Business Wire
May 3 2004

“Positive/Negatives: The Unity of Film” Exhibit At Forest Lawn

–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
WHAT: “Positive/Negatives: The Unity of Film”

An exciting new exhibit at the Forest Lawn Museum
explores the art of photography through the lenses of
seven unique photographers. Their photography ranges
from landscapes and those living on skid row to obsolete
film equipment and much more.

A VIP and media reception with the photographers will
take place May 6th at 6:00 p.m. at the Forest Lawn
Museum at 1712 S. Glendale Avenue in Glendale.

Throughout the duration of the exhibit, special
activities will take place, including:

— May 9: Mother’s Day: Create a Keepsake for Mom – Kids
can make a beautiful sun catcher craft for mom! From
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

— May 16: Meet the Artist: Jacob Demirdjian – Jacob
will lead a question-and-answer session about his
work and its significance to the Armenian community.
From 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

— May 23 and 30: Photography Workshop with Kevin
Tidmore for Adults and Children – Join Kevin for a
photography workshop. Participants will be given a
single-use camera to take their own shots.
Participants will then be able to return on May 30 to
have Kevin discuss the results. From 1:00 p.m. –
4:00 p.m.

— June 6: Ronald Dietel: Landscape Photography – From
Large Format to Digital (adults and children) – Bring
your digital camera to a hands-on workshop, which
traces the evolution of the camera and its influence
on California history. Led by photographer Ron
Dietel, participants will have an opportunity to view
Dietel’s large-format photography, currently on
display, followed by an opportunity to enhance their
own photography skills. From 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

— June 19: Father’s Day Activity: Make a Memory for Dad
– Children can make a unique and special mosaic tile
frame for Dad’s big day. From 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

— June 27: Meet the Artist: William Ortiz – Meet
William and hear about photographic manipulation as
art. From 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

— July 18: Photojournalism – Meet Patrick Liotta, whose
photographs are currently on display, and join him
for a discussion on photojournalism as both art and
presentation of fact. From 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

— July 25: Meet the Artist: Vince Gonzales – Join Vince
as he talks about his photographic inspirations. From
1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

— July 31: Meditative Art: Art in a Yantra Style with
Kelly Mason – Yantra means mantra except in image not
word. In this demonstration, Kelly will use
repetitive imagery to help the viewer see beyond the
obvious core presence to benefit their entire being
physically, emotionally and spiritually. From
1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

WHEN: Reception, May 6th at 6:00 p.m., Forest Lawn Museum,
Glendale
Opening Day, May 8th, from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Daily through August 1st, from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

WHERE: Forest Lawn Museum
Forest Lawn-Glendale
1712 S. Glendale Ave.
Glendale, CA 91205

COST: Free

INFO: 1-800-204-3131

WHO: All art enthusiasts

INFORMATION: “Positive/Negatives: The Unity of Film” is an exhibit
that explores the art of photography through a
collection of works by seven photographers of varying
ethnic backgrounds — Armenian, African American,
Latino, South American, and Caucasian — whose
photography will be the featured exhibit at The Forest
Lawn Museum in Forest Lawn-Glendale from May 8th through
August 1st. The photography represented in the exhibit
ranges from landscapes to people living on skid row to
obsolete film equipment and more, and adds to the
distinctive vision of the photographers.

“Positive/Negatives: The Unity of Film” is part of the
Forest Lawn Museum’s presentation of events which are
designed to bring a diverse mix of community, cultural,
and historic art and artists to the greater Los Angeles
community. The exhibit is open to the public at no
charge seven days a week from 10:00 a.m. through
5:00 p.m.

The following photographers’ work will be included in
the exhibit: Jacob Demirdjian, Kevin Tidmore, Ronald J.
Dietel, William Ortiz, Patrick Liotta, Vince Gonzales,
and Kelly Mason.

Interfax
May 3 2004

Armenia says PACE resolution “throws us one step back”

YEREVAN. May 3 (Interfax) – A top member of Armenia’s parliament on
Tuesday said a recent Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE)
resolution “throws us one step back” but that PACE “has effectively
recognized the legitimacy” of Armenian elections disputed by the
opposition.

The resolution, passed last week, expressed concern over the current
political situation in Armenia, including the use of force by the
government to disperse opposition rallies. It urged the government and
opposition to avoid actions that might provoke violence and to hold
talks.

PACE also presented Armenia with demands and threatened to consider
suspending the country’s membership in the Assembly in September if
they have not been satisfied.

The resolution “has thrown us one step back from our former positions,”
deputy parliamentary speaker Tigran Torosian, leader of Armenia’s
delegation to PACE, told a briefing in Yerevan.

But “PACE has effectively recognized the legitimacy of the results of
the presidential elections in Armenia, which are disputed by the
opposition, and has refused using the demands of the opposition for a
referendum on confidence in the government as a condition for Yerevan,”
he said.

He called on the opposition to start talks with the government without
any conditions. “It is still not too late to normalize the situation by
joint efforts within a short period of time.”

Meanwhile, the leaders of the opposition Justice bloc told a news
conference on Monday that there was nothing they were prepared to
discuss with the government other than their demands for President
Robert Kocharian’s removal and for a referendum on confidence in the
government.

Viktor Dallakian, secretary of Justice’s parliamentary group, said the
opposition planned to continue fighting for Kocharian’s removal. He
said the opposition would hold another rally in central Yerevan on
Tuesday despite not receiving approval from the mayor’s office.

Two rivaling opposition parties represented in parliament – Justice and
National Unification – have formed a temporary bloc to press for
Kocharian’s overthrow.

Reporters without borders, France
May 3 2004

Azerbaijan – 2004 Annual Report

Azerbaijan
Area : 86,600 sq.km.
Population : 8,096,000
Language : Azeri
Type of state : republic
Head of state : President Ilham Aliev

Azerbaijan – 2004 Annual Report

The hoped-for wave of reform after Ilham Aliev, son of longtime leader
Heidar Aliev, became president in October 2003 did not come. Opposition
media remained under broad pressure, there was no diversity in
broadcasting and the regime did not fulfil its international
commitments.

President Heidar Aliev’s son Ilham took office as president on 31
October 2003 after an election denounced as a setback for democracy by
European monitoring organisations. The elder Heidar, who died in a US
clinic on 12 December aged 80, had prepared for the handover by naming
Ilham prime minister during the summer. When his father’s health
worsened, Ilham became acting president and on 2 October his father
withdrew as a candidate for reelection. Media that dared to mention the
old man’s health were punished.
The election campaign, the vote itself on 15 October and the
post-election period brought many press freedom problems. Journalists
were beaten and the government monopolised radio and TV, broadly
harassed opposition and independent newspapers and failed to keep its
international promises to respect press freedom. Journalists were
physically attacked from the summer on while covering election meetings
in Baku and the provinces and more than 50 were set upon during violent
clashes on 15 and 16 October between demonstrators and security forces,
who arrested more than a dozen of them.
Journalists organisations monitoring the campaign, as well as the
Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in a report,
said the four privately-owned nationwide TV stations all strongly
backed ruling party candidates, as did the state-run AzT, which should
have been turned into an independently-run public body as promised when
Azerbaijan joined the Council of Europe in 2001.
A council was set up on 24 January 2003 to see that radio and TV obeyed
the electoral law but its nine members were appointed by the president.
A public TV bill was given a second reading by parliament on 24
December, but it too would allow the government to have a predominant
voice.
The highly-politicised opposition and independent media came under
broad and heavy direct and indirect pressure from the authorities – in
access to public data, printing and distribution, advertising,
unjustified use of defamation laws and excessive fines. Journalists
demonstrated several times in the first half of the year against
bureaucratic harassment obstructing them in their work.
The main opposition daily Yeni Musavat was sued for libel more than a
dozen times between October 2002 and October 2003 and fined more than
100,000 euros. The laws on defamation and insults still provided prison
sentences, in conflict with international standards. A Press Council of
nine journalists and six government representatives members was set up
on 15 March to mediate between journalists and citizens, especially the
authorities.
Yeni Musavat editor Rauf Arifoglu was jailed in late October, accused
of organising the 15 and 16 October demonstrations.

