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03/25/2004
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WEBSITE AT <;HTTP:// 1) The Ararat Wing of the Opposition Seeks Personal Revenge 2) Latest Efforts to Save World's Historic Armenian Monuments 3) Azerbaijan Cancels Crucial Talks on Karabagh 4) Azerbaijan Warns Against Opening Turkey-Armenian Border 5) Javakhk Council of NGOs Throws Support behind Saakashvili Party 1) The Ararat Wing of the Opposition Seeks Personal Revenge THE AZG DAILY OF YEREVAN, IN ITS MARCH 25 ISSUE, RAN THE FOLLOWING REPORT UNDER THE ABOVE HEADLINE. THE TRANSLATED TEXT OF THAT REPORT FOLLOWS, WITH NO FURTHER COMMENT ON OUR PART. YEREVAN--The home of former Defense Minister Vagharshak Haroutiunian has been converted into the "Strategic Headquarters" for the realization of regime change in Armenia, reliable sources have informed Azg. Leaders of the Armenian opposition--specifically its Ararat wing, led by former Prime Minister Aram Sargsian--regularly gather there to plan out scenarios for toppling the administration of Robert Kocharian. Also active and interested in this matter are the Armenian National Movement, although for now in a supporting role, and the first President of Armenia, Levon Ter Petrosian. The undertaking is reportedly receiving financing from Vatche Manoukian, the London-based millionaire. The opposition will attempt to take to the streets, rallying crowds to surround the President's office and obstruct him from entering his workplace. The former authorities of the Republic are placing their bets on Aram Sargsian, taking into account his family's misfortune: his brother, former Defense Minister and Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsian was the victim of the October 27, 1999 killings, and his other brother, Armen Sargsian, was condemned to 15 years' imprisonment on charges of contracting the killing of chief of Armenian State TV Tigran Naghdalian. The strategists of regime change seem to have made the right choice in Aram Sargsian, who is eager to take revenge on Robert Kocharian. The [current] authorities are in a determined mood and are prepared to stifle the opposition by resorting to forcible means, according to information available to Azg. Only a few weeks ago, during his television interview, Kocharian made it known to the opposition that maintaining the constitutional order is the purview of the power structures--the interior and security forces. The response of Defense Minister Serzh Sargsian was more clear and unadorned: "We'll see who slaughters whom." It is plain, notwithstanding the threats directed at the opposition, that the authorities are becoming upset. 2) Latest Efforts to Save World's Historic Armenian Monuments YEREVAN (Armenpress/ArmeniaWeek)--A Non-Governmental Organization that studies Armenian architecture has located and examined Armenian monuments in the Republic of Armenia, historic Armenia, the Diaspora, as well on sites of deportations. The aim of the organization, Research on Armenian Architecture, has been to photograph, examine, and register Armenian historical monuments and to publish corresponding informational documents. Head of the organization Samvel Karapetian, says that the task at hand is to "preserve Armenian historic and cultural treasures on paper." Examinations of Armenian cultural monuments are being conducted in Georgia, Azerbaijan, certain regions of Northern Iran, historic Gougark, Barskahayk, and Mountainous Karabagh Republic. Unlike Armenia's other neighbors, says Karapetian, Iran not only preserves but also restores Armenian monuments, allocating funds from its national budget towards that goal. Karapetian said he is convinced that the unique Armenian historic and cultural treasures prove that Armenia is an equal among other nations and civilizations. The town of Jugha was the center of Yerndjak province in the late Middle Ages. In 1605, its population was deported to Persia under orders of Shah Abbas I and the town was destroyed. Only Jugha's cemetery was left unharmed, with gravestones dating back to the Ninth Century. In 1648, there were 10,000 khachkars (stone crosses) registered at the cemetery, a number that had shrunk to 2,700 by 1973. In 1998, eyewitnesses on the Iranian side of the border reported seeing Azeris smashing the khachkars with bulldozers and removing the pieces on trucks. In February 2003, Karapetian announced that the Armenian cemetery in the Jugha has been entirely destroyed. "These acts not only harm those who have created culture, but also all of modern civilization," says Karapetian. To date, Research on Armenian Architecture has published 13 volumes, including some in English and Russian. An outline of an additional 30 volumes is ready for print. The organization's archives house 56,000 digital images and 140,000 photographs of Armenian cultural and historical monuments. "We have photographs of the majority of Armenian monuments throughout the world," revealed Karapetian. In Northern Artsakh alone, there are 2,800 monuments and a total of 6,200 in Mountainous Karabagh Republic, with 1,800 in the liberated lands. Georgia houses 650 Armenian churches. Research on Armenian Architecture was founded in Germany in 1983 by Dr. Armen Hakhnazarian. Branches were established in the United States in 1996 and in Armenia in 1998. 