Globe and Mail, Canada
April 27 2004

Putting faith in the domino theory

Last year, Georgia toppled its leader; now Ukraine hopes to do the
same, MARK MacKINNON says

By MARK MacKINNON

KIEV — When Yulia Tymoshenko watched on television as Georgians rid
themselves of their despised president last fall, one thought buzzed
through her mind: Why couldn’t the same thing happen in Ukraine?

She may get her answer this fall, when Ukrainians vote for a new
president. Opinion polls suggest opposition candidate Viktor
Yushchenko would easily win a fair vote. But most analysts believe
Ukraine’s ruling clique, President Leonid Kuchma and his allies,
won’t let that happen.

Anger over a rigged election drove tens of thousands of Georgians
into the streets last November, in weeks of mass demonstrations that
finally forced Eduard Shevardnadze to give up power in what was
dubbed the Rose Revolution (after an opposition politician’s single
red rose, carried as a symbolic substitute for a gun).

Georgia’s political earthquake is still reverberating across the
former Soviet Union, and the strongest tremors are felt in Ukraine.

Mr. Kuchma, who is accused of running a government fraught with
corruption and of personal involvement in the killing of an
opposition journalist, is deeply disliked and will not be running for
a third term.

However, he has thrown the weight of his administration behind Prime
Minister Viktor Yanukovich’s bid.

Ms. Tymoshenko, 43, an influential opposition politician and one of
Mr. Kuchma’s harshest critics, is among those who expect Ukraine’s
ruling authorities to fight dirty during this fall’s election
campaign.

If the vote is seen to be rigged, she said, the opposition will have
no choice but to take to the streets and try for their own Rose
Revolution.

“If the authorities try to falsify the presidential election . . . I
would hope to see the Georgian example repeated here in Ukraine,” the
charismatic former deputy prime minister said in an interview.

“I personally will be calling people to go into the streets.”

Ms. Tymoshenko enjoys the parallels between herself and Mr.
Yushchenko, and the young politicians who led Georgia’s revolt:
Mikhail Saakashvili (who carried the red rose) and Nino Burdzhanadze,
now respectively that country’s President and parliamentary Speaker.

Like the two Georgians, Ms. Tymoshenko and Mr. Yushchenko have put
aside their ideological differences to form a united front for the
campaign.

Political tension has long been building in Ukraine, and many
observers believe that a recent mayoral election in the western city
of Mukachevo was a trial run for the presidential showdown.

With the opposition set to coast to victory in an area considered a
stronghold of Mr. Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine movement, police sealed
off the electoral commission offices in Mukachevo and prevented
journalists and observers from watching as votes were tallied.

After officials announced that a pro-Kuchma candidate was the winner,
thugs in leather jackets are reported to have beaten several
observers and Our Ukraine officials who tried to enter the election
offices.

Some see the events in Mukachevo as a signal that Ukraine will be
less tolerant of dissent than was Mr. Shevardnadze, who let
demonstrators occupy the main street of Tbilisi for weeks while
independent television stations called for his resignation.

There is little independent news media in Ukraine; most TV stations
and newspapers are under government control.

“The [message] of Mukachevo is to threaten the public, to let them
know that [the authorities] could use not only administrative
resources, but could use physical force,” said Yevgeny Bistretsky,
director of the Kiev-based International Renaissance Foundation, an
affiliate of billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Institute.

Mr. Soros is accused in many quarters of providing financial support
to the Georgian revolt. When he visited Ukraine last month, he was
attacked in the state media and pelted with eggs and a
mayonnaise-filled condom by Kuchma supporters.

It is clear that while opposition parties across the former Soviet
Union, a region dominated by authoritarian regimes, have pounced on
the Georgian example as proof that change is possible, governments
too have learned from it.

In Armenia, the opposition has been rallying thousands into the
streets for weeks, calling for a vote on President Robert Kocharian’s
rule. Police recently broke up a crowd near Mr. Kocharian’s residence
using water cannons, batons and stun grenades.