Two journalists imprisoned

Rauf Arifoglu, editor of the opposition daily Yeni Musavat and
vice-president of the opposition Musavat party, was arrested on 27
October 2003 and remanded for three months in Baku’s Bailov prison for
stirring up public unrest (article 220.1 of the criminal code) and for
refusing to obey a police order (article 315.2). He could be sentenced
to up to 12 years imprisonment. He was accused of organising the
rioting that broke out around the country after the 15 October
presidential election. He staged a hunger-strike in prison from 1 to 9
December to demand the release of the 107 people arrested in the
protests and the application of the recommendations of the OSCE
observers’ report on the elections. Deputy prosecutor-general Ramiz
Rzayev said the gravity of the alleged offences, the possibility he
would abscond and also interfere with the investigation justified him
being held pending trial. Arifoglu, one of the regime’s fiercest
critics, had taken refuge in the Norwegian embassy between 18 and 21
October for fear of being kidnapped or physically attacked.
Sadig Ismailov, of the opposition daily Baki Khaber, was arrested in
Baku on 30 December and accused of involvement in the clashes in the
city after the 15 October election. His editor, Aydin Gouliev, said he
had been sent to Azadliq Square on 16 October to cover the
demonstrations. The Nasimi regional court ordered him detained for
three months in Bailov prison on 31 December while the case was being
investigated. He was charged under articles 220.1 and 315 of the
criminal code and faces between three and seven years in jail. There
was no evidence he was being detained because of his work as a
journalist.

At least 37 journalists arrested

Plainclothes police burst into the premises of the opposition daily
Milliyet in Baku on 23 April 2003 and arrested journalists Tahir
Abbasli and Sarkarda Sakharnova. They were freed a few hours later
after appearing before deputy prosecutor-general Ramiz Rzayev, who gave
them an “official warning” about a photomontage in the paper five days
earlier showing the demolition of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s
statue in Baghdad with President Heidar Aliev’s head on it instead of
Hussein’s.
Police seized 1,800 copies of the Russian-language edition of the
opposition daily Yeni Musavat on 2 May as they was leaving the
Viza-Media printers in Baku and arrested journalists Azer Aykhan,
Firdovsi Akhmedov and Sayyad Gadirli, as well as three staff of the
printing firm, including its boss, Aliovst Talishkhanly, for publishing
“anti-government” material. The journalists were freed five hours
later.
Police in 10 cars roughly arrested a group of senior journalists on 26
July as they were driving away from the Baku home of Yeni Musavat
editor Rauf Arifoglu on the way to the city’s press club. They included
Arifoglu himself, Aflatun Amashev (president) and Gunduz Takhirli
(member) of the Press Council, Mehman Aliev, head of the Turan
independent news agency, Arif Aliev, president of the press club and
head of the Yeni Nesil trade union, Ganimat Zakhidov, managing editor
of the opposition daily Azadliq, and Yeni Musavat staffers Elkhan
Hasanli, Safar Hummatov, Mirza Zeynalov and Murshud Hasanov. All were
freed an hour and a half later. Police said they had violated traffic
laws and had insulted and hit the police.
The council of the country’s media chiefs and Arifoglu said they had
heard a few days earlier of plans to arrest him. Just before the police
swooped, the heads of the main opposition press and media organisations
had gone to his home to discuss the situation.
Interior minister Ramil Usubov said on 30 July the episode would be
investigated and the police responsible punished. But no action had
been taken by the end of the year.
Rial Jafarli (Azadliq) and Ali Orujev (Milliyet) were arrested on 21
September while covering a meeting of two opposition presidential
candidates, Etibar Mamedov (National Independence Party) and Ali
Kerimly (Popular Front Party), in Lenkoran (south of Baku). Jafarli was
freed five hours later but Orujev was charged with “hooliganism” and
not released until 25 September.
Ali Ismailov (Milliyet) was beaten and briefly detained by police in
the village of Sinjanboyag (120 km north of Baku) on 3 October while
travelling with opposition candidate Issa Gambar.
Elnur Sadigov (Azadliq) was not allowed in a polling station, beaten by
police and held by them for three hours in the northern town of Ganja
on 15 October, the day of the presidential election. Two other
journalists were arrested – Parviz Hashimov (Uch Nogta news agency),
held for three hours in Ganja, and Mushfig Mamedli (the daily Baki
Khaber), who was arrested in Baku.
The Committee to Protect Journalists of Azerbaijan (RUH) said at least
16 journalists were arrested on 15 and 16 October while covering the
election and the next day’s protests. Most were freed on 22 October
after being sentenced to a few days in prison for “disturbing the
peace” or “refusing to obey orders.
Azer Qarachenli, of the weekly Avropa, disappeared between 15 to 21
October. His arrest by masked special police in front of Musavat party
offices in Baku was filmed by the TV station ANS, but the interior
ministry denied for several days he had been arrested. He had been
picked up during anti-regime demonstrations and sentenced to two weeks
in prison. He said he had not been allowed to contact the paper or see
a lawyer and had refused to sign a false statement about the
circumstances of his arrest.
Sayaf Gadoriv and Teymur Imanov, of Yeni Musavat, were arrested on 17
October as they left the paper’s offices.
Ilham Akhundov, founder and editor of the weekly Gyrkh Chirag in
Ali-Bairamly (100 km south of Baku) and a member of the opposition
Popular Front Party, was arrested at his home in the village of Mes on
18 October and two days later sentenced to 10 days in prison for
“hooliganism and using bad language in public.”
Jehyun Askerli, correspondent in Geychay (west of Baku) for Milliyet
and member of the Popular Front Party, was arrested on 19 October and
sentenced to 10 days in jail.
Police arrested Zabil Mugabiloglu, political reporter of the
pro-government daily 525, at the paper’s offices on 20 October and
taken to the Yasamal district court in Baku, where he was jailed for
two weeks for disturbing the peace.
Mustafa Hajibeyli (Yeni Musavat), was arrested on 23 October at his
parents’ home and held for several hours. Interior ministry officials
searched the apartment and took away a video cassette.

