IWPR CAUCASUS REPORTING SERVICE
No. 243, July 21, 2004
YEREVAN BECOMING A “DESERT”
Officials begin to worry about the systematic elimination of green areas in
the Armenian capital.
By Susanna Petrosian in Yerevan
The construction of an outdoor café in a leafy spot in central Yerevan was
halted last week, in a sign that city officials are beginning to take on the
unchecked building spree that has altered the face of the Armenian capital.
The move has been widely welcomed. “It is a precedent,” said Ruben Torosian,
a prominent former member of parliament. “The fact that finally someone was
stopped from building in the green zone is a positive sign.”
Gohar Oganezova, vice-president of Armenia’s Botanical Association, told
IWPR that “this case can be seen as the first small result of our fight over
many years against construction taking place on Yerevan’s green spaces,”
Before the city authorities had time to issue their ruling, it took workers
less than a day to chop down several old trees as they began clearing space
for the café.
Samvel Danielian, who is head of the architectural and town planning
department at the mayor’s office, promised that the area would be restored
to its former state.
But it is much too late to save large parts of the capital, which have lost
their green spaces forever to a café boom of doubtful legality.
Brash-looking cafes now sprawl across the entire city, depriving local
people of parks and open spaces they used for decades.
“When they cut down all those trees, the café-owners hardly gave a thought
about the future of our children,” said pensioner Arsen Darbinian.
“All the parks in Yerevan have been built over with cafes, and there’s
nowhere for children to play or for us to relax,” said housewife Lilit
Akopian.
Since 1990, the city has lost 40 per cent of its green areas due to new
construction, according to research carried out by three organisations, the
Yerevan Public Ecological Centre, the Centre for Regional Development and
Transparency International.
Thirty-eight environmental groups have banded together to protest about the
loss of green space.
“If illegal construction of various buildings does not stop, Yerevan will
soon become a desert,” warned Armen Dovlatian, leader of the Armenia’s
Socio-Ecological Party, one of the protesting organisations.
Srbui Harutiunian, another prominent environmentalist, said land was being
degraded, landslips were increasing and Yerevan citizens were suffering from
new allergic illnesses as a result of the changes.
But Marzpet Kamalian, deputy head of the state expert commission at the
environment ministry, rejected the charges, saying that the city was not at
risk at all. “The problem of desertification cannot affect Yerevan,” he told
IWPR, asserting that only a rural landscape can turn into a desert.
At the centre of the debate are Yerevan’s Ring Boulevard and the Opera
Garden. Twelve cafes have already been built around the famous Yerevan opera
house and three more are under construction. More than 100 cafes have been
built on the Ring Boulevard, some of them made of stone, although that is
explicitly forbidden by city laws.
Grachia Muradian, who heads the city department for control over town
planning and land use, told IWPR that everything was under control and that
the mayor’s office had stopped the construction of ten cafes in green spaces
this year. Muradian said planning regulations had always been violated in
Yerevan but his office was closely monitoring the situation.
Samvel Danielian, from the same office, told IWPR that the café-owners were
used to getting round regulations by acquiring very small plots of land and
then building outwards, but new city regulations were making it harder and
harder to break the law.
Environmentalists are not impressed and say the city authorities have been
turning a blind eye to blatant infringements of the law.
Detailed reports by the Association of Investigative Journalists in Yerevan
have recorded that the mayor’s office has been closely involved in giving
the green light to building projects.
“The mechanism which the mayor’s office uses is the following: first a plot
of land of 20 cubic metres, which does not need to be sold at auction, is
allocated and then this plot is enlarged with the help of subsequent
directives and decisions,” said Edik Bagdasarian, who heads the
investigative association.
“We can’t say that the law has been broken,” Grigor Melkumian, chief advisor
to the mayor, said in response to this allegation. “All decisions by the
mayor’s office have received state registration. If the decisions were
illegal, they wouldn’t have got state registration.”
But a former mayor, Robert Nazarian, has admitted that, “ninety nine per
cent of buildings in the opera park are illegal and we did not approve those
projects”.
Narek Sarkisian, until recently chief architect for the city, also conceded
that pressure was put on him to approve construction projects. “I tried to
do everything that was within my power, but very high-up are involved and
they believe they are above the law,” said Sarkisian.
If officials at this level are not ultimately responsible, who is? Edik
Bagdasarian points the figure of blame higher up, saying that his
organisation has established that in the Ring Boulevard, the owners of cafes
include four ministers, two generals, a deputy director of the national
security service and three heads of department in the mayor’s office.
The men involved have either denied their involvement or refused to comment.
Yervand Zakharian, who has been mayor of Yerevan for just a year, has
pledged to crack down on the illegal cafes. Many people are very supportive,
but others are waiting to see what happens.
“We’ve been so much deceived that we have to follow very closely what
happens in the green zones,” said Oganezova.
—
Susanna Petrosian is a journalist with Noyan Tapan news agency.