“The Armenian opposition, encouraged by the Georgian ‘velvet
revolution,’ has clearly decided that the situation in the country
will enable them to achieve the same outcome,” Mr. Kocharian told
Russian state television recently.

“But the situation cannot be compared.”

Even in outright dictatorships such as Belarus and Uzbekistan,
Georgia’s example has shaken up the political status quo and
invigorated the opposition.

Anatoly Lebedko, leader of the beleaguered opposition to hard-line
Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, says that his country’s
people privately cheered the Georgian revolt but can only dream of
similar events because they face a much more repressive regime.

“People will sit in their flats tonight and criticize Lukashenko . .
. but so far we have not been able to turn that into opposition on
the streets,” Mr. Lebedko said in his Minsk office, his desk decked
out with a small Georgian flag.

“But I’m an optimist. I have to be.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Globe and Mail, Canada
April 27 2004

Martin criticizes cabinet for split on genocide vote

By JANE TABER

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Paul Martin has rebuked his ministers for
not respecting cabinet solidarity in opposing a controversial motion
on the Armenian genocide, upset that some of them sat on their hands
or didn’t show up for the vote.

The Prime Minister was not at the vote either. His office said he
does not attend every private member’s vote. Another official said
that there was a scheduling issue and that is why he was not there.

Still, sources say Mr. Martin lectured his ministers at last
Thursday’s cabinet meeting, less than 24 hours after the stunning
vote on a motion in which MPs — including most of the Liberal back
bench — supported recognizing as genocide the mass killing of
Armenians during the First World War.

He wanted his cabinet to know that even if he wasn’t there he
supported the cabinet decision and the cabinet must vote as a block.

The motion passed 153 to 68.

“He was ticked off. . . ,” one senior Liberal official said about Mr.
Martin’s admonishment.

“It [breaking cabinet ranks] won’t happen again,” another said.

The Martin cabinet had decided that it would oppose the motion. But
at least two ministers — International Trade Minister Jim Peterson
and Justice Minister Irwin Cotler — didn’t attend the vote.

Public Works Minister Stephen Owen and Western Economic
Diversification Minister Rey Pagtakhan abstained despite the fact
that Government Whip Mauril Bélanger was seen motioning for them to
stand.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan had to shout at
Revenue Minister Stan Keyes to ensure he stood up to vote. Mr. Keyes
did vote with the cabinet but was heard afterward complaining that he
had to support the motion when other ministers did not show up.

One MP, who overheard him, muttered to some of his colleagues, “Stan
wants the . . . car but not the responsibility.” This was in
reference to the fact that a car and driver come with the cabinet
job.

The confusion and upset among the cabinet ministers show the
contentiousness of the vote.

The back bench was free to vote its conscience and it did, including
many former Jean Chrétien ministers, including Jane Stewart, Stéphane
Dion, Maurizio Bevilacqua, Lyle Vanclief and Maria Minna.

This did not go unnoticed.

“Many of our own Liberals didn’t vote with the government,” the
official said. “Some of them, I’m pretty sure if you see their names,
have an agenda to not necessarily be supportive of the government
right now. All the former cabinet ministers . . . didn’t vote with
the government.”

However, one former minister said that it had nothing to do with not
being in the Martin cabinet.

“But the bottom line is this is that you can’t be a multilateralist
whenever it’s convenient to you. The UN has recognized the Armenian
genocide,” the MP said.

RosBusinessConsulting, Russia
April 27 2004

RAO UES to take part in privatization of Turkish energy grids

RBC, 27.04.2004, Moscow 13:58:39.RAO UES does not rule out the
possibility of buying shares of the energy companies in Turkey, RAO
UES’s press department reported. Earlier Turkish authorities
expressed their interest in selling government stakes in the national
power grids by auction before the end of this year. ROA UES might
take part in these tenders.