At least 99 journalists physically attacked

About 30 men attacked the offices of the opposition daily Yeni Musavat
on 4 May 2003, insulting journalists, threatening to kill editor Rauf
Arifoglu and causing a lot of material damage. They demanded an end to
articles about President Aliev’s health and to criticism of the
government. Assistant managing editor Gabil Abbasoglu, and journalists
Elshad Pashasoy, Samir Azizoglu and Khalid Kazimli were injured. The
staff, who had expected such an attack, had asked for police protection
after government officials had called for the paper to be “punished”
and the government press had called them “enemies of the country.” The
officials accused the paper of calling for Aliev’s resignation because
of his poor health. Editor Arifoglu said police protection, begun three
days earlier, had been withdrawn two hours before the attack. Three of
the attackers were jailed for between three and five days for
“hooliganism.”
Reporters Shafayat Salah (Turan news agency), Azer Ahmadov and Sahib
Ismaylov (the opposition daily Azadliq) and Elshad Memedov (the
opposition daily Khurriyet) were beaten up by police while covering a
meeting of the Popular Front Party in Baku on 24 May.
Elshad Pashasoy (Yeni Musavat), Alim Huseynov (the daily Olaylar),
Ramil Huseynov (the news agency Bilik Dunyasi), Perviz Heshimov (the
weekly Politika), Rauf Mirkadyrov (the daily Zerkalo), Abbaseli
Rustemli, Ruslan Beshirov, Ramiz Necefli, Ali Rza (all of Azadliq) and
Tapdiq Ferhadoglu (Turan) were beaten by police on 27 May while
covering a meeting of the Popular Front Party in front of the
parliament building in Baku.
Parviz Peshmili (Politika) Natig Zeynalov (Radio Free Europe / Radio
Liberty) and Nijat Daglar and Tahir Tagiyev (both of Khurriyet) were
beaten and insulted by police during a protest by opposition parties in
front of parliament on 3 June.
Mushfig Hajiyev, cameraman with the independent TV station ANS, was
attacked on 18 July by Lazim Mirzoyev, a government official in the
village of Karmachatag (in Nakichevan), who tried to seize his camera.
ANS reporter Natella Mahmudova, Kamala Surkhaygizi (Radio Free Europe /
Radio Liberty) and Malahat Nasibova (Turan), who were there with
Hajiyev to report on clashes with the Armenian army, were also set upon
and chased out of the village. Mirzoyev said he had been ordered to
keep the journalists away from the village.
Nasibova, Mahmudova and Hajiyev were beaten and insulted by police and
government officials in the village of Sadarak (Nakichevan) on 3
September while seeking information about complaints by inhabitants
against the behaviour of the local authorities. They were called spies
and traitors and ordered out of the village.
A dozen journalists and several members of the Popular Front Party were
beaten by police, including deputy police chief Yashar Aliev, as they
gathered in front of Baku police headquarters on 8 September while
opposition presidential election candidate Fuad Mustafayev was being
questioned there. Film taken by Internews was seized. Among the
journalists involved were Khalig Bakhadur (Azadliq), Azer Rashidoglu
and Metin Yasharoglu (Zerkalo), Hadija Ismailova (the daily Ekho), Rey
Kerimoglu (the paper Milli Yol), Mirjavad Ragimli (Space TV), Sukhur
Abdullayev (the daily Bu Gyun), Manaf Guliev (Internews cameraman) and
Hagani Safaroglu (Avropa). The Committee to Protect Journalists of
Azerbaijan (RUH) filed a complaint against deputy police chief Aliev on
4 December.
Irada Nureddingyzy (the opposition daily Milliyet), Nigyar Almangyzy
(the daily Express), Samira Zamanly (Khurriyet), Taptig Farhadoglu
(Turan) and Zaur Rasulzade (of the Russian-language daily Novoye
Vremya) were clubbed and stoned by police and civilians at a meeting
held by two opposition presidential candidates that police were trying
to disperse in Masaly (south of Baku) on 21 September. Zamanly was
knocked out by one of the stones.
Thugs beat people attending a meeting on 2 October held by presidential
candidates Etibar Mamedov and Ali Kerimli in the Saatli region (200 km
west of Baku) with wooden and metal objects. Among the victims were
Aflatun Guliev (editor) and Ali Orudjev (reporter) of Milliyet.
Guliev’s nose and several teeth were broken.
Fierce clashes with security forces erupted on the evening of election
day, 15 October, as thousands of people demonstrated outside the Baku
offices of the opposition party Musavat and continued the next day on
the city’s Azadliq Square. The RUH said at least 54 journalists had
been attacked over the two days. They included :
Sahil Kerimli (Lider TV), attacked by a crowd in Baku on 15 October ;
Kenul Salimgizi, Safar Humbatov, Murshud Hasanov and Salim Azizoglu
(all of Yeni Musavat), roughed up at polling station 25 in Baku and
Fahraddin Hajibeyli (Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty), beaten by
polling station officials in Agdam (350 km from Baku).
On 16 October, at least 26 journalists were beaten up by security
forces in Azadliq Square. They included : Ilkin Guliev, Zafar Guliev
(who received head injuries) and Emin Huseynov (a brain injury), all of
Turan ; Alexander Klimchuk (of the Georgian daily Tribuna) ; Sabina
Iskenderli and Fuad Hasanguliyev (who was hospitalised with head
inujuries), both of the Interfax-Azerbaijan news agency ; Agil Jamal
and Hayal Babayev (Azadliq) ; Azer Hasret, secretary-general of the
journalists’ organisation JuHi ; Shirhan Agayev (the daily Prognoz) ;
Sarkarda Sarkhanoglu, Tebriz Sadayoglu, Nabi Alishev, Adil Huseynov and
Tahir Aliyaroglu (all of Khurriyet). The last three were hospitalised
with head injuries ; Kenul Velieva, Metanet Muslimgizi and Nijat
Daglar, who was hospitalised with serious injuries ; Vasim Mamedov (the
daily Baki Khaber), hospitalised with head injuries ; Eynulla Umudov
and Etibar Savalan (the paper Galanjak Gun) ; Elza Abishova
(hospitalised), Mansura Sattarova, Lala Musa Gizi, Afgan Gafarov and
Kenan Rovshanoglu (all of the daily Cumhurriyet). The interior ministry
launched an enquiry into possible police brutality. But the authorities
said right away that most of the journalists were not covering the
protests but participating in them as opposition activists.