“IF DIASPORA CEASES BRINGING UP THE ARMENIAN CAUSE WE’LL OPEN THE
BORDER-GATE”
Azg/am
22 July 2004
According to the Turkish Sabah newspaper, the PM of Turkey Ragep
Tayyip Erdogan on his official visit to France met with Herve de
Charet, presidentof the French-Turkish group. The issue of Armenia
Cause was put forward during the meeting. Erdogan said: “This is an
issue for the historians. The Armenian Diaspora makes a mistake by
keeping this issue high in its agenda. It is not beneficial for
Armenia. As long as this propaganda keeps going there will be no
perspective for the Armenian-Turkish relations. If they put an end to
this then Turkey may be willing to open the border-gate.”
By Hakob Chakrian
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RUBEN POGHOSIAN’S BOOK ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Azg/am
22 July 2004
The Azg Daily’s library enriched recently with Ruben Poghosianâ=80=99s
book titled “Different approaches to the Armenian Genocide”. The book
was published by the Tekeyan Cultural Center in Aleppo in 2000. This
small in size but rather interesting book consists of a prologue, 10
chapters and an epilogue. The appendix of the book presents facts from
all over the world concerning the Armenian Genocide.
It is interesting that the name of Mustafa Kemal, founder of modern
Turkey, is among those recognizing the Genocide. Famous Turkish
sociologist Taner Akcam agrees with the author saying that Kemal
accepted the fact of 800 thousand Armenians being slaughtered during
the WW I.
The preface of the book, written by Alexan Keshishian, briefly
presents the scientific and social activities of the author, stressing
his profession of lawyer and his Ph.D. at Sorbonne University in
1952. The author participated in many scientific conferences including
ones on the Armenian Genocide. He is an author of many monographs, of
more than 100 articles in Armenia, French, English and Arabian
languages. In 1960 the UN invited Ruben Poghosian to work as a judge
and then as a supreme prosecutor in Congo.
In his book Poghosian deals with such issues as Armenians and the
concept of Genocide, the official pose of the Armenian and the Turkish
governments, attitudes of the Turkish intelligentsia, approaches of
the neighboring countries, views of the foreigners, general views in
the Arabian countries and the states openly acknowledging the fact of
the Genocide. He concludes at the end: “This preview of the existing
approaches to the Armenian Genocide reveal all complexity of the
problem and consciously bring to a conclusion that we, Armenians, were
unable to unite and systemize our efforts in order to level the issue
with international problems”.
All these stress the importance of Ruben Poghosian’s work, and his
thoughts over the scientific conference dedicated to the 80-th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide are very up-to-date. The former
Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosian and his counselor Zhirayr
Liparitian headed the above-mentioned conference. If one of them
trying to emphasize the impertinence of the Armenian Genocide said:
“Today Armenia and Turkey have a great task to overcome the historic
challenges by establishing good relations”, than the second one tried
to transform the Armenian Genocide into a “phenomenon” evading the
word “genocide”.
The author touches upon the issue on the 16-th page: “This process,
launched by Zhirayr Shalian in 1983 and carried on by Zhirayr
Liparitian was to Turkey’ s delight and was unacceptable for us, the
Armenian Diaspora”. Though Liparitian has left Armenia and
Ter-Petrosian is president no more, the American non-scientific
structures keep on benefiting from the Armenian Genocide.
It is obvious that those structures have unlimited opportunities. In
other words if they are willing the recurrence of 80-th anniversary
this year during the upcoming conference then they can put forward
another representative, in the title of “enemy of patriotism”, of the
American intelligentsia instead of Liparitian. Financial support will
be enough for such a person to find effete snobs in Armenia. In this
case the task could be considered carried out. Consequently Ruben
Poghosian’s book is not just interesting but also teaches how to learn
on our mistakes and avoid all possible fraudulent activities during
the scientific conference dedicated to the 90-th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide.
By Hakob Chakrian

