AzerNews Weekly, Azerbaijan
March 23 2006

US, EU not seen as impartial Garabagh mediators – Russian MP

The mediation on settling the Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno)
Garabagh conflict should be undertaken by “a force that is accepted
both in Azerbaijan and Armenian as an impartial party” instead, a
Russian MP has said.

The OSCE Minsk Group brokering the conflict resolution is co-chaired
by Russia, France and the United States. “Neither the United States
nor the European Union can be fully impartial with regard to the
peace process, while Russia itself is not keen on implementing the
mediating mission,” the chairman of the Russian State Duma
(parliament) committee on CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States)
issues, Ahmed Bilalov, told Russian RIA-Novosti news agency.
“However, if the sides accept this, Moscow is ready to avail of all
means to achieve a fair solution…Russia is not interested at all in
the resumption of military action close to its borders,” he said in
reference to Azerbaijan’s threats to use force to free its land from
under Armenian occupation, which followed the fruitless discussions
between the two countries’ leaders in France in February. Russia
therefore wants the difference of opinion between the conflicting
sides to be solved through negotiations, Bilalov said. The MP also
emphasized that he accompanied Russian President Vladimir Putin
during his recent visit to Baku.

Prime News Agency, Georgia
March 23 2006

Outlooks For Armenian-Russian Relations

Tbilisi. March 23 (Prime-News) – Present Russian-Armenian relations
were the subject of discussion at the meeting of the Armenian
politicians in the National Media Press Club in Yerevan, Noyan Tapan
says.

The key differences in the Armenian-Russian relations were crave of
Armenia for democracy and intention of the government of Russia to
maintain authoritarian rules in the post soviet countries, Shavarsh
Kocharian, Chairman of the National Democratic Party of Armenia said.

According to him, the Russian party is dissatisfied with the decision
of Armenia to be affiliated to the European Union and is looking for
the controllable puppet regime, similar to one in Byelorussia.

Shavarsh Kocharian says that emotions prevail in majority of social,
as well as political issues in the Armenian-Russian relations.

For example, by 1993, during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict Russia
sent Azerbaijan 2 more tanks, 2,5 more armored vehicles, 1,5 more
100-plus gauge artillery, 2 more assault helicopters than usual and
53 jet fighters, while Armenia was sent nothing.

Besides, there were no Russian servicemen fighting on the Armenian
side during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, while the Russian troops
were taking part in the Azerbaijani military operations, Shavarsh
Kocharian claimed.

According to him, suggestion that Armenia was the key military
partner for Russia in the region was a fraud; the radio substation in
Gabalin (Azerbaijan) was several ten times important than the Russian
military bases deployed in Armenia or Georgia.

However, Arman Manukian, member of the managerial group of the
all-national movement of Armenia stressed positive contribution of
the Russian party in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

He spoke about that time political and diplomatic support by Russia
and present lack in the conflict resolution.

`Our strategic partners or member-states of the international
organizations that were doing nothing or were supporting us during
the hostilities, now accuse us of aggression and occupational war.
But it is all because of the present government of Armenia’, Arman
Manukian said.

Moreover, he assured that there were no future prospects for better
relation with Russia.

According to him, growing Russian influence on all branches in
Armenia was a result of `inefficiency and loyalty’ of the Armenian
government.

`Age-old armament it to be transferred from Georgia to Armenia, and
the latter is not even asked its opinion’, Arman Manukian said.

On the other hand Ovanes Ovsanian, Chairman of the Liberal
Progressive party said that the Armenian-Russian relations have not
been developing normally for quite a long time.

`It is evident that the strong Armenian-Russian strategic partnership
was a formality and Russia gloriously continues traditions of the
USSR’, he said.

In particular he expressed his anxiety about the fact that Russian
possesses 80% of energy units in Armenia that surprises even the
Russian politicians; `no country may give up its sovereignty’, they
say.

Arman Karapetian, Chairman of the New Party claimed that the next
government of Armenia will be more close to Russia with regard to
energy, transit routes via Georgia and inflow of the Russian
investments.

Kiro Manoian, Chairman of the Political Committee said that there
were certain positive changes in the Russian-Armenian relations with
regard to defense and energy, however `Russia reminds of old style of
relations and it is unacceptable’.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Messenger, Georgia
March 23 2006

Azeri military budget aspires to reach Armenian state budget
By M. Alkhazashvili

The second convention of Azeri People was held in Baku on March 16.
The convention, which drew Azeris from all over the world, included a
speech by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev, who described an
expanding Azeri military force amid a USD 600 million military budget
for 2006.

“I set as a goal to equalize the Azeri military budget with the whole
Armenian state budget in the near future. Armenia will never be able
to compete with us. Earlier the Armenian leaders consider the fact it
will be better for them,” said President Aliev the news agency Regnum
reports.

