Japan grants 1.8m dollars to Armenian farmers

Mediamax news agency
22 Mar 04

YEREVAN

Japanese government will grant 1.8m dollars to Armenia to purchase
harvesters and seeds for farmers at prices lower than the market ones.

Armenian Minister of Agriculture David Lokyan and the adviser of the
economic department of the Japanese embassy in Russia, Matasaka
Yoshizawa, signed an appropriate agreement in Yerevan today, Mediamax
reports.

80 UNSECURED FAMILIES OF ARMENIA TO BE RESETTLED IN ARTSAKH WITHIN
CURRENT YEAR

YEREVAN, MARCH 19. ARMINFO. Within the 2004, some 80 unsecured
families from Armenia will be resettled in the Nagorny Karabakh
Republic, Executive Director of the Union of Public Organizations for
Repatriation and Settlement “Yerkir” (“Country”) Sevak Artsruni made
this statement at a press-conference in the House of Journalists
today.

He said that within the coming two months, some 35 families from
Armenia will settle in NKR. They will be provided with cottages and
household plots (1,500-2,000 sq/m). Besides, Artsruni said that the
migrants will receive definite privileges on legal basis, for example,
exemption of taxes. It should be noted that the Union “Yerkir”
(consisting of 5 public organizations of Armenia and Artsakh) operates
from November of 2002. Artsruni said that development of bordering
zones is important for Armenia like any other developing country.
Thus, in 2003 in the NKR regions of New Shahumyan and Hadrout, several
schools, kindergartens and hospitals were built due to the Union. The
total cost of the program was $186,356 and 22,732 EUR. “Yerkir”
representative said that in 2004 construction works will be carried
out in Mardakert, Hadrout and New Shahumyan regions of Artsakh as well
as in the Armenian regions of Tavush and Gegharkunik (in more than 30
populated areas). The program for 2004 will total more than
$400,000. The programs are financed by charitable funds of France,
Canada, USA: “France-Karabakh”, “Armenia”, “Monte Melkonyan” and
Armenian foreign charitable-families.

Sevak Artsruni said that at present the Union “Yerkir” registers
families residing in Russia and other CIS signatory-countries, who
want to return to their historical Motherland and have no such
possibility.

Azeri president, NATO chief discuss ties, Karabakh

Xalq Qazeti, Baku
20 Mar 04

Text of unattributed report by Azerbaijani newspaper Xalq Qazeti on 20
March headlined “Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has met the NATO
secretary-general”

A special correspondent of Azartac news agency reports from Bratislava
that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met NATO Secretary-General
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer within the framework of his visit to Slovakia on
19 March.

The meeting, which was held in an atmosphere of sincerity, discussed
existing ties between NATO and Azerbaijan, out country’s integration
into the Euroatlantic structures and preparations for a NATO summit to
be held in Istanbul this June.

Having emphasized that he attaches major importance to cooperation
with NATO, Aliyev said that Azerbaijan’s partnership with this
organization has a progressive nature. Speaking about the importance
of integration into the Euroatlantic structures, Aliyev added that
Azerbaijan would continue its policy in this field.

Scheffer stressed that NATO was paying major attention to the South
Caucasus and described Azerbaijan as an important partner of this
organization.

The meeting discussed a number of issues regarding Azerbaijan-NATO
cooperation, especially an action plan on military cooperation with
NATO prepared in Azerbaijan.

The meeting also discussed the situation in the South Caucasus and
prospects for the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict. Scheffer emphasized that NATO was in favour of a
swift peaceful settlement to the conflict, which is of special
importance to NATO.

Envoy surprised at Azeri reaction to Kazakh condolences to Armenia

Ekspress, Baku
20 Mar 04

Text of Alakbar Raufoglu report by Azerbaijani newspaper Ekspress on
20 March headlined “Astana’s letter of condolences” and subheaded
“Ambassador Andar Shukputov: ‘This is an ordinary protocol rule'”

The Kazakh ambassador to Azerbaijan, Andar Shukputov, cannot
understand why people in Baku ambiguously take the Astana government’s
condolences to Yerevan on the murder of Armenian officer Gurgen
Markaryan in Budapest.

“This move by the Kazakh Foreign Ministry is simply a protocol rule
and has no political significance,” Shukputov told Ekspress
yesterday. He believes that any conflict should be settled in a
civilized way. Astana, which has normal diplomatic relations both with
Baku and Yerevan, expects that the sides will “take steps that meet
international principles and norms” to settle the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict.