Azeris picket Armenian embassy in Moscow over Karabakh
ANS TV, Baku
21 Jul 04

[Presenter] Azerbaijanis living in Moscow picketed the Armenian
embassy in Russia today. The protest was organized by the Movement for
Azerbaijan to mark the 11th anniversary of the occupation of
[Azerbaijan’s] Agdam District. The action started at 1300 Moscow time
[0900 gmt]. After that, our compatriots gathered outside the Bolshoy
Theatre and made for the Armenian embassy. We are over to Moscow
now. The chairman of the Movement for Azerbaijan, Ilqar Qasimov, is on
the line. Ilqar muallim [form of address], how did you manage to stage
the picket?
[Qasimov, captioned, on the phone] The picket passed off at a very
high level. About 50 people took part in it. They mainly demanded that
the Armenian government unequivocally express its stance on the full
implementation of the known UN resolutions [on Nagornyy Karabakh],
that Armenia stop its aggressive policy against Azerbaijan and
withdraw its occupying armed forces from Azerbaijan. We demanded that
[Armenian President] Robert Kocharyan officially apologize to the
Azerbaijani people for delivering a speech against the Azerbaijani
state and people in Strasbourg.
We invited representatives from Armenia’s official circles and mass
media to attend our protest due in Moscow on 23 [July], so that they
can express the Azerbaijani people’s resolute position to the Armenian
public. Let them tell the world public that the Azerbaijani people
will never come to terms with the occupation of their lands and that
Karabakh is Azerbaijan’s integral part.

ANDRANIK MARGARIAN: ARMENIA INTERESTED IN STABILITY IN GEORGIA
21.07.2004 18:20
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia interested in stability in Georgia, Armenian Prime
Minster Andranik Margarian stated today at the meeting with Georgian Foreign
Minister Salome Zubarashvili, who is on visit in Yerevan at present. Head of
the Armenian government said he is satisfied with the level of bilateral
relations. During the meeting the parties also touched upon the problems of
numerous Armenian Diaspora in Georgia. A. Margarian expressed hope that the
Georgian leadership will pay special attention to the resolving of
social-economic and cultural-educational problems of Armenians residing in
Samtshke-Javakheti region of Georgia.

Armenian population’s incomes increase in six months of 2004
Arminfo
20 Jul 04

YEREVAN
The income of the Armenian population increased by 19.2 per cent in
the first six months of 2004 and totalled 534.9bn [958m dollars]
drams. According to preliminary information given to Arminfo news
agency by the Armenian National Statistics Service, this figure
increased by 6.8 per cent in June.
The population’s spending went up by 18.2 per cent in the first six
months of the year and by 3.4 per cent monthly, amounting to 544.7bn
drams [976m dollars]. The rate of the dram for the dollar was 558
drams in January-March 2004.
The average salary amounted to 40,014 drams [76 dollars] in
January-June 2004, or 32.9 per cent higher than in 2003 – the growth
was 3.3 per cent in June compared to May. Moreover, the salary of
public sector employees totalled 25,838 drams [49 dollars] at the end
of June, whereas in private organizations, it totalled 51,915 drams
[98 dollars], with a 45.9-per-cent and 26.4-per-cent growth
respectively in January-June 2004.
Compared to May 2004, the salary of public sector employees increased
by 2 per cent in June, and by 3.8 per cent in private organizations.
By the end of 2004, the number of officially registered unemployed
people totalled 115,100, having dropped by 8.4 per cent per year and
by 0.8 per cent in June.