3) Azerbaijan Cancels Crucial Talks on Karabagh YEREVAN (RFE/RL)--Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Vilayat Guliyev has canceled his upcoming crucial meeting with his Armenian counterpart. Armenia had hoped the talks would serve to establish whether the Mountainous Karabagh conflict could be resolved in the foreseeable future. The decision was announced late Wednesday amid renewed Azeri criticism of the American, French, and Russian mediators. President Ilham Aliyev again accused the three co-chairs of the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe of doing little to achieve a peaceful settlement of the dispute. He also warned ally Turkey against reopening its border with Armenia. Guliyev said that he will not travel to the Czech capital Prague to meet with Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian because the agenda of the talks scheduled for Monday has not been specified. There was no immediate reaction from the Minsk Group. Russia's top Karabagh negotiator Yuri Merzlyakov, was quoted as only telling an Azeri television channel that the talks initiated by the mediators will not take place because "one of the parties" decided so. The Czech Foreign Ministry confirmed the information on Thursday. The Foreign Ministry in Yerevan declined a comment, though Hamlet Gasparian, told RFE/RL that the ministry has received no written notification from the mediators. Oskanian said last week that the Prague meeting should clarify whether Baku is ready to revive Karabagh agreements reached by the Armenian and Azeri presidents in Paris and in Key West three years ago. He added that Aliyev would have to negotiate only with Karabagh Armenians if he finally backpedals from those agreements. Aliyev, however, reiterated Baku's vehement denial of any peace deals cut by his late father and predecessor Heydar at the Paris and Key West talks. "There was and there is no agreement," he told journalists in Baku. "This is just another lie circulated by the Armenian side." Aliyev went on to attack the Minsk Group, which he said has done "nothing positive" since being set up in 1992. "When we are told that the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia should reach and agreement themselves and the co-chairs will support whatever they decide, that is not mediation," he said. Azeri leaders have repeatedly complained that peace proposals put forward by the mediators in recent years would not return Karabagh to Azeri rule. Aliyev declared recently that his oil-rich nation is not in a hurry to agree to a compromise deal because he believes it is the Armenians who suffer more from the unresolved conflict. 4) Azerbaijan Warns Against Opening Turkey-Armenian Border BAKU (Armenpress/RFE/RL)--Azeri President Ilham Aliyev warned that a reopening of the Turkish-Armenian border, not ruled out by the current government in Ankara, would further complicate the Karabagh peace process because `Azerbaijan would lose in that case an important lever.' `It is no secret that the European Union and other influential countries are putting pressure on Turkey to open its border with Armenia,' he said. `But I have said many times that if that happens then the Karabagh conflict will never be resolved.' Insisting that pressure on Turkey stop if interested parties genuinely seek a peaceful resolution to the Karabagh conflict, Aliyev confidently said that Turkey would not give in to this pressure. "The Turkish-Azeri brotherhood is above everything else both for us and for the people of Turkey." Aliyev also criticized the OSCE Minsk Group for its inability to play a positive role in finding a resolution to the Karabagh conflict. Reacting to the remarks, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said the lifting of the Turkish blockade would, on the contrary, facilitate a Karabagh settlement. `Turkey could really be an important factor in political and economic developments in our region if it abandons its one-sided approaches favoring Azerbaijan,' a ministry statement said. 5) Javakhk Council of NGOs Throws Support behind Saakashvili Party AKHALKALAK (A-Info)-- During its March 24 general session, the Council of Armenian non-governmental organizations (NGO) of Javakhk adopted a statement in support of the National Movement party in the upcoming parliamentary elections. Their support lies in the bloc's `practical approach to carrying out reforms in the country,' reads the statement, stating that the number of Armenian candidates running on the party's ballot was also a consideration. The council stresses the significance of the May 28 elections in deciding the future of the country. With an interest in the establishment of stability in Georgia, the council expressed readiness to contribute to the holding of fair elections, concluding that `constitutional reforms and the establishment of democratic values will give an opportunity to resolve the problems of the population of Javakhk.' Formed by Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, the National Movement was the opposition party during the Shevardnadze administration. All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier and not Asbarez Online. ASBAREZ ONLINE does not transmit address changes and subscription requests. (c) 2004 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved. ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for academic research or personal use only and may not be reproduced in or through mass media outlets.