According to RAO UES Deputy CEO Andrey Rappoport, RAO UES’s
long term targets are to buy shares in the energy companies of
Armenia and Georgia, entering the power market of Iran and Turkey and
creating the base for working with the energy systems of these
countries. Turkey lacks energy supplies and therefore the country is
a good market for importing energy. Energy systems of Russia and
Turkey link the two countries to Armenia and Azerbaijan. Therefore,
the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict must be solved to make it possible
to supply energy to Turkey.

RAO UES controls 70 percent of energy generating companies in
Armenia and 20 percent of the energy generating companies in Georgia.

Sporting Life, UK
Scotsman, UK
April 27 2004

ABELYAN FANCIES HIS CHANCES

By Chris Roberts, PA Sport

Cocky William ‘The Conqueror’ Abelyan turned up the heat ahead of his
WBO World Featherweight title challenge by claiming he was going to
“cook” champion Scott Harrison.

The Armenian, who is currently the WBO number one ranked and
mandatory challenger, is not short of confidence going into their
showdown at Glasgow’s Braehead Arena on May 29.

Abelyan insisted: “Harrison is only keeping my world title belt warm
for me.

“Just make sure he is polishing it so it’s nice and shiny for me when
I take it off him on May 29.

“My world title opportunity has been a long time coming. I stepped
aside to let Harrison fight (Manuel) Medina the second time following
his loss to him.

“By rights I should have fought Medina and I am certain I would have
knocked him out and would be the world champion now. Medina gave him
a grilling but I’m going to cook him.”

The Cambuslang fighter had been due to face California-based Abelyan
in his last defence but a shoulder injury forced Harrison to take on
and beat Walter Estrada.

But the 26-year-old finally gets his chance and he is not intimidated
by going into the red-hot cauldron at Braehead.

“Everyone’s telling me what a hostile atmosphere it is going to be in
the arena on the night,” continued Abelyan.

“To tell you the truth I couldn’t care less. If you saw where I come
from in Armenia then you would have a reason to be worried. Going to
Scotland does not scare me one bit.

“What are his fans going to do for him? They are not going to be in
the ring taking sledgehammer punches – Harrison is.

“I’m not going to Scotland to make friends, I’m going there to do my
job which is to knock Harrison out cold.”

With over four weeks until their fight, he claims that he is going to
humiliate the Scot with a first-round knock-out.

“I wish the fight could be tomorrow because the way I am punching now
he will not make it past the first round,” added Abelyan.

“My training for this fight has been fantastic and I’ve never felt in
better shape.

“Come May 29 you will be looking at a new champion and the end of
Harrison.”

Anadolu Agency, Turkey
April 27 2004

Edelman: Turkey Has Proved Its Good-will In Cyprus To E.U. And World

ISTANBUL – U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Eric Edelman has said that
Turkey had proved its good-will in Cyprus to the European Union (EU)
and to the world, adding that they would take all necessary measures
not to leave Turkish Cypriots in the cold.

Speaking at a conference held jointly by Istanbul’s Bogazici
University and Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association
(TUSIAD) Foreign Policy Forum on ”Future of Turkish-the United
States Relations”, Edelman said on Tuesday that a powerful Turkey
would constitute an important opportunity for freedom, prosperity and
development in the region.

Noting that it was not the United States, but Turkish citizens who
will make Turkey successful, Edelman stressed that the United States
had been sincerely supporting Turkey’s EU membership process.

Stressing that Turkey could draw attention of more foreign investors,
Edelman said that there were still some problems in foreign
investments, and called on Turkish officials to overcome them.

Recalling that Turkey had made valuable contributions to training of
the Afghan National Army and undertaken important missions in
Afghanistan, Edelman said that NATO had been discussing presence of a
military team out of Kabul under the leadership of Turkey.

Emphasizing that the United States wanted to hand over the
sovereignty to Iraqi people on June 30, Edelman said that they had
been exerting efforts together with Iraqi people to determine the
most appropriate method of administration for Iraq.

Noting that the United States had made some mistakes in Iraq in
recent weeks, Edelman said that the United States, however, made many
contributions to future of Iraqi people.