Armenia hails Turkey’s withdrawal from OSCE chairmanship bid – minister
Arminfo
20 Jul 04
YEREVAN
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan is not disposed to consider
Turkey’s withdrawal from the bid for the OSCE chairmanship as
Yerevan’s diplomatic victory, the minister has told Armenian Public
Television.
“I am far from declaring this our victory,” the minister
said. Commenting on the situation, the minister recalled that Turkey
had expressed an intention to chair the OSCE in 2007, and an
appropriate decision was to be taken by the end of this year. In turn,
Armenia clearly outlined its position and stated that the OSCE cannot
be chaired by a country which has no diplomatic relations with an OSCE
member state and is planning to veto it.
Turkey withdrew its candidature explaining it by the country’s
forthcoming elections in 2007, so it would be difficult for the
Turkish foreign minister to combine his post and the post of the OSCE
chairman.
“It is difficult for me to name a genuine reason for Ankara’s
decision, but we accept the reasons given by Turkey, and I do not want
to declare that Armenia forced Turkey to resort to this step. I think,
it would be a wrong interpretation,” the minister said.
For the time being, Yerevan can only express satisfaction with
Turkey’s decision to withdraw its candidature, as it facilitates
work. Otherwise, I am certain that Armenia would come under pressure
from various countries and organizations, including the USA and the
European Union, who would try to prevent the implementation of the
right to veto. Thus, the best decision both for us and to a lesser
degree for Turkey has been taken, the minister said.
Replying to a question about relations with Turkey, the minister said
that there were no reasons for disappointment. “We shall be
consistent, the negotiations will continue, as well as the work with
the EU member-states and the USA in order for any progress to be made
in Armenian-Turkish relations,” the minister said. He recalled that
this important strategic factor was taken into account by everyone,
including Turkey. The minister said that he held a meeting with
Turkish Minister Abdullah Gul in Istanbul on the day when Armenia and
the other two South Caucasus states were included in the Wider Europe
-New Neighbourhood programme.
The minister said that NATO’s expansion, on the one hand, and those
countries’ inclusion in the new European programme, on the other hand,
requires an extra commitment from Turkey, in terms of showing a more
responsible position in the region. “And Turkey can manifest this
responsibility by normalizing relations with Armenia,” Vardan Oskanyan
said. He added that currently they are talking about the opening of
railway communication, which is in the interests of all the parties
and is a component part of TRACECA [Transport Corridor
Europe-Caucasus-Asia] programme.

6th-round defeats pull down Pinoy chessers
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Jul 21, 2004

FILIPINO International Masters Ronald Bancod and Jayson Gonzales bowed
to their respective foes in the sixth round yesterday of the Balaguer
International Open chess championship in Balaguer, Spain.
Bancod, seeded 36th in the nine-round Swiss system event, lost to IM
Ramon Mateo of the Dominican Republic, while 25th seed Gonzales
surrendered to third seed Russian Grandmaster Vladimir Burmakin.
The defeats dropped Bancod and Gonzales-tied for second overnight-into
a share of 22nd place with 23 others, including compatriot NM Yves
Ra¤ola, with 4 points each. Ra¤ola drew his match with Spanish master
Patxi Sesma.
Mateo, Burmakin, Cuban GM Lazaro Bruzon, Bulgarian GM Aleksander
Delchev and Armenian GM Karen Movsziszian share the lead with 5 points
apiece. Marlon Bernardino

Turkish ex-intelligence agent questioned over alleged crime links
NTV web site, Istanbul
20 Jul 04

Faik Meral, a former MIT [National Intelligence Organization] employee
and the holder of the green passport [a special passport issued to
public officials], which was used by Alaattin Cakici [leader of a
crime syndicate in Turkey] in order to flee to Austria where he was
detained, has been arrested.
Meral, who was released on bail under a court order yesterday, was
detained again at Ataturk Airport before taking a flight to
Izmir. Meral was taken to the Organized Crimes Bureau and then
appeared in a High Criminal Court to re-examine the arrest warrant in
absentia issued against him and the court decided to remand him in
custody. Meral was later sent to Type-F Prison in Tekirdag.
The arrest warrant in absentia issued by Istanbul 11th High Criminal
Court against Meral for aiding and abetting a crime syndicate was put
into effect by Istanbul 12th High Criminal Court.
After completion of legal formalities in a building, which housed a
State Security Court before it was abolished, located in Besiktas
district, Meral, who was handcuffed, was escorted by two police
officers to a police car with a civil registration plate waiting in
front of the building.
Wearing sunglasses and refusing to answer questions put by reporters,
Meral was later taken to a type-F prison in Tekirdag.
In the testimony he gave in an emergency court he appeared in
yesterday, Meral said that his last meeting with Cakici, to whom he
was introduced by a high-level MIT official 10 to 15 years ago, took
place after Cakici was released last year.
Noting that he visited Cakici at his home, Meral said that he was
carrying his passport that day, but did not notice that he had lost it
as he did not travel abroad later.
Claiming that he had learned that Cakici was carrying his passport
when he was arrested while he was watching a newscast, Meral said that
he had been taken part in intelligence operations launched against the
Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia in Paris, but did
not take part in any operation in which Cakici was also involved.