Harassment and obstruction

Several journalists and human rights activists staged a hunger-strike
from 22 to 28 January 2003 to protest against legalistic harassment of
the opposition daily Yeni Musavat and draw world attention to press
freedom violations in the country. Editor Rauf Arifoglu pointed to the
13 prosecutions of the paper by the authorities in just a few months
and to the threats made to its journalists. Participants included
Yadigar Mamedli (president of the Democratic League of Journalists),
Mehman Aliev (head of the Turan news agency), Ganimat Zakhidov
(president of the Azad Soz Journalists’ Union), Azer Hasret
(secretary-general of the Azerbaijan Journalists’ Confederation), Zahid
Gazanfaroglu (Yeni Musavat), Zohrab Ismayil (publisher of the
opposition daily Azadliq), Asif Marazli (editor of the weekly
Tazadlar), Mohammed Arsoy (member of the Azad Soz Journalists’ Union)
and Sanan Hasanoglu (editor of the diaspora magazine Compatriot).
Baku city authorities shut down on 28 January a newsstand run by the
Gaya distribution firm in front of the university which sold opposition
papers unavailable at the government newsstands. They said it was for
reasons of “urban improvement,” but a nearby state newsstand remained
in place.
A court in Yasamal (Baku) fined Elmar Husseynov, founder and editor of
the weekly Monitor, 4,600 euros on 4 April (under articles 147.2 and
148 of the criminal code) for libelling and insulting the honour and
dignity of Hasan Zeynalov, head of the Baku office of the autonomous
republic of Nakhichevan, in an article called “The Godfather” (in its
second issue of 2003) which compared the inhabitants of the republic
with Sicilians. Zeynalov also sued in a civil court, which awarded him
19,000 euros in damages on 25 February and ordered a denial to be
published. The editor was amnestied on 12 May for the criminal
conviction.
The independent weekly Bizim Yol was extensively harassed after it was
founded in March. Police seized copies on 20 April from four vendors in
Nizami (Baku) who were taken to a police station and questioned before
being freed. Editor Mohammed Arsoy said the seizure was because the
previous number contained a cartoon of President Aliev astride a donkey
with his son Ilham holding its tail. More copies were confiscated in
Baku the next day. All printers refused to print the paper on 11 May,
on the orders of the authorities. On 17 May, three unidentified men
stopped a van carrying 4,000 copies, threatened and insulted the driver
and took away all the papers. The magazine was forced to close after
six issues, but its journalists launched a new paper, Milli Yol, in
June. Its offices were vandalised on 10 August and computer equipment
damaged. In September and October, assistant editor Shahin Agabeyli was
summoned and reprimanded several times by the deputy prosecutor-general
for printing cartoons of government ministers. Presidential candidate
and member of parliament Gudrat Hasanguliyev threatened its journalists
in early October with reprisals if the paper continued to insult him.
The independent printers Chap Evi refused to print the paper from 15
October.
The head of Baku’s metro railway system, Tagi Ahmedov, said on 21 April
that the quarterly newspaper distribution agreements with the firms
Said and Mars-3 would only be renewed if they stopped handling
opposition papers such as Azadliq, Yeni Musavat, Khurriyet and
Milliyet. He said they printed inaccurate news about President Aliev’s
health. The firms refused to comply and in mid-May, distribution
resumed as normal.
The prosecutor-general’s office accused opposition papers Yeni Musavat,
Khurriyet, Azadliq and Milliyet on 6 May of breaking the media laws by
printing reports about President Aliev that violated journalistic
ethics.
The president’s brother Jalal told parliament on 13 May, after stories
appeared about the president’s health, that journalists who criticised
the head of state should be stripped of their accreditation to cover
parlialment.
At least 25 newspaper street-vendors were arrested in Baku on 16 and 17
May and thousands of copies of Azadliq, Yeni Musavat, Milliyet and
Monitor seized on the orders of city police chief Maharram Aliev.
A Baku court sentenced Yashar Agazade (reporter) and Rovshan Kebirli
(publisher) of the weekly Mukhalifat to five months in prison on 21 May
for libelling President Aliev’s brother Jalal in a 14 April article
saying he headed a gang that monopolised the country’s grain market.
They were both pardoned immediately.
Columnist Rauf Mirkadyrov, of the Russian-language daily Zerkalo, was
fined 82,500 manats (15 euros) on 7 July for being drunk and trying to
hit Baku mayor Hajikala Abutalibov. The journalist said he had simply
asked the mayor who was in charge of work done on a city building and
had then been set upon by police.
Justice minister Fikret Mamadov accused the media on 26 July of trying
to destabilise the country before the 15 October presidential election
and said he would act against those that defied the ban on undermining
the president’s “honour and dignity.” The warning was repeated the same
day by prosecutor-general Zakir Garalov. The day before, interior
minister Ramil Usubov had accused opposition media of printing
libellous and insulting material. A few days earlier, Yeni Musavat and
other opposition papers had written about the illness of the president,
who was hospitalised in Turkey on 8 July.
Elnur Sadigov, a correspondent for Azadliq, said on 27 August he had
been expelled from the state university in the northwestern town of
Ganja, where he was a student, because he had been detained for a week
in May for writing critical articles.
On the day of the 15 October presidential election, three journalists
were barred from polling stations – Firudin Guliyev (Garbin Sesi) by
police in Shemakha (120 km from Baku), Vidadi Bayramov (Khurriyet), who
was insulted in Salyan (140 km from Baku), and Abbasali Rustamli
(Azadliq) in Sabail (Baku).
The same day, seven journalists were insulted by polling officials.
They were Aslan Abdullayev (Molla Nasreddin), by the polling station
chief in Ujar (200 km from Baku) ; Matanat Alieva (Impuls), at station
22 in Nasimi (Baku) ; Eynulla Garayev (Fedai), in Ujar ; Medina Aliyev
(freelance), at station 38 in Baku ; Tahir Pasha (head of the
Association of Military Journalists) and Mubariz Jafarli and Mahir
Mamedli (both of Yeni Musavat), at station 15 in Sabail (Baku).
During the week after protest demonstrations on 15 and 16 October,
journalists from opposition papers Azadliq, Yeni Musavat, Khurriyet,
Baki Khaber and Yeni Zaman/Novoye Vremya were barred from parliament.
Tens of thousands of copies of Yeni Musavat, Azadliq, Khurriyet and
Baki Khaber were seized from newsstands in Baku and in the provinces on
17 and 18 October.
Two days after the election, on 17 October, the state printers refused
to print Azadliq, Yeni Musavat, Baki Khaber, Khurriyet and Yeni
Zaman/Novoye Vremya. Yeni Musavat business manager Azer Ahyan said the
firm said its workers had refused to handle the papers because they
were pro-opposition and that anyway the newspapers owed too much money.
However, the firm continued to print other (pro-government) papers also
in debt to the firm.
The five opposition papers failed to appear between 14 and 20 November
when Chap Evi, the only privately-owned printers that agreed to print
them, ran out of paper. The editors accused the authorities of creating
an artificial newsprint shortage by doubling the price of it.
Tax inspectors turned up unannounced at the offices of Milliyet on 22
October and seized four computers, as well as photos and
tape-recordings. They filmed the premises and said they were looking
for firearms. The computers were returned two days later.
Member of parliament Omaliya Panakhova told a press conference on 27
October that journalists who criticised the government “should be
killed.”
A close aide of the prosecutor-general warned Turan editor Mehman Aliev
on 28 October for reporting that elections board members who refused to
sign false voting tallies had come under official pressure.

Reporters Without Borders defends imprisoned journalists and press
freedom throughout the world, as well as the right to inform the public
and to be informed, in accordance with Article 19 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. Reporters Without Borders has nine
national sections (in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom), representatives in
Abidjan, Bangkok, Istanbul, Montreal, Moscow, New York, Tokyo and
Washington and more than a hundred correspondents worldwide.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Reporters without borders, France
May 3 2004

Armenia – 2004 Annual report

Armenia

Area : 29,800 sq.km.
Population : 3,072,000.
Language : Armenian, Russian
Type of state : republic
Head of state : Robert Kocharian.

Armenia – 2004 Annual report

Many violations of press freedom occurred during the reelection of
President Robert Kocharian. A new law on freedom of information was
enacted but a new press law drew strong protests from the media.

President Robert Kocharian was reelected president in 2003 after a vote
(the first since the country joined the Council of Europe in 2001) that
was marred by irregularities and sharply criticised by observers from
the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). For the
first time in the history of independent Armenia, a TV debate between
two of the candidates was shown live. But coverage of the two-stage
voting on 19 February and 5 March was obstructed in many places and
independent media journalists were harassed, set upon and physically
attacked.
State-run media did not give balanced coverage to all candidates and
openly backed Kocharian, while most independent media supported other
candidates. The two independent TV stations, A1+ and Noyan Tapan, whose
operating licences were cancelled in 2002 by the National Broadcasting
Commission, were unable to broadcast. The commission is not independent
and does not meet Council of Europe standards because all its members
are appointed by the president.
Conflicting measures were passed by parliament. A freedom of
information law was adopted on 23 September after two years of work
with Council of Europe experts and national and international NGOs. It
spelled out the rights of journalists and citizens to information and
required public bodies to supply it. But a few days later, parliament
approved on first reading a controversial press law that provoked sharp
reaction from the media, who said they would suggest detailed
improvements to it. The new criminal code that came into force on 1
August, included prison terms of up to three years for defamation.

New information on a journalist killed in 2002

The trial of 13 people accused of killing Tigran Naghdalian, head of
the council of public TV and radio, in Yerevan on 28 December 2002,
opened on 29 July 2003. They included businessman Armen Sarkisian, who
is the brother of two former prime ministers (opposed to Kocharian) –
Aram Sarkisian and Vazgen Sarkisian, who was killed in a commando
attack on the parliament building in October 1999. The public
prosecutor suspected Armen, who had been held since 15 March, of
ordering the murder because he believed the journalist was involved in
the attack that killed his brother. The other brother, Aram, charged
that Armen’s trial was a bid to discredit the opposition in the run-up
to the parliamentary and presidential elections. Naghdalian, a major
supporter of the president and a key figure at the TV station since
1998, was shot dead in front of his parents’ home by a mystery gunman.
The authorities immediately called the murder political because the
journalist had often criticised the opposition in a current affairs
programme he presented.

Five journalists physically attacked

During the first round of the presidential election on 19 February
2003, an official at the Nar-Dos School polling station 356/16 in
Yerevan seized the camera and injured the hand of freelance journalist
Susanna Pogosian, who was there with reporter Gideon Lichfield of the
British weekly The Economist.
The same day, Goar Verziryan, of the opposition National Democratic
Union’s weekly paper Aizhm, was thrown against a wall at the
Shirvanzade School polling station in Yerevan by people who seized a
tape recording she was making about defects in the voting procedure.
Others hit two journalists from the TV station Shant and took away
their videotapes as they were filming a man putting several voting
slips into a ballot box.
Mher Galechian, of the twice-weekly opposition paper Chorrord
Ishxanutiun, was beaten up on 29 April by two men who came to the
paper’s offices in Yerevan. He was hospitalised with head injuries and
an investigation was launched. The men had come to the offices three
days earlier to complain about a 25 April article that accused Karlos
Petrosian, head of the state security service, of building himself a
villa in shady circumstances. The day of the attack, the paper had
printed an article reporting the earlier visit.
Gayaneh Mukoyan (editor) and Rafael Hovakimyan (managing editor) of the
weekly Or, were attacked in front of Mukoyan’s home by four thugs who
boxed in their car, said they were police, ordered them to get out and
then hit them. Ms Mukoyan said the attack was probably linked to
articles the previous month about organised crime.