“Kazakhstan’s position has not changed,” Shukputov said. It is absurd
to link Astana’s letter of condolences to a change in Kazakhstan’s
position on the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, he added. “We recognize
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. According to President Nursultan
Nazarbayev, Astana supports the settlement of the problem only within
the framework of the principle of territorial integrity,” Shukputov
stressed.

Hazardous Duty: Another conscript dies at the hands of a “comrade”
ArmeniaNow.com
March 19, 2004

By Zhanna Alexanyan ArmeniaNow reporter
Another member of the Armenian army has died from wounds inflicted by a
fellow soldier.
The soldier is memorialized in his village home.

Eighteen year old Artur Grigoryan is the latest casualty of
soldier-against-soldier violence. Armenian soldiers kill each other at an
average of nearly one per week.

Private Grigoryan,
who was
conscripted last November, three days after his 18 th birthday, died March 2
at the Erebuni Medical Center from wounds inflicted by an officer.

Family and witnesses say that Lieutenant Colonel Hovaness Yeritsyan beat
Griogoryan with his fists, then struck his head against a metal bar and an
iron gate. The incident took place February 17 and Grigoryan died two weeks
later of complications resulting from wounds.

An officer who says he witnessed the incident told Grigoryan’s family that
Yeritsyan beat the soldier for smoking and for loud laughter.

According to relatives, friends and acquaintances of Grigoryan, the
following took place:

A group of soldiers was standing in the yard of the Unit 5165, a detachment
of the National Security Ministry, stationed in Yerevan. When the group saw
the Lieutenant Colonel approach, it dispersed. Grigoryan and a friend went
and stood behind a truck.

“What are you doing, playing cat and mouse?”, Yeritsyan allegedly said and
began striking Grigoryan.

According to Grigoryan’s 25-year old brother, Ashot: “He hit Artur’s face
several times and his beret flew off. When Artur tried to bend down to pick
up his beret the officer hit a heavy blow on my brother’s head while he was
bent over. Then he grabbed his collar and hit his head on a metal bar three
times. But it was not enough for him. He also violently hit Artur’s head on
an iron gate two times.”

Artur Grigoryan had attended Ashot’s wedding two days before the incident,
and as Ashot drove him back to his post, he says the younger Grigoryan had
no complaints about his army experience.

“My brother was satisfied with his military service. He used to say
everything was normal,” says Ashot.

Anahit Grigoryan has lost a husband, a daughter and, now, a son.
Yeritsyan has been put under military detention, charged with “excess of
official power” and a criminal investigation could lead to charges for which
a guilty verdict is three to eight years in prison.

Upon being taken into the army, Grigoryan was assigned to a special forces
unit, primarily because of his size: 1.85 centimeters (about 6 feet, 1 inch)
and weight was 98 kilograms (about 216 pounds).

Though he complained of headaches, Grigoryan continued on duty for a week,
until he passed out on February 24 and was taken to hospital and two days
later moved to the neuro-psychiatric department. It was not until the next
day that his family learned that Givorgyan was in hospital, told that he had
an infection.

“They were hiding the truth from us until the very end. First they said he
had suffered an epileptic seizure, then they said he had a swelling in his
head and then their final diagnosis was infection,” says his mother, Anahit.
“They tried to prove that my child had been sick before being called up for
military service but my son was very healthy. I never saw him sick since he
was a child.”

Relatives say that they were not informed of the severity of Grigoryan’s
condition. They say they were denied frequent visits, always with the excuse
that Grigoryan was sleeping. But Grigoryan had relatives in the same unit,
who told the family of what had happened and Grigoryan later confirmed their
account.

“If we knew everything was so serious we would have invited a medical
consensus from other specialists. Maybe they would have saved my child’s
life. We didn’t realize that they were lying to us,” the mother says. “For
hushing up the affair and set our minds at rest they made an operation. But
the operation was made on the wrong part of the head, not on the part where
blows were hit.”

According to forensic pathologist Shota Vardanyan, an autopsy revealed that
the soldier died as a result of trauma to the brain.

“Artur confirmed in Erebuni hospital that (Yeritsyan) beat him and hit his
head on a metal bar,” Anahit says. “I said, ‘Artur-jan, is it true? Has
something like that happened to you?’ And he said, ‘ma-jan, yes, it is
true.’ But I couldn’t imagine this could happen as a result of the blow.”

In fact, Vardanyan says that if Grigoryan had remained still in the days
after the incident, the injury probably would not have been fatal.

A few days ago an officer from the unit visited the boys home, requesting
medical documents and asking questions about the incident. Family members
fear that military prosecutors will manipulate evidence to conclude that
Grigoryan’s death was not a result of the beating.

