation war in Karabakh on the Victory and Peace Day, reported the Press
Service of the National Assembly of Armenia. «There are holidays, whose
significance does not alter with years,» the congratulation message says.
«Owing to the heroic fight of our grandfathers and fathers 60 years ago the
existence of independent Armenia is possible today,» he noted, the message
notes May has always been a month of historical battles and victories for
Armenians and these were supplemented with liberation of the city of Shushi.
«Today bending our heads to all victims of the war, our duty is to take care
of those, who suffering the hardships of the war, are beside us,» notes the
message of A. Baghdasarian.

Is the Erdogan Government Making Concessions?

Zaman, Turkey
May 7 2005

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been pursuing an active
foreign policy since it came to power. It has made new openings that
transcend stereotype policies that were implemented for many years
on European Union (EU), Cyprus and the so-called Armenian genocide
issues. But at this point, it is being asked how much of these
policies protect Turkey’s interests and whether concessions have
always been made under the name of negotiations and new openings.
Turkey’s reform performance on its path to EU membership makes a lot of
circles jealous. Steven A. Cook, in his article entitled,”The Right
Way to Promote Arab Reform,” published in the March-April edition
of the Foreign Affairs magazine, suggests there should be a policy
to encourage reforms in Arab countries. Cook points to Turkey as
the most important and most successful example of this model, and
emphasizes that Turkey has adopted eight reform packages within the
last three years.

Even though the EU reform process did not start with the AKP, the
reform performance the party has displayed with its “conservative
democrat” identity and shuttle diplomacy, has been effective in
bringing good results. But, can we call these reforms “concessions”?
Of course, we can’t. These reforms should be against Turkey’s
interests in order for them to be referred to as concessions. The
reforms, however, are in the areas of human rights, democratization
and expansion of freedom, which are for the betterment of the Turkish
society. Besides, these criteria are valid for all EU members.

The Erdogan government changed the traditional no solution policy
on Cyprus by saying “Yes” to the Annan Plan. And now, it is about to
approve the Aditional Protocol, which means an unofficial recognition
of Southern Cyprus. Has the government made an irreversible concession
on Cyprus by taking these steps? It is impossible to say “yes” to this
question. If Turkey had insisted on the Cyprus no-solution policy and
had rejected the Annan Plan, it would have faced immense international
pressure. But now, diplomacy-wise, Turkey is in its strongest position
ever on the Cyprus issue, since the Peace Operation in 1974. Turkey
can even request that the embargo imposed on the Turkish Republic of
Northern Cyprus (TRNC) be lifted and for pressure to be mounted on
Greek Cyprus.

The letter Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote to President
[Robert] Kocharian of Armenia, that Turkey has no diplomatic
relations with, is a product of a similar active foreign policy.
Erdogan’s letter has given Turkey, which has all along rejected the
genocide allegations, but could not implement courageous policies,
a chance to take a deep breath. Turkey had thought that rejecting the
so-called allegations and decisions so far at state level, would be
enough. There was no solution. The AKP government opened a diplomatic
maneuver area for itself in a manner that even surprised the other
party. The support given by the European Council and US President
[George W. Bush] to the idea of bringing historians together and
establishing a commission, shows that Erdogan’s letter is a success
for Turkey.

AKP has pursued a policy different from the traditional approach on
US-Israel relations and has taken ties to the strategic partnership
level. Turkey pursued a rather original policy, particularly on Iraq,
even defying the United States. But we cannot claim that this policy
has been as successful as the policies on Cyprus, EU or the so-called
Armenian genocide. Turkey even lost the traditional support of the US
on various issues. The Erdogan government could not demonstrate its
active, courageous and dialogue-oriented foreign policy performance
especialy on relations with the United States. Hence, Erdogan, who
realized this mistake, visited Israel this week. He is also preparing
to visit the US. It means that Turkey is trying to thaw the ice.

As a result, the Erdogan government, on traditional crisis issues,
does not prefer a policy of no solution, but rather a reconciliatory
or pro-solution policy. For this reason, it is impossible to define
these policies as “concessions,” and it can also be observed that,
compared to the past, these kinds of policies even strengthen Ankara’s
hand, diplomacy-wise.