New information about a journalist attacked in 2002

Investigative journalist Mark Grigorian, former correspondent in
Armenia for Reporters Without Borders and deputy head of the Caucasus
Media Institute, received a letter from the prosecutor-general’s office
in late February 2003 saying the case file on a grenade attack that
seriously wounded him in a street of the capital on 22 October 2002 had
been closed since no suspect had been found four months after the
attack. Grigorian had blamed the attempt to kill him on people opposed
to his enquiry into the 27 October 1999 commando attack on parliament,
in which eight people were killed.

A journalist threatened

Freelance journalist Vahagn Ghukasian announced on 24 January 2003 he
was leaving the country because of police harassment after he found
“definitive proof” that top officials were involved in the October 1999
commando attack on parliament. He later left the country.

Harassment and obstruction

The central elections board refused to accredit any online media during
the two-stage presidential and parliamentary elections in February,
March and May 2003. It had ruled on 22 August 2002 that only media
registered with the justice ministry could be recognised. But since
websites are not legally considered media, online newspapers are not
obliged to register.
Lilit Vardanian, an official of polling station 073/26 in Eshmiadzin
(20 km from Yerevan), refused to allow Karina Asatrian, of the
independent TV station A1+, and her cameraman Robert Kharazian to film
the first round of voting in the presidential election on 19 February.
The journalists were then attacked by people who damaged their camera
and chased them out of the polling station.
Diana Markosian, also of A1+, was stopped the same day by the head of
polling station 0391/17 in Yerevan, Ararat Rshtubi. Police helped him
remove the journalist.
Relay transmission of the Russian station NTV by the firm Paradise was
suspended between 26 February and 17 March, officially for technical
reasons. But opposition activists suspected it was cut off because the
station had shown opposition demonstrations against election
irregularities.
Nane Adjemyan, of the TV station Kentron TV, was victimised in late
February because President Kocharian’s campaign officials did not like
her impartial coverage of the campaign. After she reported on a press
conference by opposition candidate Stepan Dermichian, who highlighted
violations of election rules, the station’s news editor, Nikolaï
Grigorian, asked the journalist to take some time off. When she found
out that one of Kocharian’s election team had earlier called the
station management to complain about her coverage, she resigned on 26
February.
Only two state-run TV cameramen were allowed to film live Kocharian’s
swearing-in for another term as president on 9 April. All other
journalists, pro-government or independent, were forced to cover it
from a TV screen elsewhere in the building.
Parliament amended the criminal code on 18 April to further restrict
press freedom. Articles 135 (defamation) and 136 (insults) now provide
up to three years imprisonment and fines equivalent to between 100 and
200 times a person’s minimum monthly salary (between 750 and 1,500
euros). Article 318 calls for two years in prison and a fine equal to
between 200 and 400 minimum salaries (between 1,500 and 3,000 euros).
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), along
with diplomats, human rights organisations and journalists, sent an
open letter of concern on 19 June to the new spokesman for parliament,
Arthur Baghdasarian, who said on 25 June the code should be amended
because it was unfair that penalties for defaming government officials
and ordinary citizens were different. But no action had been taken by
the end of the year.
Officials of the state telecommunications authority in Alarverdi (Lori
region) cut off broadcasts of the local TV station Ankyun+3 on 20 May
officially because it had not complied with technical requirements and
not broadcast government programmes. The station’s editor, Hrachya
Papinyan, said the cut-off came five days before parliamentary
elections and was for political reasons, since the station had not
supported candidate Hovhannes Qochinyan, brother of the regional
administrator. A week earlier, tax officials began inspecting the
station’s accounts. It was able to resume broadcasting on 21 May.
The National Broadcasting Commission refused once again, on 18 July, to
grant operating licences to the country’s two main independent TV
stations, A1+ and Noyan Tapan, after bids had been received for
frequencies to serve the Yerevan region, on grounds that their
programme proposals were not good enough. The two general-interest
stations, which provide a balanced alternative to pro-government and
state-run stations, have not been able to broadcast since 2 April 2002,
when the commission refused to renew their licences. They had also been
unsuccessful in an earlier round of bidding for seven-year licences.
Police seized a videotape on 30 July from ALM TV cameraman Narek
Martirosyan, who had just filmed them roughing up a woman who had been
demonstrating in front of the presidential palace in Yerevan.
Parliament approved on first reading on 24 September a controversial
new press law, which obliges media to declare their funding sources
(article 13) and limits the shareholding in them of commercial
companies and foreigners and restricts the distribution of foreign
newspapers in the country (article 9).
These clauses were seen by journalists as weapons for the government to
use against media it did not like. The law also curbs press freedom in
time of war, if there is a threat to national security and if a state
of emergency is declared. The new law drew strong reactions from
several journalists’ organisations, which decided to suggest amendments
to the measure.

Reporters Without Borders defends imprisoned journalists and press
freedom throughout the world, as well as the right to inform the public
and to be informed, in accordance with Article 19 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. Reporters Without Borders has nine
national sections (in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom), representatives in
Abidjan, Bangkok, Istanbul, Montreal, Moscow, New York, Tokyo and
Washington and more than a hundred correspondents worldwide.

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan
May 3 2004

AZERBAIJAN AMBASSADOR PROTESTS AGAINST KOREAN COMPANY
[May 03, 2004, 20:55:23]

Korean Republic `DAEWOO-UNITEL’ in Tashkent and Nagorno-Karabakh
`Karabakh Telecom’ have reached a cooperation agreement.

In this connection, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Uzbekistan Aydin Azimov
met with `DAEWOO-UNITEL’ Director General Khan Yeng Sangu to inform him
in detail on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and described the company’s
step as inadmissible.

Mr. Azimov also met Ambassador of South Korea to Uzbekistan Kim San
Khvan and Deputy Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan Ilham Nematov to handed
them an official letter reflecting Azerbaijan’s stance in the matter.
The letter says in particular: The Republic of Azerbaijan considers the
cooperation between `DAEWOO-UNITEL’ and `Karabakh Telecom’ as a
violation of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and requests of the
Republic of Uzbekistan to take relevant measures to put an end to
unlawful cooperation between the companies.

ITAR-TASS, Russia
May 3 2004

Armenia about to minimize losses from cargo ferries delay

YEREVAN, May 3 (Itar-Tass) – The Armenian authorities are taking steps
to minimize losses inflicted by suspension of cargo ferries via the
port of Batumi, Armenian Transport and Communications Minister Andranik
Manukyan said on Monday.

After the Adzharian authorities ordered to demolish railway bridges, 63
ferry carriages with food and other products are stuck in Batumi, the
minister said. Yerevan is conducting talks with Georgia on transporting
the ferry to the port of Poti.

`If the situation does not change, Armenia will receive its cargoes via
Poti, which will be less costly than via Batumi,’ Manukyan said.

During current Armenia’s transport blockade, the Black Sea ports of
Batumi and Poti and Georgia’s railway are the only way for Armenia to
receive cargoes, mainly food and fuel.

Monday Morning, Lebanon (weekly)
May 3 2004

Boosting exports of natural gas

Iran, which holds some 15 percent of the world’s natural gas reserves,
is boosting exports of gas to its neighbors in the hope of picking up
sales to Asia and Europe in the future.