His school director (left center) says Artur “never used his strength
against weak people”.
According to the Minister of Defense, last year 40 Armenian soldiers were
killed by other Armenian soldiers. (The Military Prosecutor’s Office put the
number at 48.) A total of 116 murders occurred throughout the republic,
meaning that about one-third of all homicides occurred in the army.

If cases are prosecuted, verdicts typically find in favor of the army,
leading loved ones suspicious of military justice and others fearful of the
day when their sons will have to face conscription.

Anahit Grigoryan compared her son’s death to the recent murder of an
Armenian army officer in Budapest by an Azerbaijani military officer.

“In Hungary, an Armenian officer was murdered by an enemy and the enemy was
judged, political opinions were expressed. But here, in this case, an
Armenian officer killed an Armenian soldier, who will judge him? He must be
regarded as a betrayer to his homeland,” says the victim’s mother.

The Grigoryans, a family of machine operators, is from the village of Melik
, about 45 miles northwest of Yerevan . The father died in an automobile
accident in 1993 and a teenage daughter died of a disease. Residents of
Melik say Artur and Ashot Grigoryan had been family breadwinners since Artur
was 14.

Director of Melik village school Artur Ghevondyan, described his former
student as “a boy who lived in hard social conditions and lost his father,
had always been depressed. He was never active. He was very strong but he
never used his strength against weak people. ”

Ghevondyan is proud that, despite widespread concern among parents about
sending their sons being conscripted, there has never been a draft-dodger
from Melik.

“We teach our children that this is our country and our statehood and we
encourage them to go and serve in the army,” he says. “Soon the spring draft
starts. With what heart do you now think we are going to send our boys to
the army?”

Copyright ArmeniaNow 2002-2003. All rights reserved.
Articles may be reproduced, provided ArmeniaNow is cited as the source.

At Risk: Sanctions in Georgia reveal Armenia ‘s regional vulnerability
ArmeniaNow.com
March 19, 2004

By Julia Hakobyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
An agreement was reached late yesterday (March 18) that should ease
concerns that Armenia would suffer as a result of political unrest in the
autonomous republic of Ajaria on Georgia ‘s Black Sea coast.
The presidents during last weekends meeting in Yerevan..

Long-standing tensions between Georgia and Ajaria increased early in March,
when Ajaria leader Aslan Abashidze expressed concern that the central
authorities seek the “total control of Ajaria.”

Last Tuesday, President Mikhail Saakhasvili imposed sanctions on the
autonomous republic in retaliation after armed loyalists of Abashidze fired
upon a presidential motorcade as Saakhasvili attempted to visit Ajaria last
Sunday. The Georgian president had just completed a weekend meeting in
Yerevan with President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan.

Saakhasvili called the incident “a serious challenge for Georgia “.

Merchants and officials in Armenia feared that the sanctions would cripple
trade in Armenia , which – suffering from blocked borders with Azerbaijan
and Turkey – relies on sea trade through the Ajaria port city of Batumi .

But following a five-hour meeting with Abashidze yesterday, Saakhasvili
lifted sanctions, effective today.

As the sanctions were announced, Armenian officials scrambled to organize a
secondary route from the Ukraine , utilizing the Georgian port of Poti .

More than 90 percent of Armenia ‘s imported and exported goods go through
Georgian ports, with more than 1,000 freight cars of food and fuel per month
coming from Batumi . And, while some trade could still be accomplished via
Poti, that port does not have a petroleum terminal, leaving Armenia reliant
on the Batumi access.

As sanctions were imposed, Flesh Company, one of Armenia ‘s large oil
traders announced that it has petrol reserve for 20 days and did not rule
out the possibility of price increases if the situation remained.

The events in neighboring Georgia made Armenian officials talk of the
necessity of strengthening relations between countries.

“Armenia is for constructive dialogues and peaceful solutions not only
because of its trade interests, but first of all because of the stability in
the region,” says Stepan Margaryan, the Armenian Prime Minister’s advisor
for regional issues.

“Events like this only underline the necessity of elaborating and deepening
relations. We are independent states, but we are small states and economic
or political crisis in one country immediately affect the stability in
another country,” he says.

Bozoyan says the two nations share common economic concerns.
Margaryan says neither Armenia nor Georgia has a strong enough economy to
ignore each other’s interests.

Presently, trade between Georgia and Armenia amounts to about $20 million
per year, “which is very low for neighbors,” Margaryan says. The advisor
proposes that Armenia and Georgia consider developing a single economic and
trade zone which would be attractive to international investors and
partners.

During 12 years of independence, no mutual venture has been established
between Georgia and Armenia , even though the countries have friendly
relations.