The President also spoke about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, blaming
Armenia for the lack of progress over the past 12 years of
negotiations. Azerbaijan is ready for progress, the President stated,
but if Armenia appears to be treating the negotiations as a mere
simulation, then Baku will walk away.

If a new phase of this arms race develops, then Armenia could have
difficulty keeping up. Starting April 10, the price of natural gas
will rise 52.5 percent for the Armenian population and 85.2 percent
for Armenian enterprises.

This spike in prices followed a near doubling of natural gas prices
from Russia, which raised the cost of 1,000 cubic meters from USD 65
to USD 110.

Although Russia and Armenia are still negotiating the price of the
natural gas tariff, a final agreement is expected by March 28-29. The
Armenian side hopes for an USD 80 reduction of the tariff, Regnum
reports.

In a letter to President Putin of Russia and reprinted by Regnum,
Manuk Gasparian of the Armenian National Council explained that
“increasing natural gas price is the political decision,” since it
remains unchanged for Belarus, but is being doubled for the Russian
ally Armenia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Messenger, Georgia
March 23 2006

New EU Caucasus representative pledges stronger conflict resolution
focus
In his first official visit to Tbilisi Peter Semneby meets with
Saakashvili, Noghaideli, and other high-ranking Georgian officials

By Anna Arzanova

In his first visit to Georgia the newly appointed European Union
Special Representative to the South Caucasus Peter Semneby promised
Tuesday to take a stronger position on conflict resolution and to
clarify Russia’s role in the process.

“My mandate is different as it includes a stronger focus on the
resolution of the conflicts. In reality there is nothing that I can
do that my predecessor was not able to do because the mandates are
broadly formulated, but the current signal from the European Union is
that we intend to engage more firmly in the conflict resolution
process,” Semneby stated at his inaugural press conference on
Tuesday.

Semneby is replacing the Finnish diplomat, Heikki Talvitie, who
became the first the EU Special Representative to the South Caucasus
in July 2003 and retired last month after a tenure of almost three
years.

Semneby’s mandate includes furthering EU policy objectives in the
South Caucasus by assisting Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia in the
implementation of political and economic reforms – especially
regarding the rule of law; democratization; human rights; good
governance development; and poverty reduction.

The mandate also includes conflict prevention in the region and the
peaceful settlement of conflicts by promoting the return of refugees
and IDPs as well as encouraging and supporting further cooperation
between the countries in the region in all spheres such as economy,
energy and transportation.

On March 20-21, Semneby held several meetings with high-ranking
officials. He met with the President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili,
Chair of the Supreme Court Kote Kublashvili and other representatives
of the executive and legislative branches as well as civil society
representatives.

In accordance with his mandate, during a March 20 visit to Prime
Minister Zurab Noghaideli on Semneby discussed the issues of
Georgian-Abkhaz and Georgian-South Ossetian conflicts and developing
the Georgian “Action Plan” within the framework of the European
Neighborhood Policy.

After meeting with Noghaideli, Semneby told journalists that nothing
concrete had been established and that he could not predict the
results of the forthcoming round of Georgian-EU negotiations
regarding the resolution of these conflicts.

On March 21 Semneby met with Minister of Justice Gia Kavtaradze on
March 21. The subject of discussion at the meeting was the bill on
property restitution of the victims of the Georgian-South Ossetian
aggressions, presented by the Georgian Justice Minister to the Venice
Commission a few days ago.

Later, speaking at the press conference March 21 about the Joint
Control Commission (JCC), Semneby stated that it is a little bit
early to speak about the new JCC format. He noted that though the
current format does not provide for the EU’s participation, it is not
clearly determined what position the EU will take with regard to the
JCC. Currently, JCC is represented by Georgian, South Ossetian, North
Ossetian and Russian sides.

“The European Commission is already present when economic issues are
discussing in the JCC whether the EU is going to take a role on the
political discussion in the future is something I am not able to
answer at this stage. I can only say that the EU will take a great
interest and will be closely associated with whatever happens in the
JCC,” Semneby added.

Peter Semneby has most recently served as Head of the OSCE Mission to
Croatia during 2002-2005. Working on this position, Semneby and his
staff assisted Croatia with post-conflict rehabilitation and the
managing of the most important political requirements for the EU
membership, including refugees return, minority rights, judicial
reform, war crimes trials, police reform, media legislation,
electoral legislation and civil society development.

As head of the OSCE Mission to Latvia during 2000-2002, he was a key
player in developing policies, legislation and institutions on a
range of receptive issues of the Russian-speaking minority. Semneby
was responsible for European Security and Defense Policy in the
Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs from 1997-2000. Before working
in the sphere of European Security and Defense Policy, he served in
the Swedish embassies in Germany, Ukraine and the USSR.