`In the short term, we are looking to export our gas to neighboring
countries, but we are also working on exports of liquefied natural gas
[LNG] to Asia and Europe’, said Rokneddin Javadi, director of Iran’s
National Gas Export Company.
`The issue is that the projects to export to neighbors, such as those
across the Persian Gulf, can be completed in two years. But an LNG
export project needs five years’, he told reporters on the sidelines of
a gas export conference in Teheran.
He said Iran expected to sign a contract soon to supply 15 million
cubic meters a day by pipeline to the United Arab Emirates. And he said
the Islamic republic was also in talks with Kuwait and the UAE for two
other similar contracts, hoping to export 1.5 billion cubic meters to
the two countries each year.
Also expected later this year are contracts with Armenia and
Nakhichevan, an autonomous region of Azerbaijan, covering the sale of
three billion cubic meters annually.
And a 25-year contract with Turkey enabled Iran to sell 3.5 billion
cubic meters there in 2003. That figure is expected to rise to five
billion cubic meters in 2004, if a contractual dispute can be worked
out.
Turkey, complaining that the gas is of poor quality, has demanded a
price cut and has threatened to turn to Russia instead. `You have to
ask the Turks what is going on. If they abandon the contract, they will
have to pay a heavy fine’, an Iranian industry official said.
Despite the ongoing difficulties with Turkey, Javadi nevertheless said
he hoped Iranian gas sales would total two billion dollars annually by
2010.
But Iran is also counting on this figure jumping dramatically if it can
get LNG exports by tanker moving further afield, notably to the
potentially enormous markets of South Asia, China — with whom a
memorandum on future sales has already been signed — and Europe.
The country currently has three LNG production projects under way,
NIOC-LNG of the National Iranian Oil Company, the Pars-LNG consortium
of NIOC, Total and Petronas, and Persian-LNG of NIOC, Shell and Repsol.
But such sales are pending the completion of LNG production facilities,
as well as the costly laying of pipelines that need to cross sensitive
areas such as the Pakistani-Indian border.
Furthermore, there is tough competition from Russia, holder of the
world’s largest reserves and geographically better placed to tap the
European and Chinese markets. Competition from Algeria and Qatar is
also tough, and Iran has found itself lagging due to the late
development of its gas sector.
In the case of Qatar, the world’s number-three for gas reserves has
been quicker than Iran to tap its offshore resources and is now pushing
to become the world’s top exporter.
In March, Qatar signed a six-billion-dollar protocal accord with the
South African-US Sasol-Chevron consortium for three LNG production
projects. It has also already got a foot in the Indian market.
Political pressure on Iran, including United States sanctions that
target foreign companies investing there, are also major hurdles.
`These kinds of investments represent billions of dollars, and it is
not certain that international companies will accept to finance them’,
one Western industry expert commented in Teheran.
Iran has decided to award the French oil giant Total a
1.2-billion-dollar contract to develop phase 11 of the big South Pars
offshore gas field, according to Mahdi Mirmoezi, the republic’s deputy
oil minister.
`The final negotiations are in progress, and unless there is a problem,
the contract will be signed in one or two months’, he said.
British Petroleum (BP), Italy’s ENI and Norway’s Statoil had also been
competing for the contract. But Total is believed to have benefitted
from its already strong presence in Iran, including in the field of
liquefied natural gas (LNG). Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanghaneh had
already voiced his desire to see a company deeply engaged in LNG
operations get the deal, so as to facilitate exports.
Gas from phase 11 is earmarked for European markets. In 1997, Total was
awarded buyback contracts for phases 2 and 3.
Under the Iranian constitution, foreign companies are not allowed to
take an equity stake in any national oil and gas projects, but can
participate under a buyback scheme enabling them to invest and later
receive a portion of sales.
Aside from South Pars, Total is engaged in the Sirri A and E oil
fields, which began producing in 1998-99, and the already exploited
Dorood and Balal fields.
In February, Total — together with Malaysia’s Petronas and the
National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) — won a two-billion-dollar
contract for an LNG plant at South Pars.
Under that contract, Total and Petronas are bound to find LNG buyers —
a process the deputy minister said would take seven or eight months.
Pending exports, its production will serve the expanding domestic
market.
South Pars is the Iranian sector of the world’s largest natural gas
field, situated in the Gulf and shared with Qatar. The Iranian sector
is set to be divided into roughly 25 phases.
Phases 1, 6, 7 and 8 have been awarded to the private Iranian firm
Petropars; Phases 4 and 5 to Petropars/ENI and Phases 9 and 10 to South
Korea’s Lucky Goldstar (LG).
Iran is seeking to boost its gas production, but badly needs foreign
markets. It is currently working on tapping the Indian market,
including pushing for a pipeline that crosses Pakistan.
Production is hoped to increase from 110 billion cubic meters in 2000
to 292 billion in 2010. Gas already meets a third of domestic energy
needs.

The Daily Star, Lebanon
May 4 2004

Accusations fly as ballot counts still not complete
Parties tout their own numbers

By Leila Hatoum
Special to The Daily Star

BEIRUT: Despite an announcement that the Interior Ministry would
declare the official election results by Monday afternoon, ballots were
still being counted as The Daily Star went to press, although the
sorting process was concluded.

The delay was attributed to the outdated manual counting system adopted
for municipal elections. National Liberal Party leader Dory Chamoun
commented sarcastically on the delays in issuing the official results
by saying, “maybe it is a difficult dish to cook.”

“Some said that ballot boxes were tampered with; others say that there
was a mistake in counting, and they had to start all over again,” said
Chamoun.

A Lebanese Forces (LF) member close to Qornet Shehwan said that the
delay did not concern the party as they had calculated their own
unofficial results.

Lebanese Forces press spokeswoman Antoinette Geagea said the LF,
“without exaggeration, have scored well in the elections in many areas
such as Damour, Motelleh, Naameh, etc.”

Meanwhile, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) was not sure of the final
results, as the counting system they were using to count unofficial
votes broke down during the process.

“I still haven’t received any details regarding the results,” said
Elias Zoghbi, the FPM media representative, dismissing forgery as the
cause of the delay.

“It is slow for us because the machines broke down and for the
authorities, I guess because of the manual process they are still
following,” Zoghbi added.

In contrast, an FPM source who asked to remain anonymous said that the
results were against the opposition because of many factors – one of
which was the issue of the naturalized citizens who came from various
districts to cast their votes.

“Some got to vote more than once,” said the source, who explained that
FPM representatives had seen an Armenian voting in Zalka while using
falsified identification.

The Daily Star, Lebanon
May 4 2004

Lack of unity costs opposition in polls
Authorities are big winners with 40 of 48 municipal council seats in
Metn

By Nada Raad
Daily Star staff

BEIRUT: The opposition’s less than stellar performance in Sunday’s
Mount Lebanon elections was attributed to its failure to forge robust
alliances when facing pro-government candidates, according to
observers.

The authorities, represented by former Interior Minister Michel Murr,
the current Metn MP, were the big winners, securing nearly 40 municipal
councils out of 48 municipalities in the Metn, which is considered
Murr’s turf. Similarly, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt grabbed most Chouf
villages, including Deir al-Qamar, where National Liberal Party leader
Dory Chamoun won the mayor’s seat.

The opposition also lost in Jbeil, where the Free Patriotic Movement
(FPM) formed an alliance with the National Bloc, which considers Jbeil
its headquarters, as founder Raymond Edde was from that area.

Hizbullah grabbed 68 percent of the votes in the southern suburbs of
Beirut, according to unofficial election results. Official results were
still being finalized as The Daily Star went to press.

But the opposition was successful in Sin al-Fil, Baskinta, Zouk Mikael
and Tabarja, while FPM media Elias Zoghbi said that FPM candidates won
seats in different towns and villages, mainly in Baabdat, and the qadas
of Jbeil and Kesrouan.

Observers said these results should compel some opposition parties not
to overestimate their clout and power.