Turkish PM in France, says joining EU not only option
NTV television, Istanbul
21 Jul 04

[Announcer] Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey’s
ambition to join the EU is not its only option. Evaluating his visit
to France in a news conference, Erdogan stated: If necessary, we will
rename the Copenhagen criteria the Ankara criteria and implement
them. The prime minister also said that the Progress Report to be
issued by the EU Commission will be decisive in determining France’s
stand.
A large group of journalists attended Erdogan’s news conference
following his contacts in France. Most of the questions posed to the
prime minister were about Turkey’s reaction in the event it receives a
negative response or a conditional negotiation date from the EU in
December.
[Erdogan] There is no provision in the EU acquis or in the rules
outlining the way to become a member on giving a date for a
conditional negotiation process or granting the right for full
membership. Moreover, Turkey’s ambition to join the EU is not its only
option. We have only one issue. We adopted the Copenhagen political
criteria with the aim of raising our citizens’ standard of living. If
the EU accession process proceeds positively, all well and good.
Failing that, we will rename these criteria the Ankara criteria and
proceed on our path.
[Announcer] Underlining the fact that the EU summit to be held on 17
December 2004 is not a summit for full membership as far as Turkey is
concerned, Erdogan said that the allegations of Armenian genocide,
which is a problem between Turkey and France, do not constitute a
criterion for EU accession.
Asked by a journalist how Turkey will implement the resolutions of the
European Parliament, Erdogan recalled the EU stance on Cyprus.
[Erdogan] Turkey will implement all the decisions that can be
implemented and it will not implement those that are impossible to
implement, in the same way as other countries fail to implement such
decisions. Those who are calling on us to withdraw from Cyprus should
have said the same thing at the time to those who should have
withdrawn from southern Cyprus. Under the EU acquis, a country that
has a border problem cannot become a full member of the union.
Cyprus, however, has become a full member under the name of Cyprus.
[Announcer] The prime minister also contended that the EU should give
Turkey a negotiation date in order to prove that it is not a Christian
club.
[Erdogan] Still approaching Turkey with apprehension shows that one is
driven by Turkey’s culture and concept of civilization. The date of 17
December 2004 is very important and I believe that this date will
exonerate the EU from such a charge.
[Announcer] At his news conference, Erdogan also made important
statements in connection with foreign policy. Pointing out that there
is no crisis between Israel and Turkey, Erdogan said: It was wrong of
Israel to bomb Rafah, and we warned Israel. Friends tell the bitter
truth. Erdogan also warned about developments that could trigger a
civil war in Iraq.
Foreign journalists in particular asked Erdogan questions about
Turkey’s foreign policy. He was asked if the crisis between Turkey and
Israel has been overcome.
[Erdogan] There is no crisis between Turkey and Israel. Any stance or
any mistake is open to criticism. I, for my part, criticized a mistake
that was made, that is the bombing of the Rafah refugee camps in the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This was a friendly statement about a
stance and a mistake. In Turkey we have a saying: Friends tell the
bitter truth, but they tell the truth.
[Announcer] Even though Erdogan denied the existence of a crisis with
Israel, he stood behind the phrase of state terrorism.
[Erdogan] As you know, 14 members of the UN Security Council condemned
this. Why is this condemnation not disturbing Israel? In this case,
Israel should ask itself where it went wrong and what mistake it made
to evoke the condemnation of so many countries. Only the United States
abstained. If we question ourselves, I believe that we can attain
peace much more quickly.
[Announcer] Erdogan was also asked to comment on the allegations that
Israel is conducting secret operations in northern Iraq, allegations
that caused tension in Turkish-Israeli relations.
[Erdogan] We are not a country that acts on rumours. We conduct our
business on the basis of negotiations and intelligence and we take
steps when necessary.
[Announcer] Assessing the developments in Iraq, Erdogan warned that
developments are occurring that could trigger a civil war.
[Erdogan] At present, the developments in Iraq are not satisfactory or
cheerful. There is no one that does not have an account to settle over
Iraq. It would be wrong to say that only Iran has such
calculations. There are many designs over Iraq. It is difficult to
estimate the extent of each country’s calculations, but it appears
that everyone has an account to settle over Iraq.