Ambassador Semneby has had the opportunity to work and travel in the
South Caucasus region on many occasions during his career.

Semneby arrived in Tbilisi on 18 March and left the country on March
22 for Munich.

Prime News Agency, Georgia
March 23 2006

Alaverdi-Gardabani Power Transmission Line To Double Export of
Armenian electricity

Tbilisi. March 23 (Prime-News) – Restoration of the 220-kilowatt
Alaverdi-Gardabani (Armenia-Georgia) power transmission line will
enable the Armenian party to double export of electricity.

The repair works that started at the end of 2005 will last through
the end of 2006, REGNUM news agency was told by Karapet Gevorkian,
KfW representative to Armenia.

According to him, the repair works will take EUR 8 m allocated by the
government of Germany.

`Approximate EUR 4 m was earmarked from the savings after repairs of
the Kamo-Vanadzor substation and EUR 4,5 m will be allocated from the
Caucasian Initiation Foundation’, Karapet Gevorkian said.

Turkish Press
March 23 2006

Lutem: Ottoman Empire Granted Broad Religious Freedoms To Non-muslim
Minorities
Published: 3/22/2006

NEW YORK – ”Non-Muslim minorities were granted broad religious
freedom under Ottoman Empire,” Omer Lutem, chairman of the Institute
of Armenian Studies, said on Wednesday.
Taking the floor in a seminar at the New York Columbia University on
”Minorities in the Ottoman Empire” Lutem said: ”according to
sources, nearly 2 million Armenians lived in the Ottoman Empire.
During the World War I, Armenians collaborated with the enemy, i.e.
Russian forces. Therefore, the Ottomans had to fight against both
Russians and Armenians. On the contrary of all allegations, Armenians
were not deported. They were merely relocated in different parts of
the empire. Some of them died during the transfer. However, Armenians
exaggerated number of casualties and qualified the relocation as
‘genocide’. In fact, number of killed Muslim civilians was much
higher.”

”On the other hand, Armenians signed the Gumru Treaty in 1920 and
acknowledged the borders drawn with the Treaty of Sevres. Therefore,
they cannot have territorial claims from Turkey,” he added.

Meanwhile, Eurasia Strategic Studies Center Chairman Gunduz Aktan
said, ”there are personal and collective memories on one hand, and
history on the other. Memories belongs to the Armenian diaspora. But
the history is much more objective. We (the Turks) have also memories
about the events. Dialogue and cooperation are necessary to form a
common recollection. Actually, Turkey is the party which has launched
initiatives to this end. Lately, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan proposed to set up a joint commission, however, the Armenians
rejected the proposal.”
From: Baghdasarian

Cape Times , South Africa
March 23 2006

Telling it like it is
March 23, 2006

By the Editor

Johan Evans is the US ambassador to Armenia, as of this writing. But
he probably won’t be for long.

Evans, a career diplomat who was selected to receive an award last
year for his frank public speaking, irked his superiors at the State
Department by uttering the following words at the University of
California Berkeley in February 2005: “I will today call it the
Armenian genocide.”

For that bit of truth-telling, Evans was forced to issue a
clarification, then a correction, then to endure having his award
rescinded under pressure from his bosses, and finally to face losing
his job altogether.

What happened in Armenia in 1915 is well known. The Ottoman Empire
attempted to exterminate the Armenian population through slaughter
and mass deportation. It finished half the job, killing about 1.2
million people.

Yet the State Department has long avoided the word “genocide”, not
out of any dispute over history but out of deference to Turkey, whose
membership in Nato and location between Europe and Asia make it a
strategic ally.

It is time to stop tiptoeing around this issue and to accept settled
history. Genocide, according to accepted UN definition, means “the
intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial
or religious group”.

Armenia is not even a borderline case. Punishing an ambassador for
speaking honestly about a 90-year-old crime befits a cynical,
double-dealing monarchy, not the leader of the free world.

One day, the country that was founded as a direct repudiation of its
Ottoman past will face its history squarely, as part of a
long-overdue maturing process.

Some day before then, we hope, the State Department will too.

Standard, Kenya
March 23 2006

Kenya: I’m Still in Town, Says Armenian

Cyrus Ombati
Nairobi

Artur Margaryan called The Standard Newsroom on Wednesday to say he
was still in the country.

“I am here in Kenya. I have not gone out as you have said. I am here
and I will call the Press later over the same,” he said.

Margaryan said he was in the country to stay and asked the media to
be fair in its reporting. He, however, did not disclose his
whereabouts. The Armenian national has kept a low profile since last
Monday and efforts to reach him have been futile.

On Monday, a woman picked up his mobile phone when we called and said
it was a wrong number. Margaryan called our offices at about 3pm on
Wednesday on the same mobile number, saying he had not left the
country. He said he would call an international Press conference in
his house, but had not done so by evening.