Metn MP Pierre Gemayel told The Daily Star on Monday that the election
should serve as a lesson to some “almighty opposition parties” that
they are simply not that powerful, in reference to the FPM.

But other political observers chalked off the opposition’s failure to a
lack of unity, noting the defeats in towns and villages were there was
no cooperation among the different parties, such as in Jounieh, Jbeil,
Shiyah and Beit Chabab.

“The lack of cooperation among opposition groups in all areas under a
clear and unified political slogan was the major reason for their
unsuccessful representation in the municipal councils,” said Fadia
Kiwan, a professor of Political Science at Universite Saint Joseph.

For some opposition groups, the defeat was due to the betrayal of their
partners.

The FPM blamed former President Amin Gemayel for betraying the
opposition groups, describing Gemayel’s move as a “pre-calculated
strategy” for the 2005 parliamentary election.

“Gemayel betrayed us as usual and cooperated with the
government-supported lists to win more seats in municipal councils and
to be prepared for the 2005 parliamentary elections,” Zoghbi said.

Amin Gemayel’s son, Pierre, denied the allegations and said no
cooperation between the Phalange Party opposition faction and the
government was made during the municipal election on May 2.

He said the Phalange Party opposition faction never considered the FPM
as a “competitor and did not regard General Michel Aoun as an enemy.”

“If we cooperated with the government, particularly with Murr, then let
the FPM name the areas where we did so,” Gemayel said. “When the FPM
are cooperating with (former MP) Najah Wakim and Hizbullah, is that not
polishing their cooperation with the government?”

The FPM formed a coalition with Hizbullah in Haret Hreik, a southern
suburb of Beirut and is allying itself with Wakim in the Beirut
elections next Sunday.

Gemayel also denied FPM claims that the party withdrew from Beit
Chabab, accusing the FPM of “rejecting the Phalange Party’s proposals
for the mayor’s seat.”

“They want to lead the battle alone, which they are directing against
Amin Gemayel and not Murr and against some opposition groups and not
the government,” he said.

A source in the Lebanese Forces said the results of the municipal
election could have been better had all opposition parties cooperated.

“We did not have conflicting positions like other parties by
cooperating with a group in Jbeil and its opponents in Jounieh, like
other parties did.”

Some opposition groups justified their unsuccessful battle by the
bribes offered to voters.

Kiwan, who is also a member of the National Bloc and a candidate who
ran for the Jaj municipal election in Jbeil and failed, said that some
$300 were paid to voters as they stood at the voting booths.

Zoghbi said some Armenians were used by the government to win the
municipal battle, such as in Bsalim, where over 150 Armenians were
registered on the village’s electoral lists few weeks before the
election day.

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
05/03/2004
TO ACCESS PREVIOUS ASBAREZ ONLINE EDITIONS PLEASE VISIT OUR
WEBSITE AT <;HTTP://

1) PACE Resolution Does Not Establish Winners or Losers
2) Georgia Sets Deadline Rebel Ajaria to Conform
3) Armenian Supplies Again Hindered By Ajaria Standoff
4) Several Javakhk Roads Set for Renovation
5) Hovik Hoveyan Becomes Culture and Youth Issues Minister
6) Let the 29th Navasartian Games Begin
7) Just Music for Just Cause

1) PACE Resolution Does Not Establish Winners or Losers

YEREVAN (Combined Sources)–Deputy Parliament speaker Tigran Torosian said on
Monday that the resolution on the political situation in Armenia adopted by
the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) last week, establishes
neither losers nor winners in Armenia. “Some people are trying to attribute
ludicrous victories and defeats to themselves or their opponents. This is not
about winning or losing.”
Torosian, the head of the Armenian delegation at PACE, said the resolution
does not refer to a referendum of confidence, saying that Council of Europe
Secretary General Walter Schwimmer, in meeting with the Armenian delegation,
instead directed opposition MPs to get off the streets and return to the
parliament. Torosian called for an end to misinterpretations of the PACE
resolution.
PACE Armenia rapporteur Jerzy Jaskiernia made it clear last week that the
Council of Europe should not question the legitimacy of last year’s Armenian
presidential and parliamentary elections because the fraud surrounding the
elections was “not so extensive that we could disqualify the result.” “The
election naturally delivered results, and now many people are satisfied, so
our
approach to Armenia should be objective and balanced,” he said.
Another member of the Armenian delegation to PACE, Shavarsh Kocharian told
the
same press conference that the PACE resolution, calling on the authorities and
the opposition to enter in a dialogue without preconditions, in effect refers
to a referendum of confidence.
Aram Sarkisian of the Artarutyun alliance went as far as to describe the
resolution as an “ultimatum” to Kocharian. “All the calls are directed to the
authorities,” he said, adding that the opposition regards the PACE stance
as an
endorsement of its campaign for Kocharian’s resignation.
Following an urgent debate on the situation in Armenia, the resolution
adopted
by PACE last week called on Armenian authorities to allow for peaceful
demonstrations, to release those detained during recent demonstrations, to
immediately investigate any reported human rights abuses that took place, and
to create fair conditions for the media
The resolution also called on the opposition to achieve its goals within the
constitutional framework–stressing that both sides should engage in a
peaceful
dialogue without preconditions.
The Assembly gave Armenia until the opening of the September session to
realize progress on its demands, at which time the credentials of the Armenian
delegation will be reconsidered.
Meanwhile, opposition leaders in Yerevan reaffirmed their decision to hold a
“decisive” demonstration against Kocharian on Tuesday. They refused to specify
what exactly they will tell supporters to do. Sarkisian did not rule out the
possibility of another opposition march towards the presidential palace in
Yerevan.

2) Georgia Sets Deadline Rebel Ajaria to Conform

TBILISI (Reuters)–President Mikhail Saakashvili told the restive Ajaria
region
on Sunday to submit to Georgian law and disarm militias after rebels blew up
two bridges to stop what they said was an imminent Georgian military
incursion.

Saakashvili said that if Ajaria failed to meet his 10-day deadline, similar to
past warnings, he would dissolve its local institutions, remove Ajarian leader
Aslan Abashidze, and call new elections.
Saakashvili had earlier held a session of the Security Council in response to
the explosions cutting Ajaria’s road links with the rest of the country. He
returned to Tbilisi after attending military maneuvers north of Ajaria.
“We have decided one last time to give a deadline to Aslan Abashidze,”
Saakashvili told reporters. “We will give him 10 days to return to Georgia’s
constitution framework … restore normal legal activities in the region and
begin disarming.”
If Ajaria failed to do so, Saakashvili vowed to “dissolve local state bodies
and hold new local elections…giving the Ajarian people the opportunity for
free
choice.”
One bridge across the Choloki River serves as the main crossing point into
Ajaria, while the second runs through the village of Kakuti, near the border.
Television pictures showed an explosion being conducted at one bridge and the
wrecked span of another, with concrete slabs fallen into the river.
Hundreds of
armed men gathered nearby.

NEARBY MANEUVERS

Abashidze, interviewed by Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency, said the action was
intended to rule out any movement south by Georgia’s military from the site of
the maneuvers up the coast.
“According to our data, some units of the Georgian armed forces taking part in
the maneuvers…set up tents only a kilometer from the border,” Abashidze was
quoted as saying in the region’s main town Batumi.
Officials, he said, had decided “it was vital to take preventive security
measures.” The proximity of the maneuvers and statements by the military had
“created serious dangers. Military equipment and bases must be withdrawn from
the area.”
Television has shown tanks and up to 2,000 troops passing through fields in
the “Dioskuria-2004” maneuvers, the largest in post-Soviet Georgia, to protect
oil pipelines, raid illegal drug producers and evacuate people from crisis
zones.
Saakashvili denied there was any plan to move into Ajaria.
“No one is trying to invade Ajaria,” he said. “Had we wanted to do so,
bridges
would not in any event be necessary.”
Ajaria is one of three regions operating beyond the control of Georgia’s
government but, unlike the others, has not declared independence. Abashidze
runs the region as a fiefdom, presiding over armed forces and declining to pay
taxes to the budget.
Georgia and Ajaria came close to military confrontation in March when
Saakashvili was prevented from entering the region during an election
campaign.
Both sides put forces on alert.
Talks then between the two leaders produced a deal to ease tension, but the
agreement has all but collapsed.
Saakashvili, backed by Washington, was elected in January after leading a
bloodless revolution that ousted veteran leader Eduard Shevardnadze. He has
called for the Ajarian leader’s removal, but vows to use only peaceful means.