Recalling that PKK/KADEK and the other terrorist organizations in
Iraq had already been included in the United States list of terrorist
organizations, Edelman said that Turkey and the United States had
been carrying out joint efforts to eradicate those terrorist
organizations.

Stressing that Turkey was able to make very important contributions
to the Middle East process, Edelman said that Turkey having a secular
and democratic system could constitute a serious model for the other
regional countries.

Edelman noted that the United States targeted to provide peace in
Caucasus and the Balkans, highlighting importance of Turkey’s opening
its border with Armenia.

Referring to results of Saturday’s twin referendums in Cyprus,
Edelman said that Turkey had exerted very significant efforts for a
fair and lasting agreement in Cyprus, and that Turkey had made great
sacrifices.

Recalling that the Turkish Cypriot side supported United Nations
Secretary General Kofi Annan’s plan, Edelman said that Turkey had
proved its good-will in Cyprus to the EU and the world.

He quoted U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell as saying that the
Greek Cypriots had missed a historic opportunity by rejecting the
Annan Plan.

Describing United Nations Secretary General Annan’s plan as the only
way for a fair and lasting peace on the island, Edelman said that
they would take all necessary measures not to leave Turkish Cypriots
in the cold.

Edelman stressed that Turkish Cypriot community should not be
punished because the Greek Cypriot side rejected the plan.

Stressing that Turkey had been strategic partner of the United States
for the last five decades, Edelman added that the United States
wanted to provide prosperity in the region.

Why Parliament’s Armenian resolution really mattered

By ALAN WHITEHORN
The Globe and Mail
Tuesday, Apr. 27, 2004

The April 24 genocide remembrance day is one of the three most important
days in the contemporary Armenian calendar, along with Christmas and
Easter. This year the commemoration is particularly poignant with the
passage in the House of Commons this past week of Bill M-380 recognizing
the Armenian genocide of 1915.

It is somewhat intimidating to try to summarize the Armenian genocide in
the grim counting of the dead. In the absence of a vast sea of
tombstones, our shared memory must be the collective marker denoting
their fate.

My own family is part of the Armenian diaspora. My father, an
Anglo-Canadian, met my mother, an Armenian, in Egypt half a century ago,
and they came to Canada as immigrants. We share many new experiences in
our adopted home, but we also remember our ancestral roots.

My grandmother was an orphan of the genocide who never knew her real
name or age and spent many years in refugee camps. As her grandchild, I
have often thought about how we try to understand such enormous
suffering, and such vast indifference by too many.

Our reactions to genocide inevitably shift over time. Initially,
enormous shock, trauma and deep anger are the primary responses. Later,
a search for personal and international recognition and justice comes to
the fore. Still later, there emerges an attempt to understand both the
particular and the more universal aspects of genocide.

It is sometimes helpful to think in terms of key persons when trying to
understand the grand epic accounts of history. In this case, I think of
three men that symbolize three different responses to genocide. Each
person was cited in Samantha Power’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book A
Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide.

The first is Soghomon Tehlirian, a young Armenian. By age 19, he was the
sole survivor in his family. His mother, father, brothers and sisters
were all killed. He himself had been shot in the arm, wounded in the leg
by a sword and beaten unconscious, awaking to discover that the entire
caravan of thousands of Armenians from his home town had been
slaughtered.

He fled the killing fields and journeyed through the Near East and the
Balkans to Western Europe. The year 1921 found him in Berlin, still
distraught and suffering from epileptic seizures. One day, he recognized
an exiled Ottoman official, Talat Pasha, a former minister of the
interior in the Ottoman Empire and one of the key figures in the
triumvirate that, he believed, planned the genocide.

Mr. Tehlirian shot and killed Talat Pasha on a street in Berlin on March
15, 1921, and was immediately arrested. A sensational trial took place
in June of that year. Could surviving mass murder (the term “genocide”
had yet to be born) drive a person to commit an act of violence? Was he
guilty of murder – or was he exercising personal clan justice for the
death of his entire family? Is the murder of a tyrant ever justified? Or
were his acts those of a terrorist? The jury found him not guilty.