Margaryan said he was an investor with many interests in the country
and that he could only leave “for urgent business” and come back. On
Tuesday, the man at the centre of the mercenary saga was missing in
his house and a guard on duty said he had not seen him since Monday
morning.

“I have not seen him since yesterday. Why can’t you call him on his
mobile phone because you have been coming here?” asked the guard.

One of Margaryan’s lawyers, who asked not to be named, claimed the
Armenian had decided to keep a low profile and all matters pertaining
him would henceforth be handled by a Public Relations firm. The
lawyer said they were still sourcing for a firm that would handle the
work effectively. He did not explain where his client was, but was
categorical that ” he was still around”.

Margaryan was on Monday seen in Industrial Area handling electronic
goods at about noon. The decision by the foreigner to keep a low
profile coincided with a seven-day ultimatum issued by MPs Fred Gumo
and Reuben Ndolo that he leaves the country or he be forced to.

The two had last week stormed Margaryan’s house and demanded that he
leaves terming him a security threat to the locals. They were
supposed to return and forcefully evict him on Tuesday, but they did
not show up.

Police investigations into the saga have not found any link so far
but authorities say they are still pursuing the matter.

The mercenary controversy was kicked off by Langata MP Raila Odinga,
who claimed Margaryan and his brother Sargasyan were mercenaries for
hire and linked them to the raids on the Standard Group offices.

The two brothers later showed up at the Jomo Kenyatta International
Airport VIP lounge in controversial circumstances and denied the
mercenary claims.

Police investigating the claims have since questioned Raila and his
Mwingi North counterpart Kalonzo Musyoka, who the Armenians said had
asked them for money.

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
March 23 2006

Crisis Group urges EU’s greater role in Garabagh settlement

Baku, March 22, AssA-Irada

The International Crisis Group, an organization working to prevent
conflicts worldwide, has presented its report on the resolution of
conflicts in the region.
`To guarantee its own security, the EU must become more engaged in
resolving the conflicts in the South Caucasus lest they ignite into
full-fledged wars in Europe’s neighborhood,’ said the report,
`Conflict Resolution in the South Caucasus: The EU’s Role,’ which
examines the EU’s efforts to address tensions over the long-standing
Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict, the Abkhazia
and South Ossetia problems, and future steps.
`Greater engagement is a challenge Brussels has only just begun to
address’, says Sabine Frasier, the ICG project director. `There have
been a few promising steps, but there is a long way to go.’
The report said the EU has carried out insignificant work with regard
to the Garabagh settlement and should therefore step up its efforts
in solving regional disputes.
`With its reputation as an `honest broker’, the EU has a greater role
to play, and offers added value to compliment the UN and the OSCE,’
the report said.
`We are not saying that the [mediating] OSCE Minsk Group’s format
should be altered or its involvement reduced. Our position is that
the European Union should be more extensively involved in the ongoing
negotiations,’ Frasier told local ANS TV channel.
The ICG said that the efforts by the European security body have
yielded no fruit so far and EU could play a greater role in the
conflict resolution. The newly-appointed EU envoy on the South
Caucasus Peter Semneby could be closely involved in the OSCE-brokered
peace talks. The European Commission should set up and delegate a
mission to examine the situation in the occupied Azeri territories.
Preliminary assessment should be carried out by the fact-finding
mission, a strategy on EU’s involvement in the rehabilitation of
territories prepared and the contingent of peacekeeping forces
determined, Frasier said.
The ICG representative added that she would visit the United States
soon and submit the mentioned report to the United Nations office and
the State Department.*

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
March 23 2006

European, Azeri officials mull Garabagh conflict, elections

Baku, March 22, AssA-Irada

The Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict was in focus
during the talks between Azeri officials and the European
representatives in Baku on Wednesday.
The deputy chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Eduard Lintner,
and a European Union expert Werner Munch met with the Ministers of
Foreign Affairs Elmar Mammadyarov, Justice Fikrat Mammadov and
Prosecutor General Zakir Garalov.
Lintner said the European representatives and Minister Mammadyarov
shared the views on the issue. `We arrived at a conclusion that first
of all, refugees must return home and the Council of Europe
principles enforced.’
The discussions also centered on the preparations for the May 13
repeat polls in 10 constituencies where the results of the 2005
parliament poll were cancelled, as well as energy-related matters.
`We comprehensively discussed a number of issues, including the
energy situation, which is intensely watched in Europe.’
On the same day, the European visitors were to meet with parliament
speaker Ogtay Asadov and the chairman of the country’s senior
electoral body, the Central Election Commission, Mazahir Panahov, to
discuss repeat polls and the human rights situation in Azerbaijan.
The PACE committee deputy chairman Lintner is also expected to visit
penitentiaries to study the conditions provided for inmates.*