3) Armenian Supplies Again Hindered By Ajaria Standoff

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–The Armenian government was taking urgent measures on Monday
to minimize the economic fallout from a renewed standoff between Georgia’s
central government and the restive region of Ajaria that disrupted cargo
traffic via a key Black Sea port.
Transport and Communications Minister Andranik Manukian said that the
government is “doing everything” to reroute landlocked Armenia’s number one
supply line passing through the Ajar capital Batumi.
Transport communication with Batumi’s port became impossible on Sunday after
the Ajar authorities blew up two bridges connecting the autonomous republic to
the rest of Georgia.
Ajaria’s strongman ruler Aslan Abashidze, said he ordered the explosions to
prevent Georgian troops from invading the Black Sea region.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili responded by issuing Abashidze with a
ten-day ultimatum to submit to Georgian rule or face expulsion from power.
Saakashvili, at the same time, reiterated his pledge to use only peaceful
means
in attempting to reassert Tbilisi’s control over Ajaria.
According to Manukian, a ferry carrying 63 freight cars laden with
Armenia-bound fuel and other goods was left stranded in Batumi’s port. He said
his ministry is now trying to redirect the ferry to Georgia’s second major
Black Sea port, Poti.
“We have no other cargoes in Batumi at the moment,” Manukian said. “We have
reached agreements with the Georgian side and there are no problems with the
transit of our rail cars.”
Armenia already had to divert its commercial traffic with the outside world
from Batumi to Poti when a similar crisis broke out last March. A transport
blockade imposed on Ajaria by the central government caused delays in
shipments
of goods to and from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia as the Poti port
struggled to cope with the increased cargo turnover. The three impoverished
states avoided serious financial losses at the time as the blockade lasted for
only several days.

4) Several Javakhk Roads Set for Renovation

AKHALKALAK (Armenpress)–After visiting Georgia’s mostly Armenian populated
region of Javakhk, a Georgian delegation has allocated approximately one
million dollars for the reconstruction of roads in the area.
A Georgian Infrastructure and Development ministry delegation headed by
Tamara
Sulukhian made the decision after its visit to Javakhk on April 30.
Deputy Minister Genati Muratian, said the funds will cover reconstruction of
roads in Jdanovka (on the Armenia-Georgia border), Ninotcminda,
Aspinza-Akhalkalak, Kartsakh-Akhalkalak, Ninotsminda-Akhalkalak, as well city
streets in Ninotsminda and Akhalkalak.
Muratian noted that massive reconstruction efforts are expected in the future
for roads in Kartsakh-Akhalkalak and Tsalka-Ninotsminda.
Kartsakh-Akhalkalak is
being targeted because of plans to establish a new customs service in Kartsakh
on the Turkish-Georgian border, while Tsalka-Ninotsminda will shorten the
route
between Tbilisi-Javakhk, and the Tbilisi-Turkish border.

5) Hovik Hoveyan Becomes Culture and Youth Issues Minister

YEREVAN (Armenpress)President Robert Kocharian dismissed Armenia’s Minister
for
Culture and Youth Issues Tamar Poghosian, and appointed Hovik Hoveyan to
replace her.

6) Let the 29th Navasartian Games Begin

LOS ANGELES–On Sunday, May 2nd, Homenetmen’s 29th Annual Navasartian Games
officially opened with the lighting of the Navasartian torch at Homenetmen
Glendale Ararat chapter’s athletic center. The Navasartian games span a period
of two months with a dynamic closing ceremony and festival Fourth of July
weekend.
Official guests at the ceremony included Homenetmen Central Executive Members
Manuel Marselian and Mher Tavitian, ARF Central Executive member and
Homenetmen
member Anahid Stepanian, honorary president of the 28th Navasartian Games
Sarkis Kitsinian, ARS Central Executive member Hasmig Derderian, Glendale
Unified School District Board of Education President Greg Krikorian, and
Haroutiun Kojoian of the Armenian Consulate in Los Angeles.
Also, present at the event were Haroutiun Parseghian, one of the original
founders of Homenetmen Western Region, and Hagop Ovaian, chairman of the
regional executive board that created the Navasartian Games 29 years ago.

7) Just Music for Just Cause

By ANI SHAHINIAN
Asbarez Staff Writer

LOS ANGELESFrom their popular hit “Aerials,” a surprise rendition of the
Armenian love song “Arants Kez” (Without You), to a moving instrumental
version
of the patriotic song “Sardarabad,” April 24 at the Greek Theater proved to be
an emotional night unparalleled, as it formed an unspeakable bond among
Armenians there. The boys of System Of A Down had a missionto magnify the
overt
and intentional omission of the Armenian Genocide by the US Congress and
successive administrations. And they did just that, especially by reaching out
to youth, both Armenian and non-Armenian, at the SOULS 2004 Benefit concert.
Band members–Serj Tankian, vocals; Daron Malakian, guitars; bassist Shavo
Odadjian, and drummer John Dolmayan–all of Armenian descent–have been very
active in supporting this cause for years. SOULS 2004 is the most recent in
the
band’s ongoing efforts to raise awareness of the Armenian Genocide and other
global abuses of human rights.
The band transferred its intense and emotional energy to the audience
throughout the concert. Their politics on the Bush administration’s
shortcomings and the blatant denial of the Genocide by Turkey were vocalized,
as the audience enthusiastically applauded and roared in agreement.
Although the night was electrifying from the moment the band took to the
stage, it reached its climax when Daron mesmerized the audience–specifically
Armenians–when he poignantly sang “Arantz Kez.” Everyone seemed to look at
each other in awe, desperately trying to figure out what the name of the
beautiful song.
After much speculation, a hunch that the song belongs to Paul Baghdadlian,
and
a week of seeking out hard core Paul fans–Asbarez finally learned the song’s
name (Daron, surely did the song great justice).
The evening’s last song, “P.L.U.C.K. (Politically Lying, Unholy, Cowardly
Killers),” appropriately commemorated the 89th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide, as Tankian sang:

A whole race Genocide,
Taken away all of our pride,
A whole race Genocide,
Taken away, Watch Them all fall down.

Revolution, the only solution,
The armed response of an entire nation,
Revolution, the only solution,
We’ve taken all your s***, now it’s time for restitution.

Recognition, Restoration, Reparation,
Recognition, Restoration, Reparation.

Tankian expressed wholehearted appreciation for making it one of the band’s
most memorable nights. The audience, in turn, thanked them through their
standing ovations, relentless applause, and ear-piercing hollering for making
it a memorable experience for all their fans.
Before exiting the stage, however, System had another surprise up their
sleeves for the Armenians in the audience–an instrumental version of the
patriotic song “Sardarabad.” Whether you remembered all the words or only a
few
lines here and there, the lyrics were heard throughout the theater.
The concert came to an end, much to the disappointment of all; the audience
lingered, hoping the band would reemerge to once more provide an unwavering
sense of hopethat perhaps the Armenian Genocide would be recognized soonand
reaffirm the pain of war, the senseless loss of lives.
Though the band alone cannot carry the burden of such a major task, they
provide a creative outlet for educating the public not through the usual,
mundane rhetoric, but through their powerful music that speaks to all. They
have taken the fame they so rightly earned and deserve, using it productively,
especially on an issue so close to their heartsjustice to all in our world.
Daron at one point told the audience he only dreamed of performing to such an
audience; and we only dreamed of being that proud audience.

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