Raphael Lemkin, an aspiring law student in Poland, read about the trial;
it prompted him to wonder: How could we have a law for the murder of one
person, but not for the murder of one million persons? Conceptually,
there was no word for such a crime – thus, there was no way for
applying, let alone enforcing, collective law and justice. Mr. Lemkin
wrestled through the 1930s with the need for a legal term to convey the
magnitude of such a crime.

Then came the Nazi invasion of Poland. Mr. Lemkin, as a Jew, was at
grave risk. He fled Nazi-occupied Europe, found his way to sanctuary in
the United States, and wrote a monumental book exhaustively documenting
the Nazi record – and making the world aware of the term “genocide.”

Mr. Lemkin would become an adviser to the Allies at the Nuremberg
Tribunal, which attempted to introduce justice after the fact. More
importantly, he would become a one-man crusade to oversee the passage in
the United Nations on Dec. 9, 1948, of the Convention on the Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The very next day, the UN
Charter of Human Rights, drafted by Canadian John Humphrey, was passed.
Together these two documents provided the underpinnings for a charter of
rights for all humanity.

However, it was not sufficient to introduce a new term for an
unthinkable crime, nor was it enough to pass a pioneering convention in
international law. Clearly, something would have to enforce
international law and ensure justice for the world community.

This leads us to Roméo Dallaire, a Canadian general who left the
comfortable confines of Canada to serve overseas. In 1994, he was
working for the UN peacekeeping force in Rwanda. As some of that
country’s political leaders urged the Hutu majority to annihilate the
Tutsi ethnic minority, General Dallaire pleaded for more troops and
greater authority to intervene militarily. His pleas were ignored by
Western governments, the UN headquarters, most of the Western media and,
tragically, even by survivors of earlier genocides. The result was
800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus dead.

Too many of us in the world had succumbed to the “sin of indifference.”
We had not learned sufficiently well the lessons of the First World
War’s Armenian genocide, nor the Second World War’s Holocaust.

This is why last week’s parliamentary recognition of Armenia’s genocide
matters so much. We all must resist the sin of indifference.

Alan Whitehorn is a professor of political science at the Royal Military
College, cross-appointed at Queen’s University.

Armenian communists against opposition rallies, back dialogue

Noyan Tapan news agency
26 Apr 04

YEREVAN

The United Communist Party of Armenia [UCPA] is calling on all
Armenians to be vigilant and abstain from opposition actions because
domestic political tension is threatening the country’s statehood,
Yuriy Manukyan, first secretary of the central committee of the UCPA,
told a press conference on 26 April.

. Yuriy Manukyan said he did not doubt at all that the opposition is
being guided by the [ex-ruling party] Armenian Pan-National Movement
[APNM], warning people against being deceived again. He said that
following the APNM actions, the country had been destroyed and looted
within a few years. Although under pressure and dissatisfaction
nationwide, the APNM was compelled to leave the [political scene], but
unpunished.

The chairman of the UCPA believes that for the time being, those
forces, using money stolen from the people and generous funds from
several forces from the West, are thirsting for “revenge”, are again
plunging the country into chaos with all ensuing consequences.

Manukyan drew attention to the circumstance that, he believes that
calls and slogans of the opposition were coinciding with anti-Armenian
“nonsense” of mass media and external enemies.

The UCPA considers itself the opposition as it is not fighting against
personalities but the system. According to the united communists, a
power shift will not contribute to the settlement of the problem. To
attain it, the country needs stability in the first place.

In order to overcome the domestic tension, the UCPA advises the
opposition to abstain from issuing “ultimatums” and to agree to
dialogue, as political debate creates opportunities to reach the
truth.