“Today Georgia cuts rates for Armenian goods 24 percent for oil products and
17 percent for the rest,” Margaryan says. “But it makes a 50 percent
discount for Azerbaijan . Besides, Georgia maintains a $1,500-$2000 tariff
per freight car coming to Armenia , which also affects business.”

During Saakashvili’s weekend visit to Armenia , the leaders of both
countries vowed to promote regional cooperation and bilateral ties.
Saakashvili described Armenia as an ideal partner, saying that his country
has much to learn from Armenia .

Yervand Bozoyan, political analyst of the Media Center non governmental
organization describes Saakashvili as a strong leader and also shares the
opinion that Armenia ‘s economic success is directly connected with the
situation in its neighboring countries.

Bozoyan says that Saakashvili’s sanctions on Ajaria were also conditioned by
the upcoming parliamentary elections in Georgia and Saakashvili’s intention
not to allow Ajaria’s leader’s party to enter the parliament.

“Ajaria is a state within the state with the totalitarian leader Abashidze,
who represents the strong and old Ajarian clan which ruled Ajaria for
several centuries. In fact Abashidze wants to gain total autonomy from
Georgia , despite it participated in Georgia’s presidential elections,”
Bozoyan says.

A Georgia-Ajaria border check point..
The Autonomous Republic of Ajaria, with a population of about 300,000, was
created in 1921, populated by Muslims in the primarily Christian country.

Bozoyan says that on the one hand Saakashvili has to allow the autonomous
republic certain independence. But on the other hand Georgia risks raising
tensions with the rest of its minority-populated regions, including
Abkhazia, South Osetia , the Armenian populated Javakhk and Azeri populated
Marneuli.

The analyst says it is difficult to predict future developments in
Tbilisi-Batumi relations, but it is apparent that the image and rating of
the Georgian leader will be much conditioned by his ability to resolve the
conflict within his country.

And Bozoyan hopes the events in Georgia , which demonstrated the
vulnerability of Armenia ‘s landlocked economy, will push Armenian
authorities to promote developing a regional economical zone and elaborate
new projects.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
March 21, 2004 Sunday 8:42 AM Eastern Time

Armsberbank gets ready to buy Georgian Bank

By Tigran Liloyan

YEREVAN

Armsberbank is getting ready to buy the Georgian Bank, Armsberbank
Board Chairman Mikhail Bagdasarov told Itar-Tass on Sunday.

He said representatives of the Armenian bank in Tbilisi for auditing
the Georgian Bank. They will come back to Yerevan several days from
now, and the picture will be clear, Bagdasarov said.

“The Armsberbank acquisition of the Georgian Bank, which has a wide
network of offices, will promote better integration between Armenia
and Georgia,” he emphasized.

“There are agreements to the effect with the Georgian administration,
bank shareholders and the Georgian Central Bank. It will be the first
large Armenian acquisition in Georgia,” Bagdasarov said.

European Union launches high-tech project in Armenia

Arminfo
19 Mar 04

YEREVAN

The implementation of a European Union project to develop information
technology has begun in Armenia, this was said at the presentation
ceremony today.

The project, which will end in 2005, will cost 1.2m euros in
total. The project consists of two parts – the provision of training
and the creation of relevant legal acts.

Passage omitted: minor details

Armenian leader says devolution of power needed

Mediamax news agency
19 Mar 04

YEREVAN

The country leadership will continue the policy of devolution of
power, Armenian President Robert Kocharyan said in Yerevan today.

At a working session today with the leadership of Yerevan’s Kentron
(Centre) community, the Armenian president said: “It is obvious that
the government should not deal with day-to-day problems of the
people. But, the government should ensure the implementation of credit
programmes in the sphere of water supply, heating and so on. However,
self-government bodies should be responsible for their
implementation,” the head of state said.

Passage omitted: similar ideas are reiterated

Azeri police disperse nationalist group’s picket, detain three

ANS TV, Baku
21 Mar 04

A group of people has gathered outside Qiz Qalasi Maiden Tower . But
this time they gathered for a different reason – for a protest
action. Young members of the Karabakh Liberation Organization staged
an unsanctioned action under the slogans “Well-done Ramil” Ramil
Safarov murdered an Armenian officer in Budapest and “We will avenge
the victims of Xocali” town in Karabakh whose Azeri residents were
massacred by Armenian troops in 1992 .

Five minutes into the action, police officers arrived and seized the
slogans from the protesters. They tried to disperse the protesters and
move them further away from the Maiden Tower.

The chairman of the organization, Akif Nagi, said that the policemen
took three of their members, Rovsan Fatiyev, Manaf Karimov and Mursal
Hasanov, to police station No 9.