The UCPA statement was also supported by the Hayrenik (Motherland) and
Women of Armenian Land parties at the press conference.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeri leader off to Warsaw for European Union enlargement summit

ANS Radio, Baku
27 Apr 04

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev left for Warsaw today to attend the
European Economic Summit. The summit will discuss tasks of the current
EU members and new member countries and the situation in the South
Caucasus. Let us recall that the presidents and prime ministers of all
European countries are expected to attend the summit.

Ilham Aliyev will address the summit on two subjects: Azerbaijan’s
economic development and its successes and the situation in the South
Caucasus. Aliyev will also focus on the Nagornyy Karabakh problem and
its solution. Aliyev will have tete-a-tete meetings with the Polish
and Georgian presidents. The Azerbaijani president is also expected to
meet his Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharyan.

On 29 April from Warsaw President Aliyev will travel on to Strasbourg
to attend a spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Iran releases some ethnic Azeris detained over clashes with Armenians – TV

ANS TV, Baku
26 Apr 04

[Presenter] Some of our compatriots arrested over clashes in Tehran
between Iran’s Azeris and Armenians, who protested against the 1915
events in Turkey, have already been set free.

[Correspondent, over Iranian footage] Some Azeris arrested after the
Azeri-Armenian clashes in Iran have been released on bail. Ethnic
Azeris had spoken about their plans to stage protest actions outside
international organizations if the detainees were not released. The
correspondent of the Iranian TV channel Sahar-2, Novruz Purmand,
confirmed the report.

[Novruz Purmand, in Azeri] Policemen have so far been investigating
the case in which both Armenians and Azeris were involved. They had a
row. Both sides claim that some of their people were injured in the
clashes. I talked to relatives of those injured today. The policemen
are investigating the case. The injuries are not serious. The
investigation is under way.

[Passage omitted: reported details]

According to the Congress of Azerbaijanis of the World, some members
of the Azerbaijani political committee [as heard] were also
arrested. The congress sent a letter to Iranian officials today
demanding that our compatriots be immediately released and that the
Armenians, who provoked the clashes and injured our compatriots, be
immediately brought to book. The aide to the Azerbaijani ambassador to
Iran, Cavansir Vakiloglu, said that he had found out about this from
local journalists. He added he had no information about those injured
or jailed.

[Vakiloglu, on the phone] We do not have this kind of information. The
duty of the Azerbaijani embassy here is to represent our country’s
policies abroad and to implement the foreign policy tasks set by our
president. We cannot interfere in the internal affairs of our close
neighbour Iran or any other country.

[Correspondent, over video] The Iranian ambassador to Azerbaijan told
ANS that he learnt about the case from the Azerbaijani media. Ahad
Q’azai did not think that the incident was serious. Therefore he had
not got in touch with Tehran to familiarize himself with the
situation.

Leyla Hasanova, ANS.

ArmenPress
April 27 2004

PARLIAMENT APPROVES BILL ON MASS RALLIES IN SECOND READING

YEREVAN, APRIL 27, ARMENPRESS: By a vote of 79 to 2 with no
abstentions the parliament approved today in the second reading a
government-developed bill “On procedures for holding meetings,
rallies, marches and demonstrations.” Presenting the bill on Monday
justice minister David Harutunian said that the government had taken
into account most of the proposals received from international
organizations. In particular, the minister said, about 90 per cent of
the notes made by the OSCE office in Yerevan were taken into
consideration while preparing the bill for the second reading.
However, on 22 April, the special representative of the
secretary-general of the Council of Europe, Natalya Vutova, said that
the bill “On procedures for holding meetings, rallies, marches and
demonstrations” adopted by the Armenian National Assembly in the
first reading did not correspond to Article 11 of the European
convention on freedom of assembly. Vutova said this referring to the
preliminary conclusion by the Council of Europe Venice Commission.
The parliament also approved in the first reading a bill on making
changes to the criminal code, which are supposed to eliminate a chain
of technical shortcomings and omissions. The bill invalidates,
particularly, a provision of the code which stipulated that convicts
sentenced to life imprisonment for grave crimes did not have the
right to seek pre-term release.